In honor of FEED's 5th anniversary, please welcome the FEED 5 Africa Bag! 
Mother's Day is a good time to re-think how you give gifts. Honestly, we heartily applaud flowers & photographs-in-frames & Sunday lunches at a favorite restaurant. But maybe this is not the year for one more piece of jewelry. What to do? It's already Wednesday. 
The Easter & Passover holidays will be here before you know it. In fact, they're earlier this year than we thought. This is quite possibly because we forgot to buy 2012 wall calenders & are making do with Sharpie-scrawling over last year's. Oops. 
It's a dismal, rainy, foggy day here. So we thought we'd cheer up with a post about FEED Projects. If you bought gifts for everyone but yourself during the holidays, check out FEED Project Peace, Love, & Nature bags.
FEED Projects is a big favorite of ours. They've added many lovely products, including a holiday stocking (it's out-of-stock at the moment, but sign up for the re-stock notice), with a wide range of prices. You can even custom design a bag with your organization or company on one side & FEED Projects on the other. Visit the website & be inspired!
...& you're going to IKEA. (Yes, you are. Admit it.) Why don't you pick up at least one soft toy & help UNICEF & Save the Children? Please remember the Soft Toy Aid campaign. The need is great, the prices on the IKEA soft toys is very low. (Their cuteness is indisputable, just like Giulia's.) As we've suggested before, even if you don't need any little-person toys this year, Toys for Tots (& gift collection campaigns in other countries) is in great need. (image via IKEA.com) 
The generous Top Bird at Wee Birdy has a gift for you, here. Have fun catching up with her move from London to Sydney. We're so glad that she's back online. On the theme of birds (get down, cat!), this pretty & free download is from talented Lisa Rupp at That's Happy. These birds (shown above) could be ornaments or more gift tags. (Here is Lisa's Etsy shop.)
The days are going quickly. To wait for a few days means you might miss out on an excellent purchase for the holidays. Hence Friday-for-Monday.
Please remember the Marine Toys for Tots Campaign when you are shopping or making your gifts this year. Click here to find a toy drop-off near you. You can also donate online, here. If you know someone in need of toys, please see here. 
These wonderful photographs would make a great gift for anyone (including you). Three art prints, original street art photography from Brick Lane in East London, UK - ready for framing. The photographs are printed in high resolution on archival quality matte fine art paper, 5 inches (126.5mm) square, and can be provided with or without an additional white border depending on your needs for framing. You can make your own choice of street art photos to be printed as a set from the collection here.
GG's editor received this beautiful brooch from super-generous artist Tina Tarnoff in early summer. We'd hoped to have a camera by now to show how great it looks on Giulia's organic cotton collar. (Kidding. Her editor wore it all summer to hold together the top of two linen tunics. Currently the pin takes turns on two winter jackets.)
FEED Projects is one of GG Central's very favorite organizations. Check in to see how you can help. GG still loves a good drag around the floor in our Feed Project Bag. We hope this year to adopt a bear. How about you? (GG collage/FEED Project website images)
Today's Made4Aid post highlights a set of greeting cards, made with prints of original photography of snowy winter scenes in London. They would make a lovely gift for someone this season (or for you). The photographs are printed in high resolution on premium glossy photographic paper and mounted on good quality white card. The cards are blank inside for your own greeting and come with matching envelopes. The size of these cards is 5 inches/12.5cm square. 
West Elm has free lovely holiday downloads. There are two categories: Gifting (gift tags, labels, & recipe cards) & Entertaining (place cards, name tags, & menus). The four themes: botanical, animal, graphic, & a GG favorite, snowflakes. Just download & print out on card stock, sticker paper, whatever suits you. Thank you, West Elm. 
Made4Aid now sells items through a new Etsy shop. GG will be featuring items from the shop this month & next. 
GG's editor did the math--not our strong suit, admittedly--but we are aces on a calculator. With free shipping world-wide (this is rare, people), each card costs $2.75 (USD). Go to any store & see if you can find lovely handmade cards for $2.75. We'll save you the trouble because we searched: you cannot. These cards make a thoughtful gift, too. GG Central has ordered from Made4Aid from nearly the beginning & can therefore highly recommend from several trouble-free experiences.
Hoorah. Many of GG Central's favorite gifts given last year for the holidays & birthdays were from the good folks at Made4Aid in Britain. Instead of auctions (which we enjoyed), you can just go directly to Made4Aid's Etsy shop & have a look. There will be more additions in the next few weeks. Also, if you would like to donate anything, please get in touch with Made4Aid at made4aid [!at] yahoo.co.uk. They are super-friendly & talented people.
Giulia seems unaware of this turning point because her to-do list consists of two items: causing trouble, being cute. However, her editor must search for photographs, beg for money for various causes, & generally make a pest of herself. Caught up short (again) this year, we turn to Hazel at The Clever Pup who created this marvellous multi-media geranium for GG's last birthday. We love it & are happy to show it today. 
