Do-It- YULEself GIFTS

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PHOTO SERIES

Remember those photos you took at your nephew's graduation or Mom's 75th birthday party? Maybe a special vacation or memory you shared with relatives or friends? Pick out some of the best shots and frame them in a series using a mat and one frame with two to four photos. Sometimes it works to have a series of photos taken a few seconds or minutes apart, such as a toddler's first steps or 10-year-old's first soccer match.

SUPPLIES
Your negatives
A pre-cut mat
A frame

COST
$10 to $25

STRATEGY

For quality photos, take your negatives to a reputable camera/photo finishing store, not a discount store. I recommend having your photos made into 4x6 matte finish prints, which look more professional than glossy. Black-and-white photos can be very dramatic framed, so even if you only shoot color film, any photo developing lab can make black and white reprints for you.

Buy a simple wall frame so the photos will stand out. Then have a white of off-white mat cut to fit at any craft or framing store. Recycle frames you have at home, but you may have to purchase new glass at the framing store. To save time, buy the frame and mat at the same store.

Have the store mount your photos on backing, cut the mat and assemble it in the frame. Then type up your favorite memory associated with the photo-or write it out if your handwriting is good-and glue it on the back of the frame.

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Sometimes, no matter what our good intentions, we don't have the time, we don't have the energy or we don't have the creative oomph to make a darned thing. However, this does not mean we need to dash to the mall and grab the first likely looking gift-suspect. Instead, give gift certificates: It requires no skill whatsoever, you only need to know your relatives' interests.

When I took a completely unscientific survey among women friends, we all said that we wished that we'd get more gift certificates for stuff we really wanted, e.g. manicures/pedicures, facials, visits to our favorite bookstores or catalog companies we just love.

SUPPLIES:
Zip, nada, zero

COST:
$10 to $??

STRATEGY

Find out your relative, friend or coworker's favorite restaurant, pizza delivery, movie theater, music- or bookstore. Just about every business you can imagine offers gift certificates, such as the YMCA's indoor skate park or the neighborhood espresso bar. Get creative and really surprise them. Of course, a gift subscription to a really great magazine - say MOTHER EARTH NEWS , for example - is always a classy choice.

And yes, you should wrap it so it will look like a gift, not an afterthought.

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