Thank You Gifts (Process Video)

When my dad ran his carpet business in the 1970's and 80's in particular, a lot of business came from houses under contract.  I'm not sure how common that is today.  I think most custom homes are built on spec.  A contract house gave the owners a fixed price and an allowance to spend on fixtures and finishes.  So they had x amount of dollars per yard on their carpet and wallpaper, not usually as much as they wanted to work with in the end but it could be done with that amount.  The contractor would recommend to the homeowner various businesses that would help them work with their allowances.  The homeowner also could pay above the allowance to get something nicer.

My house was built on spec. So I didn't have a set allowance yet I still relied on my contractor for a lot of recommendations.  Growing up in the home furnishings industry, I had some ideas of where to go for things but certainly not what electrician or plumber to use.  I relied on my contractor.

So contractors steer business to people they like to work with, businesses and subcontractors they can depend on.  My dad was one of those.  To thank them, each Christmas he gave out contractor gifts.  Daddy may have waited until Christmas eve to shop for us, but he started on those contractor gifts in October figuring out what to give and procuring what he needed.  The first year, he gave hand mirrors which I imagine ended up with the contractor's wife - not a bad idea.  He gave candy, sheet cakes and eventually he settled on apples.  Each October, he would have one of the apple houses here put back a 'box' of apples in cold storage. I think a box holds 17 bushes.  At Christmas, they would be reboxed in bushels and Daddy would deliver them to the contractor's home along with a thank you card.

And that is where I got the idea to give my clients thank you gifts.  I have these photos from I think,
2007, when I did pretty boxes with handmade cards, chocolates, perhaps candles - I don't remember.  Anyway, they were one of the things I did for customers who had me do a fair amount of work for them during the year.  I can see why my father liked doing this so much.  It was fun and people loved the gifts.  Since I worked closely with my clients and in their homes, I was able to customize my gifts based on decor and personalities.

For the page, I used a 2014 sketch which is in my new Sketchbook (more info here).

I added a 3rd photo to this one sneaking it in on top of the other two.  I also flipped the entire thing around.

Older product and some cardstock finished off the page in this video on YouTube:


Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you will check out the sketchbook.  Thanks to so many of you who have purchased it.  I hope it helps you enjoy your scrapping process even more.

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