No One Cares What You Had For Lunch

I recently bought a book by the wonderful Maggie Mason. She is a writer from sunny San Francisco who runs Mighty Girl, the most interesting personal blog I have ever read. Her book is call No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog.

Miss Mason uses many of the ideas in her book on her own blog, including her Mighty Life List, a slew of amazing things she'd like to do before she dies. So far she's been dog-sledding, eaten a ton of fruits, traveled to exotic countries, and fed her son his first ice cream cone (among many, many other things.)

No One Cares is not only a great reference for us writers, but also the perfect gift for a friend or loved one who is starting a blog. I plan on giving mine to a dear friend's mother who is chronicling the crazy year she has had via weblog--I would post the link but she is keeping the site private for now. But this book is a great way to seek inspiration for your personal blog and gets your brain ticking.

The reason why I choose to post Maggie Mason's book is not only because it's a great read, but also because she has three shopping blogs that have always inspired me to start a gift related blog, and here I am! ACTUALLY doing it! Well, today, Maggie announced that her shopping empire, Mighty Goods, Mighty Junior and Mighty Haus, are now for sale. So soon they'll be off her hands, she she will head forth to conquer the mighty world.

I don't know Maggie personally but through her writing she has been a friend to me and many other bloggers. I really recommend that you go over to Amazon and pick it up for a friend or even yourself. Maggie, you rock!

How to Wrap a Gift With...Aluminum Foil?

Yes, you read it correctly. In keeping with this week's theme of metallic wrap, I wanted to show you a way you could create a whimsical gift using something you might already have at home. Decorating with aluminum foil is a great way to wrap if you're still novice and don't have time for perfection, or, if you are a boy and like household things that are shiny. Let's begin, shall we?

You need several materials for this project:

You'll need one sheet of aluminum foil, large enough to cover the entire object you're wrapping (duh). Just a guesstimate usually works for me.

You'll also need scissors, tape (I find package tape works best for non-traditional wrapping materials), ribbon, glue, glitter, and a gold decorative plate to display it on. Just kidding on that last thing. Also, you're free to play with decorations in whatever way you choose. Want to glue buttons on your gift? Knock yourself out.

And of course, you'll need the perfect gift. I'll be wrapping The Sartorialist by visionary street fashion photographer Scott Schuman. It is based off his world famous blog, and is a great gift for a lover of fashion, photography, cities, and people watching; I highly recommend it. (It is published by the Penguin Group)

Now onto the steps:

1) Lay your gift face down on the aluminum foil. I decided for the dull side to be the side that shows on the outside of the gift, but if you prefer a more flamboyant gift, it's fine to show the shiny side instead.

2) Make a short, inward fold on one long side of the foil and flatten it.

3) Fold one side of the aluminum foil over the book, and then fold the other, making sure the top fold is the one with the folded edge from above. Tape down.

4) Choose one of the two remaining open folds. Press the top and bottom pieces of foil to form a flap, and press it flat against the gift, as shown above. Make a small, inward fold with the edge of the foil.

5) Fold the flap up to meet the bottom side of the package and tape down. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the other remaining open end.

6) Add a ribbon to the wrapped gift as a finishing touch. (If desired, I will provide a ribbons tutorial one day.) You can be finished here, or you can continue decorating for a more festive gift. See next steps for more.

7) Draw designs of your choice in craft glue all the heck over your gift. I chose the letter S for Sarah because naturally, I wrapped a gift for myself.

8) Coat glue with glitter liberally. Allow about a half hour to dry.

9) Shake off excess glitter and voila! You have a tin foil present! You can't really go wrong with this craft. If it doesn't turn out well it will still make a hilarious conversation piece, and if it does turn out well, it'll look impressive. I'm actually pretty proud, my roommate saw the gift on our coffee table and thought it was silver wrapping paper. Wee!

Let me know what you thought of this craft and please send pics if anyone tries it at home! My email is sromeo@fordham.edu.

Books as Gifts: Classics

Sometime later this week I'm going to post a wrapping tutorial (YES, there will be actual wrapping of gifts on this blog at long last) and I think I'll be wrapping a book. But before I do so, I thought it appropriate to do the first of hopefully many posts where I suggest wonderful books to give as gifts.

I believe that everyone ought to have some knowledge of classic literature, even if it's just one novel that you really cherish. I also think aesthetically pleasing hardcover books make terrific presents. Thus, giving a beautiful hardcover classic should be your next gifting venture (that was the thesis statement of this post, by the way).

One of my favorite classics is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. When I was reading it for a women's lit class last year, I saw that one girl in my class had the illustrated edition by Dame Darcy. I died of jealousy. This particular version of Jane Eyre has faced quite to barrage of criticism, generally the question of why a classic, highly praised work needs to be bastardized and popularized by someone else's craft. Some folks think Darcy is taking advantage of a long aged piece and making fast cash on it. While this all may be valid, I love the idea of inviting a classic into the modern age and proving its timelessness by giving it a makeover. Call me shallow if you will, but I would love this as a gift.

If you like the idea of visually updated classics that aren't illustrated all the way through, look into White's Books. Available online at Waterstone's, artist David Pearson opened his own publishing house to create beautiful, modern jackets for old favorites. There are only a few titles available at a time so you've got to act fast if you see one you like. This Jane Eyre to the left is just one of several for sale right now, and I have to tell you, I would have been much more excited to show up to class if I had this edition in my hands.

Pearson doesn't only produce Bronte novels. White's Books

covers the classics from Austin to Dickens to Doyle. How amazing is this Sherlock Holmes? Not to encourage socialized gender stereotypes, but that pipe is pretty sweet, and I think a boy would feel dangerously dapper carrying this novel around under his arm.

One last suggestion. Say you have a friend who's a Jane Austen fan but has already exhausted their knowledge of her stuff. Or even more likely, your friend just isn't into classics. Or reading in general. The Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Series caters to scholars and slackers alike. Seth Grahame Smith took the Austen classic and nearly seamlessly turned into a story about socialites battling hoards of zombies. Awesome, right? P&P&Z actually did quite well on the shelves last year and is slated to become a Natalie Portman flick in the upcoming months. If this interests you, please don't overlook Smith's second project, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which came out just a couple months ago.

If I've missed any crucial stuff, please remember to yell at me in the comments. Happy reading!