Posts Tagged: "art"

Unique Knitted Metal Jewelry

My grandmother knitted throughout her lifetime. She tried to teach me, but I never really showed much interest.

Oh, how I wished I had learned because you never know when old skills can turn into new talent.

unqiue-knitted-metal-necklace-jewelry-thoughtful-gift-ideaThis past Mother’s Day weekend, my husband, Randy, and I attended an arts festival in our community. Over the years, we have purchased art, prints, pottery, jewelry and leather goods at this event.

Since we no longer need stuff to hang on the walls or decorate shelves, I’ve become interested in jewelry made by artists. Randy likes to look for unusual artistic designs on leather belts.

Arts festivals are wonderful places to have the opportunity to speak with artists face-to-face. To me, this makes the art more personal.

I’m always on the lookout for jewelry that is different when I spotted a booth by artist Susan Baile of Spiritus Designs.

I ooohed and awed over her necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I asked her, “What are these made of?” Susan replied, “Metals and I knit them.”

Well… that really piqued my interest!

She went on to say she started knitting at the age of 11.  When Susan retired, she wanted to do something to keep her busy. Since she loved to knit, she found a way to knit metals into jewelry.

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Custom Throw Pillows Add Personal Touch

I love how throw pillows can make a creative statement on a sofa, chair or bed.

They’re almost like “pillow art” because they come in so many unique designs, colors and textures!

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Give Custom Throw Pillows

But did you know it’s easy to create your own custom, personalized throw pillows for yourself or as a gift?

There are so many websites that allow you to select the image, text, font, color, fabric, etc. so you can really make them one-of-a-kind.

Do you have favorite photos? Favorite sayings, quotes or scriptures?  A special date? A unique message?

When you put it on a custom throw pillow, you can see it every day!

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Rock Painting Kit

- - $20 or Less, Kids

My son and I were shopping at an outdoor mall when he found a piece of “treasure.”

rock-painting-gift-kids-giftHe held it in the palm of his little hand. The look on his excited and eager face said, “Can I keep it?”

He showed me a smooth, round rock painted red with blue polkadots and a large pink heart.

Painted on the back were the words, “Facebook Frogville Rocks #FrogvilleRocks.”

I explained to my son that someone must have wanted him to find the rock and that the person wanted us to visit their Facebook page.

Spread Joy With Rock Painting

I was intrigued myself! We visited the Frogville Rocks Facebook group and this is what it said:

This group was created as a simple way to have fun and share some random acts of kindness by sharing a little piece of artwork. We encourage this random act of kindness through painting rocks and hiding them for others to find.

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Magical 3D Pop Up Greeting Cards

3D Pop Up Greeting Cards are so beautiful and mesmerizing, they are almost a gift in itself. And they’re definitely keepsakes!

When you open one of these cards, instead of seeing words, you see the card magically come to life as it POPS UP into a unique design. They are truly miniature works of paper art!

Send Someone a Pop Up Surprise

You can buy 3D Pop Up Greeting Cards in all sorts of designs for all sorts of occasions. Some of them are designed to hold a gift card.

Although, do you even need an occasion to send a 3D greeting card with a pop up dragon, a pop up pirate ship or a pop up rocket? Send them just because the cards are badass and you want to surprise someone!

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My Favorite Ergonomic Drinking Mug

OK… my favorite mug is not advertised as being ergonomic. I just gave it that name.

The word ergonomic means well designed, usable, user-friendly and comfortable. All the adjectives that describes my favorite mug!

Several years ago, while visiting friends we made when living in Albuquerque, we played tourist by visiting Old Town. We had fun walking around the Square checking out each gift shop.

In one store, we watched pottery being made directly in front of us by artists. It’s truly amazing how plain brownish clay turns into beautiful colorful pottery. I like to think of it as usable art!

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Create Photo Art Using American Sign Language

- - Birthday, Christmas

My paternal and maternal grandparents and my mother were deaf so my first language was American Sign Language.

create-photo-art-using-american-sign-language-thoughtful-gift-ideaSeveral years ago, my mother became ill and I took her to the emergency room. It was the beginning of dementia even though we were not aware of it yet.

The wait in the ER was F-O-R-E-V-E-R! and she became extremely restless.

To help keep her calm, I suggested we take pictures of her hand creating individual letters of the ABCs in American Sign Language (ASL). 

She loved it and thankfully doing that passed the time.

We later printed out photos of the individual letters to spell out the names of my brothers, my mother’s cousins and her friends. We mailed them in “thinking of you cards.”

My mother enjoyed hearing from each one that they loved her special surprise gift. Sign language is beautiful and you do not have to be deaf to enjoy seeing your name spelled in ASL.

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Paint Your Own Pottery Experience

When I visit my sister’s family, I always like to give my three nieces the gift of a new experience.

paint-own-pottery-experience-gift

Now that my oldest niece is 16 and I have a four-year old son, I needed to come up with an experience that teenagers AND young children would enjoy. That’s a little tough, but I came up with the perfect idea! Adults will enjoy it too!

I took everyone to a paint your own pottery studio where each of us picked out an unfinished ceramic pottery to paint.

The studio had a TON of choices and to inspire customers it displayed examples of what the final painted products could look like.

Ceramic Pottery

I picked out a Christmas sweater platter, and my son picked out a dinosaur. My sister picked out a Christmas mug, while her 16-year old niece picked out a jar. My 13-year old niece picked out a turtle shaped container, and my nine-year old niece picked out a Hello Kitty figurine. See! Something for everyone!

The pottery studio provided all of the painting supplies, glazing and firing. All we needed to do was unleash our creativity!

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Stuffed Animals Displayed as Art

Most of us have grown up with teddy bears or other beloved stuffed animals. Many of us still have them.

teddy-bear-framed-thoughtful-gift-ideaThey are tucked away forgotten until we come across them stored away in the attic or closet. Oh… that warm fuzzy feeling of seeing your childhood companion!

I have a beautiful gift idea to display the lovable teddy bear and other favorite huggable animals.

Place the stuffed animal in a picture frame to look like art!

You can purchase frames, use frames you have around the house or look for frames at garage and estate sales at bargain prices. If you don’t like the color of the frame, simply paint over it.

I love DIY projects only if they are simple!

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Unique & Awesome Museum Gifts

Ever wonder where you can go to find unique and awesome gifts? Try a museum gift shop.

museum-gift-emboridered-peacock-feather-velet-purse-thoughtful-gift-ideaDon’t have a local museum? No worries! Shop online from many of the world’s most famous museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or The Louvre in Paris.

Discover hundreds of unique gifts and art reproductions, including jewelry, sculpture, apparel, wall art, stationery, toys and more.

You’ll find plenty of gifts to choose from available in any price range.

One of my favorite gift shops is The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  The gifts are unlike anything else I’ve ever seen and more affordable than you might think.

I recently purchased a beautiful $25 velvet bag for my sister-in-law to use as a small purse or make-up bag. The embroidered design motif of a peacock feather is based on a color stencil print by Maurice Pillard Verneuil (French, 1869 to 1942). I was certain she didn’t have anything like it. Continue Reading

Retirement Gifts with a Twist

- - Retirement

Retirement is the next frontier for Baby Boomers! Did you know the Baby Boomer generation will be turning 65 at a rate of 8,000 per day? That’s a lot of retirement gifts to think about!

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Create a joyful card for Retirement!

Rocking chair gifts are out. Let’s get more creative than that.

Many Baby Boomers retire only to become bored and return to work part-time. Others start new businesses while some take trips and enjoy their hobbies of art, golf, fishing, or penning a novel.

HOBBY GIFTS

A retirement gift related to their hobby is perfect.

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Pair a flashlight with this card for a Play on Words gift idea.

If they like to paint, purchase several different size canvases with the message to “Paint Your Art Out.”

Golf balls are certainly prized gifts. Personalize them with the word “RETIRED!” Continue Reading