I’m terrible at picking out presents for people. I’m not bad if it’s just a random little “hey I saw this and thought of you” kind of gift, but when it comes to Big Gifts for birthdays or Christmas or Major Life Events, I’m pretty hopeless. My family makes it easy, sharing wish lists with each other each year. Some people think that takes something away from it, but the way I figure it, if I see something that would be perfect for Mom, I’ll get it for her, even if it wasn’t on her list. I usually give my parents wish lists that are fairly long – not because I expect lots of gifts, but because I want to be surprised.

So you can imagine my terror at the prospect of Christmas gifts for two of my closest friends, Kate and Cookie. I wanted to get them something awesome, but I am just so awful at finding really great gifts. What to do?

Luckily, I happened upon a little inspiration one afternoon. Kate is a big fangirl of, well, a lot of things, but Harry Potter in particular. She’s a card-carrying member of Hufflepuff House and is quite active with the Harry Potter Alliance, a charity and activism organization created by fans of the series. I thought about the house crests, then pondered some of her other interests, and suddenly I was making lists and sketching and crossing-out and doing over. It was great. I started with the Hufflepuff Crest as seen in the movies because there was more room for embellishment. After a little discussion with Kate, who had absolutely no idea what I was up to, I came up with the following drawing:

Included here: Harry Potter, Eeyore, Washington Capitals, Highlander, writing, LBGT issues, BookCrossing, Markeroni, Virginia Tech, LEGO, Doctor Who, The Hunger Games, and Star Trek. Did you spot them all?

Now I had my momentum, so I moved onto to Cookie’s. She was a little more difficult because while she has plenty of hobbies, they don’t lend themselves quite so well to logos as fandoms. But I think I persevered.

Included here: BookCrossing, Bingo, Markeroni, PostCrossing, homeschooling, crochet, Girl Scouts, and assorted crafts. The dog in the middle is her mascot, Chip.

Both pictures were drawn with regular pencil, inked with black Copic Multiliner 0.3, and then colored with Prismacolor colored pencils.

What about you? What would go on your personal coat of arms?