I’m FINALLY feeling semi-normal again after being sick all week. Which means that I probably overdid it today getting stuff done around the house. I may or may not regret it tomorrow, but I’m currently pretty proud of myself 😀 I got all my babies planted into big-kid pots and into the garden, pulled weeds, fertilized everything and trimmed the rosebushes. I know, I know, not the best idea to get my garden on so heavy when I was fighting this sick the last five days. BUT, I was told by two different people on Friday that getting some sun this weekend would make me feel better, and so I was just following expert advice. I mean, they both had this bug recently too, so that counts as expertise, right? At any rate, I’ll post pictures of my new “curb appeal” soon. Right now, I want to share the surprise I came up with for my husband. Since I’ll be giving it to him before he has a chance to read my blog, I think the secret is safe with you for now…
Joe and I have been married six years tomorrow, and I wanted to get him something special. He always manages to get me the best gifts, and since he tends to buy everything he wants before I get a chance to get him anything, my presents usually disappoint. I don’t know who it disappoints more though: him or me! I always put so much thought into the things I give him, and because of that, I sometimes spend more money than I should. While he was super excited by the watch made of wood that I got him last year for our “wood” anniversary, I’ve never seen him wear it. And frankly, it craps me out! SO. This year I decided I’d put a little more sentimentality behind the gift and a lot less money. We’ll see how he reacts. In the meantime, here are some pictures!
The first dance at our wedding was “Dreamweaver” by Gary Wright. I had one of the lyrics and our wedding date engraved on a metal plate at a trophy shop. I will be using trophy shops a lot more for things, as this cost just $10 for an upgraded metal plate, and I saw SO many cool things you can get engraved there. MUCH cheaper than Things Remembered.
I had our friend make a leather cuff and attach the plate to it. He scuffed up the leather to give it a rugged look, and I LOVE IT! I saw the original leather, and it was very vanilla. This is SO much cooler. He told me to rub this special oil he gave me into it to make it more durable, and proceeded to tell me what the oil was made of: cow bones, hooves and skin. Seriously? As a vegetarian, I feel like I’m being pretty cool getting my husband a leather cuff (which, BTW, was made using leftover leather from his shop that would have been scrap/trash otherwise). I did NOT need to know what that oil was made of 🙁 EEW.
So, since I had an homemade gift, I needed something homemade to wrap it in. I save cool boxes for just such things. I recently bought some perfume that came in a great box perfect for this occasion.
Joe is amazing at wrapping presents. Infuriatingly so. He does it all lickety split, and it always looks professional and perfect. I spent about 45 minutes accomplishing the following (yes, 45):
I wanted the wrapping to look “manly” and different. This picture is not upside down. I liked how the half-bow looked in this direction, so I kept it that way.
I meant to mention, before I wrapped everything up all purdy, I made sure to create a tag that recognized our friend’s participation in this present. I used scrapbook paper and a pin that was part of a set I bought for something else. I thought it looked nice used in this way.
As a final touch, I printed out the lyrics from our first dance song and tucked them into the wrapping paper. I made sure to highlight the words that were engraved on the cuff.
