Race Bib and Baseball Display (FATHER'S DAY!!!)

I know I am a day or so early here, but I wanted to share with you the father's day gifts I have been working so hard on the past couple weeks.
I think I have mentioned before that my husband is a runner, and my dad has recently (within the past two years) really gotten into it. In the spring and fall (not the hot summer-- yuck.) they like to do road races together... 5K, 10K, and their longest race was the half marathon last fall. In some races they got finisher medals, some races they placed and got medals, and in every race they run, they get a race bib (number). It's fun to keep them, but they start to pile up fast, and it's hard to know what to do with them.
So I made both my dad and my husband a race bib holder for father's day this year.

I like the way it turned out. He has a spot to put the most recent race bib on the top of those hooks, and the ones along the bottom can hold his medals. I looked around online and didn't find anything purchase-able that I liked, so I made my own. My dad really like the two-tone wood thing I did. Here's how it was done:

I started with a board-- 1x12x14 inches. I sanded reall well and used a wood prep... then I painted on a thin coat of a light stain. I used Minwax PolyShades (color: light oak). I

I let  the stain/poly finish dry for 6 hours, as recommended on the can). Then I flipped it and stained the back and sides of the board. After another 6 hour drying time, I sanded it very lightly with a high grit paper. I used my silhouette machine to make a vinyl decal that said RACES and placed that that the top.

Then I used a second darker stain (color: Honey) and painted right over the top of the vinyl and the entire piece.

 Then I let it dry for 6 hours and did the back and sides, and another 6 hour dry time... and then I peeled of the vinyl... leaving a two toned wood look.

Next I measured a race bib and measured and centered and marked everything on the board, then I drilled pilot holes for my hooks. I used small, right angle hooks that screwed into place.

I also put hardware on the back to hang it with.

And here is the completed project. Then we ganked Dad's race bibs and medals from his house and hung them on there when we gave it to him, he seemed pretty excited to receive this gift:

Oh, and that race bib on the top there? Is actually not from a race... rather it's a father's day card I made to look like a race bib:

I used publisher to create the text and banners, put the number in (the number... 61712 (June 17, 2012??? Father's Day?!?! My mom recognized it right away, we had to explain it to both my dad and Z... oh well) and then we put sam's footprint on the left there. It made a unique fun card.
Z got one too, although he was involved with the creating process (or at least watched me do the whole thing) so gifting it to him wasn't an exciting surprise and I didn't even think to take a picture. But anyway... They look really nice hanging on the wall, and my husband was especially happy and proud to have a place to hang all his medals.

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Z's dad is not much of a runner, but he is a huge baseball fan, so we decided to make him a little gift that combined his two favorite things: Baseball and his grandson.

These are pretty self explanatory-- so no fancy tutorial here. But we took a baseball, and used normal ink to put Sam's handprint on it. (I did not have a black ink pad, only grey, which is why it is a little light but it doesn't look too bad in person.) Then I just took a regular ol' sharpie and wrote a message on the back (there are two becuase we made one for daddy while we were at it.)

Z wanted to make a stand for it, so he got a board, cut it into squares, then he and my dad disappeared into Dad's shop for a few minutes and came back with decorative edges and a nice hole in the middle for the ball to sit on. (I can't tell you how this was accomplished other than... if you have the right guys and the right tools around... things happen.) Then I stained the little wood stands and tied them up with a pretty ribbon.

 

(I always have this problem trying to figure out ways to package or giftwrap things to give to guys that doesn't look too girly. Z always says it doesn't matter he doesn't care, and he doesn't need bows and frills... but it matters to me that it looks nice. anyone have any great ideas???)

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So there you have it... that's what Father's day looks like for us this year. Well, there are a few other little surprises in store still... but SHHHHHHHHH! It's not QUITE father's day yet!

The fathers in my life are truly remarkable men. My Dad, my father-in-law, and my husband are all strong, generous, loving men and fathers. I am blessed to have all of them in my life.

Happy Father's Day!