Christmas Merchandise for All!

Just the sweetest little gift cards ever--vintage repro in a paper envelope--20 for $5.50!

Time to think about sending out Christmas cards! We have a small selection of singles (some new, some vintage, and some local artist-made), as well as boxed sets.

Great new stuff from Pacifica--gift sets with a small body butter, a candle, matches, and a solid perfume--for only $15! Available in Avalon Juniper (shown) or Mediterranean Fig scents. Also some great new candles for the holidays!

Who doesn't love Rudolph? Cute Rudy puzzles and Christmas cards are here! We've also got Christmas themed lace up cards and sticker play scenes. There are lots of great Christmas linens to check out, too! We'll be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but Friday and Saturday we're open our regular hours--I'll be serving refreshments and playing Christmas muzak all day both days.

More Gift Wrap ideas

These are some gift wrapping ideas you can do with cloth--either fabric yardage or premade things (I used a hanky for the CD and cloth napkins for the others). Once again, use a reusable ribbon or string, if possible. Won't it be nice to have a Christmas where you don't have a whole garbage bag full of torn wrapping paper at the end of the day?

More Green Gift Wrap ideas

Why not use a decorative paper bag from a store for wrapping paper? This one is from here!


Many products come packaged in clear plastic boxes (this one had a Mudlark soap/lotion/candle gift set in it). You can peel off any stickers and put a gift wrapped in tissue paper, shredded paper, or raffia inside. Add a simple reusable ribbon plus an image from a used greeting card, and you have a display-worthy gift!

You can make your own holiday wrap (especially for small items like gift cards) out of kraft paper (I get lots of stuff packed in it) and a rubber stamp. Just color it with marker or colored pencil and it looks quite festive. If you need any kraft paper, just ask me for some. You can usually iron out the wrinkles and it's fine.

Handmade Book Journals

Our trip to Iowa was nice--always good to see the family. My purpose was twofold--see the 'rents, and pick up some journals to sell in the store. The sister of a family friend of ours (the aforementioned Milly who stopped by the store one day and dropped off some totes she had made) makes some incredible journals out of used hardcover books. She helps with her local charity (Planned Parenthood) book drive and sale, and when she finds books that are incomplete or missing pages, she takes them and makes these darling notebooks out of them! She lines them with lovely paper stock (they all have at least one pocket on the left inside cover) and inserts a notepad. I've been emailing her for months trying to figure out what kind of books I'd want--I described myself and the store to her, and I must say, she hit the nail on the head! Here are some photos:

Green Holiday Gift Wrapping

The store will be closed on Tuesday, November 11th. Regular hours will start back up on the 12th. Gotta go home and see the folks before the big holiday rush!

Well, I've been wrapping fake gifts for my window display, and I've come up with some good ideas for wrapping things without causing too much waste. First of all, use things like satin and tulle ribbons that you can use over and over again. Everything I used on these (as far as ribbons go) are ones I kept off of gifts I have received or that I bought at the thrift store in huge bags for a buck.

I think it's better to get one roll (or sheet) of wrapping paper that you love, and use it sparingly than to buy a whole package of rolls of cheap, crappy wrapping paper. The one kind of gift wrap I'm selling this season is called "Stranger Manger" and it's from Pop Ink (a division of the French Paper Company--which has been using 100% hydro-electrical power since 1922). Here are some delightful pictures of the gifts I wrapped using their paper as an accent (the underpaper--is that a word?--is just paper that was used as packing material in shipments I've received:


I'll do some more and share them with you later!