gifts

Giveaway: Alaska-made jewelry.

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I wanted to give away some more Alaska-made jewelry for Mother’s Day, but figured I had plenty of time. The other day I realized that the holiday is early this year: May 8. Yikes!

In order to allow a week for the giveaway to simmer, and then a few days to get the pieces mailed plus and a little time for those who don’t win to buy something else for Mom instead, I’m putting the giveaway up now.

Before I talk about the Alaska-made jewelry, though, I want to emphasize that this doesn’t have to be a Mother’s Day thing, for several reasons.

First, not everyone celebrates, because their moms are dead. Others have reasons not to want to give their moms the time of day, let alone a present. (It’s hard, but it happens.)

Finally, some people either believe in experiences rather than Stuff, or have been asked by their moms please not to send them any more Stuff. Clutter is a thing, especially as we age; we want to pare things down, not add to the problem. That’s why this does not have to be a Mother’s Day gift. Take your mom to lunch or gift her a massage, then use the jewelry as a gift for someone’s Confirmation, birthday or, heck, for next Christmas.

You could also choose to keep it, because why not give yourself a little somethin’ sparkly???

But back to the giveaway.

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Monday miscellany: Porch pirates edition.

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It’s not enough that inflation and supply-chain issues are putting a crimp in preparing for the 2021 holidays. Those dirty rotten porch pirates are back in business, too. According to a study from SafeWise, more than 60 percent of U.S. residents have had a package stolen in the past year. Obviously the holidays are prime … Read more

Holiday 2021 giveaway: Scented candles.

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We have one month before Christmas and a little more than that until Kwanzaa, so let’s keep these giveaways coming! This time around, the holiday 2021 giveaway is sponsored by Abigail Perry of I Pick Up Pennies, whom regular readers will know is my daughter. These highly scented candles could become four or more holiday gifts for some lucky reader, or maybe a really nice self-gift.

The backstory, as I recall it: Abby had written about the importance of supporting local and small-biz economies. One of her readers mentioned that she had an Etsy shop called BettysOnly. Abby visited and spent a little money, and decided to donate them to my holiday giveaway series.

As you can see from the photo, there are four good-sized scented candles and four little tulle bags. The bags are full of what I initially thought were small, flat candles, but which on closer inspection  proved to be wickless. I concluded that these are fragrance blocks, designed to perfume a room. Put one or two of them into a dish in a musty-smelling room, closet or dresser drawer and they’ll change the dynamic pretty quickly.

(I brought them home wrapped in plastic bags in my suitcase several weeks ago, and that Gladstone still smells sweet. Since I’m heading for the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition next weekend with Linda B., I’ll be even more irresistible than I usually am. Or my clothes will, anyway.)

You could give this prize as one great big holiday or birthday (or Valentine’s Day) present, or split it up into individual gifts. Three of the four candles are heart-shaped and one is a tall, square pillar. The smaller bags would make good stocking-stuffers, or little gifts to someone you’d like to treat but with whom you don’t want to provoke a gift war; such a small remembrance shouldn’t make that person feel, “Oh, but I didn’t get you anything!”

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Holiday 2021 giveaway: Alaska art jewelry.

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I’ve been doing intermittent giveaways of Alaska-made items, in order to support the local economy. Today I realized that Hannukah starts on Nov. 28, and that we have only about five more weeks before Christmas and Kwanzaa. Clearly it’s time for a holiday 2021 giveaway, no matter which holiday(s) you observe.

My friend Linda B’s jewelry has done so well in the past that I’m putting some of it back up for grabs. You can read more about her backstory in the first giveaway write-up. Short form: She’s talented in fields other than jewelry, and she’s also awesome.

As is her jewelry. She started out with beading, and has lately become entranced with metalwork and resin capture. If you want to give gifts to a spouse, lover, friend or, heck, even to yourself, I can guarantee that these are one-of-a-kind pieces. Linda never repeats herself, so every jewelry work is unique and never to be repeated.

Her work is arresting, and it’s hard to pick favorites, but here are the items I will be giving away this time around.

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Giveaway: “Tundra” calendars.

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Every time I give away something from the Tundra family, there’s always a lot of response. So why not keep that energy going?

Besides, it plays into my “support the local economy” series of giveaways quite nicely. I ran into Tundra creator Chad Carpenter recently and bought two of his 2021 calendars. The idea is to give one and keep one for yourself.

Or maybe you’ll give them both away. However you handle things, that’s at least one holiday gift checked off your list – for free!

Bonus: I might even be able to get Chad to personalize the calendars for you. He generally throws in a cute li’l sketch of one of his critters, too. Some day those signed calendars could be worth…Well, I have no idea.

What I do know is that Chad’s work is known literally around the world. It’s syndicated in nearly 650 newspapers in the United States, Europe, Jamaica and Trinidad. I guess that moose, bear and bug humor is universal.

Not that Chad is limited to static images. He and his twin brother, Darin, have also been responsible for two films shot entirely in Alaska. The first was “Moose: The Movie,” about an ancient curse that awakens a killer ungulate. Mayhem ensues. Funny stuff also ensues. When I gave away a copy of that movie I described it as having been made with “a tight budget and a loose grip on reality.” Pretty much.

The second is “Sudsy Slim Rides Again,” which centers on an Alaska lawman who heads to a tiny off-the-grid town to investigate a missing person. That “person” is the mummified remains of a notorious criminal – and since he’s a big tourist draw, the town fathers and mothers want him back. However, he’s been corpse-napped by a couple of escaped convicts who want to leverage the stiff for safe passage out of town.

Just FYI: You can buy those films at the Tundra website, or rent them on Amazon. I won’t get any kind of remuneration if you do. It’s just another stab at supporting the local economy.

But back to the giveaway.

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Giveaway: Alaska-made jewelry.

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You’ve heard me mention my friend Linda B. a lot on this site. I do this because she’s the best friend ever. And since she’s also a jewelry artist, I decided to make the next Alaska-themed giveaway all about her work.

Jewelry is a great holiday gift because those who wear it never seem to have quite enough. A new color, texture or pattern, or a change in metals, can stimulate the eyes during this dark time of year, and turn a plain outfit into a canvas for wearable art.

Jewelry is easy to wrap, if you’re giving your presents locally, and easy to mail if you’re shipping your gifts. It can be given to folks of all ages. This particular batch of pendants and earrings is probably not right for toddlers with newly pierced ears or elementary-aged kids who’d likely be happier with pop-culture themes or shiny shiny rhinestones.

Linda came to jewelry art relatively late in life, beginning with freeform bead-weaving in her 50s and later developing a fondness for hammered metal embellished with beads and metal shapes. For a time she dabbled in what I think of as “resin captures” – putting shells, dried plants, charms and other oddments into forms and sealing them in clear resin. (Think of the mosquito in Amber from “Jurassic Park,” although nowhere near as deadly.)

But she made her living as a journalist and editor here in Anchorage, and since retiring she’s also become a playwright who’s regularly featured at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, the 8 By 10 Theater Festival in Fairbanks (she’s the only person to have been selected – in blind judging – all 15 years), and even in an off-Broadway new plays festival. 

The winner of this giveaway will get his or her choice of one pendant from the six pictured below, and also half a dozen pairs of earrings (only one of which is pictured – I’m not one of those bloggers who likes to make people scroll and scroll and scroll).

It was hard to choose even half a dozen from the many pendants Linda has on hand. Normally at this time of year she’d be selling them right and left at local crafts shows, but the pandemic put paid to that custom in 2020. Her work is available at several gift and art stores around the state, too.

But finally I bit the bullet and chose these:

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A life-changing holiday gift: Personal finance books.

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th(Note: This is an update of an article that ran in 2016, with some new books to go along with ones I feel confident re-recommending.)

Some people are into experiences rather than gifts. Physical presents take up space and need to be dusted, whereas a massage or a theater ticket is a one-and-done event.

I suggest that a personal finance book is both a gift and an experience. Sure, it takes up a little space – but it can lead to life-altering changes and literal enrichment. And if you get the Kindle or PDF version, it doesn’t take up any room in your domicile.

When you give the gift of personal finance, you’re giving people tools that can get them out of current money troubles and/or help them build the lives they want. Doesn’t that beat the heck out of a scented candle or a cheese log?

 

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Are milestones busting the budget?

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th-1Personal finance geeks like to plan ahead: retirement, emergency fund, college plan, new-car-with-cash fund, et al.

We actually find this fun, or at least satisfying. You should try it sometime.

A lot of us will also set an amount to be spent for the holidays and other occasions important to us (mom’s birthday, an annual 10k, the Talkeetna Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition, whatever).

But how many remember what I call the “milestone gifts” – weddings, graduation, babies, bar mitzvahs and the like?

This could come out of the “entertainment” section of your budget, but if you have a big family and/or a lot of friends then pretty soon you’d have no money left for the movies.

Gift-giving can be a very touchy practice. Is it the right present? Will they thank me but roll their eyes later? Is everyone judging my choice?

And, of course, the biggie: Did I spend enough?

 

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A Mother’s Day gift with meaning.

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th-1Recently I was quoted in a U.S. News and World Report article about affordable Mother’s Day gifts. My suggestion was, of course, writing-related: Buy her a journal.

A written account of your days on Earth isn’t just a chronicle of the way you work, eat, love, parent, spend, vote and play, however. It can also be:

A safety valve. Write down what happened at work/on that first date/as you walked past a construction site, or risk having your head ’splode.

A historical document. Some day your descendants will be startled that you once earned only $50,000 per year or that you had to hold your phone in your hand in order to communicate. Preserving these memories will add to your family history.

An intimate friend. You can tell your journal anything, although it might be wise to have a stout lock on the thing.

 

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