Monday Monday…

Are you looking at my drawers?

Be Clever: Give Handmade!

As a rule, I avoid malls and busy stores and I aim toward buying, making, and giving handmade goods as there are some amazing artisans out there who infuse quality handiwork with unique design and receiving these treasures just makes a person feel extra special, rather than just feeling like a check box on a list.

So avoid cookiecutter gifts this year… Well, unless they are actual cookie cutters (I just scored a gnome shaped one! I’m going to make gingerbread gnomes this year with Alex!)… And you can find plenty of handmade, unique cookie cutters that blow the socks off the typical shapes.

xo

Bek

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Last Minute Gift Idea

There is still time to order from my Etsy.com shop for the holidays(within the US)!

I love giving my jewelry as gifts to almost everyone on my shopping list. Sometimes though, we all have gift emergencies. I have great treasures in my Etsy shop for women of all ages and a few pieces that are suitable for men, but some folks fall outside of that demographic or I just don’t know them well enough to hazard a guess on their tastes or personal style.

For example, I adore our UPS man, but all I really know about him is that he wears a brown uniform, goes above and beyond what I expect a parcel delivery person to do, he’s got a nice smile and fabulous eyes, and he brings treats aka stuff I ordered and forgot I ordered. Yay! Everything is a surprise!

(Holy cannoli, I just realized that I picture our UPS man as the UPS guy in Legally Blond. Funny. I don’t think I really know what our UPS guy actually looks like. Weird. I’m not bending and snapping though, not with these old joints! I’d get stuck and not even be able to sign for my packages. How embarrassing!)

Anyway, for those “I need a gift for someone and have had cash on hand since around the time they introduced debit card transactions at every checkout under the sun” predicaments may I suggest:

Amazon.com printable gift cards! That’s right! You don’t even need a legal name, full name, or email address. Just punch in your info and a message and any amount. Pick a graphic for your card (there are over 50 at last check…lots of them remind me of Target’s gift cards). Checkout and in a few minutes Amazon will email you a link which lets you print the foldable card (made me all nostalgic for Print Shop on the Apple IIc, though an inkjet printer and the modern graphics make these much prettier).

So while I suggest jewelry, jewelry, jewelry, and related adornments, I do know that sometimes you need a one-size-fits-all-tastes-and-budgets-last-minute-solution.

Without further delay, here’s the linkey-do so you can check out the options for yourself.
Amazon Printable Gift Cards

xo
Bek

Wickedly Awesome!

Would you like a treasure box filled with CleverGirl jewelry?

Click on over to WickedlyChic.com where the CleverGirl giveaway is in full swing! (and there is a 10% off coupon for my Etsy shop as well!)

But it ends Thursday- so head on over and enter!

xo

Bek

p.s. don’t forget! If you haven’t signed up for the CleverGirl/CleverIndie mailing list there are surprises there as well! Click here to sign up

You might have an Aspie kid…. (Holiday Edition)

(Kiddo's First Christmas, 2003)

Some of the top signs you might have an Aspie kid in the family (holiday edition):
1. You know that a label maker will be his prized Christmas gift

2. He really wants Santa to bring him a fax machine and a land line

3. An AC Adapter for one of his gadgets is an idea stocking stuffer

4. He is furious on Christmas morning because he thinks Dad ate the cookies.

5. He tries to spin every gift he opens

6. He tries to open his presents while covering his ears (because crumpling, ripping paper is too much stimulation for him) at the same time.

7. You do all of your shopping online because malls are sensory overload even at 9am on a weekday in the off-season

8. You get to skip the line to see Santa because your kid is too freaked out or just not interested.

9. Grandma Got Run-over By A Reindeer sends child into hysterics and calls must be made to verify health of all grandmothers

10. You frisk every piece of mail for musical greeting cards to disarm them before your child gets home from school. The risk of losing your last marble are very real as if he likes it he will open it repeatedly-only playing the first 5 notes and then he will close it and open it again and again and again until the battery runs out and then there will be a sizable meltdown and a trip to the market for more batteries and smaller tools and wasn’t the idea to skip stores completely during the holiday rush?

11. Your child’s amazon.com wishlist has a lengthy warning note about all of the above to warn well-meaning relatives so everyone can have a Merry Christmas!  You ask for additional quantities of Junior’s favorite toy, for emergencies.

12. There is a good chance you won’t have to pay exorbitant prices on the “must-have” toy of the season, but you will spend weeks searching for a special interest related item that your child doesn’t already have.  (my kid has a toilet shaped crumb vacuum from the UK.  He has moved on since then but we could probably open a plumbing novelty museum)

13. You wonder if there is a way to harness the energy expended by hand flapping and stimming. The holidays alone could power a small city.

14. You realize your child who won’t eat anything chewy or soft will eat pretty much anything in candy cane or cookie form. Google “broccoli cookies” and “no red dye all natural fruit flavored high fiber whole grain vitamin minerals protein candy canes” (found organic ones, by the way… beet root coloring!)

15. You plan your holiday baking less around gift-able treats and more around the occupational therapy benefits.

16. You are reminded, in all of the inevitable chaos, that you are luckier than most because you get to experience that Christmas morning thrill all year round as you rediscover the world with your awesome Aspie kid.

(here’s a link to yourlittleprofessor.com’s guide to gifts for kids with Asperger’s- it’s a “getting to know your Aspie” sort of an exercise for those who could use some insight into special interests and gift giving)