Helen’s 10 Recycled Earth-Friendly, Pocket Book Friendly, Guilt Free Gift Giving Idea or How to Avoid “the Mall”

10-gift-ideas

xmasheader

Yesterday we had to go to “the Mall”. No, not to shop for Christmas, but for some things that were needed from the pharmacy etc. I haven’t done Christmas shopping at a Mall for so long that I can’t remember when I did. The place was packed! The parking lot was packed. You know the scene.   Where you have to follow someone back to their car and lurk until they pull out, putting your indicator light on to let others know that this spot is TAKEN and grab their parking spot. It is rather aggressive. Then there are the line ups! OMG! I’m just so happy that I don’t work as a cashier. My back starts aching just thinking about it and all for minimum wage too.

But the worst part of it is the sheer consumerism of it. All that new stuff which will eventually be discarded as the wrong color or the wrong style or just not right somehow. The amount of goods going out is mind boggling, the amount of resources used, and the amount of money spent and a lot of it spent by people who really really can’t afford it. Well, what if there is an alternative? And of course there is…

In past years on this blog I’ve written about Abundance at Christmas and written about the fun we’ve had finding Decor and Music for Xmas all from second hand sources. I’ve shown my HUGE Santa collection, in the post, Revisiting my Santa Collection,  all also second hand for the most part.

santa1

So with that done, for 2011, I’d like to present some gift ideas that don’t require going to the Mall. Think of it as Helen’s Recycled Earth-Friendly, Pocket Book Friendly and Guilt Free List of Gift Giving Ideas. These ideas are tried and true. In fact, we have a rule and all our friends and close family also follow it in regard to presents for each other. The rule is the present must be second hand or hand made. It should be fun, lovely or useful and most of all it should be CHEAP! ** So no worries about how much to spend, no worries about the credit card maxing out and no worries about having to go to a Mall. Wow that’s a lot less worries eh?
(** Cheap is a subjective term. Inexpensive is different things to different people. Our rule is literal, no more than $10, less if possible. That said, my list offers a wide range of “inexpensive” according to your budget. )

santaplane

OK here goes.
1• Go to the Used Book Store and look for books that are in nice shape, and would interest your friend, relative etc. This year we’ve found Cook Books galore. And believe me there is something for everyone. I even found a Weight Watchers one for a friend who goes there and a Diabetic one for another friend with Diabetes. Don’t forget about Decor books and Books about Crafting and Creative Arts.  There really isn’t any subject or interest that isn’t covered somewhere in a book.

2• Still at the Used Bookstore? Well, there are an awful lot of Kids books, Craft and Art books, and books about any possible interest that a friend could have. Actually, books are one of the things we look for at Garage sales all summer ( yes, I’m one of those people who are looking for gifts all year). You can get great deals. And if the book is already inscribed with a sentiment by the original gift giver, no matter… just add yours as well. Our friends have no worries about giving away a gift to someone else after they’ve read it and just adding another inscription. The more times given, the better, we all agree.

santajack3• Go to your local Thrift Stores. There is an absolute abundance of gifts here.
I’ll break it down by age and gender

Gifts for Little kids
Kids grow out of clothing so fast, that very often you can find almost new things of good quality too. In fact, some were gifts and never worn and still have the tags since Sally or Sam was already too big for the gift when it was given. So…. there it is in the Thrift shop ready to be a gift again.

Toys, there are just huge amounts of old toys ready to be played with by a new child. That sounds nice doesn’t it? Just check for broken parts, make sure it’s age appropriate and clean.

Gifts for Mother in Law or Moms are sometimes difficult to buy for. Well, see #1 and #2, books. But don’t forget things like vintage jewelry, or scarves. There’s so much out there in signed and artsy textiles and jewelry that you ‘ll be tempted to buy some for your self too.

Gifts for Guys of all ages; Guys are hard to buy for. Unless you look for interests. Like cooking, or sports or collections or gardening but more about that later. You can find T-shirts with great graphics on them. If you know how to silkscreen or can use a transfer go for it, on a used T and have some fun making some home made designs. Cooks can always use aprons. Collections are always a good bet too. Bill collects Elephants, Dave collected Buddhas for a while too. We kept finding them everywhere.

4• Ok you’ve done Used Book store and Thrift stores, how about Garden Centres? Try to find a centre that locates it’s products from greener eco sources and you’ve got an earth friendly gift for sure. Potted plants for indoors that bloom are nice. An Amaryllis is always a good gift. I used to give one to my Mother in Law for a few years and we’d compete in a friendly fashion as to who got the most blooms. It’s easy to ship and there’s the fun of planting and waiting for the Gorgeous blooms too.

caroller5• Art Supply stores are a great source of prezzies. Not just for those artists on your list but for the ones you know really want to try something creative. There are lots of sketch books made with 100% recycled paper, acid free and archival quality. And if you do a bit of stealthy investigative interviewing of your giftee, you might even find that they would love to take a course in something or other. Most artists are like me and are quite happy to provide gift certificates to their courses.

6• Art Galleries. Ok I know a lot of people are intimidated by Art Galleries but go on, be brave, venture in. You’ll find a lot of interesting things there. Many public galleries have a Gift Shop full of wares made by local artists. And a lot of it is in very very affordable. Most galleries put on shows of smaller pieces at Christmas just to highlight all their artists and offer a start into collecting art. A lot of emerging artists be they young or old, have some amazing work for sale.

7• Art and Craft shows are usually in November, but there are still a few “last Minute shows” to be found showing local artists. Keep art and gift giving in mind in the summer too when many artists and artisans are showing their stuff in local Art and Craft shows. There you will find something for everyone, literally. They have food gifts, herbal makeup, prints, clothing and jewelry, sculpture, art work of all kinds. You will be spoilt for choice and supporting Local Artists as well. I collect their business cards too so that I can look up their web sites later for other gift ideas. A lot of them have Etsy stores or their own web sites. You would be amazed at how much artwork these days is made from recycled materials.

sledboy8• Another gift worth considering is materials for art works. My last birthday was perfect partly because two friends gave me discarded stained glass shards for a present knowing that I’d use them somehow in my mosaics or other artworks. Along that line, give used beads and necklaces to a someone who is into beading, used or scrap material to a quilter, or used dishes and tiles to a mosaic artist. There are so many hobbies and interests that your friends and relatives indulge in that the list of possibilities of materials is endless.

9• Look around your home for gifts. Yes, things you already own. Ornaments that you no longer enjoy may be loved by someone else. Maybe you have a collection that is too big and there are some pieces that you know would be welcomed by a friend. Along that line, have a gift exchange party and have everyone bring something that they no longer want but that would make a lovely gift for someone else. Swap or sell to each other. It’s a good excuse for a party and recycles too. You could even throw in a Cookie exchange which brings me to my next gift idea.

santacook

10• Get in the kitchen and start cooking or baking. I’ve been going to the library and picking up lots of books about Christmas cooking and baking. The library is a great free resource and one day I’m going to do a blog just about libraries. I take out tons of magazines every month. I figure I’m saving some trees and hey, I don’t have to store them. A lot of the December mags can’t be taken out but last years Christmas edition is there to peruse and get lots of ideas from. I love the ones that go all out with Christmas baking ideas. In fact, at garage sales I snatch those Xmas editions up really fast. Ok to get back to the kitchen…. Baking is always a great gift. I find lots of vintage tins at thrift stores  and garage sales all year and give presents of baking. Just line the tin with wax paper or other nice paper and fill to the brim with goodies. One of these years I’m going to learn how to make chocolates too. Another idea to give.

Which brings me to recycled wrapping paper. We save all the gift bags and wrapping paper and use it over again. I’ve also sewn gift bags that get passed around from year to year. This year I’m planning on finding some Chinese newspapers and using them to wrap presents with some lovely ribbon and maybe some lucky people will get one of the many used Xmas broaches I found at the Thrift store adorning their packages. But changing your gift wrap ideas is another way to stay out of the Mall. Maybe this should be # 11.

Hope my little list has given you some good last minute ideas. And with that, we wish you and yours a lovely, recycled, creative,artistic and mall-Free Christmas! That’s the best present yet.  BTW if you liked the little vintage Christmas Illustrations I’ve peppered throughout,  look for Vintage Christmas by Dover Publications for royalty free illustrations.  Which I found at the Library, of course.  But if you want to buy it, it’s a Green Planet Friendly publication.

endpic

Share

The Christmas Dogs and …… Chickens?

tropic-santas

Christmas Day is here, and I did, after all, get a lot of baking done. Thanks to my good friend Scarlette who came over and gave me a massage which really made my bursitis bearable. As I told her, she “saved my Bakin”. Hah, hah. I know I know but I couldn’t resist.  Scarlette has lots of very relaxed and happy clients.  You can find her at GLO Massage and Esthetics.

I didn’t get any of the Santa’s up, all 110 of them. But you can see them if you look at at last years 25 posts, the 25 Days of Santa ornaments.  That’s the Tropical Santas at the top of the post.

Last year, Bill and I went out Christmas Day and walked on the Gorge and saw all the Christmas Dogs. Everyone had their dogs decked out in Xmas gear and were so cute.

santadog-looking-up

But this year we got to dog sit Scarlette’s puppies for the morning, Rosie the Cairn terrier sort of, I think, not sure ( I like to call her Rosita) and Molly the chihuahua. They’re very sweet and have to sniff everything on the way, so walking is very slow. Plus they both tend to go completely unhinged at the sight of any other dogs. People OK, other dogs not so much..

bill-with-molly-and-rosie

So due to rather a lot of people out walking their dogs too, we decided to retreat and on the block close to home what should we find but a trio of chickens in someone’s front yard.

ethel-lucy-nugget
After a bit of investigation we found the owner of the chickens, Lauralee. Turns out they all have names, the ginger colored one is Nugget and the other two are Lucy and Ethel. They all went running to Lauralee when she called them, wandering girls that they were. And it also turns out that Lauralee has a blog too, called Speedwoodworks, all about her chickens and her renovations of her very lovely little house. You’ll have to have a boo, it’s really good and you can see Ethel, Lucy and Nugget when they were but little chicks just a short while ago in May.  Lauralee very kindly gave me a fresh egg to take home,  thanks muchly.  I can’t help but think that I would never have expected to go out for a walk on Christmas day, meet chickens and get a very fresh egg to take home.  But there it is.

Now, I must get back to cooking for Christmas, but I do hope you have a Merry Merry Joyful day. I know I am.

Share

I’m Not Ready for Christmas! Not even close!

grouchy-santas

Ok, I don’t know what happened this year. I’m just way behind. It’s only 3 days til Christmas!

Now I have to tell you that I actually wrote this post 11 days ago, but due to problems with our internet provider doing some sort of change over, that caused some sort of technical mess (don’t ask me, I’m not techy at all) that made it impossible to load anything, which has taken this long to sort out, I am FINALLY able to post this.  And yes, I know that was a ridiculously long sentence.

So here it is 8 days later and to tell the truth not much has changed, I’m still way behind. I still don’t have the baking done, the tree is half decorated, and I’ve only just mailed out the Christmas cards PLUS  now I’ve got bursitis.

Last year I was sooooo ready. I had the Santas up the whole kit and caboodle of them. Check it out, the 25 Days of Christmas Santa collection. That’s the Grouchy Santas from my collection acting as the header for this post.

I had the  Christmas music, all of it pretty well second hand, nothing like recycling for creating an abundant Christmas. And even had time to write about it.
This year I’ve been working way too many hours and just haven’t had the time. Plus I decided to make some presents this year. Check out the scraps I’m using. Colorful and tropical enough? Yup, just my thing.

scraps
Here are a couple of the tea cozies I’ve made. Can’t show you the others yet. Gotta keep the surprise, just in case certain gift recipients are reading this blog.

mls-cosy
my-cosy

But I’m not giving up. I’m obviously going to have to scale down my plans, do a bit less, not put up as many decorations, not bake as much (Bill and I could certainly do with less in the goodies department).   But I’ll figure it out. Christmas will come, ready or not. And I plan to enjoy it.  Anyway if nothing else I’ve got chocolates!  What else do we really really need??

Share

Meeting the Christmas Dogs

There is absolutely no way that Christmas Day could have been any better. At least for those of us who DON’T subscribe to “Dreaming of a White Christmas” or go around singing “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow”. Oh no, Snow is a four letter word to me. I love a green Christmas most of all. But yesterday was a bonus, it was a Green and Sunny Christmas in Victoria, the place where lawns green up in winter!

So after all the gifts were opened, the mince tarts eaten and a hearty brunch had by all, Will and I went off for our Christmas Day Walk. We chose the Gorge Walkway and were rewarded with Great Scenery either way, going up
tree-up-gorge

or down the walkway.

gorge-toward-canoe

And then as an added bonus, we got to meet the Christmas Dogs. First was this cute little guy in a red sweater sporting reindeer yet.

sweater-dog

Next we met the little black poodle, a quiet fellow, dressed up in red.  Such a good color on him.

blk-poodle

Our next meeting was with a little black and white with a curled up tail.
before-dog

Who soon drew the interest of another dog.

after-dogs

This quickly became a great tangle of leads as each twirled around trying to get a good sniff. You’ll just have to imagine it. We were having enough trouble trying not to get caught up in the leashes.

And then there she was….the tiniest little charmer in a Santa suit. She had so much energy that we had quite a time trying to get a photo. Almost got her entirely in the shot here…
santadog-out-of-pic

Oh only the nose here…
dog-nose

And finally a cute photo looking up at us.
santadog-looking-up

The Christmas dogs made the day. All dressed up to celebrate by their proud and loving owners.

Share

A Couple of Over-the-Top, Yet Green and Recycled, Christmas Displays

We used to have the whole Santa collection on the sideboard in the living room.  Then as you may have guessed, the collection grew and grew until it didn’t fit anymore and had to be moved to the front door entry way. Of course that meant we had to move quite a few elephant ornaments out once a year but it was all worth it.

Now suddenly I had a whole new space to play with. So the first year I decided to do just a little angel ornament display. Just a few white angels, I thought, and then that idea just went completely berserk and the next thing I knew I was in my studio, fishing out anything that was white. The display became a sort of an over-the-top, (just the way I like it) crazy,  exuberant display that had angels, Buddhas, geese, geisha ornaments,white swans, white grapes and even quite a few white rabbits! All of it recycled finds for my mosaics.

White ornament Christmas display, summerhouseart.com

It was great! Friends came over and carried on with the outrageous creation and we added gold accents, the antique gold framed mirror, white doves and even a glass tray in the background in the shape of a snowflake ( a great 25 cent garage sale find by the way ) and golden Christmas globe ornaments.

This year I decided to use all the sparkly fruit I collected at thrift stores and garage sales a few years ago when I did the entire tree in sparkly fruits. I’d spent the whole summer before collecting it all and had a whole box full of every kind of glitter encrusted fruit from grapes and apples to pomegranates. Kind of obvious I’ve got Christmas on the brain way before December eh?

Last week Will and I went out to our favourite stroll, The Gorge Walkway, and collected lots of evergreen windfall.

Will-w-evergrns

This was all saved in buckets in the back porch until we had time. Then yesterday, the start was made. Will created the beautiful lush and lavish wreath integrating all the fruit and evergreens. Of course I couldn’t resist putting in my two bits worth here and there.

bill-making-wrth1

And I created the extravagant display on the top of the sideboard. It was supposed to have candles in repurposed globes from a junk find chandelier but that just didn’t work and finally we settled on the two matching lamps shown here.

Evergreen Christmas display, summerhouseart.com

It’s a bit more traditional looking than I would usually have done, but if you look carefully you’ll see the old glove stretchers poking up on the left. To me these displays are all about a exuberant sense of Abundance. Well, you must admit both displays are definitely a feast for the eyes!

Share

More Thoughts on a Green and Abundant Christmas

The other day I wrote about my abundant Christmas Music collection, almost all found used at garage sales and thrift stores. To me there is just no reason not to have it all when it comes to Christmas, especially when there is an abundance of everything available second hand. It’s guilt free Christmas, it’s recycled, it’s green and hey it’s fun.

Most of our ornaments and decor are recycled goodies. Every now and then I find some great things that I just can’t wait to use, something in an old fashioned box, something just a little bit different. I just loved these little ball bobbles still in their original box with the little Santa and sleigh, so small and cute.

tiny-balls

And I had just the right little tree in mind for them! Perfect!

bonsai-wballs

And then there were these wonderful drop ornaments, all in colors that I love, old and maybe collectible and definitely a bit “used”.

drop-ornaments

They fit right in with the old old ornaments from the 40’s or 50’s that were passed on to us from Will’s parents years ago.

kangaroo-ornmt

You can just see on the left one of the ornaments that Will and I adorned with gold leaf and gold paint years ago.

treeornaments

But all is not used. I do make exceptions to the recycled/used rule. And, as you may have surmised, I don’t like rules much anyway. Last year I found these wonderful ornaments at a sale in January. The colors were perfect with my big orange globe ornament with the glitter circles that I found at a garage sale one summer. It all looks great on the garland (yup it’s used too).

garland

Will took one of the green glitter balls and strung it on a curly red ribbon from our paper umbrella light shade. I like it so much I think I just might leave it there after Christmas.

lit-umbrella

Share

Some thoughts on a Green and Abundant Christmas

geneautry

Way back in April when I started this blog I wrote about abundance in a recession. And today, thinking about Christmas, my fave time of year, I’m reminded of abundance. Our Christmases are full of abundance! As I always love to say the world is an abundant place as long as you like second hand.

Just the other day I was again reminded of groups of people taking a pledge not to buy anything new for a year. And I even looked at a few web sites and blogs about it. And although I applaud the enthusiasm, I also noted how difficult they made it for themselves. No bending allowed on the pledge. And it seemed as though the pledge was abandoned after the year was up in a few cases. Everyone tired of the sacrifice, maybe?

This is just not the way we approach it. What started as way to survive tough times as students in the 60’s and to get us through other bouts of tough economic times, has now become a way of life. But it’s really not difficult for us, it’s fun and easy. I really believe that anything we do to be a little greener is helpful. So every effort counts. If we absolutely need to get something new, and after trying to find it used, well ok, buy it. No guilt. But this is so offset with all that we buy used, we feel ok with it. And anyway, part of our plan is to buy new stuff from artists and others who produce hand made and original when we can, as well.

Which brings me to Christmas. The cost of Christmas, the news is full of it, credit cards maxed, too many presents, worry over money and all that that entails. But why not resolve to have some of your Christmas recycled and reused?

So I thought as well as sharing my obviously “abundant” collection of thrift store, garage sale Santas I’d also share some of the other things we have in abundance for the season. And one of the best is music. We have a huge collection of music mostly because we still have our turntable, and our tape deck as well as a couple of used CD players. So we can buy all the good old stuff and now we’ve amassed a pretty eclectic and funky collection of Christmas music. At the top of this post is a great selection from Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole and Gene Autry, all actually a gift from our great friend Hart.  Don’t you just love that Gene Autry album cover? And as I bake for Christmas I love to play the oldies from my childhood like Perry Como, Bing Crosby which we heard always for Christmas. Would you believe most of these records and tapes we bought for anywhere from 25cents to just over $2?

comocsby

How much more eclectic can you get than this selection of Loreena McKennet  “a Winter Garden”, “A Very Special Christmas” which has the most wonderful piece by Sting, “Gabriel’s Message”,   The Masterworks Dinner Album and even Connie Francis who has “Christmas in My Heart”?

connief-tapes

And we’ve got some odd stuff too that we’ve found over the years like “A Reggae Christmas”. Always good to listen to while baking Christmas goodies.

reggae

And then for those classical moments we’ve got Luciano Pavarotti with a boys choir with my favourite Panis Angelicus. A real treasure found at the local second hand store was Christmas in Venice, full of just gorgeous classical favourites.

pavartti

We always find CD’s when we’re out garage sailing and all of our collection is used. And then there are the ones I’ve collected just for fun like “Christmas at Liberace’s”, Or the “Doris Day Christmas Album”. Then a real fave is Boney M Christmas Album with Feliz Navidad to really get dancin’. So far my all time fave CD is World Christmas which has not only the Gypsy Kings on it, and Deep Forest but also Papa Wemba and Mono Cinelu.

boneym-tape1

So what am I saying here really? Christmas can be about abundance with out spending lots of money. And boy have we got an abundance of music! And it’s all used, recycled and we’re feelin’ green too.

Share