RSSGifts Ideas For The Real World 3
December 1, 2008
Have I gotten carried away with this?
Nah, of course not.
I’m noticing that almost every U.S. site has free shipping at the moment. Wow. You need only go to the crazed, packed mall if you want to. (I want to. The busier, the better).
10 more:
1. Great mirrors. Keep the energy inside the room. Groupings of interesting mirrors are cool. If you have some money to spend, these small Dubois mirrors at Crate and Barrel are appealing and would fit in with many decors.I’d do a line of 4 of them over a dresser or behind a couch, mixed in with other art.
And a Witch Ball to go with it. These balls were not meant to ward off bad witches. They were enchanted by the good witches to strengthen their ability to attract evil spirits with their lovely colors and then entrap the spirit in the threads within.
In some of the folklore, the witches are mischievous and the balls are designed to catch the witches. You can read the story at White Elk and purchase beautiful balls like the Healing Waters ball below. These are beautiful alone in windows and can be grouped in interesting ways.
2. A Key Finder of course !!!
3. Liqueurs. More interesting than wine, though a good red is never to be scoffed at. Benedictine if you’re buying for me, but there are so many. The Bailey’s always seems to be in highest demand. A very welcome gift.
4. Essential beauty tools. Always a reason to go to Sephora : Shu’s Eyelash Curler – Limited edition in gold! If you don’t own one of these yet, this is THE one to buy. It’s the cult classic for a reason. It does come in silver and is a little cheaper. Read the reviews to help you decide.
4. Customized original art. http://www.maryann.ca/2008Special.pdf . Mary Ann Archibald is a Halifax artist. For Christmas, Mary Ann is offering to create a framed original oil painting of a subject with special meaning for the gift recipient.
You purchase a certificate for an original still life painting. The recipient of the gift sends it to Mary Ann with a suggestion for the subject they’d like in their personalized oil painting. There are other arrangements that can be made with the artist as well. Follow this link to Mary Ann’s Christmas 2008 Special to enlarge the page below and learn the details. Now how great is this?
5. Beautiful BIG mugs. I know everyone has too many coffee cups in their cupboards. Being given a hot drink of mulled cider or frothy hot cocoa in a really big, beautifully painted mug is more special than in a regular sized mug. Only problem is that they’re hard to find.
There are some styles that are narrower on the bottom than the top but I think that’s dumb design because they tip over too easily and the liquid cools too fast. So if you know of some beauties, please tell me. I’m looking too.
6. Makeup brushes. Have a look at 3 Great Makeup Brushes by Lise Watier. Tied with a bow.
7. This sweater at American Eagle. Clothes are hard to buy for people, but this is such a great sweater at AE. Buy 1, get one 50% off! As dressed up or down as you want. On its own with a silky jewel-colored cami and something artsy and wonderful around your neck. Or with jeans and a graphic tee and a chunky bracelet.
White sweaters near the face are useless if you wear makeup, but this is so great. Enlarge it and look at the back. Also available in 1 other good color, to consider for women like me who don’t wear white well. Springs, Summers, Winters, all look great in white. We Autumns might wear white but it isn’t our best.
This is the Canada store . Same clothes, same deals. Oh, if only I hadn’t spent so much last month.
8. Traditional Medicinals teas. What makes these special is how strong and true the flavor is . Normally, I dislike herbal teas because they remind me of hayfield runoff, a soup of nondescript, grassy, watered-down sludge with some synthetic fruit or spice tastes mixed in.
These are not like that.
My favorites are GingerAid which is a pure potent ginger, and Spearmint which is fresh, pure, and surprisingly taste-saturated. Many herbal teas are either too watery or too much of a blend so they don’t taste like much of anything. The taste is so clean that you don’t even need honey.
The CranAid promotes urinary health with Uva Ursi, maybe not something for under the tree. But what about
I haven’t tried it, but I’d keep the box around just for the name.
9. What’s Christmas without some bath stuff? I’m not even going there because I defer to a master. Kristen at Beauty Addict is doing a series on gifts and the first post is all bath and body
Keep watching because there are 8 more gift guides coming, from perfume to men and kids.
10. The Allover Black Bead Necklace on Eddie Bauer’s Accessories page. Mouse over the picture (then click on the name of the item; ya gotta see it close, I think it has potential).
While there, look at the Men’s Sale page .I asked Bill what men want : sweatpants. He was wearing a pair at the time. I asked “How many do men want?” . Reply “Sweatpants”. Well, OK then. There’s a nice pair on this page. Some other very decent things as well.
Comments
13 Responses to “Gifts Ideas For The Real World 3”
Got something to say? I hope so.
-
A Greener Tea
Web Maintenence by Rick Beckman
I’d like to recommend a gift idea to this community. My dear friend, Joyce Lyle, retired from a career with Hallmark cards’ Keepsake Ornament division. But artists can’t really retire, so Joyce has started her own line–and I think the freedom of creativity it’s allowed her shows in her work. Check out her ornaments and other goodies at
http://angelworksart.com/index.html
Billie
Wow! What a great ae sweater. I ordered it just now… first ae purchase!
Keep the great ideas coming.
Thank you.
Maria,
Isn’t that nice? I actually saw it live this past weekend. It’s great. The knit is a little looser than it looks on the webpage but to me that’s a plus. A beautiful shiny cami underneath would show through better, it wouldn’t be as hot, it would show a little skin, and it’s less fussy-old-lady-cliche- knit-purl-knit looking. The alternative color was terrific too, a very natural brown-grey. I like the position of the 2 buttons as well, so it flares a little like a short jacket.
How about unique coffee…try this site from Jacksonville, FL roasters I just discovered.
http://www.boldbeancoffee.com
Mugs – go to:
http://www.worldmarket.com
search “mugs” some cool looking ones in their stores.
Hi, Kathryn,
Both great sites!
The mugs are beautiful and unusual, but I couldn’t tell which were the BIG ones.
I’m looking for some to take a photo of. They’re in similar proportions to regular mugs, just 1/3 again bigger.
Cappucino cups and latte bowls are not my favorite shapes because they spill too easily and cool too fast. I’ ll keep working on this.
The coffee site is gorgeous. It’s part of Gift List #5. Thanks!
Hi, Billie,
Sorry for the delay in displaying your comment. Somehow, it got caught in my spam filter and I just found it today. Quite odd.
Thanks for the link to the ornaments, they’re lovely and unusual. I can think of many less traditional trees where these would be perfect.
Hi Chris,
MaryAnn was my room mate at Acadia and we have continued to be in contact 20 years later. Her work is terrific. And she is a really cool person. I love her landscapes.
Oh – I LOVE the sweater. Did you show it to my husband?
H
I can’t get the frickin eyelash curler sent to Canada. What is that?
They tell me everytime I try and place the order that this is a restricted item not available in Canada.
Here I was all set to get three…..:(
Is there something else I can do? I have an American address to mail it to and all but that Canadian credit card cuts me off.
arghhh
Oh and by the way, last year for my birthday a dear friend gave me a hand warmer mug. There are some on this site: http://www.monstermarketplace.com/searchw24.asp?q=hand+warmer+mug&OVRAW=hand%20warmer%20coffe%20mug&OVKEY=hand%20warmer%20mug&OVMTC=advanced&OVADID=32790906512&OVKWID=38104119012
(I particularly am partial to the mystic water design) and I am sure there are many other sites with similar styles. I love love love the fact that it keeps my hand warm (I am always cold) and some of them are 16 ounces which is just about enough coffee to get me jump started in the am. Just sayin’.
Thanks for all the great ideas missy. xo
Gina -
Have you tried at sephora.ca or .com? You’d think the site would just redirect you, but sometimes they’re not that smart. I had the same issue with World Vision.
Hmm. Can I get 3 of them to you by Christmas. If life goes according to plan, I’ll be in F’ton on Dec. 19. We’ll be coming via the US this year and I can easily pick up 10 of them, but I don’t think I can get them to you by the 25th, unless I leave them somewhere.
Have you tried Contact Us on the Sephora site? Or try calling the retail store in the Eaton Center? You can find the store info at sephora.ca > Stores.
Those mugs … yes, yes, YES!! What a good concept. The flap would keep the drink warm as well as your hand. Is 16 oz a big mug ? I think about cooking where 1 cup is 16 oz – is that what it holds? The snowman is so cute. Like you, I’m cold from Nov. 1 to Apr. 1. This winter, I’m into layering. It actually works pretty well.
A regular coffee mug is about 10 ounces (250 ml is 8 ounces or one cup…. not sure what your cups look like ….?????? 16 ounces is one cup, yikes you must make big recipes, you giant)
Sounds about right for me. Course I even refill that sucker. Who cares about fibrocystic breasts …mammograms be damned ..it is all about the coffee. 
So a 16 ounce mug is like two cups of coffee
I am picking up Kati from uni on the 19th…now how convenient would that be that I could pick up those curlers on my way back through F’ton? Is P going over to to the island at the same time as you? If he is not then I could dart to his place and grab them.
We could even arrange to meet somewhere. Be still my heart.
That is if I cannot get the silly things at sephora .ca.
But I would still love to see you.
Be in touch.
From Gina,
A link to items Sephora won’t ship to Canada.
http://www.sephora.com/customer_service/csr_controller.jhtml?csrSection=canada&csrSub=canadaUnavailable
Now that’s useful.
From Christine,
Hey, Sephora, and all the other online retailers – do you think you could let us know these things during the purchase or checkout? We think our computers are messing up, see. So we try again. And again. And contact you. And it wastes our time. And then we stop buying stuff from you. Do you want our money or not?
Sephora.ca just redirects to sephora.com – how freakin aggravating. How hard would it be to put in a pop up if an item on that not-to-Canada shows up in the cart?