two straight lines

Nature Boy

When Elliot was born I dreamed he'd grow into an artsy nature loving boy, and we'd spend our days crafting and gardening.  What emerged instead was a boy with your typical vehicle obsessions, most specifically of the fire truck variety.  He squealed when I even came near him with the tree hugging shirt I bought him, favoring "fire department" instead.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but he embraced his obsession for over two years. 

For little kids, such obsessions can be signs of sensory issues (yep), or of giftedness (don't know), and I'm sure in some kids they are indicative of nothing.  In the past few months since we have been pinpointing food intolerances in Elliot's diet and treating them with a combination of enzyme supplements and removal, his interest in fire trucks is all but gone.  And instead he loves space and rockets and Notre Dame football and golden retrievers and daffodils and butterflies. And he swings and climbs jungle gyms and bounces in those giant bouncy things and goes into Smalland at Ikea, and uses scissors and crayons all day long.  Oh, and he'll happily wear that tree hugger shirt.  Each activity is met with amazement-- "Mommy, I'm not afraid any more."

We've seen quite a change in our boy.  We have OT on hold until we see what is left to be treated after dietary intervention.  We aren't free of issues, that's for sure, but he's adjusting to his new view of the world.  And in a crazy twist of fate, through all of this we may have discovered that I am a Celiac, probably have been my whole life, but I exhibit very few "classic symptoms," and the symptoms I've had since childhood I thought were "just me." (What, you're fingers aren't numb?)  I've been waiting to mention it here until the testing is complete, but it looks like it may be a few more weeks.  So now we are gluten free.

I used to joke that I would forever hold it over Elliot's head that I had to limit my diet so much in order to nurse him.  Turns out it may have been the other way around, he may have been bringing me health through our dietary elimination.  Maybe I didn't get a Nature Boy, but I surely got just what I needed.

Bundles

of Carolina Chambray from Robert Kaufman sent out last week to my fellow participants in the Virtual Quilting Bee.  Available at Purl, a little cheaper locally at Guildcrafters.  Anyone who likes shot cottons will love this stuff.  There are actually three colors in each bundle, dark teal, russet, and muslin (my names for the colors, not Robert Kaufman's).

(S & P shakers by Anthropologie)

And some quilty inspiration via Flickr.  I didn't make any of these.  Click through for links to the very talented makers.

Charm

Hi, I just wanted to pop in a say hello.  We've been on spring break here, and now I'm on a deadline.  The above picture is my most recent piece for Wondertime.  It is a fabric charm made (theoretically) from a swatch of your child's clothing.  I made these from fabrics from Lucie's room, but also may make some from one of my Mom's old dresses.  Wondertime actually found a  donut shaped charm that did not require drilling for the magazine shot, but these are the ones I made. 

If you do this project, take your time and do several coats of mod podge on the charm, and you'll end up with a really nice and super smooth result.   The base is just a 1" wooden square. 

In the April issue, my project was the God's Eye with variegated yarn.  Those are really fun, and perfect for Cinquo de Mayo. Be back soon, I promise;)

Babette

These aren't the best photos, but I may never be able to get any with good natural lighting because this area of my house is rather dark.  This week-- April 1, yes I am a fool-- was my birthday (37, thank you)  and I got myself a few treats, including this Babette Doll which I absolutely adore.  I am not the biggest collector of softies, but Babette is my favorite.  I love how French she looks.  I am a major French wanna-be (actually I am French, my maiden name is DeMoss), so this is just perfect for me.

(That's the reflection of my kitchen in the TV, see the terrariums back there?)

And I finally filled some embroidery hoops that I bought on Ebay many months ago with Joelle Hoverson's new line of fabric Cake Rock Beach.  I was so pleased when it arrived today, I bought this print as well as the companion dot in two colorways, and it is really gorgeous.  I want more, but will leave some for the rest of you.  Here you can see a few of the changes that I've managed to implement in my family room.  I've painted the mantel black, put some Denyse Schmidt throw pillows on the chairs, and some of you spied the DS quilt on the back of my couch a while back.  Now I just need to slipcover the ottoman with some tobacco colored fabric I bought a few months back.  Why does that seem so difficult?  I don't know.  I'll give you some more shots of some other changes soon, including a ladder to the left of the fireplace with three wool throws. (that I conveniently bought for my family for Christmas, how's that for multi-tasking?  Call me Homer Simpson).

Have a great weekend...

(PS- a few posts back a few of you asked about my fridge magnets.  I made them by printing large numbers on Kraft paper and putting them through my Xyron)

Specimens

Elliot and I decided to make some terrariums, so last week we headed out to our local plant store and picked out some nice specimens.  It took us a whole week to gather the supplies (giant jars and dinos from Target, everything else besides plants from Downtown Home & Garden), and we put them together this morning.  I really struggle with houseplants because I am fickle with a short attention span, but I have great hope for these because I read online that most terrariums fail due to over watering.  Well, they clearly haven't met me.  (Husband chuckles)

The dinos were originally intended for a paludarium in Elliot's room, but he wanted them in the kitchen, and actually I quite like them.  Elliot and my husband (do I ever say his name?  his name is Scott) ran to Target for one more dino and a smaller jar for his room.  I would show you a photo of that one, but its rest time, and of course, one does not interrupt rest time.

Science is so cool, why did my teachers have to make it so dang boring?

This one is my favorite.  I love the way that guy looks like he's eating the plant.  Scott says this one doesn't eat plants.  I say only boys care about such details.

I keep forgetting to tell you, a local friend of mine started a blog, and she is super sweet as well as the queen of crochet.  Check it out...here.

Update: These jars are the 2 gallon Heritage Collection at Target (by Anchor Hocking) for $12.99.  They are around 13" tall.  They are in the kitchen department, and there are many others there that would also work.  I chose these because they looked vintage, instead of looking like they were "trying to look vintage, but not quite."

Spring-y

(Spring Green Cape, #6 of 10 I'm making for Elliot's classmates)

OK, this is a really random post after all of that heavy stuff, but I'm feeling all spring-y over here and it brought up a question that comes up in my mind every time I think about adding some curb appeal to my house.  You know, planting some flowers, putting some furniture on my front porch.  Why are all (or at least most) flags for you house (besides the patriotic ones, of course) so cheesy?  Is there a market for non-cheesy ones, or are they just bad all around?  I think if you could find really cute ones they could be a nice touch.  There seems to be so much fabulous illustration around these days, why doesn't anyone print it on a flag?  and sell it to me?  I managed to find cute simple ones for the fall and winter, but the spring and summer ones are scaring me.

I just got a marketing email from Michelle Caplan, which led me to the Paper Quilt project, now there are a number of illustrations there that would make great flags.  Here's a really cute one by Claudine Hellmuth that would be cute for spring.  Am I crazy?

Things are really good over here (thus the decorating), Elliot and I start OT this afternoon.  Can't wait.  We've also started some dietary changes, and I can really see a difference in him.  They call it the "Happy Child Effect."  I'll take it.  As we progress, I'll share what we're doing.

Have a great day.

Just What Are Sensory Issues?

First, let me thank all of you for your kind words and support, they mean the world to me, really.  I am constantly amazed at the kindness of this community.  You brought many a tear to my eye.  I will touch base with as many of you as possible over the next few days.  I would also like to give a little more information about Sensory Integration as a whole, and also how it relates to my son.  I know a few of you who know us in real life are wondering just what this means for Elliot.

I don't think I could possibly sum this up as eloquently as Taya did when she said-- "preschoolers, by definition, are learning to integrate the incredible, overwhelming data from the world around them. It's hard, and struggling with it demonstrates just how much there is out there to see, hear, touch, etc.--it can point out the richness and beauty of the world to us, the adults who are really good at integrating, and it can also help us to notice the very sensitive little souls for whom sometimes it's just too much." 

Taya is absolutely right.  Sensory integration really is the most important work little children are doing.  Taking in information from their surroundings, interpreting it, and reacting to it.  And all children have sensory issues, little things that make you scratch your head and go, hmmmmm.  It is when these things add up and alter the way a child lives his life that it needs intervention. 

I also want to clarify for those who read all of the comments the relationship between sensory issues and pervasive developmental disorders such as autism.  Nearly all autistics have sensory issues, but kids with sensory issues are not necessarily autistic.  My son is not autistic. 

I suspect the reason it took me so long to figure out Elliot's sensory issues is because he does not have what I thought of as many of the classic symptoms.  I thought affected children covered their eyes and ears all of the time, made their parents cut all of the tags out of their clothing, and only ate a few foods.  Elliot doesn't do any of these things, he does subtly avoid some things, but in and of themselves they would not be significant.  For example, he won't eat anything "minty" or "bubbly," hates swings, and has grown out of a variety of other sensory avoiding behaviors.

Elliot is primarily a sensory seeker.  He loves preschool and asks us if he can go everyday, and stay for aftercare.   He doesn't cause any significant problems at school, but does want to touch other children a lot, which I suspect is annoying to them.  This is his only problem at school, and luckily he has very good relationships with his teachers, who incidentally, think he has sensory issues, but that they are within the range of normal.

At home, Elliot is more difficult.  I think that holding it all together at school is very tiring, and he sort of lets it go for us.  Again, he loves action, and if we were to run him around from the farmer's market to a restaurant, to a mall, he would be happy as a clam.  It is mainly when we desire to stay home and do something besides entertain him every waking moment that we run into a problem.  I'm delighted that my son is so bright and energetic, but there has to be room in the day for meeting the needs of more than one family member.

The other big frustration Elliot has is getting his body to keep up with his mind.  I knew that he struggled with large motor skills, as he frequently injures himself (hello, emergency room) but I thought his fine motor skills were just fine.  On the way out of the occupational therapist's office the other day I bought him an orthopedic pencil as a treat.  When we got home he wrote his name on every piece of paper he could find.  I guess he was not able to hold a normal pencil well enough to write.

So, our hopes are that through occupational therapy, they can teach his body how to better work with his brain, and he will have a lower level of frustration, which will lead to more peaceful times in our home.  I also believe there is a strong connection between sensory issues and food allergy, and as proof of that would like to let you know that every single Mom who has contacted me privately has confirmed that her child also suffered from reflux as a baby, which I also believe is a food allergy issue.  We will also be handling this from a food allergy perspective.  (anyone wanting more info about the food allergy connection, check this link)

Finally, as I am sure is the case with any child's diagnosis, this has led me to examine my own issues, and I am confident I have plenty of sensory issues as well.  This gives me hope, as I am functioning, as least reasonably well:)  I also believe these children carry with them enormous gifts in their sensitive little bodies. 

Mama Voice

I try and draw a line between the public and private in this little space, but this needs saying, if only for me, for my boy.  And also to explain why I seem come and go from here.

We're four years down this path, and finally we have some answers.  From his earliest days, something just seemed different, harder.  With every sound he woke, I held him, all day, all night.  Had to limit my diet to keep him happy.  There's something off I say, the doctors say he is fine, he is big, he is beautiful.  I listen to my Mama Voice, stop asking for help. 

I will care for you little one.

He grows, he's smart, he's healthy.  He's just clumsy because he's SO BIG.  All parents have to repeat things a lot, right?  Why doesn't he really play with all those toys?  Why must I lead him through everything?  Still, things seem more normal.  Maybe parenting is really this hard.  But, it doesn't look this hard for others.

He starts school, does fine.  Seems ahead in some ways, behind in others.  He's happy.  He turns three, his sister comes.  Things aren't so good.  Sibling issues, yes, that's it.  He challenges more, acts out towards pets and sister.  Everyone says "he's three, three is hard."

But, he has incredibly sweet moments.  He talks like such a grown up now.  When did my little boy become so grown up?  Still, something about him seems naive, a little off.  What is it?

Fourth birthday approaches, maybe four will be better.  Late night internet searching, click on "sensory issues."  This is my child.

Seek evaluation-- yes sensory issues, sensory seeking (must touch everything), sensory avoiding (no swings, please).  We can help him.  He will be fine.

Prescription:  Rich sensory experiences, occupational therapy (disguised as play), lots of hugs (no tickles)

I will care for you little one.

Odd Feed?

A local reader of my blog (thanks Parke!) contacted me and said she's getting a really odd feed of my blog on her feedreader (she's on my atom feed which is my most popular).  Anyone else getting music related postings from me?

If you don't know what a "feed" is, please disregard.

11 Months

:Lucie:

at 11 months you

stand against various things for really long periods of time, until you get crabby from standing so much

dump all of the play food out of the playstand each time I pick it up...this could continue all day

clap your hands and also put them up by your shoulders like you're saying "SO!?"

love Clio the cat so much that you gasp and flap your arms while saying "CAT" each time you see him.  You even purr at him.  I'm so glad now that I bought you this adorable cat with three wee kitties hiding in her skirt for your upcoming birthday  (from Dorie at Tumbling Blocks)

have a little gap between your front teeth just like your Grandma Debbie did

have little curls at the nape of your neck

love to eat, but are not so sure about yogurt

love Elliot best.

Been Around the Block

My quilt square for the Virtual Quilting Bee destined for Mama Urchin's playroom.

Now I need to go buy a non-crap iron. Bye-bye Rowenta. Hello Black & Decker. I took the internet's advice and spritzed it with water (rather than using steam) and it added a boatload of tiny wrinkles.

Time to Sew

Fickle

This bed, recycled from a down pillow, was one of the first blog projects I did.  It used to have a cute little apron with vintage kitty fabric and red trim, but I washed it once and the seam binding bled.  Clio never once used it, until today.  Maybe its a nice spot to look out at the fresh snow.

Quilty

On Sunday I made my way to the brand new exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum called Quilting Genius II, the Improvisational Quilts of Susana Allen Hunter.  It was absolutely stunning- any locals should run straight there to see it before the end of April when the quilts will be packed away.

I took my trusty camera and with my babe in arms shot photos of all 30 of them, only to discover when I got home that my lens had accidentally been switched to manual.  not. one. good. shot.  But I promise, I will return and bring you all photos.

Ms. Hunter's work is reminiscent of the quilts of Gee's Bend, and she artfully pairs modern arrangements with softer details like feedsack florals.  Add some hand quilting and you have richly layered pieces that seem to tell you a story.  Seriously amazing.  The photo above shows four of the quilts, but really doesn't do them justice.  I'm hoping I can get you some more details.  Can you see all of the feedsacks in the bottom right one?

I was feeling all quilty even before this, working on a small patchworky piece.  This is nearly finished now so I will share more when I get a chance.  Also getting ready to make my block for the Virtual Quilting Bee hosted by Mama Urchin.  And then I'm dying to make Lucie a doll quilt for her first birthday in a month (!!).  And the list goes on.

What We Gave

Today was Valentine's Day at Elliot's school, so I thought I'd show you what we ended up giving. 

Elliot doesn't draw figuratively or write letters yet, so I needed a project that he could help with, as well as one that he had interest in.  We made a potato stamp of a heart-- like last year-- and stamped it on the pages of the dictionary that keeps on giving.  This was the end of Elliot's involvement, so after he went to bed, I cut them into little mitten shapes, scalloped the bottom, and addressed them.  I also punched around the edges with a hole punch because I just couldn't stop myself.  It will be fun next year when Elliot's attention span is a little longer to have him even more involved.

I had to brave the cold and snowy drive to school today because my husband had an early appointment.  It was treacherous driving (saw many spin-outs), and I was never so happy to arrive.  The children were all excitedly chattering about their Valentines.  I spied some of their creations (they are required to bring handmade), and I can't wait to see what we receive.  Hmmm, who's more excited here??  We have a lot of "mail delivery" in our house, so I'm sure they will all be dragged around for many months.

After drop-off Lucie and I headed over to the new grocery in Ann Arbor where there is a See's Candy, to pick up a few goodies for my Valentines as well as items for Valentine's dinner-- with the kids, of course.  Prepared Pork Loin stuffed with dried fruit, fingerling potatoes, maybe a plum cake.  Perhaps followed by hot chocolate with just my sweetie?  What's on your menu?

Sweet

Here are a few fun Valentine ideas, in case you haven't made yours yet.  I have to admit that making Valentine's is just about my favorite childhood memory.  My Mom always had me make my own, and I don't think anyone else in my school ever once made theirs, so I loved crafting just the right thing for each person, and being the only one without store bought.  These days, I think more kids make theirs, and even if they don't, there are more choices within the ready-made category.  I've even seen some cute down-loadable ones.  And I find myself nostalgic of the vintage-y store bought ones that look like the ones from my youth too.  You know, puppy dogs and kittens rather than Dora and Spiderman.

Anyway, both of these can be made with items on hand.  The key is to wet the paper first, then draw on it with chalk, which creates creamy vivid colors.  I tried it a whole lot of ways, with and without white paint, soak the chalk, wet the paper, etc.-- and my best results came from wetting the paper first, and not the chalk, then drawing on the paper with the chalk.  I had the best results with thick Martha Stewart scrapbooking paper in solid colors, but plain old construction paper was almost as good.

For the lollies, I first drew circles all over dark cardstock with a compass, then swirled the chalk around, let it dry, cut it out, and sandwiched a sucker stick with two circles.  You could put a message on the back, or on the little tie on the wrapper.  These are pretty big (4"), I wanted them an exaggerated size.

The spool candy is easier, simply because the swirly part above is a little tricky.  For this I marked rectangles on the paper big enough to wrap around an empty thread spool (have any of those?), then I drew lines diagonally on the (wet) rectangle.  Finally, I cut out the rectangle, wrapped it around the spool (taping one end to the spool), then packaged in cellophane with ribbon.  You could write a message on the backside of the paper, on the ties, who knows.  These are prototypes, and I'm intentionally leaving it vague so that your creations are infused with your own ideas.   

You could also wrap a rectangle of paper around toilet paper tubes and fill them with a gift  or candy, unless that is too gross.

For the very industrious, these would even be cute in felt, as toys.  As always, let me know if you get a chance to make them.

From Humble Ingredients

OK, I'm going to stop beginning every post with "sorry I haven't been around much lately," because well, it is what it is.  I don't have a heck of a lot I can show you these days, but I'm hoping to fit in a little just for fun making, so I'll get back to ya.  This also is not my favorite time of year, with the gloomy gray skies.  It's hard for me to believe that places like Portland and Seattle could actually be gloomier than Michigan.  I don't know if I could take it.  Maybe I should get one of those lamps with the full spectrum light.  Ugh.

I started my crochet class this week and I am super excited.  I have to pick out an easy first project, but I want it to be something I like as well, so I checked Kid's Crochet from my library today, and now have my first four projects planned.  It's a really cute book, I highly recommend it.  The author, Kelli Ronci, is a former crafts editor at MSL, so the book has a similar aesthetic to MSKids.  And it's illustrated by Lena Corwin which is a huge bonus.  There is also great crochet inspiration on the Martha Stewart website, just do a quick search and you'll turn up some great stuff.

Speaking of Martha's website, I made some of her ribbon belts this week and they're super easy and cute.  Would be great Valentine's gifts.  You can also make bracelets with thinner ribbon.  Have you all seen Living Crafts?  We felted a heart today, check out Honeyflake, she shows the process beautifully.  It was fun and the results were pretty.  Of course, Elliot didn't have the attention span to finish it, so I sat there poking it with chopsticks until it was done.

We're expecting a boatload of snow, so we have been baking-- this zucchini bread (actually as muffins).  I froze a whole lot of zucchini last summer when we picked up some HUGE yellow zukes at the farmer's market.  It was sort of embarrassing actually, I saw the sign said 75 cents and I assumed that was per pound so I hogged up the biggest ones only to find out they were 75 cents each.  Oops.  People in line behind be probably thought I was a little greedy.   

I grew up in Indiana where you can hardly give zucchinis away (or "bimintis" as my great-grandfather called them, and green peppers were "mangos").  I'm always so shocked when people have never had zucchini bread or think they won't like it because it has a vegetable in it.  Hello, it's cake.  Anyway, this recipe is good, although I'd love to find a yummy one with less sugar if you all have one.  We use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat in almost everything.  You seriously can't tell it's whole grain.

The bear in the photo above is mine from childhood.  I used to collect them, but only have this one and a few tiny mohair (steiff and something else) ones left.  I love this bear, and of course the colors are very appropriate for this time of year, but what I really love is that it is made from just muslin.  No fancy prints here.  There are pretty pink buttons for eyes, a pink grosgrain ribbon tie, and little hearts stamped a few key places.  So simple, so pretty.  This is great inspiration this time of year when maybe you spent a little too much money in December.  You can still make something beautiful with even the humblest materials.  Those are my favorite, really.

Computer Malfunction

Sorry I've been MIA, my Macbook died last Saturday, and I've been out of sorts ever since.  The lucky part is that my husband bought the extended warranty-- I would have said a polite "no thank you" to that, but now I'll be getting a new, bigger hard drive- yay!  I'll take a little data loss for that.

I've been very busy crafting, but can't share any of it just yet.  The new issue of Wondertime came out with my favorite project of mine to date.  Check it out here with my photos as well as my "boy" version here.  Today while Lucie was napping I was reading the magazine and I was like-- "aw, look, there's Elliot's footprint and Lucie's ultrasound-- wait!  That's my uterus in a magazine!"  Who woulda thought:)

I loved the article "Confessions of a Mommy Blogger," and I'm sure many of you would relate to it as well.  I can so relate to composing posts in my mind constantly, and also wonder how reading my blog changes how people "in real life" view me. 

Also, I laughed so hard when I read the article about preschools, as they mentioned Waldorf Moms all wearing the same kind of clogs.  I'm definitely a clog-wearing Mama, so they have me pegged with that one.

OK, enough babbling.  I have a few smallish craft projects to show you soon, and my family room redecorating is making some progress, so I'll be back soon!

PS-  Check out the reader entry section near the front of Wondertime where you'll find comments by our very own Molly!

I Got My Sheep Farm!

I mentioned a while ago I wanted a sheep farm, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind...

It's bigger than it looks-- 24" x 14", and it has an open back for playing.  Found at Found.  (Which is also where I got my vintage flashcards for those who have asked, but I bought the whole box, so I don't know if they have any right now)

Giving + Receiving

OK, I know I am a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to review a few of our holiday gifts for this year now that almost all of them have made it to their recipients.  I will be mailing the last two packages this week (that's you H. and M. & P.)  It's just that due to the snowstorm we had mid-December, I had to ship many more gifts than originally intended, and to me, shipping things is right up there with talking on the phone.  Don't much like it.  And because Elliot missed the week of school before the holidays, we just gave gifts to his friends and teachers today.  So basically, this goes down as the l-o-n-g-e-s-t gift giving season on record.

A while back I mentioned that I was giving many gift cards this season, and that I wanted to come up with a nice way to package them.  I was clicking from one blog to another one night and something reminded me of the Blueprint article showing wooden clogs as beautiful holiday "packaging."  It had just the simple rustic look I was going for.  So here's the plan.  This year I gave several gift recipients a pair of wooden clogs that I painted, filled with a few small goodies + a gift card, as well as the following letter from my kids:

Now, from here on out for these pairs of gift recipients (each person received just one shoe, but is married to another recipient, who has the other shoe), we will collect small goodies-- hopefully throughout the year-- and then send them each person's spouse who will fill the clog on behalf of St. Nicholas.  I thought it would be a challenge to come up with interesting small objects for the shoes for each person, and it would be fun to involve their spouse.  I hope that this is a process that they begin to look forward to.  The bonus?  My plan is to buy a pair of wool socks that I fill throughout the year, and then ship them in that form, so the wool socks can serve as useful gift wrap as well as shipping material.  And because the items are small, and will be a combination of handmade, consumable, and special items, hopefully they won't add too much clutter to the lives of others.

For Elliot's classmates, we took the advice of Amanda and purchased a bunch (100, I think) wooden acorns.  I sewed little felt bags from some hand-dyed wool that my stepmom gave me last year.  The beauty of these, is that I didn't have to trim the fabric at all, I just folded in half, sewed around three sides, trimmed the side seams with pinking shears, flipped right-side out, folded a few inches over, and placed a small red snap in the center.  A few gift tags by Natascha Rosenberg (I love Little Red Riding Hood!) and I was done.  Elliot picked which bag went to which child, which was fun to watch.

I made each of Elliot's teachers a gourd birdhouse (for those of you who don't know, Waldorf schools are big on natural and handmade items) painted Hummingbird green.  For these I used another gift tag by Natascha Rosenberg.  I accidentally printed these HUGE, but I loved them that way.  All of the gifts for school were well received, and we got several small treasures in return.  I love that Elliot sees the pleasure in giving and receiving little tokens like this.

The final idea I wanted to tell you all about is something that my husband and I came up with last year when we didn't want to spend a lot of money on each other, but still wanted to make the other person feel special.  The best thing about this idea is that it can be done for almost any budget, and really is not limited to Christmas at all-- really Valentine's Day would be perfect.  We try to give a gift for each of the five senses.  Now really, if you think too hard about this, every gift on the planet could fall into these categories, but don't overthink it.  We try and concentrate on ideas that are simple, useful, and consumable.  Sort of a way to show someone that you were really thinking about them, not just running out and spend X amount on something that will just sit on a shelf or something (but if the recipient would really enjoy a small something for a shelf, that's perfectly acceptable!)  Some things are free, some things cost very little, and some things can be a little more of a splurge.  I'll give you my list from this year just to give you an idea.  This is what he bought me.

Sound- burned CD's of 10 episodes of This American Life for me to listen to in the car.
Sight- this book
Smell- Kiehl's Original Musk
Taste- some loose tea
Touch- Icebreaker Sweater

We have a lot of fun with it.  My husband is a very good gift giver anyway, but since we started doing this, I always feel very pampered.  There is nothing better than knowing that a person was really thinking of you when they bought your gift.