HEATHER’S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: Gifts for creatives
The following holiday gift guide (gifts for creatives) contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product from one of these links, I may receive a small commission from the supplier. As always, all opinions and craft obsessions are my own.
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There’s nothing I love better than a gift that relates to one of my hobbies, and that’s pretty easy to pick out … if we’re talking about a new top to wear to my Zumba classes.
But my OTHER many, many, many hobbies? Sewing clothes, quilting woodworking, drawing, painting, redoing furniture, etc? Other than gift cards (which I do love), people are often stumped as to how they can contribute to my crafty habits.
Yes, there ARE tangible gifts for creatives, crafters, and diehard hobbyists — gifts they’ll regularly use and appreciate. You might want to try one of these …
1. A good pair of fabric scissors.
Lemme tell you a story about this one time A CERTAIN SOMEONE took my sewing scissors and used them on paper, which totally dulled them. It was … me. Whoops. Luckily, it was years ago when I was only using cheap fabric scissors. These days, I have two pairs. including these ones. If someone gifted me with a third pair, I’d be super happy! I’m always losing them underneath mounds of fabric while I’m sewing.
HEATHER’S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: Gifts for guys
The following holiday gift guide (Gifts for guys) contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product from one of these links, I may receive a small commission from the supplier. As always, all opinions and beard-shaming tendencies are my own.
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I hate the idea, in theory, of picking out “gifts for guys” — like, who’s to say they’re ONLY gifts for guys? Would other people not enjoy these items equally?
It makes my feminism a little twitchy, HOWEVER I have to be honest about the fact that I do struggle when it comes to gift ideas for my own husband (and my dad, and my father-in-law, and my brothers-in-law.)
Soooo I put my thinking cap on (and flat-out asked my husband about the stuff he and his friends would like to get for Christmas), and here we have it …
1. A cool T-shirt from a show he likes.
I’ve gone this route many times in the past, and will again! Darling Husband is currently hooked on something called Diesel Brothers, so I know he’d like this one. Basically, go to the Discovery Store (a.k.a. most husbands’ favourite channel) and click on whatever show you keep (annoyingly) hearing in the background of your life. You’re done.
Teaching kids about giving | #GivingTuesday
Somewhere in the dreary descriptions of Pa’s hollowed-out cheeks and endless meals of nothing but coarse brown bread, it clicked for the kids. The Ingalls family was going hungry.
We’ve been working our way through the Little House on the Prairie series, with me reading a chapter or two aloud each night at bedtime. The books are favourites of mine and I’d read them aloud years ago, too. But now that the kids are older — five and seven — they’re listening intently and asking questions about what’s happening.
Up until this point, they’ve had questions about slates (“Why can’t we write on little chalkboards at school instead of paper?”), shoes (“Why are they going to school in bare feet?”) and blindness (“If we get sick are we going to get ‘blinded’ like Mary?!”).
But we just finished the sixth book, The Long Winter, which is the darkest one in the series. (Literally the darkest because they run out of kerosene).
Seven months of blizzards prevent the trains from running. There aren’t any supplies left in town, and the Ingalls family eats nothing but brown bread — made from wheat they pulverize in a coffee grinder — for months on end.
“So . . . they can’t just buy groceries?”
“No, guys. The grocery stores are all empty.”
“But . . .”
“I know. It’s very sad.”
Our children have never gone hungry, other than the evenings they flat-out refuse to eat their dinner and opt to wait until breakfast. They can’t imagine eating nothing but tiny helpings of brown bread for months at a time — bread made from wheat they’ve had to take turns grinding.
But the reality is that there ARE kids who are hungry — kids right here in Nova Scotia — and we need to talk about it …
Continue reading in my weekly parenting column, The Mom Scene …
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Don’t forget that TODAY, Giving Tuesday, is the day to make a donation to #TeamEddie and Clean Foundation. We just made ours, and the kids are excited to hear Eddie thank them during his Facebook Live broadcasts today at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. DONATE NOW.
HEATHER’S HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE: Gifts for parents + in-laws
The following holiday gift guide (Gifts for parents + in-laws) contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product from one of these links, I may receive a small commission from the supplier. As always, all opinions and dowdy nightwear preferences are my own.
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You know who’s hard to shop for? PARENTS.
And by “parents,” of course, I don’t mean “me and other 30-somethings with little kids.” I mean OUR PARENTS — and our in-laws — and their frustrating tendency to (A) have everything (B) have too much already (C) not want anything.
If you’re stumped on what to get your mom, your dad, your mother-in-law, your father-in-law, your aunt, your uncle, etc., here are 10 gift ideas I hope they’ll like …
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1. A funny book.
Very British Problems is my pick. They have several books out, and they’re awesome. (I bought one for my dad two Christmases ago!)
I follow @SoVeryBritish on Twitter and it’s one of my favourite accounts. They GET ME.
2. A cozy LONG nightgown.
I look like a Grandma when I’m sleeping — I’m about the long nightgowns and I don’t care that they’re not sexy — so I feel like I can identify with what the 55+ set wants to wear to bed, you know? I love this one from La Vie en Rose.
3. A great meal at home.
Sometimes it feels like meal delivery kits — like Hello Fresh — are designed for the go-go-go working professionals, young parents, etc. But just because someone’s retired doesn’t mean they WANT to spend a lot of time meal-planning and grocery shopping. I think giving a week’s worth of Hello Fresh meals would be a fun gift ANDDDD introduce them to some delicious new recipes.
4. A great meal OUT of the home.
For Christmas last year, we gifted Darling Husband’s parents with a Bertossi Group gift card. It’s accepted at all four of their restaurants — La Frasca Cibi & Vini, The Bicycle Thief, Ristorante a Mano, and il Mercato Trattoria — so they could chose where to enjoy a night out. Sometimes a pre-paid date night is better than any “stuff” you can buy — especially if your parents/in-laws, like mine, have everything.
5. A snuggly sweatshirt.
Name a person, young or old, who does not own a cozy sweatshirt. You can’t do it! Sweatshirts are universally loved, and especially helpful in Canada. My dad and stepmom have specific warm sweatshirts they pack to visit us because our house is cold(er than they’re used to). True story.
I love the sweatshirts at My HOME Apparel, which is right here in Truro, NS. The quality is great and they let you proudly show off your HOME. Plus, 5% of the profits from every product sold is donated back to initiatives to help end homelessness in Canada.
6. A donation in their name.
If you really and truly can’t think of ANYTHING your parents/in-laws need or want, well … they’re very fortunate people. Now how about making a donation in their name to a great cause, like Feed Nova Scotia? (I do their Give12 program where a donation is automatically taken from your bank account.)
7. A token of pet-parent love.
If they have a beloved dog, order a custom mug, T-shirt or accessory from Dog Love HFX. I’ve written about Tiffany’s fantastic new business, and she even sent me my own Boster Terrier Mom shirt (LOVE IT). Plus, $1 from every sale is donated to ElderDog Canada.
8. A great pair of socks.
“Christmas” and “socks” just go together, but these super-soft Supima crew socks from MeUndies would be a great gift for adults of any age.
9. A tip-top water bottle.
Everybody drinks water, and most people aren’t drinking enough. Make it more fun for your parent/in-law to hydrate with a S’well bottle, like this cool teak one.
10. Tickets to a show.
Experiences > stuff, especially if you’re comfortably settled in a home with lots of stuff. Theatre tickets are a GREAT GIFT. I love buying Neptune Theatre gift certificates because you don’t actually have to commit to a specific date/time or performance for the recipient. They just cash it in for tickets to whatever show they’d like, and enjoy an amazing show. This year, the big spring musical is Mamma Mia! Great show for any age, but I think parents/in-laws are especially fond of it.
More adventures in beginner pottery
What else I’ve been making in pottery class
Is there anything sweeter than holding something you’ve made with your own two hands? I DON’T THINK SO, TIM. (God, who else really misses Home Improvement? JTT 4-eva)
I checked in about a month ago to share my very first pottery pieces, and now I’m back with another batch — fresh from the kiln (except not, because otherwise they’d be about a zillion degrees).
Let’s start with this one, the Yummy Mummy bowl!
This was a slab bowl, meaning I rolled out a big flat piece of clay and molded it into the (rough) shape of a bowl. Then I added clay swirls around the rim (similar to how I made my coiled pot — a beginner pottery classic) and used a tiny scraper to scratch “YUMMY MUMMY” and a little spiral into the bottom.
Kind of like how when my sister was a toddler, she used to eat soup out of a bowl with bunnies printed on the bottom and the goal was to “Find the bunnies!” a.k.a. trick her into eating. Except I’ll finish a snack and get to see a happy little reminder on the bottom. Ahhh. #yummymummy Read More
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Heather's Handmade Life 