Made It: Late Father's Day Gifts

Hello! Our daughter was away at camp during Father's Day, so after her return home this past weekend I gave my husband some gifts I had made for the occasion. 

I'll start with the card:

I always try to make a wacky card for him. The cow theme began with the "holy cow" phrase from a Harry Caray restaurant matchbook. Harry Caray, now deceased, was the beloved Chicago Cubs TV broadcaster for several years and "Holy Cow" was a popular saying of his. Once I had that saying in mind, the cow theme fell into place with the additions of the Flex-O Mastitis Detector card and the reproduction vintage cow images. A piece of art paper, a vintage button and some stamped words completed the card. Inside I wrote that I hoped that Father's Day was a "moo-ving" experience. Corny, I know. 

 A friend had made "notebook paper" fabric and gave me a "sheet", which I happily accepted. I'd seen such fabrics being used to embroider short messages but as my husband teaches chemical engineering, I went a different route:

I copied an equation from an old exam of his; have no idea what it's about. As you can see, the project is self-framing with an emobroidery hoop I'd found at a thrift store. 

A thrift store trip inspired the last gift; I saw an old softball on a shelf and for 50c it was mine. My husband had gotten me a garden piece for Mother's Day - a hummingbird figure on a stake to add a decorative element to one's plantings. So, I reasoned, why not do the same with a softball? 

I looked on the Internet for some ideas but to my surprise, I didn't see much in the way of repurposed softballs, and nothing involving garden usage. Thus, you may be seeing an original concept here (or at least one that's not too common). 

My husband has what I consider to be a rather unfortunate affliction - he's a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. Hence, anything Cubs-related is a sure bet with him. Among some memorabilia that had belonged to his late dad was a 1944 Chicago Cubs game program - perfect! His dad had been in the Navy then, serving during WWII, but perhaps an older relative had attended the game and sent the program to him as a reminder of home. 

I made copies of the program's pages, reducing them to fit, then cut out images and sayings to decoupage onto the softball. I added a few buttons and beads to embellish the ball a bit and coated it with sealant to make it waterproof. I'd made a hole in what became the bottom of the softball, and a garden stake fit in perfectly. 

Here's the softball garden stake in its new home:

Followed by some close-up images:

I think it looks pretty cool but then again, I'm used to seeing all manner of repurposed items displayed on blogs and in magazines like Flea Market Gardens. I'm not sure what my husband thought of this item; he said it was "strange" because he wasn't expecting to see a softball transformed into a garden piece like that. 

Oh well, expect the unexpected with me!