Handmade/Homemade Gift Ideas- Help!

[crashgizmo]

Over the weekend DH and I somehow agreed that we would "make" each other our Christmas gifts this year. I thought this was a brilliant idea until DH said this morning he has my gift all planned out and he's excited and knows I'll love it. 

Um, I really hadn't thought about what I would make. This was just a good idea in theory, guys! DH tends to be more creative than me and can do a lot of things with wood, tools, etc. I am at a loss for what to do. 

What should I make? Any ideas are welcome! 

[genet313]

I did this for an anniversary present (first year, paper), but basically the gist is "365 Wishes and Kisses."

I got some cute notepaper/cardstock, etc. from a stationary/craft store, cut it into 365 small pieces and wrote a wish for DH on each one.  Ranging from cheesy to funny, like:  "DH, I hope we find time for a run together on Saturday" to "DH, I wish for the Eagles to go 11-5 this year" to "DH, I wish for you to always feel loved."    

I folded them, put them in a big jar with 365 Hershey kisses and called it a day.   

Honestly, my DH is a total softie, so he loved it (but it was, admittedly, really cute).   He did NOT do 1 wish a day - sometimes he'd go weeks w/o a wish.  I did this in 2011 and he just finished it about 2 weeks ago (though I did have to toss some of the chocolate).  We carted that thing around through 3 separate moves.

I did not come up with this on my own, but I can't find a good link to it and I don't remember where I heard of this.

ETA: spelling

[mbcdefg]

MH collects beer glasses, and a few years ago this Fantome glass was a "white whale" glass* for him.



I had someone on Etsy draw a caricature of MH as the ghost in the logo, and I had another Etsy seller etch the design onto a tulip glass like the one in the pic. And I gave it a new name that incorporated MH's name and sounds kind of similar. He opened it and laughed hysterically. He still says it's his favorite glass in his collection.

* I actually managed to get him some real Fantome glasses after placing this Etsy order, because I was on a waiting list on a beer website and they emailed me to say they had a new shipment in. So he got the real thing plus a custom replica.

[magdala]

A friend has a husband whose feet are always cold. She knitted him socks out of the warmest specialty wool she could find. She did this the first year they were married and it has become an annual tradition. They just celebrated their 15th anniversary.

A friend has a husband who likes fancy cocktails. She made him a specialty aperitif and hid it at her mother's house so it could ferment without him knowing. They threw a killer New Year's eve party last year with a cocktail that highlighted her aperitif.

A friend has a boyfriend who is a chocoholic. She made him homemade fudge and collected 52 chocolate recipes. She told him that she would make a recipe of his choice each week. So far, he has chosen the same recipe 9 times. It is a favorite.

I don't have these kinds of talents so I don't make handmade gifts for DH.

[Susie]

With help from my dad, we DIY'ed this:






Your map could be of anywhere you travel.  We did ADKs because we are working on climbing all 46 of the high peaks.  It has 37 or so flags in it now.

[bluelikejazz]

I'm making DH shaving cream and after shave (he recently got into using a straight razor and "real" shaving cream-not the foaming kind).

[crashgizmo]

Susie, you read my mind! I wanted to do a "where we've traveled" map. I saw a few on Etsy but they are $$ and kind of defeat the completely homemade purpose. Did you use a regular frame without glass? I figure you have to leave the frame open so you can add new pins, right?

[crashgizmo]

Nov 24, 2014 13:00:26 GMT -5 genet313 said:

I did this for an anniversary present (first year, paper), but basically the gist is "365 Wishes and Kisses."

I got some cute notepaper/cardstock, etc. from a stationary/craft store, cut it into 365 small pieces and wrote a wish for DH on each one.  Ranging from cheesy to funny, like:  "DH, I hope we find time for a run together on Saturday" to "DH, I wish for the Eagles to go 11-5 this year" to "DH, I wish for you to always feel loved."    

I folded them, put them in a big jar with 365 Hershey kisses and called it a day.   

Honestly, my DH is a total softie, so he loved it (but it was, admittedly, really cute).   He did NOT do 1 wish a day - sometimes he'd go weeks w/o a wish.  I did this in 2011 and he just finished it about 2 weeks ago (though I did have to toss some of the chocolate).  We carted that thing around through 3 separate moves.

I did not come up with this on my own, but I can't find a good link to it and I don't remember where I heard of this.

ETA: spelling

I love this! I actually did something similar for my mom several years ago. I wrote down 52 things I had learned from her, which ranged from "I learned that Law and Order: SVU are the best reruns on television" to "I learned that if you are in a relationship with someone who doesn't believe in you, you should get out before you stop believing in yourself." So, serious to funny. 

I thought about doing something similar but I know DH has seen the one I did for my mom, so I didn't want to repeat. 

[Susie]

Nov 24, 2014 13:30:30 GMT -5 crashgizmo said:

Susie, you read my mind! I wanted to do a "where we've traveled" map. I saw a few on Etsy but they are $$ and kind of defeat the completely homemade purpose. Did you use a regular frame without glass? I figure you have to leave the frame open so you can add new pins, right?

My dad made the frame for us, but I could've done it (albeit less perfectly than he did it) with a mitre saw and molding pieces.  Making from scratch allowed us to accommodate a map of non-standard frame dimensions.

I bought the map, took it to Michael's to be dry mounted, and it went into the frame backed by carpet padding, and then MDF backing behind the carpet padding.  The dry mount board and carpet padding are what the pins stick into.  Some kind of cork board would probably work too, but sizing it to the map might be tricky.  No glass because of the pins, like you said.

Forewarning, drymounting at Michael's is annoying.  They wouldn't let me use a framing coupon because I wasn't actually framing anything, even though it was a service of the framing counter.  They also wouldn't let me use a %-off-an-item coupon because it was a service of the framing counter.  So if you can take it elsewhere, I would.

The whole thing is wall mounted on a wire, which is secured to hooks on the vertical frame pieces.

[crashgizmo]

Nov 24, 2014 13:41:31 GMT -5 Susie said:

Nov 24, 2014 13:30:30 GMT -5 crashgizmo said:

Susie, you read my mind! I wanted to do a "where we've traveled" map. I saw a few on Etsy but they are $$ and kind of defeat the completely homemade purpose. Did you use a regular frame without glass? I figure you have to leave the frame open so you can add new pins, right?

My dad made the frame for us, but I could've done it (albeit less perfectly than he did it) with a mitre saw and molding pieces.  Making from scratch allowed us to accommodate a map of non-standard frame dimensions.

I bought the map, took it to Michael's to be dry mounted, and it went into the frame backed by carpet padding, and then MDF backing behind the carpet padding.  The dry mount board and carpet padding are what the pins stick into.  Some kind of cork board would probably work too, but sizing it to the map might be tricky.  No glass because of the pins, like you said.

Forewarning, drymounting at Michael's is annoying.  They wouldn't let me use a framing coupon because I wasn't actually framing anything, even though it was a service of the framing counter.  They also wouldn't let me use a %-off-an-item coupon because it was a service of the framing counter.  So if you can take it elsewhere, I would.

The whole thing is wall mounted on a wire, which is secured to hooks on the vertical frame pieces.

Perfect thanks! I'm also looking into canvas to see if that might work better. 

How big is yours? 

[lindyanne]

Don't know if this would count under your parameters but I made DH a date night box. 12 envelopes for a date each month next year.

[Susie]

Nov 24, 2014 14:00:56 GMT -5 crashgizmo said:

How big is yours? 

35x45"