Garden Guild Holiday Craft Sale

For most of the year, Duke Gardens' talented volunteer Garden Guild has been busy crafting unique new items to make your home more festive for the holidays, or for your gift-giving needs.

This year's Garden Guild Craft Sale is Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free, and parking is free until 1 p.m. All proceeds from this popular annual sale go toward the upkeep of Duke Gardens, so if you buy a gift, you'll get twice the gift-giving satisfaction. You can even buy Gardens memberships as gifts. Just ask at the front desk for information.

The Guild has been making some popular items from previous sales, and they've come up with many new products. Many items have a garden theme, incorporating natural elements, sometimes even from the Gardens. Everything is handmade and inexpensive.


One new batch of items is “gourdaments.” Happy creatures and elegant Santa Clauses can grace your Christmas tree or holiday decor. Mix and match from several different varieties. Each of these unique pieces will be sure to inspire you and get folks asking about your ornament.


For those who have been collecting the tobacco stick angel over the last several years, we have a new addition that you'll want to add. She is holding a sea basket filled with seashells. At the top of this post are some angels with a tobacco stick Santa.

Also available are Caprice shells, each embellished with dried flowers from the Gardens. What a wonderful way to bring in some summer color during the colder months. Use hand-decorated greeting cards to drop a dear friend a special note or to send holiday greetings. Snail-mail was never so pretty.

Gift wrapping can be easy this year. One-of-a-kind origami gift boxes in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors -- many upcycled from Duke Gardens calendars and other colorful publications -- can serve double duty as gift-wrapping and gift display or storage. Most boxes are 2-5 inches, so these boxes are perfect for jewelry or other smaller gifts.


A favorite from past years, and just as adorable this year, are these handmade headbands. These are perfect for stocking stuffers, or just for fun.

Here are some other items we'll have out for browsing at the sale.

Quilted star trivets help preserve table-tops during delicious dinners...

Garden Veggie Ornaments beautifully remind us to eat our veggies all year long.

Knitted Hats, some with fruit and vegetable themes, keep little heads toasty!

Decorative Storage - Beautiful and useful!

These hand-made chickens can keep you company all year long...

Keep recipes, newspaper clippings, and thoughts tidy in these embellished journals.

We'll also have jewelry, clothing, eye masks, soaps and plenty of other goodies. So please mark your calendars and bring a friend out with you. We look forward to seeing you Saturday at the Gardens.
Here are some more teaser pictures!