Love mix for Valentine's

My husband is just about the most difficult person to give gifts to. I feel an incredible amount of pressure when trying to think of what I could possibly give him. We are both picky people, as well as apartment dwellers with very little room for storing gifts that we can't really use or don't really like. I think, as gift recipients, we've both offended each other numerous times over the years. As a gift giver, there are also valid charges against me such as past unfulfilled IOUs. Even altogether missed gifts due to a lack of inspiration as to a fitting gift for my incredibly unique husband. Perhaps the missed gifts have contributed most to my downfall in his perception of my gift giving habits. He has even claimed at times that I never give him gifts.

Well, my friends, let me draw your attention to Exhibit A: the most brilliant gift ever that started out as a lowly IOU. It ended up as an IOU fulfilled, and superbly fulfilled at that. You may recall the matching rainbow sweaters that I made for him and our daughter a few Christmases ago. 10 points for me.

And now on to Exhibit B, the second most brilliant gift I have given him. My husband's wallet has been falling apart for awhile now. But I never wanted to buy him a wallet. That would just be too ordinary. Definitely not of the excellent nature that I have decided all my gifts to him must be. Then one day while browsing around on Etsy, I came across Brave Moonman's shop. The moment I saw those little pouches resembling retro cassette tapes, I knew what to make for my audiophile husband.

 

Actually making a wallet was much more difficult than I had anticipated. Then creating the cassette tape image proved quite challenging as well. The entire process took upwards of 6 months as I sporadically tried various materials in an attempt to find something that would work. I made two or three that I ended up rejecting before finally settling on one. I used a mixture of felt, bias tape, a coordinating fabric and embroidery for the cassette. The execution wasn't perfect, but the idea was. Perhaps one day when this wallet wears out I will make a superior model.

But in the meantime the love mix wallet is tangible evidence that I do, indeed, give my husband gifts. And quite nifty ones at that.