I’m 0-2 this year on handmade gifts for my husband. I’ve never really tried to make him anything, because he’s usually pretty obnoxious (hehe) about his gifts. Every time I get creative, the gift usually flops. FLOPS, I’m telling you. And maybe it’s because we’ve been together for 18 years, but he’s past the whole “fake it and tell her I love the gift” thing. I usually find out he hates it. See? He’s totally obnoxious. So, I ask him for his list, purchase an item off the list and call it a day.

But this year? *Sigh* I’m doing this whole Handmade Holiday thing and making gifts for everyone on my list, and limiting my store bought gifts. And I’ve made a lot of nice things, but both stinking items I made for my husband totally didn’t work out. #$*&%#!@$*

First gift- “Frak Off” soothing eye mask. I used an eye mask tutorial from Sew Mama Sew (I think?), had planned on freezer paper stenciling “Frak Off” using a Battlestar Galactica font I found on dafont.com, and planned on filling it with rice. My husband has a ton of sinus problems, so I thought he’d like being able to heat the mask up in the microwave. And the Frak Off thing was just a little BSG joke. You know, to let the world know he wasn’t feeling well and to leave him alone. Soooo… the eye mask pattern was a lot smaller than I thought. Barely covered your eyes once it was filled with rice. If I made it again, I’d increase it by at least 35 or 40% on my copier. And the BSG font? It was completely, totally, frakking impossible to use as a freezer paper stencil. I would need to run some fabric through my printer instead of trying to stencil it on. A few nights ago, Chris came home and wasn’t feeling well, so I gave him my screwed up eye mask to use, without telling him I made it. You want to know what he said? “This STINKS! What’s in here?” (I can’t win, people!!) For the record, I didn’t think the rice was smelly. It reminded me of Daphne’s rice cereal when we were starting her on solids. But he did appreciate how the mask worked.

Second gift- Moleskine notebook cover. Chris has a ton of moleskine notebooks and he always uses a specific Sharpie pen that doesn’t bleed through the moleskine pages. So, when I saw a moleskine notebook cover with a place to store a pen, I knew I had to make one. Using another tutorial from Sew Mama Sew, and the fabric from a pair of his holey old black twill pants, I went to work. The fabric was really hard to work with. My sewing machine ate the pen pocket. And when I went to try it out on a notebook? The ^$*@&!( thing wouldn’t fit. Didn’t come close. Completely defeated, I went in to the living room and showed my husband what I’d attempted. And he actually really liked the idea. I just need to make my own template, which is probably not happening before Christmas.

But, it’s the thought that counts, right?