It's Raining Babies, or what to give for a shower

I have been attending an unusually high amount of baby showers these past few months.  It seems like all of my friends are having kids again - or for the first time.  So I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite baby shower gifts and tips with you today.

I know when I had my little guy a few years ago that I registered for all sorts of things that after he was born ended up gathering dust like the diaper wipe warmer, really?  My tip is for baby gear get the essentials - bottles as always needed, bibs are great, diaper pad covers will be used in abundance! You can also throw in a little something extra to make your gift of bottles a little more special, like Le Bibble which helps clean up the milk that doesn't quite hit it's target.

Le Bibble in Le Lime $12 found via 20BestTwenty

I also received a slew of baby clothes that were sized 0-3 and 3-6 months which meant my 8lb 6oz and 21 1/2 inch boy wore them exactely once before growing into size 6-9 month clothes by the end of his first month.  So now if I buy clothing for my friends I buy 6-9 month or up to make sure their little one will actually get the chance to wear it.  I absolutely adore this handmade romper by the Measure,  I mean is there anything cuter than a ruffled bottom?

Chevron Stripe Romper by The Measure $49 found via 20bestTwenty

When I show up at a shower I know the best way to get some oohs and ahhs is to buy a handmade gift for my friends.  Something that you cannot find at Babies R Us which will become an heirloom item that the family holds on to for the next child - or even passes along through the family.  Of course since I make mobiles most of my friends want a little mobile so they usually get something like my 2 lovebirds mobile or little raincloud, both of which are perfect for over the changing table or placed in a corner of the room by a rocker where you will spend lots of time!  If I don't know the sex of the baby I will usually give this, since everyone needs a little rainbow in their life:

Dreamy Rainbow Mobile by baby Jives $49 

Some other items which I love are the handmade wooden teethers rattles like this one by Smiling Tree Toys, handmade by parents using organic wood so your baby is set to rock, rattle and chew to their hearts content.

Organic Guitar Rattle by Smiling Tree Toys $26 via 20BestTwenty

Another great idea is a handmade growth chart to measure how quickly that little person will grow. I love this one by Love From Nora featuring Vintage VW buses handmade from felt and personalized with your little ones' name (if you know it).

VW Bus Growth Chart by LovefromNora $52 via Etsy

Years later we still use some of our favorite handmade items on a daily basis, like the knit blanket my friend made for my son and the wooden chair that my dad made for me is now my son's favorite place to sit and of course my son says good morning to his bird mobile every day. So what about you - what is your favorite baby shower gift to give?

A year in review or how I got to be one year older

Today is my birthday.  I am not going to tell you how old I am but let's just say I am easing into my mid-thirties. I have to admit that for some reason the thought of my birthday kind of depressed me this year.  I don't know exactly why - maybe it's the fact that I have been struggling with a bunch of teeth issues which makes me feel like, "Gawd my body is not what it used to be" or maybe it's the fact that at my age my mother had 3 kids - one of whom was almost 10 (that's me).  Whatever it was I thought that I would take this day to look back a little on the past year and see how much I have accomplished to get rid of a little bit of that "Whoa is me - I am old" feeling and replace it with some "Wow is me - I am figuring out life". 

Luckily Percy Managed... by Cupcakes and Antlers $5

So I sat down and realized that one of the most amazing things I have done in this past year is to start my own successful home based business.  Never did I think last year when I sat down around this same time to start dreaming up my business that I would have been crossing the threshold of almost 200 sales less than a year later!  When I think of how successful my little dream of making mobiles as artworks has been I am humbled.  I am so thankful to be creating a product I am inspired to make and sending it out into the world with love so that it can be enjoyed by some many other people all around the world.  I feel blessed to be able to stay home with my son and run my business from the playground and during nap times (although I am getting to the point where he is going to have to start sleeping more or I am going to need to stop sleeping at all).  I love being part of a lively community of independent makers and dreamers who inspire me constantly with their commitment to filling the world with handmade goodness, not mass produced nonsense. 

Breath & Smile by the Wheatfield $15

When I realized how lucky I am to be making a living doing what I love and raising both my family and continuing my creative endeavors, that depression started to slip away.  I also got a book about holistically transforming your teeth to start giving my body the same attention that my dreams have gotten this year.  So I look forward to seeing what other amazing things this year will bring and move into my mid-thirties with a hopeful outlook again. 

And to celebrate I am offering free shipping on all purchases at Baby Jives in the US until 6/22- just enter the coupon code "LetEmEatCake" at the checkout and celebrate with me!

Love is in the air

This summer it seems like we are planning most of our vacations around weddings.  It's the season for the roses to bloom and love to be declared among the birds and the bees.  So as we are planning out our travel I am also planning out my shopping list of some wonderful gifts I could get these lucky couples.  My husband and I were married pretty young so our wedding registry was somewhat standard, we went to Crate and Barrel and Macys and registered for way too many kitchen implements.  I mean when was the last time I actually used my mini cupcake pans and domed cake server.  Umm, never! 

The gifts that I ended up loving the most from our wedding were the handmade items that people selected for us from artists they knew of.  We have a handmade cutting board that I use almost every day with delight, a set of thrown ceramic nesting bowls that I use for serving up some beautiful meals, and a hand bound leather album that I have our wedding photographs in.  These are the things that years later I truly treasure.  So now whenever I get invited to a wedding I take a look at the registry to get an idea of the couples taste and color sense and then I go and get them a wonderful handmade gift instead.  I've never had any complaints and many folks tell me years after their wedding that our gift was one of their faves.  So here are a few ideas that I have for my friends getting married this summer...

AHeirloom's Vermont Plyboo Cutting Board, $40 found via 20best20

Two of my friends are getting married in Vermont this summer so I thought this would be a perfect gift to celebrate their union there.  A Heirloom also makes boards for all 50 states so they have you covered for a celebration anywhere.

Brookish's LOVE dishtowel, $11 found via 20best20

And this dishtowel could even make doing your dirty work an act of love - or at least remind you that you LOVE is always there to help you out!

Steel Ribbon's Metal Handbag Magazine Rack, $45 found via 20best20

Another couple is a fan of modern design and reads far too many magazines so I think a perfect gift for them might be this playfully elegant magazine rack by Steel Ribbon.

baby Jives' Lovebirds Mobile, $70

And last but not least one of my friends is getting a pair of kissing lovebirds from me to hang in their home.  They were actually the couple who were partly responsible for inspiring this design after a visit with them when they just couldn't stop cuddling and I jokingly called them smitten lovebirds.  So they are getting a little sculpture to hang in their home to celebrate their love.

There are lots more fabulous handmade gift ideas out there to discover at places like Etsy and 20best20 or your local crafty gallery. So don't just buy some bowls from a big box store for your friends, buy them handmade one of a kind bowls made by an independent artisan that they will treasure for years to come.

Dad deserves the best

Father's Day is fast approaching and in order to not get stuck holding out a bag of coffee bought around the corner (which is what I did last year, bad Mommy!) I am starting my shopping now.  As a maker of handmade objects I appreciate how much cooler the gift that doesn't exist in mass quantities on the shelf of your local superstore can be.  I always try to give a gift that is made by a small business when I can; I just have to plan for shipping time - although sites like Etsy do have the shop local search function which means I can search people near me and get things faster while also supporting my immediate local community.

I don't know about you but shopping for my guy can be hard.  He is not corporate so a tie doesn't appeal to him, he actually wears a t-shirt to work most days so a "dressy" t is one of my top options.   

DNA Tshirt by NonFiction Tees $18. via 20 Best Twenty

He does love his coffee too, so maybe instead of just a bag of beans from our local roaster, I will try this year to get him an awesome handmade mug this year as well. I love this little owl cup from Mie Kongo, it's like a little sculpture you get to drink out of.

Owl Cup by Mie Kongo $23.

Like many guys out there, he also likes his technology and we just got a brand new 13" MacBook so a handmade but manly sleeve might help protect it when it gets tossed into his messenger bag.  This option by Fern Fiddlehead has an understated elegance that I know would appeal to him.

13" Laptop Case by Fern Fiddlehead $24. via 20 Best Twenty

Anyway you cut it I know that this list of goods made by individual makers will have a much larger impact than anything I could order off of Amazon.   So I am making a choice and ordering soon to make sure that this year in addition to his handmade card he get a little something especially for him because Dad does work hard.  So what are you going to get your man this year?

Art Star Craft Bazaar

 

So I am up early and we are packing up the car to head down to Penn's Landing Great Plaza for Art Star Craft Bazaar.  I will be pedaling my magical mobiles and a few new items like my necklaces under tent #41 for Baby Jives.  If you are in the area come by and see me - here's the info for the event.  Now off to fill this tent with magical mobiles!

Shared Studio

Like many Etsy sellers I started my business so I could work from home while raising my son.  That means many days my work time is limited to naptime and after bedtime but as my business gets busier I am finding I need to squeeze studio time and little man time into the same space.  Literally, my studio is becoming his play area and it's actually pretty fun to have Gavril in there with me.  So I thought it I would show you around the scenes in my studio and give you an inside glimpse to my business.

Where the magic happens - my Bernina Record

Gavril's driveway / my fabric shelves

piles of dragonflies and butterflies

 Ok, I guess these are more of studio vignettes because if I showed you what my real studio looked like your jaw would drop in horror - it's a mess!  Sharing a space with all my fabrics and my son is not ideal.  He really needs to get a little bit of his own space in there so I have been daydreaming about the perfect studio for both of us.  For him it would include this:

 

The deskhouse by Nine to Nine, found via TwentyBest20

and for me it would include this:

Alphabet Drawers by Kent and London found via TwentyBest20

Mother, there is no other

Grandma helping our little guy on his path

 I sometimes think about what my life would be like without my mother being a convenient 45 minute drive away and I have come to the conclusion that it would most definitely SUCK!  She does so much to help me in my week and having her nearby as we raise our son means that he gets to have this amazing relationship with her.  Little man loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's house, it is his vacation spot of choice. She takes my son once a week for an overnight so I can get 36 hours of uninterrupted work time in the studio and squeeze in a weekly date night with my hubby - I know, boy am I LUCKY!  She also sits down with me and talks about motherhood, researched articles on food allergies when I was having issues with my breastmilk, sends me links to sites about child development (not pushily, helpfully), and is always there for a good laugh.

My mother also gave me an amazing gift when I was growing up - the freedom to pursue my own path.    My mother (and father, he's great too) never pushed me to pursue her goals.  She always encouraged my own interests: enrolling me in the art classes I wanted, taking me to soccer practice which I loved, even letting me choose to go to an all Arts college when the time came.  My mother never hounded me about  homework or what extra curricular activities I was going to choose, instead she would ask about my life and let me share what I was interested in.  Even when I got a D in Latin because I figured it was a dead language and why bother learning it, she didn't get mad she simply asked what language I would rather study and told me to pursue that instead (which solved the D - always got A's in Spanish and still use it to this day).  I also believe that without my mother I would not have had the confidence to start my own business and pursue a dream.  She is my biggest cheerleader in this whole venture and when told me the other night how proud she was of how I have realized my vision it was one of the my best moments yet.

So this week I wanted to say thank you to my mother for helping me keep sanity in my life and allowing me the freedom to pursue my own path - there is no other!  Without her my growing empire would not be possible.

How about you - what makes your mother equal to no other?
I would love to hear your stories!