Saturday, February 21, 2009

Gifts and crafts

I love antique and vintage linens and have a slowly growing collection of napkins and handkerchiefs that I use on a daily basis instead of paper towels and tissues. I also think linens make a lovely gift, so I thought these pretty napkins along with this decorative mirror would make a nice gift for a friend's birthday. Both the napkins and the mirror are not new, but I do hope they enjoy their new home.


I also have a growing supply of boxes, tissue and wrapping paper that I save and reuse. Since I don't have very much storage space I was happy to have a reason to dip into my supplies. I like to make my own cards, but I also have a good store of second hand cards. Thrift shops are great places to look for cards that have never been used.


I finished another recycled materials craft project this week. Even though I didn't follow the pattern, just making things up as I went along for this plastic bag crochet clothespin bag, I did take this woman's great work as the inspiration and guideline. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I can't wait to use it!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good on you for giving a second hand gift. I find that all my good intentions re making ethical and environmentally friendly choices often go out the window when buying gifts for others. I worry that may just think my gift is 'cheap' rather than green or ethical. Not any more. I am giving only gifts made from recycled materials. Maybe i'll aslo keep an eye out for great second hand gifts as well.
Cheers,
Tricia

Amber said...

I also worried that second hand or handmade gifts might be considered cheap, but then I thought, does that mean then that what makes a 'good' gift is its newness, how expensive it is or what store it comes from? What about the thought that goes into a gift, the intention behind it, the time taken to pick out or make something that you think the person will like? Do these no longer matter? If I give a second hand or handmade gift that I think someone will really like and have a use for, is it any less acceptable as a gift than something that is new? I decided that a 'yes' answer to that question wasn't acceptable to me, so I decided 'cheap stigma' be damned, I'm giving second hand/handmade gifts!