Hello again! While I am not feeling particularly well rested, I am at least awake enough for a proper post. Now this is not going to be the helpful, insightful, or educational as I had hoped when I started this blog. I will get there – just not today!
After getting all motivated and inspired by Anna Newell Jones’ DIY gift guide I went through many of the crafty design blogs that she referenced. This is what I have come up with for my family so far:
My Mother-in-law: She makes one batch of coffee every morning in her french press and then heats it up through the day. Though the french press cozy probably won’t change her life at all, I know that she will love that I took the time to make something for her. Double bonus that I don’t have to see inside her french press when we go to visit! Ha! The snag with this is that I have to learn to knit to be able to make it, a task which is proving to be quite difficult. Thankfully I have access to YouTube and my mother. Though my brother (the spendy one) has been joking that my mother will be the one that ends up making this thing (he may not be far off).
My Mother: I hate getting gifts for my mother. She would much rather tell everyone what to get her because left to our own devices we all, inevitably, get it wrong. She’s not bitchy about it, but it does suck. Anyhow, she LOVES stamps. And postcards. A LOT! I have not had much luck trying to find her a proper stamp collecting book or a catalog for her to appraise her stamps. Plus I could never make anything to do her collection justice (she has stamps from around the world that were received by her grandfather), so that leaves the postcards. I have been thinking about a large board, like 4′ X 6′ covered in filler, than covered with a cheap and cheerful material. Then covered again with criss crossing ribbon. That way she can showcase her postcards without damaging them and rotate them around easily (I do not want to think about how many she has). This DIY could be a tad pricey so we’ll have to see if it is worth seeing through.
My Brother (the spendy one): He travels for work and for his girlfriend so when I saw this travel/carry-on book thing on design sponge I thought of him. I am not sure I can willingly damage a book so this project might be better in theory than reality. (I went looking for sweaters for the french press cozy and while they were all really cheap, $3 or less, they all looked to be in too good a shape for me to rip apart! I just felt to guilty…)
My Brother (the thrifty one): Now my thrifty brother travels a lot too and is planning a big Europe trip next year so he may get a travel book as well, but not until his trip. This is because I am regifting a really cool gift to him this year rather than giving him a DIY gift. I can’t think of a name for it and apparently the store that I got it from doesn’t sell them anymore, so I’ll have to post a picture here later. To loosely describe it, it’s a neat Japanese art drawing kit thing.
My Dad: CDs. Plain and Simple. He has a bunch ob burned CDs that won’t play on his CD player and it’s driving him nuts. So I will rip them and burn them for him to actually enjoy. He probably “stole” them from the library anyway – by stole I mean rip, but you get it – you’re blogging right?
My Sister-in-law and her family: Rum balls. I don’t make them with much rum, but they love them and my father and step-mother-in-law are going to visit them for Christmas so I will send some up with them.
My Father-in-law and Step-Mother-In-Law: Well, they, like my sister-in-law and her hubby, aren’t the big DIY types. My father-in-law is getting a calendar for his birthday (shortly after Christmas) with pictures of his grandchildren. As for my step-mother-in-law? Or the pair of them for Christmas? I have no idea. I was thinking baked goods, but they are traveling so it would be a waste. So I’ll have to keep thinking there.
Okay, this post is sounding way too much like one I made the other day. I promise I will add pictures and spruce this up a bit more and in general, just do better tomorrow!
Thanks for baring with me? I think?
thedebtpreoccupation
