Does anyone else have a really hard time shopping for your parents for Christmas? Well I do. So this Christmas I got creative.
My mom is an amazing cook! To show you how awesome she is, here's an example of one of the spreads she made for a party once.
That pic doesn't have much to do with this post except to show how awesome my mom is. :) (And this pic doesn't even do it justice!)
Anyway, she makes this incredible bread. It's an artisan crusty bread and it's delicious! I wish I had a pic of her bread but I don't. However, to get an idea, this is a pic from the blog to whom the recipe belongs. Mom usually changes a couple things and adds her own add ins, but basically, this is it.
And if you can't tell, it's round. So she needed a cutting board for them!
I searched high and low for a round cutting board that wouldn't break the bank. I eventually found some at Tai Pan (FAVORITE STORE EVER!) but unfortunately they weren't very pretty. They actually came in a package with pizza cutting tools that were kinda cheapo. The size was perfect but they were boring.
So I went on handy dandy Pinterest and found a few ideas of people using a wood burning tool to decorate various things. I'd never used one before so I was a little apprehensive, but I found one that looked just like this... at Hobby Lobby for only $14 or something. And I used their 40% off coupon and only paid 8 or 9. Score!!
It came with a couple extra end thingy's too. There was a pointy one and a stubby round one. (Do you like all my technical terms here? haha.
So then I took the cutting boards and drew out what I wanted to burn in pencil first. I didn't want to totally mess it up and I'm not super creative or spontaneous and I also only had one shot. haha. I'm the procrastinator of all procrastinators, especially at Christmas time, So I was doing this on Christmas Eve, in my mom's basement. The whole room ended up smelling like a pretty awesome campfire btw. I loved it but Justin wasn't too thrilled. haha.
Once it was drawn and I was happy with it, I started burning! It freaked me out a little and I think I tried it on the other side to see how dark it would be and stuff. It said on the packaging of the tool that the longer it burned, the darker the mark was, and it was totally true. And that thing was REALLY hot, so be careful if you ever try it.
(I used a cookie pan on my lap and under the cutting board so I could put the tool down if I needed. I prolly should have done this at the kitchen table or something, but since I was being sneaky and trying not to throw up (Thank you baby in my belly) I couldn't do it upstairs. So I was sitting on the guest bed. Hence the cookie sheet. haha. )
Anyway, here's a couple pics of how they turned out!
I had originally planned just two rows of dots but it looked too simple, so I added more. :)
This is the other little chevron style design. And the little love note I put on both of them. haha. I didn't want a huge thing on it in the middle like I was in 5th grade. ha. I wanted her to actually use them! So I made my little message small. :)
Here's the finished product view. As you can tell, it's not perfect, but Mom really loved them. And that's all that mattered!
And they're not perfect but I was SUPER proud of myself for this. haha. I don't like to toot my own horn, but for all the procrastinating and uncertainty that surrounded this project, I think they turned out pretty darn awesome. haha
I really do have the greatest Mom in the world and was happy to give her something personal and home made that she actually needed. Like I said before, It's always been hard for me to find gifts for my parents that they actually needed cuz they have always been able to buy anything they wanted. I think if anything, I learned the lesson that there's always something I can do if I give myself enough time to think about it (I definitely got lucky this time. haha) And that they love homemade things.
Thanks for being awesome Mom!! I love you!!
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