Handicraftin' for some lovin'

I suck at coming up with gift ideas, but every once in a while, this little light bulb goes off in my head, usually followed by a sleepless night of cutting cards, pruning paper and sticking sthings stogether.  The last time I did something like this for the girlfriend was back when we were only about one month into our relationship; that time it took me about seven or eight hours of trial and error before I managed to come up with this little beauty:

 

  

 

 

This was the second pop-up card I've ever made, and since then I haven't bothered making more because it takes forever.  And if I made them too often, it gets old really fast, too.  Anyway, I'm still really proud of this one, though.

On the other hand, I got a major epiphany for what to make as a belated Valentine's Day gift for this year.  So, last Friday night, after testing a modified version of Kyle Sanchez's Bant Mill deck until 2.30am for Sunday's Grand Prix: Kuala Lumpur Trial (holla if yer a Magic playa!¹), I started working on my next project; a mix tape (or in this day and age, a CD):

 

Front cover

Back cover

 

Side A

 

Side B

For those not in the know, this was a reference to our favourite musical, Avenue Q².  There's this song in there called "Mix Tape" which was, for the most part, a list of songs from a mix tape.  So, from the vast, powerful pool of knowledge and piracy known as the internets, I procured the playlist and pressed my own CD.  Of course, I've already done this long before I started working on the CD cover.  With such projects, I usually begin with an idea, go out and buy the materials, and then figure out the specifics.  Needless to say, I made a couple of errors along the way, but thank goodness I didn't screw it up too much³.

In any case, the CD cover project took slightly over four hours.  I ended up sleeping at 7am, and then waking up again at 9 because I was gonna meet her at 10⁴.  And if you're wondering why the hearts on the CD covers are orange (I know it doesn't exactly look like orange in the photos but I promise you, it does in real life):

And now you know!

Footnotes:
1 - My testing went to waste somewhat, as I audibled after watching Tom Ross's Naya Boss being shown on Deck Tech.  Obviously, at least six other people thought likewise for the tourney.  Oh, and I went 4-2, placing 9th and missing the Top 8 due to tiebreaks.
2 - Have you heard of the song "The Internet is for Porn"?  The one that became a smash YouTube hit? It's from Avenue Q.
3 - For example, I needed the "C" on the orange heart about half a centimetre to the left.  Unfortunately, I used double-sided tape and thus couldn't redo it.  Pros of double-sided tape: Neat.  Cons: If you screw up you're screwed.
4 - It was quite an epic weekend; in between testing and playing Magic, visiting Carrie's relatives, choir practice, etc. I had only nine hours of sleep over the course of two days.  It's not as crazy as my times back in Monash, but it's actually nice to feel positively alive every once in a while, even if it means sleep deprivation.