So, when it comes to buying friends Christmas gifts, I prefer to go the easy route. Box of chocolates. Gift Cards. Easy Peezy.
But, since my wife and I were trying to save money this past year, I decided to come up with something more personal and homemade. I work at a school with teachers and paraprofessionals in an ESE unit (Exceptional Student Education). These students have developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, and other exceptionalities that make it difficult for them to function in a "normal" classroom. Most of the kids in the unit have Autism, so I decided to create some puzzle piece ornaments this year.
I had to create 13 of these bad boys, so I had to get to work. I used a stencil on 3/4" common board and cut them out using my scroll saw. MAN, this was hard. The sharp curves and turns on a 4" ornament were very challenging. I had to take my time with this one!
Finally, all the ornaments were cut out! Phew! That was the hardest part anyway, right?
WRONG
The only thing more difficult than the cutting was the sanding. Getting in the tight spaces with sandpaper and making sure the grooves were all smooth on 13 puzzle pieces was VERY time consuming. Too small to use a electric sander, so they were all done by hand...
Okay, after all that, it was really easy. I stained the ornaments with Minwax Early American stain. I drilled a hole at the top for a red ribbon to hang the ornament. To make sure the message got across, I used my white Sharpie paint pen to write #awareness on each ornament.
Average cost for each ornament was about $0.50, and all of the teachers and paraprofessionals loved the message and admired the time put in to each one. They couldn't believe I made them myself!
“Though devastating at first, Autism isn’t the end of the world. It’s the beginning of a whole new one.” -Unknown
-Kevin
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