Joanne Gilbert « oh my! handmade goodness

Joanne Gilbert

Making Grand Connections with My Grand Mail!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sometimes finding a new way of “connecting with your market” is all about observing and reintroducing an old practice to a new audience.

Today I wanted to tell you about a product I designed using my existing mission and product line to fill a niche in the holiday market. It addresses an obvious but not often mentioned holiday group: Grandparents.

My motivation? I heard Grandparents who were wishing for an fun activity with their grandchildren that did not involve involve technology. I understood they wanted to find experiences that their grandchildren would look forward to and make good memories. I knew this connected to my own mission of creating personalized memories with art and letters.

My answer? Introducing My Grand Mail™… a grand new thing to do. Receiving a card from a person who loves you at the end of a cranky day can change everything for a child. Who better to teach a child about the joy of receiving “snail mail “ than a loving member of the last generation to hand write their college papers? Creating a storied collection of holdable re-readable cards from your grandparents will definitely be a 21st Century keepsake.

Background:

One imaginative friend was already sending my personalized note cards to her 3 year old grandaughter who then carried them arround in a bag to show anyone who visited her house. This story coupled with the previously mentioned techno complaints made me realize that not all Grandparents could see the possibilities of snail mail on their own. Making a packaged mail kit might be the best way to start a little stampede of Grandparents mailing their Grandchildren!( One can hope right?) I researched the idea and found several good people working to introduce mail to kids but none with the grandparent keepsake in in mind. I added the TM symbol to My Grand Mail™ so that I can begin the trademark for the expression.

The Product:

I designed one new item ( the cloth mail keeper for the child ) with special graphics + stickers , added a selection of my existing cards for the Grandperson and a discount on future card orders. I packaged with a copy sheet to add value and the mission driven story to the products. I am offering to Grandparent holiday buyers via craft fairs as well as online. I am planning to book some “My Grand Mail “events in retail spaces after the holidays in order to further spread the word.

Bonus:

This activity is no work at all for parents after a busy day. It encourages dramatic replay, writing, collecting, thanking and something to talk about during phone calls. Most of all , it makes Grand memories that last a lifetime. That works for me and my business.

To see more details on My Grand Mail™ click here. Please do leave me your comments on this idea or suggestions for reaching more Grandparents.

Here are some other people doing admirable things with hand written mail and post card art: Viva Snail Mail, World’s Smallest Post Service, Abe’s Peanut, and 52 Weeks of Mail.

MY DO-IT-ALL APRON

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Superman had his cape. Dorothy had her ruby slippers. Santa has his famous red suit. This month as we get back to business I thought “ wouldn’t it be really great if we all had something equally transforming to slip on when we go to make the magic happen in our workspace? ”

I decided to start with a traditional work apron and design something so functional and pretty that just putting it on would make me feel more energetic and professional in the workroom and politely say “I’m working” to my family or a person at the door.

design sketch by Joanne Gilbert C2011

I looked at lots of aprons: printers, carpenters, maids, artists, couture sewers, home bakers and even those romantic but practical 1920’s linen “dusters” made to protect finery in open auto road trips! I borrowed the best from each, adding 6 pockets and 2 loops for modern multi-tasking . Here is my technical drawing ready for a patternmaker.

technical flat for apron design Joanne Gilbert c 2011

It uses medium weight denim like printers aprons with a comfy contoured neckline like a 1940’s home baking apron . I just had to add the personal rainbow of pieced colors but you could have a pretty print or sophisticated graphic to express your brand and style. Ties are generous to wrap in front or tie in back. A waist pocket keeps your mobile phone with you and deep double layer pockets carry your tools, papers, swatches etc. from work room to kitchen to garage. The loops can keep your keys, your flash drive, measuring spoons or baby’s pacifier handy and secure. What makes you feel ready for business? Would you feel empowered wearing my Do-It-All Apron? Can you improve on it? Would anyone like to be the first to make one?

ART IMITATING LIFE:INSPIRING BOOKS & MOVIES ABOUT INNOVATIVE MAKERS

Sunday, August 14, 2011

{Ideal bookshelf 340 print by Jane Mount}

Hello and happy August. Today I want to introduce you to a my favorite stories of fictional women who deserve to be contributors here. These women will immerse you in the details of their time periods and make you even prouder of the heritage of handmade business. I even included one for the children.

None of these characters expected to become artists or entrepreneurs and yet they do. What they have in common is a strong urge to create things of beauty and worth in daily life – an OMHG match for sure. Each woman employs her creativity with the kind of humor, pain or raw courage that will stick with you long after and inspire you in your own creative journey. I have linked you to commercial reviews here but most are available via your local library.

1. I will start with a little known American saga I have read several times. The Dollmaker is the heart wrenching story of Gertie, who trades her Kentucky mountain love and hardship for Detroit steel mill hatred and more hardship just as World War II is ending . It is a beautifully written but gritty tale. It’s so real and made more poignant today because of what we know about displaced people and the industrial age of conformity. (I do not recommend the movie version of this one.)

2. Next is a fun 2003 family drama that totally snapshots so many issues of our day. It includes so many family members temporarily housed under one roof that you can identify with someone in the life changing chaos that ensues. As the title suggest, cake solves everything. And the recipes are included! P.S. Author Jeanne Ray dared to write her first book at the age of 60. It became a bestseller and movie Julie and Romeo.

3. If you love fashions of the 1920’s you will adore this British series made for TV and available in DVD. I spent this past winter rewarding myself with one or two episodes after making orders and I had to make my daughter hide it from me in between! The House of Eliott is bit of a soap opera but gorgeously costumed. You will really feel for these undercapitalized sisters starting a fashion design business among couture loyals and shady advisors.

4. The only true story is this slightly fictionalized and hugely charming version of the life of famed children’s illustrator Beatrix Potter. The circumstances of her dreary but privileged victorian life led to her serious nature study and later story drawings of Peter Rabbit and his friends. Alone after a tragic romance she sought to publish, insisting on pioneering color for her little child’s book . I loved that part! The rest is history but you may not know that her published book income enabled her to independently live and support work as an early preservationist and environmentalist in the British countryside. The movie has charming scenes where her ink drawings fly off the page to enchant you.

5. Last but not least is my pick from the kids rack. Jennie’s Hat is a sweet story about a girl’s imaginative vision of a new hat. When reality disappoints, she is lifted and transformed by her social network pals! The vintage hats and white gloves are Ezra Jack Keats 1966 masterful collages which have inspired many a contemporary craftswoman. Speaking of contemporary craftswomen, the darling blocks pictured with this book are the newest creation made by tinygiraffe with illustrations by Drawn to Letters.

Read and watch. Send me an email. I am sure you have your own favorites to add and look forward to hearing your reactions and suggestions in the comments. What stories of art and making have stayed with you? Next month I will tell you how Drawn to Letters and tinygiraffe came together in a happy collaboration.

WAY TO GROW: CELEBRATING ANNIVERSARIES

Thursday, July 14, 2011

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

Kudos to Jessika for her one year anniversary as editor of this blog. I admire her leadership and I’m grateful for her instinct to add new voices to the blogosphere. She has created an authentic and influential place to mentor, grow and appreciate the business of handmade goods.

As summer fun beckons us there are so many occasions to connect with people the old fashioned way… barbeques and picnics, hand scooped ice cream, handpicked bouquets or reading a handwritten greeting on the back porch. I’ve gathered together garden vegetables and summer treats on my hand illustrated cards to honor OMHG‘s anniversary and my own 2nd anniversary at Drawn to Letters. Drawn to Letters cards are offered at 15% off until August 1st. Just put ANNIVERSARY into the coupon code of your order.

I hope you have a great summer. Make good memories. And always remember to:

MEETING THE MAKERS: JOANNE OF DRAWN TO LETTERS

Saturday, June 11, 2011

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

I live in a hat factory. Seriously. My house was built in 1838 as a hat factory near the village main street. The owner, James Nickerson lived in the larger house next door. They stopped making hats here around 1844 but in May of 1843 J. Nickerson was still putting a small ad in the local paper saying “buying furs at his hat store.” My front door.

It is fun and seems right to be working in a house that was built to make something. Sometimes when I feel that old lament about “wearing too many hats” in my art/life/business I smile at the pun in the historic sign title near front door.

I take creative license with the title and have fun with the fashion reference decorating my front door with a different hat each month. Some were given to me by kind friends, others I owned or bought at estate sales. Many are tongue in cheek (like Santa’s hat or the graduation mortar board cap in June.) None hint at the darker side of hat making in the nineteenth century.

[Photo: top hat, Permission: Creative Commons, Photographer: Themightyquill]

The hats that were made here were most probably fine men’s top hats made from Beaver felt which would have taken advantage of the local beaver trade and local Native American traders. European hat makers had driven their Beaver population extinct in the 1800′s but America and Canada picked up on the trade opportunity. It seems the beaver top hat was replaced by the silk top hat in the Victorian 1850′s and that was probably a good thing.

I have only been living here for 11 of my house’s 173 years and goodness knows what was made here in between. I like to think that I have added some new layers to the making of things within these walls. I have taught drawing or fashion illustration to design students, grading piles of projects on my dining room table and prepping demonstrations and drawings for class here.

Now I am illustrating and making cloth books, cards and prints in the old hat factory.

I make old unfinished sketchbooks and resources live here.

And I make new ideas live here with way too many sticky notes.

I am comforted by making lots of coffee beside a sweet old dog.

I am proud to mix the peonies made in this garden with my great grandmother’s hand embroidered and tatted table linen and my son’s recently hand welded and braised brass tile.

Heck, I have even made a few hats here—albeit from store bought yarn.

But here’s the hard reality of 1843 and 2011 for makers. Everything has changed and nothing has changed. As I romanticize the connection to small artisans of bygone days, please consider such luxuries as UPS delivery, internet communication and global sourcing. (The term “mad as a hatter” was coined from real life sad truth of making hats from beaver pelts in Europe, Canada and America.) The unregulated early materials and methods used by the hat makers in 1843 (link below) will leave you shocked and humbled at the ease of our new multitasking lives as makers and sellers. It is hard to believe that anyone could bear up under the grit and poison of the process required and I am blessed that the floors here have long since been replaced.

On the other hand, a scan of advertisements in that same 1843 newspaper shows me that just like our new handmade business experience there was a lot of struggle, failure and new competition among artisans. In a village of 3,000 there were 2 tailors, a boot maker, a coffin/cabinetmaker, woolen factory, and a book bindery/book seller. A new boot and shoe shop, a new bookstore, and a new partnership called “Giraffe Recess”(?!) replacing 3 shops that were closing or “selling at cost.” Then there was a jeweler, a seller of “Pectoral Syrup” which sounds sexy, and my favorite, a “house, sign, fancy and ornamental painting, graining, glazing and paperhanging” business.

When our days are long and our money short, it is helpful to know that many makers came before us taking time and trouble with their work. And just as we hope for our products, a felt hat was a prized item to be used and treasured for many years. What is the history of making where you live? Where do your raw materials come from now?

Join me on facebook at Drawn to Letters. If you want to know a bit more about the poisonous, scalding, tedious process of making a finished top hat, click here. My local paper has been archived in 2004 by a kind historian named Daniel Weiskotten.

You are Responsible For What You Have Tamed

Thursday, May 12, 2011

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

Let’s face it. The joys of Motherhood are paved with responsibilities and unpredictable outcomes. So I invite you to respond to a quote, my new illustration and a personal story.

In the classic storybook The Little Prince, the Prince complains about his beautiful but demanding and moody rose requiring so much care and the wise fox tells him “You are responsible for what you have tamed.” This quote sticks in my head because it describes the plain truth of motherhood and the endlessly complex relationship that it is.

Mother’s Day, my mother’s birthday and Memorial Day in the USA all come in May. They are a triplet of strong memories for me now that my mother is gone. So I want to share a memory of my mother that raises practicality and responsibility over creativity and personal growth. I hope you will find the true ending inspiring and see why I painted this cheeky picture to illustrate the fox’s words and honor my mother’s mode of operation.

My mother was really really responsible although I seldom met her definition of tamed. She was not known for her patience or creativity or happy homemaking. She liked to be quick and be done. She cooked every day using every shortcut or mix she could find. She was neat and organized and always did what she said but not more than she could do. Mom did not tolerate messy or late or forgotten. She gave me art materials to keep me busy not to feed my imagination. She accomplished lists of tasks but never multi-tasked. She kept a routine and didn’t ask for or want our help.

I now realize Mother was ahead of her time in her support of local farm stands, Craft Fair Artisans and equal opportunities for women and minorities. She had high expectations for others and was quick to judge. She taught her oldest granddaughter a fancy basketball move. She loved new technology. She called and visited her parents weekly. She took care of a dog she didn’t like for 15 years. She even scheduled her daily escape preferring soap operas to comedy. Mom filled in FAFSA forms for colleges and worked an extra job for my wedding. She worried we were “taking on too much” when we were working mothers. She made iced coffee long before it was trendy. She finally avoided the Vermont winter in Florida for a few weeks during her last few years, returning just before Mother’s Day and her birthday, in time to dutifully visit the family gravesites with geraniums for Memorial Day. She was responsible for taming three daughters.

Each May we gave her a hanging fuschia plant for the porch season and sometimes a pot of tulips. After they finished blooming she dutifully replanted the bulbs near the front door shrubs, complaining she had never seen anything come up again. The year that my youngest sister became a Mom, my mother came back from Florida and to her surprise some tulip leaves had “finally decided to come up”. We laughed about it and also how she was interviewed for a newspaper article. They liked her custom of visiting the cemeteries each Memorial Day — a tradition which was being replaced nationally by party activities. She told them she hoped her daughters would continue it but she didn’t know if anyone would.

A week later she had a heart attack. When I entered her emergency room the first thing she said to me was “Who is taking care of the kids? Tell Ben I might not make it to his graduation but your father will go.” Responsible. She died an hour later. On the day of her funeral I drove up to the house and saw 3 pink tulips in full bloom by the front door for the first time ever. True story. It still makes me laugh and cry. Keep planting. You are responsible for what you have tamed.

My print of the little girl watering 3 tulips with her naughty dog is in my shop now at a special price. (use code OMHG1 for 50% off.) It is dedicated to mothering that outlasts a lifetime.

March Lions & Sheep: Thoughts on Ethics + a printable too!

Monday, March 7, 2011

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or sometimes the other way around. Business is like that too. We simultaneously lead and follow, roar and cuddle in an effort to carry out our business mission, and that includes customers as well as sellers.

Sometimes I feel like a sheep (lamb days are gone) following the grassy internet pathways. Sometimes I feel like a lion marking my territory. Sometimes I feel a bit homeless.

Let’s say you are the lion with a clever plan. You execute it and so many people admire your results that you need help with the delivery of the plan. Now you have sheep: Sheep to feed, sheep to lead, sheep to sort, sheep who may copy your plan and become lions in new territory — lions with a new brand.

Or…

Let’s say you are the sheep with a passion for your fellow sheep and a joy in being part of the whole flock eating the growing grass in this big beautiful meadow. Then you notice that the grass is getting trampled, and if you move along the edges of the flock you have a better view of the grass ahead. You might even flirt with the lions along the path. Now you have your community plus lions to watch. You might be the most clever sheep in the flock — a sheep with a brand name among sheep.

Be careful before you decide who is the sheep and who is the lion and what values are being served in each business circumstance. It can be very confusing and you may find yourself far from home.

My personal peeves are things like “handmade designers” who cleverly assemble other people’s art or handmade items at a better price margin. Or chasing a celebrity product placement for a “unique handmade” item which can only then be sourced in China for the volume of production needed in the profit margin required to stay in business. Or furnishing a “green home” on 2 acres of land in the desert. Ethics is a tricky thing. We are often disturbed by people’s motivation and ethics in business until it involves a loved one or colleague and then we defend it as an act of deserved success or protecting one’s own talent and future against scavengers. Lions and sheep we are.

Can you protect your territory and grow and still “do no harm”? Bottom lines can change the top line in a wink. What does your business value? Sheep become lions and lions become sheep.

Download my free frameable Lion and sheep print and color it your own way. I wish you success and peace in finding your way home.

All Oh My! Handmade Goodness printables and free downloads are for non-commercial, personal use only please. Copyright is owned by the designer unless otherwise stated. If you have a commercial inquiry please contact the designer or email the editor. Please don’t host the PDF on your own site, we love sharing but link to the original post for the download, thanks!

Handmade Here: Creating Your Local Life

Monday, February 7, 2011

original mixed media painting by June Pfaff Daley

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

As an Artist it is easy to hide in plain sight. Each of us has a neighborhood where we are seen by locals who know or do not know our names and occupations. Some people like the separation of their work life and local life. They build a leisure identity in their neighborhoods based on non-working interests. Others wear their occupation publicly as a natural part of their persona. You may be known locally as a dog owner, library lounger, substitute teacher or a regular at the hardware store on Saturday mornings but chances are, if you work from home online only your postal worker knows you spend 10 hours a day making art or caring for customers.

When I changed tracks from teaching art professionally to creating my own illustration business online , I began to spend more and more hours in my neighborhood with less and less interaction based on my true occupation. It was OK at first, since I needed to concentrate on creating my products and quietly approach a couple of local mentors for feedback. Then I would disappear into my house for long sunny days wondering what the neighbors thought I was doing while my sidewalk garden grew weeds? When my online business turned one year old last summer, I realized that my life as a working /selling artist was missing from my local community and it was hard to explain in a casual encounter at the park! So I read Alyson Stanfield’s great advice in I’d Rather Be in the Studio and declared this “the year of local”. After all, my local art business, just like local food, fits into the very heart of home and community life for local residents no matter where their work is. An artist’s professional identity is not separate from their neighborhood.

I can actually walk in 5 minutes to almost every small service I need in my village and people often strike up conversation even if they don’t know you. I try to make sure I glimpse the lake everyday when walking my dog and the local bank tellers enthusiastically compete for the task of doling out dog treats to my wagging friend.

Cazenovia Village, acrylic painting by Marilyn Fegan

My small town is in upstate New York where horse, dairy and apple farms co-exist with a small college, a lake, an historic main street and a wide variety of work styles. We are 20 miles from Syracuse, a city of 150,000 with at least 20 other colleges and universities and all the commercial services that support conventional suburban American life. However it is still possible to live and work locally in this village of 4,000 and I was proud to be doing it. But how could I reacquaint myself locally without feeling artificial and self serving?

Six months later, I can share 5 things that are helping me to build a better local life as a working artist. It is a rewarding but time challenging work in progress. I know some of you began with a thriving local identity as a maker/artist and added the online identity to your business— I invite you to hang with me and share your own tips in the comments here!

As with most things, I started with baby steps that did not feel unnatural and worked my way into full blown local press and inviting the public to view my work.

1. Walking with business cards. A picture saves 1000 words so when someone in the park comments on their new grandchild, I can genuinely congratulate them but I can also hand them my business card to check out what I make for new babies. Heck, I hand them 2 business cards because I know they have a friend.

2. Local Giveaways. Local nursery schools and childcare centers have fund raisers/ auctions. These are my perfect local customers and unlike my experience with online giveaways, I find the products are more valued and remembered by people who learn that you are local.

3. Local business mentors can create a Main Street event . My local fabric shop knew me and was quick to suggest a Trunk Show for my designs which they would publicize in their newsletter. It was up to me to email my local contacts and pitch an article to the local press. I did and they printed it on the front page. Many people emailed me about the news article and promised to remember my work and spread the word. I followed this event with a holiday workshop at the same retail shop. It is a win-win event when a local retailer can present a local artisan. The opportunity exists to meet your neighbors through stores, restaurants or special Chamber of Commerce events. Look for things that fit nicely with your product or customer and it will feel natural.

4. Join a group of artists. This has been a big change for me. At the same time the Trunk Show happened, I was juried into a local Artisan Coop (pictured above) with a lovely permanent shop display in our village. It serves an older and different customer than I have online and I am finding it to be a great place to offer cards for grownups while editing my children’s line to meet these customers’ tastes. One of the biggest benefits and time commitments is the 25 hours a month working in the retail shop and on support committees. Meeting other artisans and sharing ideas is a very valuable part of this and the full time local visibility is wonderful. If you have a coop, guild or weekly market available I would highly recommend it. I am dreaming of joining the local Watercolor Society next…

5. Local work relating to your inspiration. I recently snagged a part time position working with small children. It will be a muse for my work and continue to connect me to my best audience. Perhaps real estate events, spas or food carts would be a good view point for you and your clients?

My time is definitely divvied up carefully to allow all these commitments to work together. My garden may still be imperfect, but these days when I walk my dog, someone rolls down a car window to tell me they love my cards or stops to say they will be ordering books for twins coming in Spring.

My neighbor’s granddaughter has a steady supply of personalized notes from her Nana and one of my former coworkers called to order a book last week for her niece’s first birthday in Philadelphia.

What is your neighborhood like? Do you find a balanced identity between your neighborhood and your online network?

Please enjoy my Free Downloadable Valentine “You have a home in my heart”.

-Joanne

Hand Drawn Lines & 4 reasons for Hand Written Thank You’s!

Friday, January 7, 2011

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn to Letters

We’re finishing the first steady week of January and I thought you might need some inspiration to write those thank you notes for holiday gifts and good times hosted. Then Jessika asked what inspired my own work at Drawn to Letters and I realized the two were related.

I adore a hand drawn line! A pencil or brush moving across paper creates a lively effect physically reflecting texture and slight nuances of pressure or speed in the hand. It is like listening to music or having a conversation. Hand drawn lines are familiar and unpredictable at the same time. When I see a hand drawn image I feel personally involved.

Unlike uniform digital paths, hand drawn lines add emotion and “character”. It is this extra bit of hand drawn character that I strive to keep in my work no matter how lighthearted or simple the subject. In a world of crisp bright graphic design it makes me feel like I am really celebrating individuality and making personalized memories for others.

So that brings me to the other subject for this post, those highly individual kids in all their post holiday happiness! Have they written their thank you notes yet? I know if you here you are already a believer in hand made things and perhaps own personalized stationery; but actually writing thank you notes is sometimes not an easy task to model or manage. In case you have traded felt tips for fonts and digital phones, I am going to remind you of 4 reasons why hand written notes are the best little exercise you can do in this new month and then sweeten the reasons for getting started!

It teaches appreciation for others. (bonus gift – does not come with individual new child!)
An imperfect hand written note will be treasured and revisited many times. (They usually out live the gift that was given.) How many of you have saved notes penned by children who are grown or your grandparents who no longer can write to you? Yup. Me too.

It is inspiring how that handwriting conveys more than the message; it’s like being right there in the moment with that person again.

It teaches eye-hand coordination that is different from keyboarding! Did you know that most college students have difficulty with handwriting their own signature?
It builds personal pride and fun to choose a paper, pen the words, then seal, stamp and post. (Who knows, you may get a letter or phone call back! )

If you would like some personalized notes to get your child started, there are many contributors here or on Etsy to serve your style and needs. I have 6 pks. of any letter or you can mix & match art by clicking here for a truly personalized set of note cards. You can also go bananas with my free printable Thanks a Bunch cards.

From my hand to yours -

Wrap, Drink and Be Merry! Handmade Furoshiki Gift Wrap

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

by Joanne Gilbert of Drawn To Letters

If you are like me you have received invitations to a few holiday gatherings by now and are probably looking forward to making time to relax and share food or a glass of wine with friends. I thought this would be a good time to remind or introduce you to a quick elegant no waste method of presenting hard to wrap gifts or goodies to the hostess. I hope you will like it so much that you consider it for all the gifts you wrap this season!

I love this “East meets West” solution to gift wrapping. I learned about it in recent years because the Japanese government has been promoting it to reduce the plastic bag refuse and other gift packaging in Japan. It is perfect for western holiday gifts too. A bottle of wine or sparkling fruit juice is easy to wrap. I love the idea of presenting even the most humble gift in a way that celebrates the season.

Called Furoshiki by the Japanese, this ancient method of carrying and exchanging gifts is incredibly easy as it requires just a few folds and square knots–no sewing or specially sized shiny bags with handles to transport your breakable gift! It was practiced for centuries by Chinese and Korean cultures before modern packaging was invented. I have been doing this soft wrapping for the past few seasons and it is amazing how easy it is after everyone unwraps their gifts! (Nothing to crush, separate or put into the trash except the tags.) Two bottles of wine are even easier to wrap and carry by the”bunny ears”.

I have attached easy downloadable diagrams for you to wrap a 1 bottle or 2 bottles of wine using a 36 inch square (91 cm) of cloth. A smaller 18 inch square (46 cm) will wrap jam/salsa etc. Choose a fabric that is pretty but not limited to the holiday season so your friends or you can reuse it for year round gifting or a home décor project. I choose to leave the raw edges and I don’t think they detract. If you want to hem or zig zag fabric edges you can.

Finish by tying on one of my Drawn to Letters “Be Merry” gift tags downloadable here . You can wrap a few bottles and just write your host a personal wish as you head out the door to celebrate.

If you are inspired to do more, here is a whole group of “hard to wrap” fabric tied gifts.

Clockwise from the red box: Chocolates, wine, 2 little bottles of nail color, a small budvase (could be a bottle of scent or gourmet seasoning), a round tin of cookies

Instructions for all these and more are in the diagrams here courtesy of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, or you can see demonstrations online. Several businesses sell beautiful hand painted and formal Furoshiki cloths in silk too.

I hope your holiday gatherings leave behind nothing but good feelings and the promise of more good times ahead. Thanks for letting me share with you. Next month we’ll be writing those post-holiday thank you notes and I’ll share some card designs from Drawn to Letters. Until then, wrap drink and be merry!