Celebrating Chris

My husband, Chris, is a pretty creative guy.  He writes music, plays the piano, and invents games.  When he was in college way back in the '90's he recorded many of his songs onto cassette tapes {remember those?}with a Walkman placed on top of a piano.  High-tech, no?  The purpose was just to get them recorded before they were forgotten because he never actually writes down his scores - he keeps them all in his head.  So the quality of the recording wasn't very important at the time.

Chris on Father's Day 2011

The tapes are now a favorite of my oldest son and I imagine the mp3 files we've made from them will likely be a cherished by all of as a family heirloom.  So in honor of all those songs and their composer I made him a cassette cake for his birthday last month.

Cake covered with buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant.  The cogs are snipped pieces of marshmallow and the writing was done with cake pens.

Chris treats the games he creates in much the same way he does his music.  He'll spend hours playing with the kids to tweak rules but then rarely takes the extra step to share them with others.  He's made everything from yard games to card games.  Lately he's been playing a game he created on old cards that he re-purposed.  He and the boys seemed to have worked most of the bugs out last month so I decided THAT would be his Father's Day gift.

Brandon and Sam explained all the rules to me so I would know what the game needed.  They had been calling it "Throwdown" since you throw down cards but we changed the name to "Attack and Stack".  It was easier for me to work with graphically, is a better representation of the game, and doesn't conjure up images of WWF or Miley Cyrus.

After designing the cards and logo I published the cards for the game through Heritage Makers with my friend, Kathryn.  I special ordered dice from {where else?} Vegas and found the perfect little box to put it all in, 'Rules' sheet included!

We sat down for Sunday dinner on Father's Day and had him open his cards and gifts.  We LOVE games in our family so it's not uncommon to receive a game as a gift.  He thanked us and put it aside.  The kids giggled uncontrollably as I suggested he read the rules for the game, right then and there.  The "huh?" look on his face was priceless.  I wish I had videoed his reaction when he finally realized that it was his game!

Chris loved the new name and graphics.  He couldn't stop looking at everything and asking questions about how we pulled it off.  We played twice that day and again the next day.  I even got a text on Tuesday AGAIN thanking me and stating: