10 Magical, Meaningful, and Memorable Gifts for $20 and Under!

One of the most beautiful and rewarding of holiday traditions is the giving of gifts!  As we search out, discover, wrap, and give our gifts to family, friends, colleuges and employees, we express the deep love, appreciation, admiration, and respect we carry in our hearts for the people that make our lives so meaningful.

This holiday season we are all looking for ways to find gifts which are magical, meaningful, and memorable, without capsizing the budget!  As we look within and remember the very reasons why we are so blessed, we realize that the sentiment behind a gift is what truly creates value.  After all the wrapping paper has been thrown out, the tree taken down, the last cookie eaten and the lights packed snugly away for another year, it is the love we give that lives on day to day in the lives of those we cherish.

Here is our Top Ten ideas for gifts which are indeed magical, meaningful, and absolutely memorable--all $20 or under!

1)  THE  KISSING CRYSTAL:  More than mere mistletoe, a Kissing Crystal will bring the light of the holidays into any room!  Include a note expressing your wishes that the facets of the crystal will reflect the magic of the Season all throughout their home, filling it with love, laughter, and warmth for all!    $17.95

2)  INSPIRATIONAL PLAQUE:  Wrap a handsome, marble plaque with a note letting them know what an inspiration they have always been in your life!   $12.00-$19.95

3)   MESSAGE BRACELETS:  Use a beautiful ribbon to tie together several hand-selected bracelets bearing inspiring sentiments, creating a personalized message of love, hope, faith, or encouragement.   Bracelets $4.95 each

4)  SANTA KEY: This beautiful heirloom jewel-encrusted key will delight any who behold it, and will become a cherished part of Christmas Eve traditions.  Sized perfectly for mailing, include a Santa’s Magic Key in your Holiday cards to those dearest to you!   $13.95

5)  ART ADVENTURE BOOKS: The gift of imagination and adventure is one that lives on forever!  Whether it’s fairies, dragons, or pirates that strike their fancy, write a heartfelt dedication in the front of the book that honors their love of literature and learning, and sends them off on a fantastic voyage of wonder!   $19.95

6)  FAIRY DUST:  Young or old, we all can use a little magic in our lives!  With a star wand included, Magic Fairy Dust is the perfect way to tell someone that they add that extra spark into your life that makes everything…well, magic!   $5.95 Small   $9.25 Large

7)  BLESSINGS BOX: Fill a charming box with small slips of paper inscribed with handwritten wishes for dreams, wishes, and blessings, as well as the reasons you are grateful this person is in your life!   $9.95-$20.00

8)  COMPASS: There are some people who have been so instrumental in providing direction and guidance in our lives that we feel we’d have been lost without them.  Give them a compass as a way to say thanks for always being there to say the right thing and lovingly point us down the paths of wisdom.    $18.95

9)  DREAM JOURNAL: On the first page, pen your favorite memory of special times you’ve experienced together, and share your hopes and dreams for their future.  Encourage them to keep a record of their cherished memories and dreams, and to read it often!   $5.95-$18.95

10)  SANTA’S MAGIC WATCH: Include a personalized note from Santa asking a very special child to keep this magical timepiece safe and sound, and to place it at the foot of the Christmas tree each year so He can use it on his Christmas Eve visit!   $11.95

Moonlight Madness...the Fairy Fete!

Frigid temperatures and threats of impending storms could not keep away all those who reveled in the MOONLIGHT MADNESS sale!  On deck during that magical evening we had a butterfly fairy, an elf straight from the workshop, and our resident fairy, Tara.  In keeping with tradition for this special event, Tara cast aside part of her mortal disguise and allowed her true fairy ears to show!  Of course, no mortal has yet to see her wings.  Each visitor was stamped with magic fairy dust as they entered, thus branding them with magic so the fairies could find them at will!  It was a night of enchantment and joy for all--mortals, elves, and fairies alike!

Moonlight Madness! November 21 6 PM to Midnight!

Moonlight Madness is tonight! Join the magic & festivities from 6pm to Midnight At Gardner Village. Find spectacular savings in all 22 shops & enjoy getting into the Holiday spirit with all the magic & beauty you'll find at Anastasia's Attic! Come check out my fairy ears, and check out our seceret sale...but you won't know what it is unless you come!  This is the perfect time to stock up on our best-sellers for your holiday gift giving, and you will receive a free Greenleaf slim sachet w/any $20 purchase at Anastasia's Attic!  See you there!

Sorry....

For some strange Reason we are having a problem with our friends leaving a message for us. Not sure why it is all messed up, but we have found a solution...we think? At the end of each post (article) it gives the time of day that I originally posted it. If you click on that time it will take you to a place where you can leave your comments. Sorry for the inconvience because we do love  hearing from our friends and family here at Anastasia's Attic.

Thanks for stopping by and we look forward to your next visit.

Cricket
Manager of Anastasia's Attic

What A QT

A few months back I told you how one of our favorite couples Mike and Brie were expecting their first baby. Well, Evvie Mae is here and she is a beauty. We are so happy for them and the joy she brings to their family. Congrats Mike and Brie, she is adorable. And we are soooo glad to be a part of her extended family.

A New Member Of The Family

No...no one has had a baby, but we do have a new member of the family. Anastasia's Attic has found a new beautiful treasure, and her name is Olivia. She is as beautiful as she is sweet. She is funny and witty and very smart. All of us at Anastasia's Attic would like to welcome Olivia and let her know how happy we are to have her with us.

Life Is Always Changing

At Anastasia's Attic we are like a big family. And like all families we sometimes have a family member move away or have to leave the nest for one reason or another. This month as been bitter sweet as we have one leave the nest but yet another return!

We will miss Heather as she and her new husband Chris and their little one to be go about making their new life together. We wish her a happy life filled with only good things.Get a lot of sleep now mommy to be because soon there will not be any...LOL.

On the other hand....we are lucky enough to have one of our little chicks come back to the nest. Brit worked at Anastasia's Attic for over two years when she left to go to college down south. She is home for the summer and back with us and we could not be happier. And even though we know the summer will speed by and she will once again have to leave us....we hope she knows we will always be here to welcome her back ANY TIME with open arms. Welcome Home Britt...we missed you!!


Britt

The Fairy Trap Dress

The Legend of the Fairy Trap


Legend has it that fairies find it near impossible to resist the lure of beautiful objects, especially those made by kind hands and a pure heart. Many years ago, a small girl with just such a heart discovered, quite by accident, the way to entice fairies into her bedroom night after night, bringing with them their magic and joy!

This young child was not born into riches of the usual sense--her family did not have much in the way of material possessions and worldly prizes, and although they always had enough to eat and a roof to sleep under, there was not money for extravagant toys and playthings. Fortune had smiled on this girl in quite a different manner, however; she was graced with the most vivid of imaginations, and the ability to find exquisite joy in simple beauty. A scrap of lace or ribbon retrieved from beneath her mother's sewing table was, in her mind, a piece of the finest raiment. Tiny blossoms picked from the patch of wildflowers growing near the side of the road were, to her, flowers from the Queen's garden! And a piece of broken jewelry or a small seed pearl found amongst the rocks and pebbles of an empty lot were the greatest of riches!

Once day while playing outside among the trees and bushes with her found treasures, and while lost in thoughts of beauty and magic, the small girl fashioned a tiny dress from her bits of ribbon and lace, her prized wildflower blossoms, and her beloved jewels. When it was completed, she was so enthralled with it's loveliness that she thought to herself, "Surely this is a magical thing--even the fairies themselves would love to wear such a dress," and she ran inside to hang it up in her bedroom.

That night, after the little girl had fallen into a deep and peaceful sleep, something truly extraordinary happened. The three fairies who inhabited her yard had secretly been watching her that day as she transformed her small trove of treasures into the beautiful miniature dress. They had peered in through her bedroom window as she hung her prized creation from the edge of a lamp. And now that she was safely asleep, they sprang into action. Since no mortal eye was was awake to witness their clandestine activities, the fairies used their magic to slip quickly and effortlessly through the closed window as if it were only air. In a mere moment they were across the room to the coveted little dress, and had in their tiny fairy hands. Quickly as they came, they were back at the window to depart with their prize. But as the fairies passed once again through the glass of the window, the beautiful dress was forced from their hands and fell to the ground inside the room.

Dazed and a little befuddled, the three fairies darted back through the window into the room, and again tried to carry the little dress back out with them through the glass. Yet once again the fairies found themselves outside the window, staring in at the dress on the bedroom floor. And then the realization came over them. The little dress of childhood treasures had been made by human hands---there was no fairy magic in it, and so it could not pass through the solid matter of the window glass as the fairies could!

By this time, however, the fairies were themselves so deeply enchanted by the little humans girl's creation, that they could not bear to fly off into the night without it. And so they stayed. Back into the room they came, and passed the hours of the night taking turns with the tiny dress, flying around in it and dancing through the air above the little girl's very head, until finally the suns' first rays poured like ribbons of gold into the bedroom. When the fairies realized the girl would soon wake up, they quickly hung the dress back up where they had first found it, and whizzed out the window into the wooded yard. When the little girl awoke moments later, her head was swimming the the fuzzy memories of the most magical dreams--dreams full of the flitting of tiny, glittery wings, and of silvery peals of laughter that was almost silent, and yet filled the whole room.

That evening, as soon as the little girl had slipped once more into the kingdom of dreams, the three fairies returned. They kept the hours of the night as they had done before, dancing in the little dress, and filling the little girl's dreams with the most lovely of sounds and images. Night after night they returned to play and dance and sing in the dress, each morning hanging it carefully where the little girl had put it that first day.

And so the legend goes, that if you find a small, lovely dress--fashioned from little bits of this and that--and you hang it in your bedroom where it can be seen from outside your window, the fairies will come. Night after night, they will come. They will come in the silence as you sleep, and dance in the air above your head wearing the dress they cannot take, for it was made with the magic of the human heart--which is a different thing from the magic of the fairies. The fairies can fly through the air on their wings of gauze and glitter, and they can pass without effort through that which we cannot. But mortal magic--the magic that most humans don't even know about-- is this; that through what we create with kind hands and pure hearts, we can draw to ourselves beauty and wonder that is beyond our imaginations!

Think Pink

For those of you who know and love Brie and her sister Brit who both used to work at Anastasia's Attic....you will love this.

We were all so sad when they left...Brit off to college and Brie getting married and finished hair school and went on to do what she loves...styling hair. But we try and keep in touch the best we can. All of us Anastasia's Attic miss them so much an love when they stop by for a visit. Well....today Brie and her husband Mike stopped by to tell us their good news. In August they will be adding a cute little baby girl to their family. WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED FOR THEM!! WE love you guys and can't wait to get to hold your sweet baby girl!

I love those girls like my own. They are the cutest, sweetest girls in the world.

What a cute couple.

Look at her cute little belly.

Spring At Anastasia's Attic

The days are getting longer and just a bit warmer. Tulips and daffodils are poking their pretty little heads through the rich spring soil. We love "Spring" at Anastasia's Attic. It's a time of rebirth. The beautiful birds are flitting around making cozy little nest's in preperation of sweet little babies to come. And we at Anastasia's Attic are preparing as well. Come in and see the beautiful Spring display and see what wonderful offers we have for you and your family.


Bunnies,and flowers, and eggs...Oh My!


How about one of our beautiful Spring Bonnets. You could wear it to church, or a garden party, how about a wonderful tea at Protea Cottage at Gardner Village. Tell them Cricket sent you!

Come see our own Petter Rabbit and his friends as they ring in the "Spring Season" with us.


We have a few of our Spring Dresses on sale...50% off!

This basket is filled with decatent chocolates, Shhhh, don't tell anyone but these are not real!

So many pretty things in the Rose Room.

Queen Of Hearts Celebration

"The Queen Of Hearts" celebration is a new event this year at Gardner Village. It was so much fun. The night was filled with elegance,royality, and beautiful women spending a little time just being the "Queens" we were all meant to be. We can't wait until next year!

Tara with some of our favorite customers and friends...

Sooo Pretty


Rebecca and her mom Tiffany are two of our most favorite customers. Isn't she cute? And a real sweetie too!

April was simply "Stunning" that night!


Another one of Anastasia's Queens....Heather. She is smiling so big because she is getting married next week!

"The Queen Of Gardner Village"

Princess In Training...what a QT!

Beautiful Sharon and Wendy Starling.

Beautiful Wendy Bench from "Posh"

Pretty In Pink