The Special Gift: Have You Found What You're Looking For?

Something New: Red Tiger Eye, Garnet, Jasper &Copper

I love giving gifts.  I don't always have much to spend, but how I love figuring out a way within my means to bring a look of pleasure to someone, along with the sense that they are appreciated and understood by me.  At the end of this blog post, I will share some of my free or low-cost ideas for gifts.  If you can afford very reasonably priced jewelry items, I recommend you visit my Etsy site to do some carefree gift-shopping. I will even gift wrap for you and postage within the USA is free this season.


I hope that my ready-made designs will please some, but I am always open to collaborating to create something that speaks to the heart.  That is why I call my store the Heart Space, because I put my own heart and soul into these items.  It is a way of sending my joy outward - via color, precious metals, beautiful beads and natural stones.

If you have an idea for a gift that you might like my help realizing, please don't hesitate to contact me.  We might be able to collaborate.  You can contact me via email at santomilagrito@yahoo.com, where you can leave a message, even attach a photo of something you might like.  I'm fully aware, gauging by sales this year that this might be a tight season financially for me and many others.


Here are a few ideas for free or extremely low cost gifts and community-building that I especially enjoy.

10 Hearfelt Gift Ideas

1. The gift of time. Start with a hand-written invitation on a pretty card (You can find many nice cards on Etsy, by the way)  Invite a friend for a lunch you cook yourself.  Sit deep and catch up on each other's lives.  
2. Copy out a favorite poem on nice paper - choose one that reminds you of someone special.  Copy it in your best handwriting or on your computer with a nice font. With a glue stick glue on a relevant picture from a magazine or old greeting card.  Toll  Tie it with a pretty ribbon. 
3. Even BETTER - if you can write a poem or paragraph of your own - with a memory of a special time with that friend or loved-on.  You can decorate it to the extent of your ability - and time.
4. Give nature lovers something you have found in their favorite places - the beach (a shell?), the mountains or forest (a river stone or pretty pine cone).  You could combine this gift with a poem above, or quote from Nature writers such as Thoreau or William Stafford.
5. A loaf of bread, a dozen cookies, a jar of spaghetti sauce, anything home-cooked to anyone living alone or anyone terribly busy is always welcome.
6. Time again - invite someone to accompany you for a special walk. Bring a picnic?  If it's cold you could eat it in the car.
7. Sachets: Buy bulk lavender at the Health Food store.  Sew tablespoons into little pockets and fill in the rest with cotton stuffing.  Tie with pretty ribbons. Include in gift baskets with bars of nice soap, or your homemade jam - or the sea shells or poems. (See above)
8. Shop local and help small businesses succeed - these are your friends and neighbors.  A few pennies saved here and there can't make up for the community you lose (not to mention the gas to drive around) when big stores take over and the little guys close down.
9. Even on Etsy, there's a shop local feature where you can find people in your city and state from whom you can buy gifts.  Heart Space is located in Portland, Oregon.
10. Always shop in a good mood.  Take a walk in the fresh air first and you will be in a good mood.  Believe it or not, statistics show that when you are happy you make much wiser choices overall.

I hope these suggestions are useful to you.  Here's to a Happy Holiday to each and every one!

Jewelry Trends For Fall and Winter

A little bit steampunk, a little bit 1960's modern.  Beautiful hardware silver earrings aren't heavy to wear.

Beautiful, autumnal moss greens, copper and feminine pink.

Stunning sky blue turquoise makes a statement that you're beautiful, strong and in tune with the natural world.

Hardware Edge: Heartspace's Glass and Chrome earrings

A statement necklace: choose stones and colors that enchant you.  

(Emily wearing Heartspace's Autumn Fire Agate Necklace.)

I've been Googling the trends for Fall and Winter 2009 and then thinking about which of Heartspace's offerings fit the bill.  I'm happy to say that the natural look of semi-precious stones in the rough is ever-popular this fall.  Look for what they call a "statement necklace," that is, some piece of jewelry that makes a statement about your personality and style. 

Try combining color trends with the healing qualities Gem Lore celebrates: luscious red garnets for steadfast love, sky-blue turquoise for protection and power, rainbow moonstone for feminine intuition, and yellow citrine for positivity and prosperity.

I am seeing a lot of steam-punk: that is watches and gears, etc. in jewelry.  There's a lot of this available on Etsy, but what is top fashion is a bit more refined.  Heartspace offers a couple of affordable, hardware earrings with silver findings that look like metal parts.  Very chic and handsome: not at all heavy, either.

Coral is big.  I fell in love with it last year, but learned to be careful to purchase fine coral that isn't illegally harvested, or even worse dyed red, only to come off on your neck!  I have yet to find any coral this fall that is affordable and not dyed or "fishy" in origin.  When I find quality affordable stones and shells, I will pass the savings onto you. 

The bohemian look just won't die; I think because it's so fun to wear Gypsy jewelry.  For just a few bucks, you can layer on a necklace or two, and try out some of Heartspace's beautiful earrings, that are guaranteed to flatter your face.  

I make test samples of all Heartspace earrings, wearing a pair for a full day to make sure they are comfortable.  None of my designs are heavy or scratchy to wear.  I promise!

Jewelry is a very affordable way to update one's wardrobe without breaking the bank.  May I suggest you don't scrimp with ho-hum jewelry that doesn't glow with color or interest. If in doubt, go without, until you find what really sings to you. 

You Are What You Love

Clarita loves the color robin's egg blue. 

What do you love?

Today I recommend a new form of shopping that costs absolutely nothing.  It occurred to me while contemplating how people who shop on Etsy leave virtual "hearts" at their favorite Etsy stores, or give to items that catch their fancy. Maybe an Etsy shopper never buys that thing, but just having "hearted" it, they've made it a part of their Favorites Section on their Etsy site. It's a way you can come to know a person on Etsy, by what favorites they display.  Some people keep their Etsy hearts secret from all others, but many are so proud of their favorites that they announce them on blogs or on Twitter.  Maybe this is a metaphor for a very valuable spiritual and creative exercise: listing your favorite things in some tangible form.

First, spend a few moments with your Heart's Longing, what you'd love to see around you, or how you would like things in your life to be.  Then imagine that you have left a bit of your heart at the place where those beloved nouns are sold, or appear, or congregate, just as an Etsy shopper might.

Finally, create a book, either real or imaginary where you might store images or words that represent those nouns, or even some verbs, if what you love is an action word.  Now imagine that this book has a photo of you on the cover.  All these qualities, things, experiences, etc. are part of what you store in your heart.  You might title that book: My Heart's Desires.  

Such intentionality might actually help you obtain some of these desires.  I intend to make such a book this summer and keep it in a sacred place.  Can you list at least a hundred things you love? I guarantee that just doing this will lift your spirits. 

What do you cherish in your Heart Space? Please leave a comment with one favorite thing you love.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy or ponderous: just what first comes to mind!

Wishing you every happiness,

Clarita