Random Fun Gifts That I have Given to my Boyfriend

As a "just for fun" post, I thought I would share some of the random fun things that I have given to my boyfriend as gifts. Some were joke gifts since I love including a joke gift when giving any kind of presents!

We are starting off with Banada Duck because he's awesome! I gave him as a joke gift because I thought it was just too funny! He's yellow, which is my boyfriend's favourite colour, and he reminds me of the goose from Untitled Goose Game which my boyfriend and I played together. He is actually a garden statue but my boyfriend keeps him by the door of his apartment and I pat him on the head and greet him whenever I enter and exit.

While at an antiques market, I saw some moustache tea cups! These tea cups were created to protect the moustache of men from being ruined by tea. Since my boyfriend has facial hair, I just had to buy one for him!

This Fruity Pebbles candle smells just like cereal! It's from an amazing local business called Joyful Home which makes the most fantastic candles! When I smelled it, it reminded me of my boyfriend because he drinks a lot of milk. Since my thoughts instantly went to him, I just had to gift it to him. Plus it being yellow was just icing on the cake!

This dancing sunflower was a major joke gift. I thought it was too funny plus, again, it's yellow! It is very similar to the famous dancing cactus. It plays music, dances, and mimics voices.

Cheers,

Kaylie

Dewey Decimal Star Stickers DIY

When I was a kid, I took a babysitting course. At the end of the course, we had to do a quiz and the instructor then marked it and put reward stickers on it. One of the stickers was a custom sticker that said "Mrs. [last name] thinks you're a star!" (name omitted to maintain privacy) and it had a cute picture of a star on it. I really like stickers so I have never forgotten that sticker. Recently, as a library cataloguing technician, I was inspired to make a variation of that sticker with a library twist! 523.8 is the Dewey Decimal number for star so I made stickers that say "Cataloguer Kaylie thinks you're a 523.8!" and added a cute star picture. My coworkers thought they were adorable so I made the same stickers for them with their own job titles and names. Funny how one can be inspired by something as little as a sticker that was received years ago!

 

Cheers,

Kaylie

Happy Mail at Work

As a library cataloguing technician, I often have to send things to other branches through our inter-branch delivery system. It's usually replacement supplies or tags for certain items. I always send them in a clear ziplock bag with the branch's name written on it as well as a short note of what's inside (just in case there are staff who are not up to date and are wondering why I sent it to them). One day, I decided that this method was boring and wanted to make it a bit more fun. I wanted to send something that would make staff smile and would make me smile when I send it! I was inspired to start sending them happy mail. The basic idea is that you send something fun! I was also inspired by the blind date with a book product that people have been selling where the book is covered in a specially folded brown paper so that it has a pocket where the seller also includes fun extras like a tea bag, bookmark, sticker, etc. Since I am the CATaloguer, I decided to go with a cat theme and found some cute printable cat notepaper online for writing my notes. I also used fun cartoon images of cats with books to create my own stickers to stick on my notes. I still have my Dewey Decimal holiday stickers and Dewey Decimal star stickers as well. Lastly, I found some bookmarks and book quotes to print on cardstock and include as my little extra gift for the staff. Work notes and deliveries don't have to be boring and we all need a little cheer every once in a while!
 
Cheers,
Kaylie

Scrabble Tile Word Art DIY

My boyfriend and I are big fans of meaningful gifts. He has given me framed images that he created that are connected to our dating history, like a map showing the place where we first met and an image of the night sky of the day that we started dating, while I have written him a poem that I framed for him. Another gift that I gave him recently was a piece of Scrabble tile word art that I created in a frame. I glued old Scrabble tiles to watercolour paper, spelling out both of our first names and crossing them so they connected via the "i" like in a crossword puzzle. This can be done with any names as long as they have a letter in common. I then glued a heart gem to it as well to add a bit of colour and decor. More decorations could be added but I wanted to keep it simple. I then took the glass out of a frame, because it wouldn't fit the thickness of the tiles, and framed the piece. This is such a cute personalized decoration for couples, families, and friends! You can use names or even words that fit a specific theme and then decorate accordingly. 

Cheers,

Kaylie

My Past Toilet Paper Dresses in the Gutsy Runway

As the Sudbury Chapter of Crohn's and Colitis Canada, our team came up with an interesting fundraising idea in 2022: a toilet paper fashion show called the Gutsy Runway! Basically, designers make toilet paper dresses and fundraise. Then their dress is in a runway that people can buy tickets to attend. All of the money goes to Crohn's and Colitis Canada! This is such a cool fundraiser because Crohn's and colitis are diseases that can involve frequent washroom use so toilet paper fits the theme. Also, the runway is about being brave and getting up there in front of people to raise awareness and support for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. I myself have designed a dress and modelled it all three years that we have held our runway. There has definitely been a lot of learning along the way! Having ulcerative colitis, designing and modelling my own dress was all about represting the Crohns and colitis community in every way that I could! See my past three dresses below along with the methods that I used to make them.

2022 - Ruffles:

I had no idea what I was doing for this first dress since I have no dress-making experience and toilet paper is difficult to work with. This dress was basically just one big experiment! I did a lot of papier maché work with the toilet paper and I wanted ruffles so I folded lot of individual pieces of toilet paper to make ruffles for the skirt part. Hot glue was definitely my best friend for this dress! The over the shoulder shawl-like piece was actually supposed to be worn as a traditional shawl but was too short and some girls backstage suggested that I just put it over my shoulder and it ended up being a hit! One problem that I encountered was the chest of the dress starting to tear backstage before I even modelled the dress.

See photos of all of the dresses here!

2023 - Medieval Inspired:

I decided to go with a different method of toilet paper dress making. The winner of the first runway showed me how she attached long sheets of toilet paper together to make a sort of fabric. She sewed hers with a sewing machine but I am only confident with my hand sewing methods so I just used my good old friend hot glue! I used the "fabric" making method to make two separate pieces, top and skirt, which looked like a full dress when combined. I made it in two pieces to lessen the weight of the skirt pulling on the top, hoping that this would prevent it from tearing. I wanted long bell sleeves inspired by Medieval dresses but decided to just have the sleeves flow behind me, sort of like a cape, instead. It still looked Medieval inspired and I made a sort of headband veil that was Medieval inspired as well. I wanted to make pom poms for this dress so I made some poofy ones and used them to decorate part of the dress. The most fun part of it was the accessory! I made two large poofy pompoms and attached them to each other using a large braid that I made from rope which was toilet paper twisted using a drill. This toilet paper rope would be the future inspiration for my third dress. People thought that my accessory of a big braid with pompoms on either end looked sort of like a mace which again fit in with the Medieval inspiration and which I thought was hilarious! This dress ended up tearing on the sides of the chest underneath the armpits but the tearing happened after the show while I was still wearing the dress and moving around a lot.

See photos of all of the dresses here!

2024 - 1920s Flapper Inspired:

This is my favourite dress so far! I love the 1920s so I wanted to create a dress inspired by this brilliant decade! After making some toilet paper rope the previous year, I decided to go all out with it and hand weave it in two panels which I then attached with woven sides. I did this using a makeshift loom that I put together from a long tote lid and pegged knitting looms duct taped to each end. It required a lot of rope to weave the entire thing and I used hot glue once again when needed. For my accessories, I made a toilet paper "feather" boa by making a really long braid from toilet paper rope and then glueing short individual pieces of the rope to it. I also made a hat by creating a sort of papier maché bowl using a large floppy hat as a mould and then decorated it. To complete my look, I wore a short bob style wig and some red lipstick. This particular dress held up really well and I am very proud of it!

See photos of all of the dresses here!

Cheers,

Kaylie