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Wishing You
Happy Holidays
With Inspirational Gift Ideas
for both people with and without a budget...
It's December 11th as I'm writing this page and Christmas is getting closer and closer... I don't know about you - perhaps you don't even celebrate Christmas - but if you do, you will be all too familiar with the yearly stress of getting everything organized.
Over here in the Netherlands we already had our first outpooring of gifts when we celebrated the national feast of Saint Nicholas on December 5ht. Traditionally this is the day that all families exchange their holiday presents. In the 'good old days' my mom and dad still fondly recall, the focus was mainly on the practical. Gloves, sweaters, boots were favorite gifts. Or new pens and pencils, notebooks and diaries.
These days commerce has completely taken over and the presents are more and more characterized by being useless gadgets that break within 24 hours and are only 5 minutes fun to toy with. The main problem being: if we already have everything our heart desires, then how on earth can we still find something of value to please our loved ones with?!
Others are struggling with tight budgets and even if their family members don't have it all already, the next problem is how to afford the shopping frenzy all the neighbors are endulging in...
Coming from a wildly creative family, I have seen a great many solutions to both these problems which proves to show that NOT spending your last nickles on Christmas presents is both rewarding for your wallet and for your heart. And I like to share some of these ideas with you.
A good number of these gift ideas require personal time, energy and effort going into them. Created with love in your heart, the process of putting them together becomes a joyous experience and you benefit from taking your time to do this in so many ways.
But because I can also completely empathise with everyone who's totally pressed for time, I've also included some ideas of what you could actually buy. You won't find my favorite perfumes and watches on this page. Just stuff for the happy heart...
Handy with Pens, Pencils & Paints?
- Heart Mandala
Download the Heart Mandala template from my Happy Hearts shop (it's a free download) and color it with pencil or water color paint. Work your way from the inside to the outside as this is the outgoing movement symbolizing a giving from your heart. You'll find that doing this itself will give you a peaceful, joyous experience in itself. If you focus on all the loving thoughts you have for the person you're making this for, it will somehow be reflected in your artwork. When finished frame it and wrap it up... - Inspirational Poem
Start with making a nice background paper - there are several techniques to do this, but an easy one is to soak a sheet of paper in water and just drop water color paint in there. Watch what forms all by itself or guide the shapes slightly by a gentle brush stroke. (This is the technique used by the 5 year olds of the illustrations with 'The Dreaming of Paradise' - if they can do it... ;-)
Next find a beautiful poem for your loved one - or write one yourself - and write that onto your colored sheet. Make sure the sheet is completely dry before you do this! Unless you want the poem to run out too... (If you're pressed for time, use a hair dryer to speed up the process.) - Stationary Paper
Always useful - sheets and envellopes to write heart warming letters to friends and family...
Using the same water painting technique as described above, you can make beautifully colored sheets and envellopes. Limit your color combinations to two to get different feelings for each sheet of paper. And make the envellope in the same style. - Paint a Pot
Earthenware pots are excellent to paint. Great way to get the kids involved in creating their own presents too. Paint them white first - the first layer could be soaked into the pot, so you may need an extra layer. Once the pot is equally white, all other colors will come out fine.
Use biological paints if possible as not to poison the plant which will live in your pot!
When your pot is dry, find a nice plant to go with it. It can be a slip from one of your own plants as well. There are several plants which are reknown for their ability to clear the air and atmosphere from chemicals and bad vibrations. Plants with round leaves are believed to bring prosperity into the house - according to Chinese Feng Shui. In any case, a plant is a living thing and as such it's always a welcome companion in your house.
Creative with Digital Images...
- More Stationary...
If you have kids, scan some of their best drawings and downsize the image to 1/4 of a letter-size or A4 size paper. If you use Photoshop, create a new photoshop file with a white background the size of letter or A4. Copy your downsized scan to this file and move it to the bottom right corner. Print it and fold in four. A favorite gift with grandparents!
If you don't have kids, you can of course also use regular photos, your own drawings et cetera. - Home Printed T-Shirts
Similar to the above, but now on a T-shirt. Scan a drawing or photo and flip the image horizontally. Print it to a special transfer sheet which allows you to iron the image on cloth. These transfer sheets are usually for sale at copy shops, computer supply stores and larger warehouses. You also need a white T-shirt and baking paper to fixate the image. Further instructions are usually included with the transfer sheets.
Poetry is also great to put on a T-shirt. You can find some outrageous, funny and also beautiful free fonts at www.fontgarden.net/dingbats. Download them to your root folder, unzip the file which contains the fonts and copy it to the 'windows/fonts' folder on your PC (or the Mac alternative which I wouldn't know). Windows automatically installs the font for you upon copying to this folder. - Customized Cufflinks for Men
Now this is something I just found at a Dutch warehouse called 'Hema'. I know they have stores in Germany and Belgium so if you're a resident of these countries (or the Netherlands) you'll easily be able to find these. Otherwise you'll have to go on your own quest...
What I found are cufflinks which you can unscrew the lid off and put a tiny little image in. It's like a miniature photo frame. You'll need to measure the diameter yourself since there is no template circel included. Then downsize a good portrait photo to fit inside; print it and cut it out in the same size. Nail scissors can be handy with this job...
If you cannot find cufflinks - browse gift shops. I've seen the strangest things in there to contain images. Including a shower curtain... All at very affordabble prices (cufflinks cost me about $10.-). - Calendars
I have my books published with Lulu, a publishing-on-demand service which also offers some other most interesting options. One I like very much is their calendar option. All you need to do is upload 12 images to their website and they will print a professional calendar for you.
Their service is free; you only pay for printing and shipping. And if you spend over $25 dollars you're eligable for super saving shipping - meaning they don't charge shipping regardless of where you live on this planet! Their cheapest calendar will cost you about $10 and their premium calendar adds up to a little less than $20 dollars.
You can sign up for an account at www.lulu.com. If this is what you want to do, you better get started straight away so it arrives in time to put it underneath the Christmas tree... - Other Photo Services
There are a great many photo services around these days which offer you all sorts of customized gifts created from your images. Like mugs, memory games, mouse mats, photo albums and more. Remember that you don't need to use a photo perse. Anything which is uploaded in one of the image formats (jpeg, gif, psd etc.) will do. So again you can also use scans of drawings, poetry or whatever other creative idea you have to illustrate their gifts.
One of the things I still plan on doing is ordering a memory game with portrait images of all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews for my boys. We live quite apart so it also serves as an excellent way to train them with names... ;-)
For Small Harry Potter Fans...
- Magic Bag
Take 3 sheets of preferably wool felt sized 20 by 25 cm (8 by 10 in). Put them on top of each other and stich 3 sides together. Decorate the outside with stars and such. You now should have a bag with 2 chambers - one being the secret one...
The magic happens when you put in say 5 silk scarves, wave your magic wand and now you draw out the same scarves but tied together... Of course there are two sets of scarves, one of which is tied and hidden in the secret chamber.
Or put 2 toy cars into the bag and draw out a pair of socks with car images on them. Or... well - you let your imagination run wild with this one. Or better still, the imagination of your little Harry Potter... - Magic Potions
This is something my oldest son got as a present on December 5th and he's loving it! (Thanks Anne Mijke for gifting him with this... :-)
What you need are a couple of clean jars and empty bottles. Fill them (separately!) with salt, soda powder, vinegar and detergent. Some additional food coloring powders or liquids make it even better...
Potion Recipes...
- Fill a glass with sparkling water and add a teaspoon
of salt... - Fill a glass with sparkling water and add a spoon of icecream... (drinkable!)
- Fill a bottle halfway with vinegar and mix it with a spoon of detergent. Add a teaspoon of soda powder...
- Fill a bottle for 1/3 with vinegar. Take a balloon and stretch it up. Then put a teaspoon of soda powder inside the balloon. Attach the balloon to the bottle but make sure the soda powder stays in the balloon. Hold the balloon straight up so the soda drops in the vinegar. Together they'll form a gas which will now magically inflate the balloon...
With any of the above recipes you can add food coloring substance. All potions are harmless, but only the ice cream version tastes good.
To create a nice gift of all of the above, put the bottles and jars in a nicely decorated carton box and print out the recipes on a nice sheet of decorated paper. Anything which refers to magic will serve well as decoration. - Fill a glass with sparkling water and add a teaspoon
- A Book of Magic
Create a top-secret magic book with images, spells and recipes all written in a secret language...
To collect what you need you just need to browse the search engines for words like 'magic', 'wizards' and such, but start with an image search. You'll need large images mostly - so you can preset your search settings to avoid having to dig through loads of icons and other small images. Save the ones you like to a separate folder - something like 'magic book'.
Next do a search for some magic spells and recipes - or just use the recipes listed above. When you have found these, you'll want to retype them in a magic alphabet. You can find several free downloads of these at www.fontgarden.net/dingbats/unusual/unusual.htm. Download them to your root folder, unzip the file which contains the fonts and copy it to the 'windows/fonts' folder on your PC (or the Mac alternative which I wouldn't know). Windows automatically installs the font for you upon copying to this folder.
Once your magic font is installed, you can select it from your text editor. Start with creating a sheet with the alphabet, so your young Hermione has a key to translate all that mystical stuff!
Then print out your pages and your images to blank paper and have them coil bound at the copy shop. If you don't have a service like this nearby, an alternative is to put it all into one word document and have it printed at www.lulu.com.
This year I created a secret book for dragon hunters using the same principles. I have a pdf of this which you can download from www.heartsunlimited.net/drakenboek.pdf (5.9 Mb). Use it as a source of inspiration, but unless you are Dutch, don't give it to your kids. Cause after they deciphered the code, they'll still be confronted with completely nonsense to them - all is in Dutch...
Didn't Find What You're Looking For?
If nothing of the above got you triggered but you are still wanting a 'home-made Christmas', please check out http://www.xlbworld.com/home for a free eBook jam-packed with more creative ideas for making your own gifts - courtesy of Carlos Bayraktar.
- A True Gift of Love -
Two 'left hands' and an empty wallet? You still have the opportunity to give the best of all gifts. Give yourself this Christmas!
Time and energy are short in supply for many around. You can brighten the lives of the people around you by giving some of your time and energy to those who are depleted. Giving them an opportunity to catch their breath and replenish their souls...
Many years ago - I was 8 years at the time and we were getting ready to move house - a close friend of my parents with really not a single penny to spend on gifts, gave my mom the biggest gift of all. A little booklet with coupons for...
- cooking a family dinner
- babysitting the kids
- taking the dog for a walk
- cleaning the kitchen cupboards
- mowing the lawn
- breakfast in bed
- a pyjama party for the kids at her house
- a back massage
- ironing the laundry
- and more...
This really helped my mom through the hard days of painting at the new house and trying to run a household with 3 young raskals while my dad was working 16 hours a day as a young doctor in the hospital. When she received this gift, she broke down and cried. Happy tears, but still... it made a huge impression on me...
Plenty of Money but zero Time...
If you're too pressed for time but still want to give something which warms the heart, here are a couple of alternative suggestions...
- Inspiration for The Happy Heart ($9.71)
Imagine the joy it would bring you if one day you wake up simply knowing how to access happy feelings any time you want to...
Dr. Joe Vitale, author of The Attractor Factor:
"I felt gifted with Patricia's book. It's contagiously uplifting. I loved just thumbing through it!"
Dr. Robert Anthony, author of Beyond Positive Thinking:
"I am going to recommend your book to all my clients because I really think what you have to say is a key issue in manifestation."
Here's your chance to uplift someone's heart this Christmas...
www.lulu.com/happy-hearts - Body Blessing Pencil ($9.99)
Inspired by 'What the Bleep Do We Know?!' - Decorate your flesh with the SandDollar™ body blessing™ pencil What the Bleep Do We Know?!™ ... draw symbols of self appreciation - a vine of hearts as Amanda (Marlee Matlin) demonstrates in the film, or flowers, or smiles, or write "I am loved" ... you know what is meaningful to you. Be aware of the amazing gift your body is and all that it lends you.
“The body blessing™ pencil is a new way to experience body art; and to inspire mindfulness of love for one’s self and love for life,” says Tamara Parisio, SandDollar cosmetics designer and ceo.
www.bleepstore.com/novelties.html - Dr. Emoto's Water Crystal Stickers ($10.-)
28 water crystal stickers to change the atmostphere of whatever you place them on in a positive way. Includes blessing such as, "Thank You" and "Wisdom"
www.bleepstore.com/emoto.html - The Dreaming of Paradise ($24.70)
The story of what happens to your dreams after you wake up in the morning and how the best and most beautiful ones are selected to create paradise on Earth...
You are most welcome to download and print the eBook version of the book and give it away. However, this version is optimized for the internet and the quality of the images when printed is poor. So I also offer a professionally printed and bound version of this book at my Happy Hearts shop:
www.lulu.com/happy-hearts - 52 Weeks to Prosperity ($52.-)
If you're trying real hard but everything you do isn't getting you anywhere, chances are you need to reprogram your mind about what you're worth...
With over 52 ebooks, audios and softwares the CDRom '52 Weeks to Prosperity' contains a massive amount of useful information to help you change your mind and make progress in your life. It's not realistic to expect results overnight - but when you work your way through these materials steadily you'll be totally amazed at yourself one year from now...
This CDRom makes an excellent gift for any of your friends and family who are struggling to survive!
www.lulu.com/happy-hearts - Emotional Freedom Techniques on DVD ($60.-)
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is an emotional version of acupuncture except you don't use needles. Instead, you stimulate well established energy meridian points on your body by tapping them with your fingertips. The process is easy to memorize and is portable so you can do it anywhere.
"The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body's energy system."
This common sense approach draws its power from:- Time-honored Eastern discoveries that have been around for over 5,000 years; and...
- Albert Einstein, who told us back in the 1920's that everything (including our bodies) is composed of energy.
http://www.my-happy-heart.com/emotionalfreedomtechniques.html - The New Q-Link ($129.-)
Every day, our biofields are negatively impacted by flickering computer monitors, irate bosses, cell phones, emotional stress, tabloid television, and traffic jams. We are literally bombarded with frequencies that wear us down. That’s why it is essential to recharge.
Q-Link products tune up your biofield through a resonant effect that harmonizes your energy and helps you to navigate smoothly through a stressful world. Think of them like tuning forks that remind your biofield of its optimal functioning state. Worldly stress causes the biofield to become more chaotic and incoherent. The Q-Link reverses this process, ensuring efficiency, harmony, and balance.
The new Q-Link is sleek and chic, with a dual-tone design, this beveled-edge triangle has two distinct sides, each making a unique statement. It can be worn by both men and women as a signature piece, dressed up or down. Designed by internationally acclaimed designer Neville Brody and powered by next-generation SRT 3, the result is leading-edge attitude and super-charged power.
www.q-linkproducts.com/p_new_q.shtml - The Journey to Wild Divine ($159.95)
This is my all time favorite computer game for practising heart focus. With 3 sensors on your fingers, you steer the game with your heart and mind. Not a joystick in sight! The game comes with a complete guide on how to perform the acquired mental and emotional exercises, a CD with special music to help you focus and the imagery on the screen is a sheer joy to watch.
But not only is it entertaining. It also creates the optimal circumstances for balancing your heart, body and mind which triggers self-healing on all different levels. - Highly recommended!
www.my-happy-heart.com/WildDivine - The Healing Codes ($797.-)
Probably the most precious gift you could ever give somebody - lifetime access to a life of health and well-being. That is exactly what the Healing Codes can do for everyone. Deceptively simple yet spectacular in its results...
With a track record of almost 100% results - actually nobody thus far has reported it doesn't work, but it's just not something you want to claim as fact before proven without a shadow of a doubt - this is the healing system to follow.
And I know what I'm talking about. Since September this year I've been using the Healing Codes on myself and my family and they have never failed...
www.my-happy-heart.com/healingcodes.html
It's Not About
The Presents!
"There are presents and then there is your presence, the gift of yourself you share with others..."
Read this beautiful poem by Tim Connor to be reminded of what Christmas is really about.
52 Weeks to Prosperity
Do you have any friends who are always short on cash? Stop throwing your money down their drain...
What these friends need is a total reprogramming of their mind. With over 52 eBooks, audios and software that teaches them how to change their minds for lasting wealth, success and prosperity they cannot fail.
Make your last donation to these money-pits this Christmas by gifting them with the CD-Rom 52 Weeks to Prosperity. Next time they come asking you for your money, tell them to plug in their CD and take some action!
Click here to learn more about this special Christmas CD-Rom...
The Dreaming of Paradise
The Dreaming of Paradise
A Happy Heart's Tale for All Ages...
"Once upon a time there was a little boy who had a hard time waking up in the morning. In the evening the boy couldn’t sleep, because his head was filled with ideas. And he used these ideas to weave beautiful dreams..."
What happens to your dreams when you wake up in the morning? Do they just vanish after you've forgotten all about them? Or could it be that they start a life of their own...
This 'Happy Hearts Tale' - beautifully illustrated with watercolor paintings from children - was written with the intention to fill your heart with joy, happiness and inspiration.
And now for the first time it's available in full-color print - right in time for the Christmas season when the days are short and cold and the long nights call for stories of hope...
Wishing you happy dreams!
- Simple.Ology -
Awesome *NEW* material which teaches you how to get what you really want...
"All of us are walking around with some kind of birthday card we would like to give - some personal expression of joy, creativity or aliveness that we are hiding under our shirt." -
Robin Williams |
- Tips for the Dutch -
As to not offend anyone who doesn't speak Dutch, I'll keep the tips in English. But the links with these tips go to Dutch websites so there will be a moment when you probably will no longer be able to follow...
Cooperative Games & Furry Friends
Check out Earth Games for a completely fresh view on play. The site and shop from my dear friend Anne Mijke van Harten, an expert in cooperative games and fun.
Many of her furry puppets have already found their way into our home and my boys just love them. But she also offers an excellent selection of games...
Happy Family Life
Parents! Here's your chance to end your parental struggles and make child-raising a fun activity enjoyed by all...
Mijn Blijde Hart
My Happy Heart - only in Dutch... The full-color luxery version of this book can be ordered from:
- A Full Year of Ongoing Inspiration -
Consider giving a subscription to some of the best inspirational magazines in the world. There are plenty around, but the two I recommend most are:
- Ode (NL)
Ode (EN) - Resurgence
Thank you for visiting my website. Please visit again some day!
My Happy Heart © 2004 - 2006 Patricia Ritsema van Eck