March 29, 2009

The Year of the Bagatelle


Below I mentioned that for one or two Christmases the 3 of us made each other gifts in addition to the usual potlatch. This is when my Pupkin was still quite young.

One year my son and I made my husband a board game. Another time I made the Senior Pup the Mozart-themed shadow-box shown below. Once the Senior Pup made Pupkin an amazing Bagatelle game - kind of like a manual pin-ball with nails that made a pleasing plink plink plink as the wooden marbles fell between them.

The year of the Bagatelle (doesn't that sound great!) the two of them made me the elephant above out of leftover MDF. My son drew the design and my husband cut it out with his jigsaw and then my son sanded it and adorned it.

That's a gift I'll never forget!!

8 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Ah. The Elephant in the room.

John-Michael said...

This simply makes me ... HAPPY!

Lovingly ...

Kerry said...

I like it! I find that it is hard to go wrong with elephants. They are such amazing animals!

Polly said...

That is a very cute elephant! Very good team effort... And I think I forgot to comment on your shadow box - it's stunning! I really like it. I think it would go well with a box of mazipan Mozartkugeln chocolates...

The Clever Pup said...

Polly - I think we can expect some Mozart's Balls upon his return from Bavaria!

Jelica said...

I was about to say that I will envy you for those Mozartkugeln when I remembered that I can actually get them here, too. Some shops that cater primarily to tourists have loads of Mozart-branded chocolate and candy so it feels like being in Vienna rather than in Budapest. Not that I'm complaining...

Tess Kincaid said...

Both the elephant and the shadow box are absolutely charming! Hand made gifts are so priceless.

Kat Mortensen said...

Mdf is so multi-purpose (were you a "Changing Rooms" fan)?

I love the elephant. If you like elephants, read Kim Eichlin's "Elephant Winter"; it's excellent.

Sounds like a wonderful Christmas tradition.

Kat