Sleeves from old shirts and blouses become cloth bags with ribbons made of neckties. Recycled fabric is stitched into pillows with pockets that can hold a note or a small gift.
Gourmet baskets are filled with coffees and teas - and pancake mix.
These creations are Products with a Mission, a hot-selling gift line that has raised $4,000 this holiday season for Shepherd's Staff, an ecumenical ministry to the needy in Carroll County.
The line has sold so briskly that the supplies used to make the gifts are nearly depleted, said Kathy Brown, director of the Westminster charity.
"We will start 2003 with hardly any inventory at all, but the sales mean I can hire sewers and packers to put more product together," Brown said.
Shepherd's Staff helps people in crisis and helps them become self-sufficient.
Brown, whose marketing background has helped spur sales, has a wealth of ideas for gift giving. Brown said using donated fabric and recycled items helps to keep cost down.
She said the sales help support the charity's programs, including its "self-help initiative." She was able to employ five people who worked part time this fall for $5.50 an hour.
"I would love to pay them more, but I can't, at least not yet," she said. "But I am trying to make these people self-sufficient and help them move on."
Shepherd's Staff has sold holiday gift baskets in years past, but never on this scale. Brown said hundreds have been sold. She expects the few remaining to be bought in a last-minute rush. For $3.50, a shopper can buy a holiday trinket or, for $30, a basket brimming with coffees and teas.
Brown created a basket with a Currier & Ives theme, unaware that it was Carroll County Farm Museum's theme for Christmas this year.
When the museum shop manager heard about the basket, she ordered a dozen and sold most of them.
"These are well-done items, packaged beautifully and reasonably priced," said Emma Beaver, who runs the museum. "We will be glad to partner with Shepherd's Staff again in the future."
Several churches also sold the products, including St. Joseph Catholic Community in Eldersburg. Brown had hardly finished setting up a display there two weeks ago before parishioners began to buy the products.
"I think people who buy are attracted to what this product stands for," Brown said.
At St. Joseph, parishioners spent more than $800 purchasing every item that Brown brought with her.
"Having Kathy here to sell helped because she explained the whole concept of self-help," said Mary Pulick, pastoral associate for Christian service at the parish.
The Rev. Chris Reuer, pastor of Freedom Christian Church in Carrolltown Mall, set up a Products with a Mission display in the church's storefront window to entice mall shoppers to buy.
"It was so popular that my congregation bought it all," he said. "The idea really goes to the ministries in our congregation. We are not just providing people with a handout, but giving them the skills to improve their lives."
Brown is planning gift packages for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter and is trying to put together a corporate package that businesses could use as a welcome present.
"I want this project to put Shepherd's Staff clients to work," she said. "It could open a lot of doorways for them. There is a market for this, if we can just get it off the ground."