Gifts for the Runner

Well, we're both runners, but the husband is much, much faster.  Much.

I rarely make him gifts, so I was quite excited to have not one, but two ideas for him for Christmas!  See, there's been a pile of race bibs and medals getting shuffled around the sewing room/office for a couple of years, and I was 
a) concerned they'd get lost amidst the rubble, er craft supplies
b) irritated every time I had to relocate them
c) ready to cut the pile in half

So when I saw these medal holders, I thought, "Hey, I can make one of those!"  I got a long wooden plaque from Hobby Lobby and ventured to the hardware store to buy hooks and those picture hanging things that look like jaggedy teeth. I assume they have an actual name, but I can't remember what it was.  

I sanded the board, not nearly enough, which I didn't realize at the time, and added a few coats of white acrylic paint.  While I was waiting for it to dry, the following conversation occurred with the husband in the room: 

O. (whispering loudly): We need to get a hammer for those H-O-O-K-S for Dad's present.
Me: You know Dad can spell, right?

The next step was to paint the words.  I tried to come up with something clever, but failed and went for stating the obvious instead.  I used this nifty trick (oh, thank you, Pinterest!) to help, but still needed to make a Christmas Eve Day run to Hobby Lobby for a smaller brush.  I'm not sure why I thought one of O's paint brushes would be adequate??

Lettering done, I spent a ridiculous amount of time marking where the hooks should go, only to realize after the first one splintered the wood, that I'd need to use the drill, which I only sort of knew how to do.  So, back upstairs I ran to ask the husband for instructions as vaguely as possible.  I think I was unsuccessful, but the drill helped tremendously. 

I really love how it turned out.  The husband keeps talking about how I need one too, now (although my medals are all finisher's medals; he actually has placed in his age group a few times!).  It has yet to be made clear which one of us will be making said medal holder.  Honestly, if I had a do-over, I might just buy one from the original seller instead of making my own -- painting the letters took a loooong time -- but now I would like them both to match.  Hmmm...

The other part of his present was a scrapbook for the race bibs.  I know I saw the suggestion to use an 8x8 scrapbook for this on a blog somewhere, sometime, but I'm not sure where anymore.  I spent some quality time with the internet, looking up race results, and then even more quality time with Photoshop trying to make the results look pretty.  This was one of my favorite gifts that I gave this year.  I may even have emerged from the sewing room/office when it was done and proclaimed that I had just won Christmas...

Hey, if I can't be competitive pace-wise, why not be competitive about gift-giving?  ;)