give them the world

by mari

best handmade unique modern personal custom gifts

Whenever I ask my husband “What do you want for xxxx holiday?” (Christmas, Birthday, Valentine’s Day) I get the same response. “World Peace.” Said, of course, tongue in cheek. So I started taking him at his word. I never know what to get him anyway, so it’s fun to pull together bits of our history to give him a personal object.

The first year I gave him a photoshopped Japanese Ukiyo-e print of Traditional Japanese Women carrying very very large Snow Pea Pods. (World Peas, heh). Then I followed with a really weird over-sized seed pod filled with an encrypted message on each of it’s inner “peas” (as a nod to our honeymoon – when we visited a cypher museum and toured the birth of computing. Oh, the things I do for my husband.) But my favorites are the two I’m sharing with you here.

Above, I took apart an old globe, cut out a continent-like shape, and pinned it in a shadow box. I labeled it “World Piece #1422”. The number referenced an important date in our history, though, erm, I cannot remember what it is now?! Oh my.

But the gift that totally confounded him: Water from Scotland. We eloped in Edinburgh, Scotland, so the place has lots of meaning for us. I filled a vanilla bean jar with water and gave it a very official looking label. The label read:
Contents: Water Sample
Origin: Wale of Strathmore – Glamis Castle, Scotland
Collected: Field Research – London Gatwick
Date: July 2006
Can you guess where the water came from? When I was cleaning out a storage area I found a water bottle stashed in a box of stuff from the trip: Scottish Water!

I also made him a lovely book about all of Birdie’s parts and pieces. You can see it here.

This year I have wondrous plans in place for his Valentine’s gift. But he’s such a FAITHFUL reader of this blog, ahem, that I dare not breathe a word. What’s the strangest gift you’ve given a loved one over the years? Share with us!

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Celina February 8, 2012 at 8:57 am

Oh my! This is awesome, can’t wait to see what you come up with next… I’m trying to think if I have anything strange in my list of gifts and can’t seem to think of anything! Hmmm, now you got me thinking… I’ll get back to you ;)

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2 Miz Big February 8, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Hahahaha, I LOVE coming up with weird and wonderful gifts. It can take up way too much time, but if I can squeeze it in I always do.

The only problem is that it can set up big expectations for the next gift!

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3 Celina February 8, 2012 at 8:58 am

P.S. your llink to birdie’s book isn’t working :(

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4 Miz Big February 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm

Sorry Celina, I just fixed it. Had a crazy error with the entire blog this am, had to cut and paste the post and lost the link :)

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5 Celina February 8, 2012 at 3:06 pm

Happy you fixed it! What a cute idea… I never her of blurb! Definitely going to try it out now… I think the kids would get a quick out of a picture book with all of their body parts! Ummm, you got me thinking again & I love ou for it :)

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6 Miz Big February 8, 2012 at 7:50 pm

Blurbs is great, I’m also trying out mypublisher.com – I had a great coupon – but I think blurb’s design interface gives you more design options (for those with designer OCD Ike me).

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7 Miz Big February 8, 2012 at 7:53 pm

And you made my day Celina, thanks!

8 Celina February 8, 2012 at 8:13 pm

I’m happy to make your day! Anytime… But what did I do?

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9 Miz Big February 8, 2012 at 11:11 pm

LOL, you said this: “Ummm, you got me thinking again & I love ou for it :)”
It makes me happy to have inspired you ;)

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10 silly eagle books February 9, 2012 at 7:58 pm

I just found your blog and am so glad I did. :) I love these ideas–especially the piece of the globe! Thanks for sharing with us.

vanessa

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11 mari April 1, 2012 at 8:03 am

Thanks so much Vanessa!

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12 Stefanie March 31, 2012 at 7:24 pm

Hi- I think this is great! What kind of tube is that specifically? I can’t seem to find anything. It looks like a test tube.

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13 mari April 1, 2012 at 8:05 am

Thanks Stephanie!
The test tube came home with us from the grocery store – it was filled with Vanilla Beans. I haven’t bought any lately, so I can’t remember the brand right now …

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