Office Gift Ideas

Since I know my office mates don't read my blog (okay, I don't really work in an office - I work part time in an art gallery/frame shop so I work with a bunch of crazy creative types), I'm going to post what I am giving them for Christmas. It became a mad search this week, mostly because I really like giving gifts and supporting indie businesses, so it was an excuse to do both. First - the men - five of them in all and they have COMPLETELY different personalities. I thought - how about a nifty handmade notebook? Finding a nifty & manly & inexpensive handmade notebook proved to be tough, but I found this one on Little Otsu:
I have always been under the impression that men liked graph paper, but when I shared this profound knowledge with my husband, he kind of looked at me funny, kind of like he disagreed. Oh well. I guess I don't know everything, but I think they'll like their new journals.

Next - the ladies. I work with the same two on the usual days that I work so I wanted to get them something special. I knew I wanted a cute little handmade pouch/makeup bag since there are SO many cute ones out there (especially on etsy) and since I only can have so many, I thought I would vicariously buy and give some. What I found for them was an adorable makeup pouch AND wristlet keychain gift set for only $18!

It's from a shop called Jimmy Pickles, and I like them so much, I'll have to get a set for myself now, but I'll wait until they restock after Christmas, since it seems pretty picked over at this point, but good for them! They've sold over 1,000 items on etsy! Holy crap - that's a lot!

For the other ladies, I wanted to give them handmade pouches, too, but I didn't want to spend that much so I found another great shop called LouLou Bell. Here are two of the seven that I purchased:
She had so many great fabrics to choose from, and great prices, too. I found a fabric for each of the seven ladies that I work with, which was no easy task since they range in age from 25 - 55! Unfortunately, I suck at geography and didn't realize she lives in Canada. Sooo... the shop owner was super sweet and agreed to express ship them for me in the hopes that they would arrive before Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers!