Great Gifts for Dad + Tutorials + A Recipe for a Giant Cookie!

Recently, my Baby Daddy, hired me to make him a check book cover out of hemp fabric for him.  I found an easy tutorial for it on (where else) Pinterest. 

Check Book Cover Tutorial

I had a little fun with it and used the lame option on my sewing machine to embroider a little message ;).

I'm glad he asked me to make that for him because it gave me the perfect idea for his up coming birthday (which happens to be today).  

I decided to make him a matching wallet.  I found this great tutorial below.  I can't wait to try it with some cotton blend fabric or even denim. 

Wallet Tutorial

Lots of pockets for cards.

A spot for bills.

The kids had to make their Pops a nice gift, too.  I have been playing around with the idea of taking them to Color Me Mine to have them make him a personalized gift for his home.  We were going to do it for Fathers Day, but it was too expensive.  Sadly, that fact isn't changing anytime soon.  I'm pretty crafty, so I decided to find out own way to make Pops a personalized gift from the kids.  We went to Michael's and got these pens:

They just need to be oil base.  I think this set of pens cost $18.

Then we hit up the 99 cent store and picked out four matching dinner plates and one coffee cup.

$5.

I soaked the plates in bleach and water and dried them up.  We got the pens all prepared and ready to go.  Each kid got two plates and I got the coffee cup.  Once the plates are finished being painted, let them dry for 24 hours.  After 24 hours, bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.  That's it!

Here are Bayne's plates for Pops:

Best Dad Award for Everything, Ok?! Plate for Pops

Here are Aubrey's plates for Pops:

Evil Pops

Pops with a mustache

My Rasta coffee cup for Pops.

***UPDATE:  These painted cups and plates TOTALLY didn't work!  All the ink smeared :(.  Maybe there is a way to seal it?  Anyway, this is only suitable if you do not plan to eat off of or drink out of the plates or cups.  For display only******

We also wanted to make Pops a cake, but Pops doesn't like cake all that much.  He loves cookies, though, so we made him a giant cookie cake.  

Here is the recipe (from allrecipes.com):

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
2. Gradually add flour, salt, and baking soda, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Spread in greased 14 inch round pizza pan. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes. Cool cookie in pan on a cooling rack. Decorate as desired.

**I didn't have a pizza pan, so I used 2 - 9"round cake pans and divided the dough evenly between them.

I think Pops enjoyed all his gifts!

I always have a hard time coming up with ideas for gifts for Pops.  I hope this will help some of you come up with ideas for those hard to buy for guys out there.

Happy Birthday, Pops!!!