Tag Archives: holiday gifts

Why we love vintage jewelry…for us, for gifts, for the earth

Eleven Reasons To Love
Antique and Vintage Jewelry

For those of us who already love vintage jewelry, we don’t need any more reasons to hunt it down, wear it, and gift it. Though, if you haven’t included vintage in your wardrobe, yet, or you are still mulling over holiday gift ideas, we wanted to give a shout out for how vintage jewelry can add sparkle to your life and help save the world!

Vintage Jewelry: A thing of beauty
Vintage Jewelry

1. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” – Keats. You will always look beautiful wearing a graceful cameo, or something elegant with pearls.

1b. Something unique and funky will stand out in any era. (Didn’t want to forget those of us who like Retro, Kitsch, and/or the Austin Powers influence.)

2. “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” makes the world a better place. Vintage fashion is inspired reuse. And, crafts that make old jewelry into new are an artsy way to recycle (upcycle).

3. An Antique or Vintage piece is often unique or one-of-a-kind. Sometime, you may have the only piece like it left in existence. Though, at least you can be fairly certain that no one else at the party will have the same thing!

4. Put your money where you heart is. Buying vintage items take money away from big corporations and mass market spending, and diverts resources to more local businesses and artful marketplaces.

4b. Vintage and Antique jewelry supports ethical buying. There are no worries about new impacts regarding unfair trade or cruelly mined gemstones. Continue reading Why we love vintage jewelry…for us, for gifts, for the earth

Simplicity in this busy, holiday season: Peace Song for 12/19/2011

Simple Gifts is the Peace Song of the Day for December 19th. It is a Shaker song written by Joseph Brackett in 1848. You can find the lyrics to this song, as well as additional, new lyrics about loving, poverty, and liberty, in the Rise Up Singing songbook.

This song causes me to reflect on the idea of Voluntary Simplicity — keeping things simple, and doing with less, even if you can afford more. At this holiday season, it is nice to enjoy the simple gifts of family and sharing. Hope you will consider shopping less, making your own presents, and studying ideas about Voluntary Simplicity. You can find books on that topic at your local book store, or at Powells Books: here.

Judy Collins performs Simple Gifts (‘Tis The Gift To Be Simple) in this video from 1963:

Continue reading Simplicity in this busy, holiday season: Peace Song for 12/19/2011