I needed a gift for a “white elephant gift exchange.” I’m not quite sure where this terminology came from as it has nothing to do with elephants! 😉
To me, it means to re-gift something I received and don’t need or perhaps, give something “creative.”
I decided on a little silly fun this year and created this one-of-a-kind gift!
A “Caroler” in a former life that I purchased at a thrift store years ago, I made him into a quirky guy that loves the lake!
It was super fun to create a poem to go with him… I will get to that later in this post.
This silly guy actually moves – his head slowly turns in circles and his right arm moves up and down when he is plugged in to an outlet. A little weird, I must say!
I started by giving him an old cup for a hat and taped a bird on top. The bird house came next. On the back, I added this “key” message (from a candy wrapper):
He needed a beach towel, so I cut-up an old wash cloth and sewed the outside edges. I used a paper napkin to represent “happy hour” where friends gather to share an appetizer and a drink as you can see in my first photo.
Below, I created a fishing pole from an old paint brush and beads – including a bead for a fish:
He needed a little summer outfit so I sewed some fabric to give him some pizzazz and cover up that ugly green outfit he was wearing – who says men can’t wear skirts!! Hahaha!
I finished him, by adding a Christmas ornament of a chair, a rubber stamp image of an image in the woods and writing a message on the base:
Below is one of the stanzas I wrote for my poem to the song, “Over The River And Through The Woods.”
Over the river and through the woods
We look forward to each year…
The memories we make
At this beautiful lake
Are the treasures we hold dear.
I look forward to seeing who receives my creative surprise… I encourage you to “think outside the box” when you give a gift!
Cheers! 🙂
Jill's Art Journal 