STYLE : HOLIDAY GIFTS

If the recession has cut deep into your holiday budget, not to worry: A bounty of inexpensive gifts awaits in local stores. This year, the trend in gift items is toward the handmade, the personalized and the recycled, in materials such as paper, glass, metal,leather, wood, fabric and plastic. The most popular item is the picture frame: Presented as is, it’s a safe, impersonal gift; but include a photo, and it becomes an intimate offering. Paper products are especially imaginative this season--jewelry made from postage stamps, playing cards with your favorite photos or drawings on the back. These and other gift ideas here, all $50 or less, are practical, festive and, when selected with that special

someone in mind, guaranteed to go straight to the heart.