I love wrapping presents, and I've always put a lot of effort into making them pretty and interesting. I'm also trying really hard to reduce the amount of waste I generate, so I am always interested in new and creative ways to wrap things using part of the gift (easy when you give to quilters!), saved gift bags and boxes, or other reuse materials. My friend's school had some people come in for a recycling workshop and the kids were taught how to make gift bags from newspaper. I really liked the sound of that, so I asked her to show me how. She never did, and she knows who she is!

Anyway, I improvised and I'm pretty happy with the results. I made a dozen, and they have all been saved to reuse next year, but when they wear out, they are completely recyclable except for the ribbon - hopefully that can be reused for the next set! I was a bit fussy about which pages to use - "Thousands face axe with Christmas redundancies" didn't seem to set the jolly tone required. As you can see, the whole family joined in the theme and the tree still looked festive and exciting.

Another great idea I had read about, but this video makes it so much easier to learn. I found it on Susie's blog at 1st Floor Flat - scroll down to 24 Dec for her post on this video or just browse, there's a lot of good stuff there!
Furoshiki gift wrapping from RecycleNow on Vimeo

From me to you...

...wherever you are!

This is where I am, it's the view from my window here at 60 degrees north.

Why do I always forget that the well from which we draw every day needs a chance to fill up? I've been giving myself such a hard time because I am so drained. Nevermind that I'm recovering from flu, which it took me a little while to even accept WAS flu - you would think the days and nights of fever and the migraine-like headache would have given it away, eh? Nevermind that I've taken on an extra class this term to reduce my workload next term. Nevermind that we had a big project to do and an essay.

This post from Judy Wise reminded me today that we have to refill, refuel, regenerate, whatever you want to call it. It reminds me of my fatbook page from last year that said "Even in winter, the forest dreams of new growth." I'll see if I can find you a pic. So I shall renew. I'm crocheting, and looking at weather (up here in Shetland there is ALOT of weather), and reading, and when the fancy takes me I will draw, and write, and hopefully update my webpage, and speak to you all.