Gift Guide: Husband Edition

I have to admit this gift guide is a little bit of a cheat because my husband does an amazing job of making wishlists for himself. No one ever gets stuck on gift ideas for him.

The problem for me is that E likes to guess what he is getting, and he checks his Amazon wishlists so often that it has proven impossible to actually be surprised. Hopefully this collection will help some of you wondering what to buy for the guy in your life. (I'm not saying whether I bought any of these things for E...he'll just have to wait and see!)

Links to each item are provided on the thumbnails below.

Husband Gift Guide

 Clark's Desert boot in Beeswax
 The Hunger Games series for cruise reading
 Levi's 511 Skinny pants - his favorite fit ever
 Buffalo pattern flannel shirt
 Filson (his favorite brand ever) wool vest
 a great Western: True Grit
 Buck knife (model 112)

the color of: [awesome]

Have you guys heard of the color of: ?

Flora pointed it out recently and I'm having a little obsession love affair.

You type a word in the find feature (ANY word: theme, mood, place, event, thing]. The program then pulls 80 images from Flickr with that word, and uses an averaging algorithm on the colour pixel values to create a gorgeous piece of art reminiscent of water-color. (The best part is you can watch the piece take shape, photo by photo!)

I made at least ten when I discovered it.

It's $45 for a high-quality print without the words - so I'm not sure I'm ready to invest quite yet, but it certainly makes for some pretty pictures!













These are surprisingly accurate! I especially love the Eiffel tower, and Venice. (and how great is San Diego? - all blue skies and beach!)

DIY Gift Guide: Necklaces

Check out previous DIY gift guides here.

One of the things I'm learning about my 30 for 30 challenge is that I have a serious lack of accessories. Hopefully use of these tutorials will help me remedy this.

Today, it's all about Martha!

First, a necklace I made with crafty cousin C on our family reunion.

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We painted different sized wooden beads (purchased from a discount craft website) with acrylic paint.

If I make another, I might try this dyeing method, or at least coat the paint with polyeurathane or some kind of sealant.

To make the flower, you cut a strip of fabric (mine was about 36 inches long and 4 inches wide)

fold it in half, and begin twisting, turning and hot-gluing into a rosebud shape

Then I hot-glued the flower on to the bead. String with ribbon (next time I will definitely use silk because the organza ribbon we used is kind of scratchy)

BONUS: you can wear the flower on either side!

Fabric covered bead necklace

via Martha Stewart

The video tutorial here is great--what an easy project! Just take silk or another thin material, sew a long thin tube and wrap and knot the beads.

I like my necklaces to hang a lot lower so I would probably double the length.

Pearl and ribbon necklace

also compliments of Martha Stewart

This one is a little more involved as the pearls and fabric are dyed int he process. Dye scares me, so I'm not sure I'll try this project in color (I think white pearls and a bright colored ribbon would work, don't you?)

Have you ever DIYed jewelry for yourself or others? Would you try it?

DIY Gift Guide: Felt Crafts

I haven't worked much with felt, but when I saw these projects I immediately bookmarked them! These are great gifts for family members :)

The wreath couldn't be a simpler or cheaper DIY project. (Thanks for sharing, Danielle!) So many size & color options. Full tutorial: DIY yarn wreath with felt flowers

(via In this Instance)

The second project I wanted to share is one from the Etsy's handmade blog, The Storque

Pillows are such a fun addition to any room, but add a bright color and ruffles, and they can be the center of attention!

Tutorial here: Rosette Cluster Pillow

This one would be a bit more time consuming, but since I already have some pillow-making experience, it doesn't sound too difficult!

I'm thinking of making a couple wreaths for my mom/MIL and the ruffled pillow for my sisters.

What DIY adventures are you tackling this holiday season?

DIY Gift Guide: Teacup Succulents

I love succulents and living in Southern California means that they thrive here. But putting them in a teacup? Genius!
Check out the tutorial on Epheriell Designs

This is a great gift idea for friends or a hostess gift for a party.

(I especially love the delft, because of my dutch heritage)

How sweet does this little teacup succulent garden look in a windowsill?

Hope this inspires you to create a DIY Christmas gift of your own!

DIY Gift Guide: Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I love the idea of making a bunch of simple DIY Christmas gifts to give to friends and hosts in the month of December.(or anytime!) So each Wednesday this month I'm going to feature a DIY project from across the interwebs to share the ideas I've discovered!

This week, it's an amazing recipe (from an amazing site): Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I can't think of anyone that wouldn't appreciate a gift like this: you can make a multitude of flavors (think spicy, vanilla or mint!) and all you need to add is heated milk.  Then stir away, sip and enjoy.
I'm thinking of handing these out to my co-workers around the holidays.

ps. you must take a look at Amberlee's blog, www.giverslog.com and get inspired for a holiday DIY project! I especially love her Gift Guide for any occasion.

Boy's birthday guide

E's 25th birthday is coming up later this week. Since he'll be celebrating in New York with Alex and I'm in the midwest for work, we're going to have our own next week.

E is notoriously impossible to buy for (aren't all guys?), so i wanted to share a few of my ideas for his birthday presents in case it would help anyone else out who's looking for husband gifts.

E has a 200+ amazon wish list for books, but it gets boring to buy him books all the time, so here are a few non-book alternatives.

E's favorite book is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Carly posted about this amazing artist who creates posters depicting the cover of a book using the text of the book it's featuring.

Its would look great in E's study.

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The Sopranos Complete Series

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Tickets for E's trip to New York

Ferry to Statue of Liberty

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A tour of the NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center (It's too bad Kenneth isn't leading the tour!)

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Casual loafers

Do you have a hard time buying gifts for your husband/SO? Any ideas you might add to the list?