My Happy Place

smit-ten [smit-n]

–adjective

1. struck, as with a hard blow.

2. grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted.

3. very much in love.

I believe that accurately sums up my love-hate relationship with knitting. I'm totally jazzed because I finally completed my first knitting project. Take a look:

I feel that, for my first attempt, this vintage-inspired scarf is quite charming. However, I've made a lamentable discovery. My clumsiness doesn't solely reside in my feet (leading me straight into walls); it extends all the way up into my fingers. Trying to simultaneously hold both needles, keep consistent tension on the yarn, and secure stitches was a considerable challenge for me.

Though starting another knitting project is slightly intimidating, I am constantly encouraged by the gorgeous new knitted pieces that I see online and at craft fairs every day. I mean, heck—if they can do it, why can't I? There's a reason the old phrase "practice makes perfect" is so well known.

In the meantime, I'm giving crocheting a go. Nobody ever said that practice without respite is forbidden!

P.S. Have any tips that make knitting less arduous for the butterfingered? I'd love to hear them!

Wondering why this website was neglected for the past few months? Wonder no more!

My husband and I are now the proud "parents" of a kitten named Sprinkles Galore. He's quite a handful, but we couldn't be more pleased to finally have a kitty of our own!

Want a peak into the mind of our cat? You can follow SprinklesGalore on Twitter! Personally, I'm not a Twitter-er. But, if my cat really wants to jump on the bandwagon, who am I to stop him?

P.S. Are you thinking about making a furry addition to your family? I would highly recommend finding a friend at your local animal shelter. In Sprinkles' case, he already had most of his shots, his microchip was inserted, he was litter box trained, and we got great advice and support from the shelter's adoption counselor. If you live in the United States, you can find a shelter near you by visiting Animal Shelters R US.

There are those who would say giving a gift card demonstrates thoughtlessness. Personally, I enjoy receiving gift cards. However, I do understand where our anti-gift card friends are coming from. Gift cards can lack that personal touch. Therefore, I thought I would suggest three ways that you can get crafty and dress up gift cards, adding a unique flare that is sure to impress your recipient.

1. Make a greeting card. With all of the nifty new tools specifically designed for paper crafting, creating a one-of-a-kind card has never been easier. Slipping your gift card into a hand-crafted greeting card amounts to a relatively small amount of muscle needed for big impact potential.

2. Fabricate a gift card wallet. People that receive a lot of gift cards, or like saving their cards (like I do), will probably need a place to keep them all safe and organized. Plus, in the event that you lose your daily wallet, you don’t want to lose all of your gift cards along with it (I’ve seen it happen), so a wallet designed exclusively for gift cards is a great idea. For my mother’s most recent birthday I created an Emergency Gift Card Pouch (to be used in case of shopping emergencies, of course) and included a couple of gift cards to her favorite stores inside.

3. Get wacky! For you über-creative people, gift card pockets can be added to just about anything. Glue them on, sew them on—endless possibilities! When celebrating a coworker’s kidney-themed birthday (yes, a birthday themed around a vital organ) last year, I gave him a custom kidney plushy (based on the I Heart Guts! kidney) complete with a stuffed gift card pocket on the backside.

From the simple to the strange, I hope that I have succeeded in demonstrating that gift cards can indeed be dressed to impress. With a little bit of elbow grease and a healthy dose of imagination, you too can endow a mass-produced piece of plastic with a dazzling personality.

How is a necklace related to a sewing basket? Answer: It’s not. Enter the almighty Theme! Theme. Theme, theme, theme. I even like saying the word, “theme.” (Alright, enough with the IT Crowd references.) I am a total theme freak. It is the theme that unifies all the elements of your gift. And, theming your gift around your recipient’s interests can make the gift highly personal and significant.

There are three ways to work with a theme. The first is to choose a theme before making your gift, and then create your gift according to the theme chosen. For example, if your recipient loves dogs, you could embroider a puppy onto a pillow, paint a picture of a dog, design a pair of paw print earrings, etc.

The second method is to fabricate/purchase the gift, determine the theme according to the gift item(s), and then package/embellish the gift in keeping with the theme. I used this approach recently when giving a girlfriend a book about women and travel. In the spirit of travel, I used a map of locations that my friend has visited to wrap the book (keeping the entire map intact, I might add). A word of warning: it may be difficult to establish a theme for gifts comprised of several different items.

The third technique is a combination of the previous two. In preparation for my “roomie’s” bridal shower, I made it my mission to create something extra special to let her know just how much I love her. My magnificently crafty aunt had previously taught me how to make necklaces with glass and silver solder, so I decided to fashion a necklace with her married initials, “A” and “R.” Settling upon using her initials as my theme, I embossed the letter “A” in silver on a small box in which I placed her necklace. Finally, having discovered a gorgeous sewing basket, I placed the jewelry box into a niche in the sewing basket, and tied everything together with a large, silver-glittered letter “A” secured to the sewing basket handle.

By creating a piece and accenting the purchased elements within a theme, everything came together in one harmonious composition, which I hope portrayed lots of thought and love (which is really what gift-giving is all about, themed or not).

So, next time you get ready to plan a present, I hope you find one of the three listed processes to be helpful. May the Theme be with you!

P.S. I’ve made it easier to leave comments on my site. I’d love to hear back from you on ways you’ve themed your gifts!

I love giving gifts! It’s a challenging but enjoyable enterprise to find gifts that will be in some way significant to the recipient. I do admit that most often, mainly due to time constraints, it is much easier to purchase prefabricated items. In this individualization-loving, consumer world there are frequently numerous gift options that you simply can’t believe weren’t designed exclusively for your recipient.

However, there are times that even after extensive searching, nothing seems to fit the bill. So, do I settle? No! Give up? Never! My motto: When the giving gets tough, get crafty! Ditch prefab, and create something fabulous! Crafty giving is all about personalization. What floats your recipient’s boat? Do they have a hobby? What is their favorite color? From small touches to all-out, one-of-a-kind creations, the possibilities are endless.

Over the next few entries, it will be my goal to furnish you with some tips and ideas for creating gifts exactly suited to your recipient. I’m no Martha Stewart. As much as I admire her ability to consistently produce a hyperperfect outcome to everything she touches, I’m much more practical and (dare I say it?) thrifty. Nevertheless, there are some underlying principles to crafty giving that permeate all praiseworthy do-it-yourself gifts, no matter how simple or grandiose. So, whether you’re a Stewart disciple or not, I’m hoping there will be something for everyone.

Here is a sneak peek at the next installment: