Sentimental Artwork

In November, we celebrated my husband's 31st birthday. I made his favorite, stromboli, for dinner and baked a cake. And that was it! No gifts, no cards, nothing! I am terrible at giving gifts to my husband for several reasons: 1) He buys everything he wants. If he wants something, he buys it. He doesn't drop hints, he just buys it. 2) He wants electronics, tools or boating gear and I have no idea what to buy him. I have no clue with electronics and would not venture to guess what he wants. 3) He is a bargain hunter and would no doubt find a better deal than I did and be disappointed that I spent more money than I should have. I discussed these and more reasons with him after his birthday as an apology for not doing a better job at finding a gift for him. His response to me was that his favorite gift that I ever gave him, was when we were first dating and I quilted a nascar blanket and accessories for him. I was totally taken aback!
After this stunning revelation, I began to think about things that I could do or make for Christmas. I have seen several things on Pinterest and blogs that I was dying to try out and that I thought would be the perfect personalized gift to sum up our 10 years together so far. First, I worked on a subway art piece using the addresses we have lived at together since we started dating. I used Word to create the document and simply changed the text direction, fonts and letter sizes to create a puzzle using our addresses.

When he first opened the frame, my husband was a bit upset thinking that I was rubbing it in his face how many times we have moved. I immediately explained to him that each of the addresses holds special memories for me and helped to shaped where we are now. Though I do not look forward to ever having to move again, I do not regret the moves that we have made in our lifetime.
The second gift that I created was a collection of maps from meaningful places throughout our relationship. I simply saved the maps from google as pictures and then cropped and edited them in picnik.
I included a map of where we met, The University of Northern Iowa, and where our relationship bloomed.

Next was a map from the location where we were married and had our reception.

And finally, I included a map of our current home.

I removed a candle sconce from our bedroom and hung these framed maps in it's place while he was gone to work. He noticed it immediately when he came home and remarked how cool it was. I am thinking that I could add another set of maps with the house that we brought our children home from the hospital to, our first house together, and our favorite vacation spot to name a few. The possibilities are endless!


I am sharing this with Allison and her Hookin' up with HOH party.