When my sister and I were little, our aunt used to buy us little gifts for every occasion. Our parents weren’t very much the gift-giving types, so we always looked forward to her gifts. They were so delectably girly — flowered stationary, little porcelain, hand-painted trinket boxes, velvet bags filled with brightly-colored glass marbles. They were simple, but thoughtful, gifts, and while I don’t really remember them all I do remember loving them and the sentiment they conveyed.
There is one gift in particular that I do remember, however. It was my sister’s birthday. My aunt presented my sister with a purse. It was an octagonal, wooden purse with a tortoiseshell handle, and it came in a box with wood stain and paints to decorate it. To be honest, she never opened the box, because the best part of the present was the packaging. Written on the box was an explanation of how one could assemble the purse and embellish it, and it ended with one of the best typos I’ve ever read:
And then you can say, “I made myself.”
My sister and I laughed uproariously when we read it. I know you’re all thinking, this really isn’t that funny. But we thought it was, and we still do. Whenever one of us does something crafty, we always have the same response. “And then you can say,” my sister says. “I made myself,” I’ll finish. And we’ll lose it, our laughter mingling as it did when we were young.
Well, I’ve been feeling crafty as you all know, and ladies and gentleman, I present to you proof of said craftiness:
Sparkling Bib Necklace
If this doesn’t qualify for an “I made myself,” I don’t know what does.
