Fabric Holiday Bags

Written by Joyce Moseley Pierce


Fabric Holiday Bags by: Joyce Moseley Pierce - 641 words

As my children were growing up, it always bothered me to buy wrapping paper only to see it ripped open and thrown inrepparttar fireplace or trash after Christmas gifts were opened. I tried using comics but soon discovered I didn't likerepparttar 111489 black newsprint it left on my hands and everyone else's. For me, gift wrap was right up there with fireworks - we spent good money only to see it go up in smoke. I began to look for a solution.

I bought craft paper and stenciled things on it, but still, I feltrepparttar 111490 paper was going to waste. Then one year after Christmas I saw holiday fabric on sale and had an idea! I bought yard after yard of it on clearance and brought it home to make gift bags.

I cutrepparttar 111491 fabric in various sizes. Sometimes I only got 2-3 bags out of a yard, but I knew that they would be able to holdrepparttar 111492 bigger items, and better yet - I would be able to reuse them next year. I basically cut and sewed them like a pillowcase. I sewed a seam up three sides and leftrepparttar 111493 top open. Then I turned that edge in slightly and stitched it onrepparttar 111494 machine to finish it off. Then I folded it in about 3 inches (or more on bigger bags) and hemmed it. I then put another row of stitching about a half inch above that one to create a casing forrepparttar 111495 ribbon. I slipped a piece of ribbon throughrepparttar 111496 casing and tied it shut. If you have nosey kids, you may want to tie a knot!

Oncerepparttar 111497 gifts are stuffed inrepparttar 111498 fabric bags and poofed up with tissue paper, stand them up aroundrepparttar 111499 tree and enjoy your creative artwork! They look like miniature Santa bags. The best thing, besidesrepparttar 111500 fact that inrepparttar 111501 long run you are saving money by not buying wrapping paper, is that you don't spend hours wrappingrepparttar 111502 gifts and don't need scotch tape or bows. One satin ribbon will lastrepparttar 111503 lifetime ofrepparttar 111504 bag. I still use gift tags and punch a hole in them so they can be run throughrepparttar 111505 ribbon. You might save old Christmas cards and cut them up for gift tags.

'Tis the Season for Regifting

Written by Joyce Moseley Pierce


'Tisrepparttar Season for Regifting By: Joyce Moseley Pierce 1000 words

"We spendrepparttar 111488 first part of our human experience avidly accumulating things andrepparttar 111489 other half wondering what in repparttar 111490 world we're going to do with allrepparttar 111491 stuff." Margret E. Keats

I've never really thought of myself as a person who cares about material things, but after years of marriage and raising three children, I had accumulated more than I needed. I maderepparttar 111492 kids take what was theirs as they left home and began building their own nests, but there was still too much. I started to think about what my kids would do with all of it when I'm dead and gone, and decided most of it would probably be dumped or sold in a garage sale. I decided maybe I should start getting rid of it before they did!

About that time I discovered a wonderful little book, "How to Simplify Your Life," by Elaine St.James. I asked forrepparttar 111493 book as a Christmas gift, and it has been well worth what my daughter spent on it (I believe it was only about $10 atrepparttar 111494 time). I've read it on many different occasions. It's great for just flipping through and reading whatever catches your interest that day.

One of my favorite sections inrepparttar 111495 book is about getting rid of things you no longer need. She suggests setting up a closet or at least a shelf for those items. I'm not talking about worn out junk, but items which are in good shape that may be a treasure to someone else! She calls them "mathoms." My grandson callsrepparttar 111496 process of giving away your stuff, "regifting." It works for me, no matter what you call it. For instance, I had a beautiful bottle that my daughter had filled with oil and flowers at one time. It was dark pink with a wide square base that became more slender towardrepparttar 111497 top. Years later,repparttar 111498 color inrepparttar 111499 flowers had all run intorepparttar 111500 oil and it looked like a bottle of sludge! I poppedrepparttar 111501 cork, dumpedrepparttar 111502 stuff out ofrepparttar 111503 inside, and putrepparttar 111504 bottle in repparttar 111505 dishwasher. The next day a friend came over and saw it sitting on my counter. "Oh, what a beautiful bottle," she said. "Like it? It's yours!" I said. I handed it to her before she hadrepparttar 111506 chance to say no. She was thrilled to latch on to it because she said her mother collected pink glassware. Who would have ever known! My castaway was passed on to her before it ever made it to my regifting shelf. She immediately gave it to her mother, who was just thrilled to add it to her collection. Nice thing is, that once it's out of my house, I don't care how many times it is regifted.

Here's how you can get started. Go through your house looking carefully at everything. As you pick up each item, ask yourself if you really need it. In my case, I ask if it serves a purpose. If it doesn't, throw it in a box and haul it off to your new shelf. Mine is in an upstairs linen closet that is seldom used. When I need a quick gift for someone,I browserepparttar 111507 shelf and find something that's appropriate for that person. A few years ago I bought one of those stand-up wall units that holds about eighteen 8x10" photos. As I went throughrepparttar 111508 house looking for photos, I ended up with eighteen empty picture frames. They are just perfect for regifting, especially if I fill it with a photo I've taken of that friend, or ofrepparttar 111509 two of us. I can write my sentiments onrepparttar 111510 back, wrap it in a nice box or bag, and have a very personal gift that will always remind her of our friendship.

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