Firstly, I know that posting twice in one day is overkill. But I have to tell you about my day!
I finally broke down and did it. I gave in. I surrendered. I BOUGHT SOMETHING to give as a gift. I know it’s not really that big of a deal, that I bought ONE thing, but for me, it was the idea of making handmade gifts for everyone and not giving in on the commercialism, and buying something means I’m cheating. But today, I made an exception. Just a tiny one. See, my nephews LOVE trucks. And trains. And planes. And cars. And generally any type of toy mode of transportation. Well today, I came across a toy recycling truck. I’ve never seen a toy recycling truck before, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I’m sure they don’t have a recycling truck. There’s also little slots so you can sort all of your toy recyclables: cans, paper, and plastic. And to top it off, it’s made out of 100% recycled #2 milk jugs, free of BPAs, packaged in recycled cardboard, and printed with soy ink. Totally earth-friendly through and through. And, the place I got it from was having a major moving sale, so it was super discounted. I couldn’t resist.
But now this means I’ve got two gifts for 3 kids (they’re also getting the Chaos game), so now I’ve got to figure something else out. My little niece will be getting one of those towel cats, I think…..
On to the Goodwill. I know you’re thinking it: “Who shops for Christmas gifts at the goodwill?!?” I wasn’t shopping for gifts. Just browsing. This is one of my all-time favorite places to browse. Among other things, I got a couple of old tattered hard-cover books, because I want to experiment with making a hollow book to use as a pencil case for my drawing pencils. And you won’t believe one of the books I picked up. It was titled “Better than Life.” What’s better than life? Making art, of course! 
I have no idea what the book’s about….the paper jacket was missing, but I think it’s the perfect book title to hold all my artsy drawing stuff. I’m sort of intrigued to read it before cutting it up, but I’m also really chomping at the bit to get started with this project, and I don’t want to end up liking the book, because then I won’t want to cut it up. I also picked up an old dictionary too (for a prototype), just so I can get all the mistakes out the first time around. Expect an additional posting about this, and pictures too. Better than life, I’m still laughing about that one. Maybe I will read it….
EDIT: The book was really completely lame. It was all motivational-speaker-ish and preachy about why reading books is important. You’re preaching to the choir, Mr. author. Anyone who’s dedicated enough to pick up your book doesn’t need to be told that reading is important. I definitely don’t feel so bad cutting it up.
[...] the Goodwill to make into hollow book boxes. More details on the books I picked out can be found here. Though I think my efforts started off as a perfect “what not to do when making a hollow [...]