{diy: custom sketch pad}

What do you buy for the artist in your life? You know, the person who always gives you personalised paintings, artwork they've slaved over. For my granddad's 90th birthday, I found him a nice big sketchpad, but was rather unimpressed by the grizzly brown banana on the cover. Really, who gets inspired by rotting fruit? 

To make it a little more special, I gave it a little make-over, adding a custom cover. While I ripped the original cover off in a fit of anti-banana rage, I'd advise you to peel it off carefully. But then again, a good angry rip does feel rather good.

Print out a photo, for your new cover, onto photo paper (the heavier-weight works well to protect the pad). I used a photo of Tilly trying to steal Mossa's walking stick and chew on it -- at the time it provided a good laugh for both of them.

At this point, I found that the photo paper and the sketch pad were, unfortunately, different sizes -- the photo was a few millimetres wider, but also more than a centimetre shorter. The extra width was easy to remove, by trimming the photo with a paper cutter...

...but adding length proved a bit more difficult. Eventually, I used a fat bit of white packing tape -- lining up the bottoms of the photograph and the pad, and using the tape to fill the gap. Yes, this cuts about a centimetre off each page of the pad, but it seemed to stick it all together quite well. 

Tip: I found that using a generous bit of tape (i.e. extra on both sides), and letting the top of the pad hang off the table while you're taping helps it all to look a bit neater.

Trim the packing tape, and bend it over the top off the pad, and around the back (covering any scruffy marks left from where you ripped off the previous cover).

Hopefully, Mossa will remember his afternoons with Tilly whenever he does a little sketching.

In case his memory does fail, we penned a quick note in the front cover, just reminding Mossa who the pad was from (and how old he is). Add a pack of his favourite drawing pencils, and it's ready to be wrapped. Quick. Simple. And, hopefully, a good way to ensure you keep getting those lovely framed sketches as pressies. Everybody wins.

Do you have any quick presents to whip up for friends and family?  Please share -- I've got a little collection going here. With Christmas approaching, we're all looking for inspiration!

{a ninetieth birthday in photos}

It's the end of a long day of party poppers, pass the parcel, and Polo mints -- a ninetieth birthday party with personality. As all of our energy has been used up, scrambling to get the biscuits baked before the old folks arrived for their lunch, I'm simply going to show you some photos and go to bed. (With a leftover biscuit... or two!)