Gift Wrap with Regifting in Mind

Its no secret. You want your gift to be a sentimental favorite. The plain truth is that its not going to be all the time.  Here's a way it can be a year long memory. 

A few years ago I heard a story that saddened me but now, with maturity and an awareness of the importance of recycling, I'm seeing the story differently.  In fact, inspired, I feel a need to share and encourage my readers to do such a simple act of kindness.  A few tips can create not only a Holiday Memory, but also give your gift recipient something intended to be re gifted through the measure of Christmas wrapping.

A teacher in a repressed area of Dallas received Christmas Cards each year from one student in particular. 

He noticed the envelope had an erased name etched into the paper below where the word "Teacher" was written.  Without ever speaking of the notice, he scanned the other cards.  Most of the 22 greetings looked the same.  Later,  the teacher passed out cards to each of his students and their families just as he had every year prior.  The student boldly asked the teacher a question.  "Why do you ALWAYS ruin our Christmas Cards?"  Puzzled, my friend asked him to explain.  The student remarked, "You write our names with an ink pen!"  After a glance around the room at the nodding heads within the class and disappointed faces, he stopped his lesson plan and the students proceeded to teach him.  "You see, in my family, Mama calls it passin' on the joy.  We don't buy gifts.  Mama says cards give joy but only when you give them away.  You caint mark 'em in a way that caint be erased to write a new somebody's name on the JOY CARD." My friend was so touched by the revelation that he started a Christmas Fund to recycle Christmas Cards  and their envelopes each year to give in bundles as gifts to the students.  

In looking through Christmas papers that are pretty, I found that this is where it stops.  Consider wrapping a gift in something that can be reused for the next holiday or special occasion your recipient may have.  Gather fabric remnants from old clothing....

Dip them in Liquid Fabric Starch and lay them flat to dry.  After drying, cut them into slices for ribbon. Don't be too concerned about Christmas bows, as you can see, a simple recycled newspaper medallion, or ornament will give your package a focal point.  Even a favorite flower brooch can be attached to the package and later removed for the recipient to keep or give away!

By cutting a small name tag, you can personalize with a message on the back explaining the background of the elements used. 
Example:

My favorite idea, though, is printing a collage of family (or friend) photos and wrapping a few picture frames, with a request inside the gift stating: feel free to share these memories in the form of another gift or online! 

Courtesy of shttp://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2010/12/family-photos.htmlure

Thanks for reading.  Please comment and share your ideas on HOW TO SPREAD THE JOY through re gifting ideas!

How Shabby Chic Made Me Rich

How Shabby Chic Made Me Rich (well... kind of)

When I was a little girl, my mom, Nana and I would all create. I believe Nana's teachings on the history of items and Mom's guidance on nature's appreciation both contributed to the driving force to combine the two with artistic expression.  It wasn't the societal trend we see today.

I was sitting in Nana's house after watching them work a project.  I probably loaned them a bit of advice which sparked an idea for Mom.  She suggested some day the two of us open our own store and name it "Stuff and Thangs".  Well, there, a dream was born.

Many years later, my husband and our family downsized from a suburban town to a rural community on the outskirts of Houston.  Crosby had a WalMart, a "Mom and Pop" grocery store and a tiny row of buildings considered to be the "antique district".  The old buildings and their history stirred me each time I passed.  At this time in my life, I spent a great deal of driving just for the sake of exploring.  Exploring not only my new home but my new "self".  You see, I had just spent three years involved in a program to heal myself from the bondage of codependency.  It was indeed time to move forward.  I finally stopped in to scavenge through the stores.

I found the stores a bit scary as I wandered through the darkened aisles that once had been the main attraction to this small town.  I discovered remnants of the past to be interesting not only in their history but display.  Sometimes collectibles displayed beautifully on a vintage mirrored tray. But sometimes they appeared dumped in a cardboard box that limply laid in the floor, softened by water damage and time.  But they all had one thing in common...they stirred me.

I questioned what things were used for. Why was this worth $100 and this, $2.  Sometimes I wondered why something ugly often became more attractive in just a short minute once I was told the story behind it.  Befriending the shopkeeper became easy.  They love to be asked the history.  The stories became a therapy to me and she quickly became my friend when a friend was needed by me so very much.  Tammy soon offered me a booth space  to bring my painted creations to her shop.  I saw "justification" for the vice I had developed while tiptoeing through difficult times at home. This was my 13th STEP!

                                             (No personal photos but these are very close)

My first booth was in the warehouse at the back of her shop. While unloading items (I doubted would be good enough for public acceptance as well as purchase) I was encouraged by the small crowd gathering to watch and select.  Fumbling for prices and display plans, the crowd made purchases immediately. The most encouraging was the property owner.  She, in her obvious eccentric style, appreciated the use of art incorporated into the vintage furniture pieces. 

 

 

 

I rushed home to more painting, gluing, and refurbishing.  After a few months, she became a regular buyer.  Rose soon informed me she was, of sorts,  a "middle man" for Shabby Chic Industries.  She had been purchasing and selling my designs to Rachel Ashwell and the SC team. The hand selected items were duplicated and mass produced as well as used for props in display ventures for SC publications.  Naive to business and the now famous name, I was content just doing what I loved and making an estimated $20 for a small piece of painted furniture and $60 on something like a kitchen Hutch. She soon offered a deal difficult to pass up.  My own store where she could see the wide range of inventory on a grander scale as well as an opportunity for the public to buy at retail while I developed my name.    Terrified, I asked for her smallest location.  Approximately 400 square feet.  I'll never forget her reply.  "You are too good for that and if you dream small, you'll receive small". Hmmmm.....I was afraid but have always accepted fear as something much like the common cold.  It must be addressed and overcome. Period!

 She pushed for her larger store.  2500 square feet of 1912's version of a bank building had been transformed into a wide open space filled with magic! Pastel painted antique furniture, art, needlepoint textiles and hand embellished chandeliers were trademark.  The front windows were kept quirky and enticing from the busy main road.  The sidewalks were sprinkled with changing vignettes featuring garden iron pieces and real flowers. 

But from the first opening day I realized some visitors had a different agenda. Locals would come by to sit and have coffee, and at times, a cake slice or cookie.  They would visit about their personal lives.  Tammy had warned me about decorating in a "too homey" feel.  I disagreed.  The thought that just an environment could evoke a feeling of comfort and trust in total strangers flattered me but also intrigued me.  How a personal journey is never completely personal.  We need to share. 

Soon a local came in and shared a familiar story.  She opened up about a family member who had turned their lives upside down through drug use.  The teen was self destructing and the parents weren't getting help from school or authorities.  They were losing their home, jobs, and marriage over the teen's daily tribulations.  I took a gamble and shared my experience and resources, encouraging her to have them get help for themselves before expecting the teen's life to turn around.  A few days later, another came in with a similar story.  This time it was a son. The next week, a neighbor's step-daughter.  Then a granddaughter.  This went on for a year.  Before I knew it, the town had labeled me. 
The "counselor-painter". The counselor-painter???  I was transforming forgotten finds not people!  This wasn't my dream!!!  I really thought people who had their own stores were rich and I wasn't getting there.   Pondering on this for awhile, I realized.   So I'm supposed to be getting rich, not listening to my story pouring out of others' mouths while all of a sudden...something beautiful happened.  A revealation.  A distressed soul exposed itself and all its vulnerability and history while displaying layers of softness.  Pastels with romantic wanderings graced its very surface.  SHABBY, yet CHIC defined a story so many share.  We had discovered a beauty.

I was healing.  They were healing.  I was rich....just not with money.

How to Pour Money Down the Drain...

Miniature Parfum Necklaces, How to pour money down the drain!

The Challenge: Multiply existing inventory for the Shop without spending money. Uh, okay....Right up my alley.  You know, that dark, dreary, graffiti covered wall and shadowy-figure-lurking alley where I seem to get stuck between evil strangers and headlights belonging to an unknown car headed straight for me....yea, that alley.  Anyway, there I was. Sorting through the garage-store-all stirring up a mess and leaving it looking like a hurricane hit it.  But I did find some new possibilities!

The furniture will get their due but this week I would be creating items that can be easily sold as one of a kind Christmas gifts.  I pulled collectibles I've held for years that either didn't sell, passed their "trend" for collecting or just needed "tweaking".  They'd all passed my RESELLER'S RULE" (being: NEVER RESELL UNTIL INTERNET OR BOOK RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE!) so off I went with armfuls of candidates.  Beginning with 4 boxes of vintage parfum bottle sets, I left for the kitchen.

 

 As I opened caps, nearly gagging, my mind travelled down memory lane.  How many shelves these little cuties had rested on? The Antique Store we once owned, the many Show booths, and even the ebay "will get to listing it" shelf in my closet, all held these "forgottens". I also imagined the original recipient. A woman, probably received the gift for Christmas or another holiday as a romantic measure from her "love".  As I toyed with ideas on how to re purpose, I glanced at my dated price tags on the boxes, $25. Remembering the research on ebay, I knew I'd checked them all years ago so I passed on a recent inquiry.

 Using Dawn Dish Detergent, I filled one side of the sink with 4 inches of soapy water.  The other side of the sink served as the drain where I poured one by one down the pipes.  They then rested for awhile in the soapy water.  Following a soaking, pipe cleaners borrowed from my "pipe smoking" husband, were used as tools to clean the chemicals from the inside of each tiny bottle.  After drying, I took a few for practice.  By using thin jewelry wire, broken chains, vintage jewelry remnants, jump rings, and lace pieces for opposing texture.

 

I had my visual.  Now that my supplies were assembled, I gathered my tools.  They aren't the ideal "jewelry designer's" tools because I would rather stab myself in the eye with the needle nose pliers than design something as intricate as jewelry.  However, I do know in retail, women are 4 times as likely to buy jewelry than anything else a reseller has to offer.  So off I went!

Scissors, small needle nose pliers, small wire cutters, super glue, hot glue, hot glue gun, and a few stick on embellishments from Hobby Lobby for extra character. (Rhinestones would've been awesome!)

I began with what I felt would be the most challenging part of the project, attaching the wire to grab onto the jump ring where the pendant would dangle from the chain without tipping forward or backward due to weight.  I took the bottle topper off and laid it aside. Then I took wire and wrapped it around the neck three times and twisted it for security
 leaving approximately 2 1/2 inches on each wire for creating a loop.

 

 Once the loop is twisted for strength, I attached the Jump Ring, leaving it open for the chain's link to catch.  I took several broken chains with varying weights, design and color finish. This would give extra character while focusing on the vintage look as well as recycling what I already have.  Afterwards. I attached them together with a jump ring securing each fragment of metal.  With a desire to keep each piece of jewelry extra long, the length totalled approximately 28 inches.
Now, I gathered a few items for an inspirational bottle that wouldn't only be pretty but have a message.  I chose "To Hope" for this one.  The words were scissor cut from an old newspaper and hot glued to a piece of cardboard off my super glue package. 

"To Hope" then was placed on a tiny lace doily remnant and affixed with a dab of super glue to the glass.
 Too bland, but vintage bling would then accent! (I always split designs into 3 visual parts: 60% Focal Point, 30 % Secondary Focal, 10% Highlight.) Next, came delicate vintage chain remnants.  Super glue and wire caused them to dangle from the neck.  Now, It was taking shape, much like this photo of another I created on  "PROMISED LOVE".

The last detail is the bottle stopper.  The original lid must be super glued and attached. I was tempted to embellish the stopper but soon realized the beauty of the glass could diminish with too much embellishing! Simply gluing the stopper in place was a better choice.  Some did seep over the edge, but additional remnants can cover that and it just further secures the project's details. (Some bottles even got filled with seed pearls and rhinestone flats). FUN!

Now, I had several pieces completed but all 26 had been started and were drying when I decided to research ONE MORE TIME!  In search of a price range on this finished product, I checked etsy.  A regular seller retails beautiful bottles with less detail and plastic caps for $16.  I then checked ebay.  The search turned up Miniature Vintage Perfume Bottle (undecorated as is with perfume inside)SOLD PRICE $57!  and again, $64, $110, $105, $75, $46, and $98!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                       UH OH!

Well, I messed up on the one thing I've always known better than!  I took the bottles and showed them at a party to get feedback on pricing and preferences a few days before placing them in the shop as Christmas Stock.  The feedback was astounding and will continue to design the necklaces as now I find it therapeutic to recycle with oddities found just laying in junk drawers and garage boxes.  But I do believe I'll do better research before they hit the sink....as this is how you, beautifully, POUR MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN! 

 

 

Once the collection was complete, they became Christmas Stock in the FrillSeekerz Winnie Trade Days Store.  The first customer, Ashley, posed for us wearing one of the two she purchased.  She's so darling that anything she wears is a statement about how to wear recycled with pride!

 Thank you, Ashley, for the encouragement on our continuing efforts to recycle the old with soulful inspiration!