Busily writing for Suite 101

I started writing for Suite101 online magazine a year ago. Through the year I only managed to do the minimum number of articles required (10-12 over three months) but with a bit more time in October and November I posted a few more stories and learnt a lot about search engine optimisation. The Suite101 work has a lot of potential to build a tidy passive income over the next few years.

With Christmas coming, I've posted a few Christmas-related stories and they're doing well. I like the idea of donating a goat to a charity for Christmas. It's easy to get sucked into the Christmas-marketing whirlpool at this time of year, charging off to to buy mass-produced articles because the advertising's been imprinted on our psyche. But buying unique one-off gifts of original art is a cool and special thing to do for someone.

Sustainable Christmas Gifts - Paper, Cards, Junk Mail, Old Books

Over the weekend I had lots of fun using up old Christmas papers and cards to make gift wrap, cards and gift tags. I cut out shapes from old Christmas cards, junk mail and magazines to make a Christmas collage, stuck it all onto a piece of cardboard and had it photocopied in colour and black and white.

I started an altered book called 'Flowers from my Mother's Garden' - so far only one page done but it's a start! My mother's a beautiful person and she's always had a gorgeous garden. Some of those business cards that accumulate were used up to make Christmas gift tags - covered up the business details and stuck pics on the reverse side.

I was in my natural environment being up to my neck in bits of paper and glue and wrote an article about Sustainable Papercraft Christmas Gifts for Suite101.