I’ve been reading a lot lately about frugal living and recognizing when is enough (I’m sure I’m not the only one). My relationship between Money, Job, Work, Dreams, Time, Earth and Life Energy is shifting, for good!, I should say is EVOLVING. In the mist of transformation I have been realizing some things I already do to enhance those principles of frugal living in my life, such as hand-made gifting. The book “Your money or your life” which I’m currently reading and I highly recommend you read, has a chapter that talks about handmade gifting which is why I was inspired to write this post.

I think creativity is a great quality we all have that can be use in critical times like this and also in non critical times as well. It’s a means to express that which is bigger than you. Most of the time you don’t really know where ideas come from, even when you get inspired by another person’s idea. Your specific idea has the unique possibility to be timeless and above all touch another person in a very special and magnificent way, it all depends on the intentions behind your creation.

I have always loved to make hand-made gifts, above is one of the gifts I made for one of the best friends I have ever had. It’s a kit of 2 hand bound books that contain 6 months of e-mails she sent me, a matching blank Journal (for us to write and send to each other if she wanted to) and a rolled letter describing and dedicating my gift. The paper I used is one of my favorite Japanese papers. I’ve been saving it for years in my studio and this was a perfect occasion to use it, all other materials were recycled from our studio.

There are no rules for a hand-made gift. I wanted to give you this step by step picture so you see how I made it and feel inspired. If you want more detail on how to book bind let me know. But remember as Albert Einstein said: Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Now more than ever is time to be creative in every aspect of your life.“It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life” -Barthold Georg Niebuhr

To your Imagination!