How Do Ya Wrap A Hoe?

Or, for that matter, how do ya wrap a shovel?

I'll tell you right now, it can be a challenge. Then again, once you've figured it out, it can also be quite fun! Never mind I was up, wrapping presents until nearly midnight Sunday night. I can't remember the last time I had more fun wrapping gifts!

First I wrapped the more simple gifts, occasionally giving the larger, odd shaped items a sideways glance, always keeping them in mind. Once I finished the others, I took a little break, looking these two objects over, scheming the whole time. Then it hit me. I grabbed a roll of wrapping paper, and unrolled it all the way. I then cut a narrow strip all the way up, and then another. I began at the bottom (or would that be the top?) of the hoe's (actually, I guess it's a spade) handle. I used a small piece of tape to secure it and began winding it around and up. I made it about half way up before needing to secure the next strip in place and continuing up. Once I reached the top of the handle I was presented with another challenge. First, the shape, then the pointy end of the spade itself. Hmmmm. What to do? First I thought I might need to round out that point. I spotted a square of bubble wrap, placed it carefully around the "head" and was thrilled to note it fit around perfectly, well, once I applied some tape...I then cut off a square of paper to tape around the now blunted pointy half, followed by another for the back half, and then, a "collar" to bring everything together. I stood back and surveyed the result. He was actually kinda cute!

I then proceeded in a similar manner with the shovel, which was a bit shorter, and just altogether an easier shape to deal with. He also turned out looking kinda cute, but they were both missing something.

Seeing as I had begun to think of these two creations as critters, I decided they needed facial features of some sort. Fortunately I had recently acquired a bag of google eyes in various sizes. Out came the glue stick and my two critters had eyes. Then they each were adorned with just a wee bit of curly ribbon for hair. If I hadn't been so sleepy by this time perhaps the spade could've become a horse! It didn't really matter though. Nathan thought they were great!



This picture was taken outside with Lindsay's camera. Unfortunately their cameras don't do well with inside pictures, nor do they tend to hold on to photos for any length of time, so we were unable to get pictures for sharing here today, from our big trip of the day. We did however get pictures with our old camera. Hopefully they'll turn out, and I can manage to scan them into my PC so I can feature one as a Backyard View photo in the near future?



You may think it odd that a parent would gift a child with such implements on his 11th Birthday.I was actually a bit nervous about the gifts we chose for him. Turned out he was thrilled with everything he received. His face just lit up as he opened each gift, which is truly an accomplishment when dealing with him! You may notice he even smiled for the pictures! He loves gardening and yard work, dealing with plants, and was just thrilled to have his very own gardening tools. He was also tickled with all the other gifts he recieved that were not yard and garden related.

Prior to the gift opening and cake presentation, we went on our traditional Birthday event, which was oodles of fun! But that's a post for another day...