My husband and I decided this year to make each other gifts. We did it to save money, but also because there comes a point in life when you usually buy what you need when you need it, making Christmas shopping for one another kind of challenging. There was a bit of pressure in deciding what to make, but in the end I was very pleased (both with what I gave and with what I received).
I received a necklace (he drilled a hole in an old Irish coin and attached it to a long chain). In case you are wondering about the significance, my family first came to the US from Ireland long ago. I should have taken a photo, but forgot so will have to do that soon. He also made me some lovely soaps – melting down the ingredients, adding color and fragrance and putting the whole she-bang into adorable molds. I love my gifts and really appreciate the time and effort put into making them.
In return I made him the wall hanging shown above (original inspiration for this project came from HERE, via my friend and co-worker Sarah). To make my version of this wall hanging, I first painted the bottoms of my boys feet and carefully transferred their footprints onto heavy white paper (John Deere green for Little Guy and International Harvester Red for Baby Boy). I cut out the footprints and attached them with craft glue to a “farm scene” I had assembled using bits of colored scrap book paper. I cut out the wheels, cab and other details from construction paper and glued it all together. I had an old oak frame that I painted with glossy black acrylic paint. I wrote the boys’ names and ages in the wheel wells, and the year in the sun.
Total cost was under $5. I did have to buy a little bottle of the black paint, and two sheets of scrapbook paper. Everything else came from my stash of craft supplies. I like this and it now hangs in our hallway. When the boys are grown, we’ll still always be able to remember their sweet little feet whenever we see this hanging on our wall.
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