Sometimes the sale racks at Target just won't do when you have someone on your list who would appreciate heart and soul in your gift selection. If you want to give something truly personal this Christmas, consider Etsy where handmade so often means exquisite detail and the finest quality. With priority shipping, it's still not too late to send the best of the best. Here are four ways you can't go wrong--whether you are the crafty buyer or whether you have someone who loves to create on your list. Buy Original Prints

Between cold stormy weekends and school ending soon for the holiday, this is a great time to have some crafty holiday projects that can engage the whole family in a few time-killing, charming decoration-making activities.  What says "keeping the family busy" more than a some glue, scraps of paper, or other craft-store finds?

I am one of those people who throws their life in their day bags. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I now carry two bags around because the purse just isn't big enough to carry all of my stuff. (One would think the solution would be a bigger purse, but then I'm lugging around a giant purse with all of my stuff, hitting others left and right with it, blocking doorways, and generally harrassing people.)

I have a friend who recently discovered knitting with Alpaca. She is in love with it (aren’t we all…?) and is now looking for a variety of scarf patterns that can be knit with a chunky yarn on about a US 10 (6.0 mm) needle. She’s still a relatively new knitter, also, and doesn’t need anything that’s too challenging—especially when trying to finish up some scarves for the holidays! Also?

Really? I hear you asking. Thrifting for holiday gifts? Yes, friends, absolutely. It just depends on how you approach it. There is a huge push in Western consumer culture to buy something new, flawless, in the package (gee, who taught us that? The corporations perhaps?) but there is a lot of treasure out there. You can be green and reuse/repurpose, and stretch your gift-giving dollar as well.

When I was asked to write a post about cool holiday crafts, I thought, "Oh, this could be fun!" I've been getting a little more crafty myself lately and have been really digging the craft blogs.

After an extended trip visiting my in-laws overseas for the last couple of weeks, my family and I gratefully stumbled into our home this past weekend, ready to get back to our normal routine. Traveling is fun, but there's just something about slipping between the sheets of your own bed once you return, you know?Of course, we've returned to our home by running headlong into the start of the holiday season, and I have to admit, I've been sort of caught unawares. And now that my daughter Alex is 4-1/2, and has a strong understanding of the Christmas season, I find myself really focused on creating tradition this year. We've already put up our tree and taken our annual Family Portrait in a Christmas Ball (shown above), but this year, more than ever, I dream of filling the house with the smells of Christmas baking, making handmade ornaments and creating memories which will last Alex's lifetime ...

The holiday season is a time for glitter and glitz, and often gifts themselves glisten. Jewelry and jeweled items are popular holiday gifts.  But with economic factors meaning that many people are cutting back, does this mean an absence of jewelry this year?  Not necessarily.  Especially if you consider recycling jewelry.

If there's a time of the year during which it's hard to be green, this would be it: the holiday season is a season of consumption. There's just no getting around it: regardless of what winter holiday you celebrate, you invariably spend December (and, if we include Thanksgiving, November) (and if you're Canadian, October) eating and drinking and shopping and eating and drinking and eating and did I mention eating? And odds are that you're not sticking to your locavore diet (because, my god: eggnog without rum?), and not restricting your shopping list to locally made goods.

Let me just start by saying I'm marginally crafty.  And by that, I mean there is a wide margin between me and craft. I admire my craft-and-food-blogging colleagues.  I look at their gorgeous photographs showcasing works of art created by their own hand, and then I go pop dinner in the microwave and gaze happily at my store-bought clothes and photo albums stuffed with my daughter's unorganized and unlabeled art.  

I learned something really important this week about blogging and I'm going to share this knowledge with you. Ready... Just because you have a lot to say about something doesn't mean the blog post will be easy to write. Having a lot to say about something can make it pretty darn difficult to blog. My difficult topic of the day: Christmas stockings. That's right. I'm having one heck of a time writing a post about the Christmas stockings I've known and loved. I have too much to say and not enough time or space. Forgive me if I muddle it all up and let me just start at the beginning.

Shake up your shopping habit this season to find the most thoughtful and unique holiday gifts -- all while avoiding getting trampled by huge shopping mobs. Instead of spending your cash on the same cheaply-manufactured gizmo everyone else is getting at chain megastores, buy local!