Xmas gift thread

Carlos wrote:I could do with some general advice on what to get my 13yo son. He will get some clothes but that's a pretty impersonal gift. He doesn't really need any new tech to speak of and he doesn't want any new Xbox games because gamepass takes care of that.

I'd love to surprise him with something nice. I already ordered him a new card wars set and I was thinking of getting him a decent football to use once the tiers go down a bit.

I should be kinda glad he's not a very materialistic kid but it does make it hard sometimes on gifts. It also doesnt help that it was his birthday last week.

My main idea was perhaps a good watch but I'm not sure he will wear it unless I spent a fortune on a good smartwatch.

One of those “adult” Lego sets? If he’s well into Star Wars (Boba Fett helmet is absolutely great.) or the Iron Man helmet set. £55 each so hardly anything to break the bank with?

Thanks everyone for the gift ideas. In the end I finally found an Xbox game he wanted that wasn't on gamepass

(In this case Need for Speed Hot Pursuit

So I was really early this year, shopped a lot in October.

Many boots & items from Debenhams the gf wanted, I tried in October to get them to extend a gift receipt as they've never been tried on (she tells me 2 weeks after I'd purchased from her list...) and they wouldn't budge. Now they are so close to being liquidated tomorrow I'll just have to take the hit if they don't fit

Some makeup and other crap.

Nephews got a Biro Train Starter set that I can't wait to play with & I always go overboard for my niece but this year wanted to get her something fun. Googled top 10 Christmas toys for 2020, and it gave me a flamingo that poos. (I'm not kidding cost £35 at Argos!)

I'll enjoy that as well https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7865619?clickSR=slp:term:gotta%20go%20flamingo:1:1:1

One of our cats likes to sleep in weird positions on his beanbag. So over the last few weeks I'd been taking pictures of him and made them into a giant photo that I'm going to frame for my girlfriend as one of her presents.



Anyway, I ordered the picture frame from Amazon a few weeks ago and then yesterday got an email telling me it had been cancelled as they had none in stock
So I quickly went back to the item listing and it was showing as still in stock. I then found another frame on Amazon and decided to order both and then cancel whichever is last to despatch.

Today a frame is delivered. It is the one that Amazon had already cancelled. I try to cancel the other two I've just ordered and it won't let me cancel either even though they haven't despatched yet.

So now I have three giant picture frames.

Sounds like you need to take a few more dozen cat photos then.

Rocsteady wrote:

The Watching Artist wrote:Yo!

It depends on what she likes to use. Oil paints? Acrylics? We always work our way through things so need materials. Could check out- https://www.jacksonsart.com/ for ideas.

Jesus those luxury gift paints are strawberry floating expensive!

I'll rebrand this thread for those of us with no imagination.

I'm an artist. Daley Rowney Georgian range or System3 acrylic is fine. Georgian is just another name for their student/entry oils. All oils are considered and advanced paint to work because they take literally weeks/months to dry and are expensive to manufacturer.

Acrylics dry faster and are also safer but won't build up a thick layer. Oils contain a lot more harmful ingredients.

It's the "artist's body" acrylics and other brands that sound like foreign words that are strawberry floating expensive, I wouldn't bother bother unless they're working to a commission and actually selling stuff in which case they could afford their own paint.

If you're buying an easel try to find one with reasonable adjustability and a hard wood like beech, pine is a softwood and not particularly strong and there's softer and crappier woods besides that. This'll help prevent the easel from moving around. Nothing under £50-£100 is going to be especially well finished, a bit of 120 grit sandpaper will help, but that doesn't really matter.

My younger brothers already have everything they need and are usually difficult to buy for so I'm buying a couple of second hand Gameboy Colours and putting them in new shells, screen cover, etc. They got one each for their birthday in '99 (twins) but over the years I think they've been lost. Costing a bloody arm and a leg, but it's going to be fun to tear them down and rebuild them.

I got them Pokemon Blue & Yellow, but I think they're these fake copies. I figure that isn't too big a deal and the seller says they keep a save so should be alright.

Wedgie wrote:

Carlos wrote:I could do with some general advice on what to get my 13yo son. He will get some clothes but that's a pretty impersonal gift. He doesn't really need any new tech to speak of and he doesn't want any new Xbox games because gamepass takes care of that.

I'd love to surprise him with something nice. I already ordered him a new card wars set and I was thinking of getting him a decent football to use once the tiers go down a bit.

I should be kinda glad he's not a very materialistic kid but it does make it hard sometimes on gifts. It also doesnt help that it was his birthday last week.

My main idea was perhaps a good watch but I'm not sure he will wear it unless I spent a fortune on a good smartwatch.

One of those “adult” Lego sets? If he’s well into Star Wars (Boba Fett helmet is absolutely great.) or the Iron Man helmet set. £55 each so hardly anything to break the bank with?

I print tees, jumpers and socks now, if you want something less impersonal hit me up. I don't peddle cheap clothes either most of them are geared towards upmarket.

For socks I'm just using M&S stuff to start off with, its really hard to find quality "blanks" of this type of item...

satriales wrote:One of our cats likes to sleep in weird positions on his beanbag. So over the last few weeks I'd been taking pictures of him and made them into a giant photo that I'm going to frame for my girlfriend as one of her presents.

Anyway, I ordered the picture frame from Amazon a few weeks ago and then yesterday got an email telling me it had been cancelled as they had none in stock
So I quickly went back to the item listing and it was showing as still in stock. I then found another frame on Amazon and decided to order both and then cancel whichever is last to despatch.

Today a frame is delivered. It is the one that Amazon had already cancelled. I try to cancel the other two I've just ordered and it won't let me cancel either even though they haven't despatched yet.

So now I have three giant picture frames.

Lol, that's a great idea though and a lovely collage.

Green Gecko wrote:

satriales wrote:One of our cats likes to sleep in weird positions on his beanbag. So over the last few weeks I'd been taking pictures of him and made them into a giant photo that I'm going to frame for my girlfriend as one of her presents.

Anyway, I ordered the picture frame from Amazon a few weeks ago and then yesterday got an email telling me it had been cancelled as they had none in stock
So I quickly went back to the item listing and it was showing as still in stock. I then found another frame on Amazon and decided to order both and then cancel whichever is last to despatch.

Today a frame is delivered. It is the one that Amazon had already cancelled. I try to cancel the other two I've just ordered and it won't let me cancel either even though they haven't despatched yet.

So now I have three giant picture frames.

Lol, that's a great idea though and a lovely collage.

Thanks. I used grids in GIMP to snap the boxes together, but even still it took ages to cut and resize each image. If I had more skill I would have matched the lighting in each one, but I tried with a couple of them and couldn't really figure it out.

Printed and framed it came out much better than I expected so I'm happy and sure the gf will love it.

satriales wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

satriales wrote:One of our cats likes to sleep in weird positions on his beanbag. So over the last few weeks I'd been taking pictures of him and made them into a giant photo that I'm going to frame for my girlfriend as one of her presents.

Anyway, I ordered the picture frame from Amazon a few weeks ago and then yesterday got an email telling me it had been cancelled as they had none in stock
So I quickly went back to the item listing and it was showing as still in stock. I then found another frame on Amazon and decided to order both and then cancel whichever is last to despatch.

Today a frame is delivered. It is the one that Amazon had already cancelled. I try to cancel the other two I've just ordered and it won't let me cancel either even though they haven't despatched yet.

So now I have three giant picture frames.

Lol, that's a great idea though and a lovely collage.

Thanks. I used grids in GIMP to snap the boxes together, but even still it took ages to cut and resize each image. If I had more skill I would have matched the lighting in each one, but I tried with a couple of them and couldn't really figure it out.

Printed and framed it came out much better than I expected so I'm happy and sure the gf will love it.

Yeah I spent ages doing a similar thing in PS for this, I had to use a word document as reference and then find all the JPEGs and line them up, check any bad cropping etc etc:

instagram.com/p/CIHp2yFKZ33/

I've bought my wife a locket she wanted for Christmas and am really struggling with what to put inside it.

There's two picture slots inside so I don't know what to go for.

My options are...

Her parents
Both sets of grandparents - I was looking at a picture of both from their wedding days, but i'm really struggling to find some of either grandparents and the only picture i've found of one set isn't the greatest photo of them.
Us from our wedding day - But then would she want to have a picture of herself in one half of the locket?
Me and then both parents on the other side

Any suggestions?

I would have thought a wedding pic would be pretty nice and fit with the general sentiment.