Give a bucket of love for Father’s Day

We were working on next week’s project, when it dawned on us that we still needed a Father’s Day craft for this week.

As long as we had our hammer and awl in hand (that’s a hint as to what next week’s column will be), we decided to do a gift bucket – instead of the usual basket – that can be adapted to suit the personal tastes of your dad.

At first, our gift bucket was going to be tool-related. We had some wonderful tiny metal tools that we found in the scrapbooking section at Craft Mart in Marysville, which were perfect for dressing up the plain metal bucket.

Using our hammer and awl, we punched a number of small holes close to the rim of the bucket, high enough that they wouldn’t be a problem if the bucket were to be filled with water eventually.

We ran a strand of thin wire through the holes, hanging a tiny tool on the loops between each hole. We also looped some wire around the bucket handle and dangled more tiny tools from the handle.

Next, using curling ribbon, we wrapped the handle with strands of gold and white ribbon, covering the wire and tying off at both ends with long strands of ribbon to be curled. We added a few more strands of ribbon to make curled-ribbon clusters on both sides of the handle.

But, oops!

When it came to thinking of items with which to fill our bucket, we realized that the recipient of our gift bucket already has more tools than he can use in this lifetime, so we shifted our focus to car products.

The little tools may not exactly fit the car theme, but they still work as decoration.

We made a quick trip to the auto supply and dollar stores for our basket fillers and were ready for the next step in assembling the bucket.

Buckets are usually pretty deep, so if you plan to make a gift bucket, fill the bottom with some wadded-up newspaper or other filler so that your gift items don’t fall below the rim and disappear.

The amount of newspaper you’ll need to add depends on the items you’ve selected for your bucket.

After the newspaper is in place, add some colored tissue paper and fluff it out around the edges, leaving high peaks at the back of the bucket and shorter peaks toward the sides and front.

When adding your gift items, begin with the tallest items at the back of the bucket and work toward the front using medium-sized and smaller items, respectively.

For our car buff bucket, we added an all-purpose cloth at the very back; a couple of washing mitts next; a roll of mechanics cloths, a can of bug and tar remover, a hose nozzle and bottle of car wash gel in the center; and a large can of hand cleaner and bottle of car air freshener to the front.

While your choice of gift items will no doubt differ, arranging them by size and height is pretty much the same for a balanced bucket or basket.

You can wrap the entire bucket in clear cellophane if desired, tied off with a large bow at the top.

Other gift bucket suggestions include:

* A tool bucket full of all the basics, such as a hammer, screwdrivers, pliers, nails, sandpaper, level, tape measure, etc.

* A movie buff’s bucket, with popcorn, DVDs or videos, movie passes, cans of soda or beer, candy, chips, beef jerky and cheese.

* A gardener’s bucket, with garden tools, seeds, books, small packets of fertilizers or animal deterrents, brochures for beneficial insects, gloves and a hat.

* A reader’s bucket full of crossword puzzle collections, trivia books, special pens, a clip-on reading light, magazines, newspapers and subscriptions.

* A gadget lover’s bucket containing a small digital recorder, designer puzzles, unusual tools or anything that’s a bit out of the ordinary.

* A chef’s bucket, with state-of-the-art kitchen utensils, upscale timers, gourmet items, bread and sauce mixes, fine knives, unusual recipes and designer hot mitts and potholders.

And don’t forget to check out the scrapbooking section at your local craft store for decorative items with which to adorn your bucket. You’ll be surprised at the variety of adornments to be found.