Coco's Birthday Balloons

    Sorry for my absence! I know it's been a while, but life has been getting complicated. And by complicated I mean busy. And by busy I mean that I've had little to no motivation to write.
    I know. I'm a terrible person and there's no way that my writing will improve unless I do it every day (which I may have said in the beginning was the primary reason for starting this endeavor. I suck, I know.).
     Anyways, Coco's birthday was last week and mine is next week so we're meeting up this week to celebrate! I ordered him something super special and came up with the cutest idea to package it and give it to him. In hindsight, I realize I should've taken pictures while I was making it and putting it all together. I took one initially showing all my supplies, but I get so absorbed in what I'm doing I forget to pause and take more.
     Those of you who know me personally know I love making things for Corey. Almost every holiday or celebration I make something cute. Frequently something scrapbookerly, although I don't actually scrapbook. He always buys me the nicest things, but I'm broke, for the most part. Making things is how I show I care. Here are a few examples: 

This was my first Book of Notes. I made it for his 21 birthday, last year.

I forgot to take detailed photos of the second Book of Notes, which I gave him upon his return from Afghanistan. (The second page with the heart stitching is Georgia and Afghanistan. Cute right?)

This is from his Exploding Box of Love that I gave him for Christmas. Directions to make it are here. Basically, you open the box and all the side panels fall open. There are multiple layers, but on each one I put a cute little note or something.

    Anyhoo. This time I saved up so I could get him something nice. I won't say what it is just in case he happens to read this before he opens it. But I'll say that it's small enough to hold in one hand. But I couldn't resist making something, too. So this is my little idea.
    Coco loves his puzzles - brain teasers and the like. It's his 22 birthday, so I got 22 neon balloons (sort of transparent, so you can see inside). I wrote down 22 reasons why I love him and stuck them in the balloons prior to inflation along with some confetti. In 11 of them, I put the letters that spell out what I got him. In order to open his gift, he has to first pop the balloons, sending confetti flying and unscramble the letters to figure out what I gave him. I put them all in an enormous bag with his gift box in the bottom. There are even some balloons inside the box with his gift in it, but they don't have letters, just cute notes. I then supplied him with a card explaining the rules with a pushpin taped inside.
    How cute is that? I'm so excited. And I hope all the little notes are a good enough buildup to his actual gift.