Gift it.

I have an announcement to make.  And due to lack of wittiness (which I blame on being in the backwoods for a week... my wit has been dulled) I'm just going to come out with it.  Forget the pre-banter.


I hereby declare August Homemade Gift Month.  Here's the dealio.  The 411.  The flim flam.  (Actually, I have no idea what that means.  I've decided to make up slang words when none present themselves forthwith into my  mind.)  So here's the higgidy piggidy:


I was looking through a few of my "to post" ideas and realized that I had quite a lot of homemade gifts I hadn't yet shown you.  This led me to the realization that I'd been doing pretty well with my goal to only handmake the items I gave as gifts this year.  And THAT led me to the realization that if I wanted to stick to my OTHER goal of not procrastinating Christmas present making, I should really get on that no later than September.


In the midst of all this deep pondering, I was struck by the brilliant notion that perhaps YOU, my lovely readers, would also be making gifts for certain people on your list.  And then came the epiphany.


Aren't handmade gifts the bomb?  The thought?  The effort?  The time spent to make something perfect?  The personalization?  The ideal pairing of item to recipient?  Making sure it is cute or manly or well thought out or funny - whatever will fit their personality?  Really, aren't handmade gifts - simply put - the best?!
I think so.  I also think that there's a lot of intimidation surrounding handmade gifts.  I know there is for me.  I think to myself, "I can make something for my sister, but if I make something for my brother he'll think it's lame." Or, "How can you handmake for a 16 year old boy?  My nephew will hate it!"  Or "It's a wedding, not a barbeque.  I have to get something from the registry!"  There seem to be certain occasions or persons for which I just cannot bring myself to create for.  Do you feel the same?


Even if you don't - even if you are a handmaking queen... a connoisseur of handmade git goodness - we could all use some gift inspiration now and then, right?


So what do I do when epiphany strikes?  I put together a series, of course!  And this one's going to be good.

Yep.


(Now, before I go any further, I'd like to address the offense that some of you have no doubt taken with the song I chose to base my series title on.  Before you get all tense and huffy about it, I would like to point out that this classic 80's song by DEVO has a whole lot of hype and total misunderstanding surrounding it's origins and meaning.  You know what I'm talking about, I know you do, or you wouldn't be all up in arms, so I won't go into details about the assumptions people have made and continue to make, but I will refer you to songfacts to get your facts straight.  Even the band admits that the lyrics have been misrepresented and the common understanding is simply "a myth."  Short story, this song is about getting off your duff and DOING something - anything.  It's about moving past the laziness and "whipping it" into shape.  Plain and simple.  And you know what?  I think that's  pretty appropriate for this series.  Get off your duff.  Make some presents.  Overcome the insecurities.  Just do it!  Ok, I'm done.)

The gist of it is this: you can make handmade.  YOU.  Can make handmade.  This is a series that will prove to you that no matter the occasion, no matter the skill level, you can make some stellar gifts that will be treasured and NOT trashed.


So what can you expect from August?  Posts like crazy from your favorite bloggers and mine... oooh, you should see the line up!   All about handmade presents.  Presents for babies.  For showers and birthdays.  Christmas and Mother's Day and Bar Mitzvah?  We've got you covered.  Neighbor gifts, teacher gifts, mailman gifts, best friend gifts... by the end of August you will be confident in your handmade gift giving prowess.  Trust me.


The party starts tomorrow.  Be here or be... uh... squeere???  Whatever.

*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!