The gifts for sisters, bff, and that co-worker “you tell everything to, but only see at work” can be the toughest. These are the people that you are supposed to “know”, right?

Teaposy Garden Gift Set ($59.95, Sur La Table)

Delicious, beautifully packaged Burdick’s Chocolates ($14-$32)

Stonewall Kitchen Olive Tree ($79.00)

Funky Fabric Covered Hair Clip ($28)

Cake Ribbon from Cooper-Hewitt Museum Shop ($13.00)

Letterpress Calendar (perfect for cubicle dwellers), ($20, Ilee Etsy Shop)

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

The impossible ones are the toughest — it could be your father, best friend, husband, godmother. They insist they don’t want anything, but what they really want is something perfect.

Fortnum & Mason Gift Basket, $85

Life size dog topiary ($74.95, Gardeners.com)

“Banana Bowl” from Cooper-Hewitt gift shop ($150)

Recycled Aluminum Bark Vases ($110, Viva Terra)

Gifts for boyfriends, sons, husbands, fathers, bosses, the occasional doorman, personal trainer…

Digital video camera ($180, Amazon.com)

Julia Child “The French Chef” DVD set $39.95, Sur La Table

“Monsters of Winnepeg Folklore” from Cooper-Hewitt Musuem ($21)

St. Andrew’s Lithograph (for the inevitable golfer in your life) from Source Perrier $325

J.K Adams “Basic” cutting boards (you really can’t have too many) $20

I was browsing Domino’s site, looking for something else altogether and saw this DIY wreath made with a simple wreath form and a glue gun. Of course, the genius is in the objects you find for it, but, that’s what eyes are for and hey, we’ve basically got a full year of looking. I love the shells, but think this would work with sea stone, vintage toys, all pine cones, really anything you like.

I meant to post this first installment of the gift guide last week, but life intervened. Here is a selection of gifts for moms, aunts, grandmothers and mentors. More to come, Abbey

Angels Papercut by Pamela Dalton ($175)

Source Perrier’s La Mer Soaps ($32)

Gump’s Tulipiere ($45)

Charming Bird Village ($14.95)

Sweet Perpetual Calendar ($29.95)

Bleeding Heart Ornaments (set of 7, $14.95)

I’ve had a nasty cold (I lost my voice!) — so sorry for the lack of posts.  But I’m getting back into the swing of it!

Photo via Mic’s photostream

Half a good present is the way it is presented, right? Over Thanksgiving, I bought a lot of wrapping materials from some excellent etsy sellers (trying to do my part to buy handmade) and thought I’d share some of my favorite wrapping papers and ribbons with you. In years past, I’ve usually wrapped the most special presents in wonderful (usually more expensive) paper and ribbon and then use Martha Stewart’s Kmart line to wrap everything else. But, I think that Martha’s line at Kmart doesn’t carry wrapping paper anymore, so this year, these big (3 by 3 inch) labels from Re:Make and the faux bois ribbon have inspired me to wrap presents in white wrapping paper (freezer paper!) and let the ribbon and label stand for themselves.

Labels from Remake Etsy Shop ($5.00 for 9)

Gray Faux Bois Wrapping Paper from Martha Stewart Crafts Online ($5.99 a sheet)

Russian Nesting Doll Wrapping Paper from Enna Etsy’s Shop ($3.90 a sheet). I actually bought some for this a few weeks ago and it arrived yesterday and is even cuter in person than in picture, if that is possible. I can’t WAIT to wrap something for someone soon!

Ribbon: I think that this green ribbon from Kate’s Paperie would coordinate nicely with both the gray faux bois paper below and the Russian nesting doll paper. I was spoiled this past year as I had quite a bit of this ribbon left over from a project at work and used it for a few last minute birthday gifts and it looks so elegant with plain wrapping paper.

Kelly Green Satin Ribbon from Kate’s Paperie ($8.95 for 11 yards) I like the inch width best.

Faux Bois Silver/White Ribbon from Martha Stewart Crafts ($6.99 for 5 yards)

Last but not least are the tags!

Tags from Elfrida’s Etsy Shop ($3.50 for 18!)

Silhouette tags from Jordan’s Flood Street Curiosity Shop ($5 for 10)

PS, See Coco+Kelley for a great round up on eco-conscious wrapping!

Yes, it’s green leather. I covet them. Via the crack that is First Dibs.

You’ve been warned.

More info here.

Every issue of Selvedge, the magazine dedicated to textiles, is a treat. Beautiful images, profiles, stories — the magazine is full of inspiration. I just got an email announcing new items in their shop and thought these felt slippers were cozy and perfect antidote to this chilly November, post-thanksgiving evening.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday — we spent the holiday in Boston which was a nice break with lots of family, good food, and many things to be thankful for! I was unexpectedly without internet access, so I took a bit of a blogging break too.

While I don’t usually blog about food here although I’m a major food lover and cook, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes, and one I cooked over thanksgiving. It’s a chocolate pear tart (but crustless!) — easy to make, delicious and my new favorite food. I found it in EveryDay Food, Martha Stewart’s cooking “magazine” where I always find a couple of new recipes to try every month. My two tweaks: I use canned pears (gasp! I know! but there are good organic canned pears out there that taste delicious) and raw almonds (I think it makes the tart taste more “tart” like, whatever that means, but if you cook it, you’ll understand).

And, thank you for your comments in the last couple of weeks! I always appreciate them so much and will respond this week. In a preview of coming attractions, I’ll update you on the necklace stands I ordered (one worked and one didn’t!), the massive lot of matchbook which have just arrived today and I have a mini-gift guide in the works!

This tiny sink….

… and the charming flow of this room

… and wishing this print from Rose + Radish was under the Christmas tree. How sweet is that bear?

The reliably wonderful thing about inspiration is that it is unpredictable. On an uptown bus, while taking out the trash, while coming home from a long day — inspiration sneaks itself into my frame of vision, uninvited, but welcome none the less. The table below caught my eye in Housing Works flickr photo stream and inspires me: a coffee table with a fantastic custom shadow box and many treasures inside. Look at all the treasures someone collected! I’m fascinated by the urge to collect, which I think stems both from a desire to create order out of chaos and a desire to communicate or articulate identity through objects (?). I wonder why the table has wheels and if the owner was Russian (I see Russian characters on a box). I see shells which make me think of a trip to a beautiful place (or maybe they lived on the beach). There are thimbles and needles but also a number of knives? Birds and pocketwatches. Stamps and marbles. Who was this person! Oh the stories I wish I knew.

Have a happy Monday full of inspiration and a few treasures.

Oh, boy. What a week, right? The preholiday hustle got my game this week. But it’s Friday, I might get to see American Gangster and I have lots of blog reading to catch up on.

Gosia over at BlueBellBazaar sent me a nice note earlier in the week announcing new wares for sale in her Etsy shop. What she doesn’t know is that her shop is my *favorite* etsy shop, and a daily browse for me. Her new wares have been all over blog land, so I thought I’d feature a few of the items in her shop I’ve had my eye on from quite some time instead.

So you might be wondering how to display all these matchboxes… I found this image in my files and thought I’d post it along with the news that last night my mother and I won these on ebay! We’re women on the verge I think.

In the course of scouring the web for decorative matchboxes, I stumbled upon the thriving subculture of collectors focused on vintage matchbox labels: I love the graphics, the colors, the passion of these collectors and I’m sure you will too. Here is a selection of my favorites — but this is literally the tip of the iceburg.

Via (Prik, Rocket). I think the lion is somewhere on Ebay. The bike label and lobster are in collections posted online but I can’t seem to find them again! If I find the links I’ll post them.

I love that a matchbook from a fancy hotel or restaurant is saved for 40 years, as a memento, as proof you were there, as a signifier trying to indicate you are of a certain class. Or, an”exotic”label from India might be saved by an boy in England in the 194os, and for him, it represents the world outside his immediate view.

If you are as fascinated by these labels and how people “use” them as I am check out this book from Amazon.

Finally, if you’re interested in making your OWN decorative matches boxes (yes, please!) my mom noticed that the great site ForYourParty.com does custom matches relatively inexpensively. I love these shapes they offer. Note that you don’t need to do monograms — you can do phrases, images (I think!) and really anything you’d want…

Since posting my favorite matchboxes a few weeks ago, I’ve become obsessed with them. Evidently, I’m not alone in coveting beautiful matchboxes — my post garnered lots of comments (and lots of creativity, thanks readers!) and a surprising amount of traffic from folks doing google searches on “decorative matchboxes.” All of which was just enough to prompt another post on the topic. With some serious help from my mom (who is the original design scout! thanks, Mom!), here is a second edition of the decorative matchboxes. For the acquisition minded among these are all for sale (either online or ebay). I especially like the matches from the Pink Giraffe (from the Hong Kong Sheraton Hotel…awesome!) and the “bear claw” (!!) matches used to light fires in fireplaces. NOTE: there is a link to each site embedded in each photo… enjoy.