It has become our tradition to do gift exchange with $20 spending limit on occasions like Valentine’s day and Christmas. I think this tradition had started one Christmas, when we decided that it was just too much money to do something special for our wedding anniversary (12th), buy each other Christmas gift (25th) and buy our family and co-worker Christmas gift all in the same month of December.
Although it started from a practical reason, we ended up really enjoying doing this. The spending limit forces us both to be creative:)
For this Valentine’s day, I bought Andy push-up bars (not pictured) and made him a handmade T-shirt. I used his favorite Rocky T-shirt as a base. I didn’t even make patterns for the T-shirt, but just placed the T-shirt on the fabric and cut. Men’s T-shirt is so much easier to make than some woman’s clothes! Having no darts or zippers is wonderful. I finished his T-shirt in about half an hour. I added a patch pocket on the left with black and white stripe fabric, and added “Vivat Veritas” fabric tag in the back.
What do you think? Should I start men’s line? :p
Andy knew how much I love Knap jewelry, and surprised me with her handmade earrings and matching necklace. The color is beautiful, it’s a mix of purple and blue, and depending on the light, the color changes.. I’ve already worn them 3 days in a row! He also made me a handmade peanut butter cups. If you follow me on twitter, you might know how much I am obsessed with Reese’s peanut butter cups.. The reason for my obsession is not only because they are delicious but also we cannot buy Reese’s peanut butter cups in Japan. I searched everywhere for this. Different import food stores etc. I guess Japanese people are not so into the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, because I don’t really find those combination in any chocolate stores. So I was thrilled when he made me handmade ones…He made them so big they were almost like a cake! lol.
Japanese New Year Holiday
Five lovely things.
Two Thousand Thirteen
Emily says
Love the tradition! I also love the shirt you made (maybe you should make some for your shop!) and homemade peanut butter cups sound amazing!
Karen says
I am coming to Tokyo tomorrow and can bring you a big bag of Reese's if you like! I'll be there from Tues-Friday. I live on an air base in northern Japan so we have them here; let me know and I'll meet you somewhere with them. It's the least I can do for the inspiration I've gotten from your designs! -Karen (parkke at gmail dot com)
Miss Jackson says
Mens' clothing is so great to make… easy, not so much shaping, and usually from easy to sew fabrics… keep it up!
Love Baby Grand says
Such cute Valentine's gifts! Also it's nice that you have a $20 limit on presents- it's worth much more when someone puts a lot of thought into your gift, rather than just blindly spending money.
Kaitlyn Dreyling says
So cute! I love that Andy makes you peanut butter cups … too sweet <3
vivatveritas says
>emily
we love the tradition too! it's really fun:)
>karen
thank you for the offer! i sent you an email:)
> miss jackson
i didn't realized how easy it was to make men's t-shirt! i enjoyed seeing my husband wear it very much!
>love baby grand
right, i agree!
>kaitlyn
oh you know how much i love those reeses peanut butter cups right?! personally, (i might be biased) i like andy's version better, because they are so big! its like eating peanut butter cup cakes!