I do not think of myself as a gift person… until I receive a heartfelt gift. I took a woodshop class with a friend when it was weird that a female would and I made this dado jointed shelf that my parents hung in the dining room of our house.
There are so many tiny gifts not included on my shelf, the bajillion paper cranes Anwyn has made for me, the little sewn pouch from Jude, the “flowers” from Hartley that were merely tiny little petals from the most miniscule flowers that she brought to me while I was sick in the biggest most unnecessary sized box, the heartfelt drawings for my birthday…
I stole this monkey. I was in a kindergarten carpool to a private school in Massachusetts when I spied this little guy in the car. I surreptitiously tucked it. When I got home my mother immediately wondered where it had come from and insisted that I go right this minute and return it. I did not. They would have never kept it and loved it like I have. I have no regrets.
My Great Aunt Mildred who lived in Hutchinson, Kansas crafted. She made this rocking chair out of a tin can, cutting the can into strips up to its base and then carefully twisting the strips into a rocking chair. The royal blue velvet seat cushion finishes it to perfection. That tiny pencil? Aoife.
My grandson, Rhys, made this adorable bird and gave it to me. I just love that he chose subdued colors.
I mean, this says it all.
An art student of mine, Gentry, gifted me this adorable little bowl. When she brought it to class, I thought she had brought it to show me her craft and I admired it and handed it back to her. And then she said, “No, it’s for you.” My heart melted.
This was my grandma’s. She was a collector of “collectible” plates and other Franklin Mint treasures. She had a few iron banks and she let me pick one to keep. I chose this one. Whenever we played cards, she’d blurt out, “Bulldog Drummond!” A phrase that I still do not understand but this dog reminds me of that competitive grandma.
Andrew started hiding these little ducks in various places for me to discover.
Bears are kind of an obsession for me. I will not pass up an opportunity to see the bears on the WSU campus. Aoife made me a bear in her pottery class and then secretly bought me the other tiny one when we were out shopping at antique stores. She then added a salmon for them to eat. Andrew hid little paper bears for me to find to replace the ducks.
Aoife made me a tiny pie, a bottle cap lid for its pan. Sigge delighted me with a little dough gal in my bedroom one night when we arrived for a visit.
