Gifting

You might remember that I happen to LOVE Christmas. For a million different reasons. But one of them is that I truly love finding awesome gifts for people. The shopping (which I love a little too much) or creating, the wrapping, seeing the look on their face. Love. It. All. And since I hate to just run to the mall and get whatever, I add things to online lists (I'm a big fan of Kaboodle) all year long so I'm not stuck come the holidays.

In that spirit, I've decided to share with you some pretty things I've had my eye on (friends and family, you might want to look away), so that my careful hoarding doesn't go to waste. :)

For the chef, how about a custom cake pan (sooo cool for when you bring a dish to a party) or a personalized cookbook from TasteBook? Mom and I have been trying to remember to get photos of her recipes so we can do this (eventually). So pretty, right? You can use your own recipes or get one already designed on a certain theme:

For the fellow bookworm, I'm in love with these stunning art printed book jackets:

and these adorable notebooks.

For a romantic, these mini diaries with questions already in them are genius (what a heirloom for your kids someday!), and pretty to boot:

This cameo vase is also lovely (and on sale), and I know a couple certain someones who happen to love cameos... ;

I really wish I knew more moms, because this shirt from ThinkGeek cracks me up every time I see it:

Plus I want like 40 other things from there, but I won't bore you with the details. :)

How adorable is this little Peggie family?

Love this artist - they're fully customizable, and they make cute wedding cake toppers too!

Don't even get me started on my Etsy wish list...you can take a peek by following the widget on the right.

Of course I have to give some options for my fellow dog lovers and owners...such as this hilarious shirt:

Or this one:

As for something to actually get for your dog, this seller makes the most awesome custom dog tags, I'm dying for this collar for my little criminal, and thin-skinned pups definitely need this hoodie for the colder months. And I'm dying for this camera so I can finally settle the question of guilt: kittens v. dogs. ;)

And finally, fellow photo enthusiasts, a few things I've had my eye on are the Fujifilm Instax camera, which seems to be all over teh interwebs these days, and the Diana lens adaptor - now you can get those awesome film effects on your usual dSLR! (Although I think I still want to play with actual film, but this would be a cool extra lens to play with.)

Of course, on my budget and with my mad digital scrapbooking skillz [insert laugh track here], I don't buy everything, I make quite a bit too. Last year I made desktop calendars for my parents and myself, plus Nikki and Katie using these adorable 5x7 calendars by the ever-amazing Penny Springmann:

That way I was able to print them at home on 5x7 photo paper from Costco and inserted them in plastic frames. Memorable, meaningful and budget friendly! :)

Also, two years ago I started a tradition of forcing asking everyone on the American side of the family (including aunts, uncles, cousins and significant others) a set of questions, then using their answers plus photos of them from that year to make an 8x8 scrapbook album. We all love seeing everyone else's answers and it was a huge hit! Last year I didn't even have to buy the albums, just gave them the pages and had them add them to the album from the year before. It takes a huge amount of time but it's totally worth it to make a family heirloom like that.

The cover (it actually says "shot of aquavit", somehow the cover insert got pushed a little to the left):

And some of last year's pages:

For 2008 I made an insert page as the cover, with a new funny title inspired by mom. You can see it here. As a digital scrapbooker it's also fun to see how my style has changed/progressed. :)

Are you still with me after that novel of an entry? What are your plans for gifting?

xo

Comments

[Team Leader]

Love the cameo vase, diaries and those t-shirts! Okay, back to subject... I'll be gifting lot's of homemade goodies: calendars, pies and jam, framed photos and maybe a dinner for friends. ;)

[caroline]

LOVE that album idea! i'll definitely keep that in mind!

you have some pretty awesome other ideas, too.