I'm Dreaming of a Sustainable Christmas
Yes, the term "sustainable"gets tossed around like a mo-fo these days, and it's enough sometimes to make even the most pro-green of us to want to strangle the everlovin' mud out of the next Fair Trade-lovin', recycling, patchouli-scented Prius driver we see.
Now that I have that vitriol out of the way, I admit to my own hypocrisy - I love Christmas and all the trimmings, but I am super tired of the waste and the consumerist hype. And as much as I am weary of trying to be "green," I want to consume less and encourage others to do the same.
For the past two years, Scott and I have shunned the malls and the online sites, tracking down "the perfect gift" for friends and family, and instead have made our own silly yet practical gifts from what we have on hand or have made by hand.
Exhibit A: Christmas 2009.
I can't give away all of our secrets, but I can show you how we're packaging our gifts. Don't mock me now, but we collected our coffee cans and our oatmeal containers for roughly six months, piling them (or just simply tossing them in a heap) in our spare bedroom closet until it looked like we might just be crazy hoarder people. Maybe we are crazy hoarder people?
I took scrapbooking card stock and using the almighty ModPodge, affixed the cutesy paper to the cans and containers:
They turned out like these:
Kinda cute, and so much more colorful than a plain glass jar or a plastic container, right?
The coffee cans are my personal favorite: (pardon the blurry photo)
I'm kind of in love with my creations! I hope the recipients think they are cool and not super-weird.
So that's part of what I was up to this weekend... that, and celebrating friend I.J.'s birthday, and meeting Miss V in Fredericksburg for a little lunch and holiday browsing. I did find some stocking stuffers that I just can't make myself. I love Christmas Stockings!
Hell, I just love Christmas.
Now that I have that vitriol out of the way, I admit to my own hypocrisy - I love Christmas and all the trimmings, but I am super tired of the waste and the consumerist hype. And as much as I am weary of trying to be "green," I want to consume less and encourage others to do the same.
For the past two years, Scott and I have shunned the malls and the online sites, tracking down "the perfect gift" for friends and family, and instead have made our own silly yet practical gifts from what we have on hand or have made by hand.
Exhibit A: Christmas 2009.
I can't give away all of our secrets, but I can show you how we're packaging our gifts. Don't mock me now, but we collected our coffee cans and our oatmeal containers for roughly six months, piling them (or just simply tossing them in a heap) in our spare bedroom closet until it looked like we might just be crazy hoarder people. Maybe we are crazy hoarder people?
I took scrapbooking card stock and using the almighty ModPodge, affixed the cutesy paper to the cans and containers:
 |
| From December 2010 |
They turned out like these:
 |
| From December 2010 |
Kinda cute, and so much more colorful than a plain glass jar or a plastic container, right?
The coffee cans are my personal favorite: (pardon the blurry photo)
 |
| IFrom December 2010 |
I'm kind of in love with my creations! I hope the recipients think they are cool and not super-weird.
So that's part of what I was up to this weekend... that, and celebrating friend I.J.'s birthday, and meeting Miss V in Fredericksburg for a little lunch and holiday browsing. I did find some stocking stuffers that I just can't make myself. I love Christmas Stockings!
Hell, I just love Christmas.
Too cute!! Love the oatmeal cans.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's a hell of a lot of oatmeal, btw. My cholesterol levels have to be stellar by now.
ReplyDelete