Gift Idea: Customized Cutting Board

Lately, my house has been filled with the smell of burning wood.  No, we haven't been starting fires or burning wood-scented candles.  I received a wood burning tool from Darby Smart and have been going a litttttlle crazy with it.  What's a wood burning tool?  It's basically a really hot pen that you can use to write or stamp on wood objects.  I'm totally addicted, it's fulfilling all of my childhood pyromaniac needs.

I was trying to think of a good gift for my dad's birthday and having some serious struggles.  Are all dads hard to buy for?  For Father's Day I gave him a bottle of some nice whiskey, and prior to that, most of his recent gifts have been giftcards or cash for him to go crazy in the hardware store.  Since he's always making things (check out this gorgeous huppah he made for my brother's wedding), I thought it would be fun to return the favor and make something for him.

To make this, you'll need a cutting board of your choice, a wood burning tool, and letter hot stamps.  I first lightly drew a line across the board to denote where the letters would go, and then laid out the stamps to get the spacing right.  Then I attached my first letter to the tool and got burning.  It takes a couple of minutes for the tool to heat up (you can tell it's ready because it starts to smell like hot metal).  Then I held the stamp on the board, tilting it to make sure I got all of the edges of the letter, until it started to smoke.  Next, I let the tool cool for a little bit, removed the letter, and started the process over again with the next letter stamp.  I then used the pen tool to draw a couple of decorative lines, and called it a day.  Add some cheese, sausage, and crackers, and you've got yourself a present!

I made another cutting board for my mom for Mother's Day just using the pen tool, and she lurrrrved it ;)

Do you still make gifts for your friends and family?

I received these tools c/o Darby Smart, but all thoughts and opinions are my own!

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