Gift Giving with Geeks, Part 2

Alright, so we discussed what I GOT for Valentine’s Day, but I also promised a recap of what I GAVE.

Many of y’all that know me know that I used to be an avid scrapbooker. I LOVED it – and I made pages for everything. I no longer scrapbook (except for special occasions like milestone birthdays or big trips), but I haven’t been able to let go of that mindset completely.

In other words: I like keeping things like ticket stubs and programs.

I’ve started a new system where I stick these things in large mason jars labeled with years or names of trips. But, every now and then, a memory comes along that merits a bit more celebration.

Our first date was one of those moments.

I know I already made him something first-date-related for Christmas, but this felt different enough that I was okay with it.

This is what he got:

That’s the ticket stub from our first date.

Oddly enough, the trickiest part of making the pillow was stealing the ticket stub from his house (he kept it instead of me). I kinda accidentally found it one day. He has this box on his counter where he puts papers and what not, and one day I noticed a pile of my letters sitting in the box. I said “Hey, I recognize these!” and flipped through them. That’s when I saw it. I don’t even know if he meant to keep it or if he knew it was in there, but I was touched just the same.

I realized later, however, that if I wanted to use the stub…I was going to have to figure out a way to nonchalantly rifle through his things, steal it, and get it back in there without him noticing. It took a little while for me to stumble upon the right moments, but it worked out.

In addition to the pillow, I gave him a movie journal. 

This way, we can keep all of our ticket stubs from movies we see together – and preserve any special memories that go along with their viewing. 

Plus, he has a whole list of movies that I “have to see” that I haven’t yet, so as we watch through those, we can record them as well (on the “Watched at Home” cards). 

I went ahead and wrote reviews for the movies we've seen so far - now he just needs to go in and add his thoughts. This will be fun to look back through later. 

I was pretty proud of my gifts – and he seemed to like ‘em, so that’s a win.

Now, for those of you who are curious, here’s how I made the pillow. Enjoy!

DIY Ticket Stub Throw Pillow

What you’ll need:

• 12x12 pillow form with cotton cover (I got mine at JoAnn)
• Sewing machine
• Light fabric transfer sheets (again, JoAnn)
• Decent-res image of your ticket stub (I scanned mine and enlarged it in Word)
• Iron
• Scissors
• Optional: Embroidery hoop, needle, and thread

Step 1: De-stuff your pillow, cut off the tags, flip the case inside out, and iron out any wrinkles.

Step 2: Using a printed image of your stub, mark the case down to the appropriate size. For a standard sized ticket stub, you’ll probably need to take a little more than an inch off of each “long” side. (I basically made my image about 8.5 x 11 for simplicity sake.)

Step 3: Sew the sides along your lines and flip the case right-side-out again. Iron out any new wrinkles.

Step 4: Print your image off onto the transfer paper. Make sure to print a MIRROR IMAGE of your stub or your transfer will be backwards. Following the package instructions, iron your image onto the cover.

Step 5: Restuff the pillow.

I also chose to embroider my pillow. I sign all of my letters to him the same way, so I wrote that out on the case (after sewing down, but before ironing on the transfer), then embroidered it using a hoop and DMC floss. I like the extra touch it adds.

Thanks for reading, guys! Let me know what you think!