Meaningful Gift Giving

My camera is officially dead. This is so, so sad. I like to document my progress on the shop and post what I've done, but until I get a new camera you just have to believe me that I'm working on things! Things are good and I'm making progress.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about Christmas. Eric and I have never been big Christmas spenders. Last year we took off for the holidays and celebrated our honeymoon instead. What a stress-free way to go through the holidays. We're planning on doing a repeat again this year, but I still want to get Eric something.

Meet the Giver's Log. This is a beautiful blog about giving gifts, wrapping gifts, and gift ideas.

Inspired by this blog post, I'm thinking of getting Eric something he wants, something he needs, and something he can treasure. I'm always trying to not spend a lot of money, so I've got to be thrifty and creative. I think the 'treasure' gift may be something I create that can be printed on this free canvas being offered by http://www.canvaspeople.com/.

How do you approach gift giving each year?

My Shop - Progress Update

I came up with the idea to open my own Etsy shop in April of this year. Since then I have spent approximately 100 hours researching Etsy, small businesses, photography, crafting, and the potential market for my jewelry display boxes.

This weekend I worked on filling in a few gaps in my boxes with wood filler and sanding them to perfection. This week I will be painting and working on stenciling some designs I've found. My camera recently died (RIP), but I want to keep my blog posts going until I can get a replacement.

I'm hoping to do a soft opening of my Etsy shop during the Christmas break and will keep you posted on my progress.

If you read this and are also working on a big project, how are you doing? What are you working on now?

(Pillow from www.pillowfarmer.etsy.com. Isn't it fabulous?)