Thank you for visiting! This week's shopping guide will be broken up into two sections: one for Mother's Day Gifts (there is still time), and one to entice you to start your own DIY project :)
Here is a tip for when you are (NOT) late with a gift: Choose a wonderful, well though out object, almost anything from Etsy will do. Print out the picture of the item, and write a note telling the special person all about what they will be receiving in the mail. When you are writing your note, write something unique about the person who is making/sourcing the gift. Make a big deal about how the item is getting hand crafted/specially sourced as you speak, adding special magic to your item. Tell the person a little about HOW the item is made, and where the materials come from.
This week our feature shop is Smartkin. I featured this as a Mother's Day Gift, because Smartkin likes to choose her mealtime napkin, depending on her mood. My mind went wild with glee, imagining my family being able to tell my mood, depending on what napkin I was using. It would be so much fun. I even clicked around her shop for a while, imagining what mood I would be in, while eating with her different napkins. Because I liked the idea of variety, I featured a 5 pack of 1 ply super soft and absorbent napkins, all with white surged edges (something fancy you do with a sewing machine). Smartkin uses these napkins herself, she keeps a bag under her sink, and puts the napkins in there as they get dirty, which makes managing using reusable napkins easy. Once the bag is filled, she washes it - no biggie. Make sure to check out her new line of snack/sandwich bags, perfect for lunch boxes.
Other equally impressive gifts in the jewelry department are a Red "Steam Punk Flavored" Acrylic Heart Necklace with a stunning, hand made 18 inch chain by LexiGirlCreations; a yoga necklace made of a clay disk with a plain back, perfect for adding essential oils, by DomansVintage; and a summer inviting wire wrapped adjustable freshwater pearl anklet with a lobster clasp, by CaveGemstones. For dog lovers WhimsyBags had introduced mini canvas totes into her shop which are mini wristlet baggies. They are 6 x 6 inches, and the one featured here has a Pug Dog pictured. MWBTRFundraiser with a 16'' round crochet Boston Terrier Pillow is also a great gift for dog lovers as 20% of their profits support animal shelters. Are you a size 7m in shoes? If yes, go buy these Giannin Bini Peep Toe Ladies Pumps with a 3 inch heel from OceanofFlowers.
For those of you who are all done with Mother's Day Gifts, how about making a craft?!? Perhaps you want to make something elegant with 4 yards of black lace from SweetieFluhr (she suggests making anything from lingerie to a greeting card), a Tiny Die Cut dancing fairy by littlescrapshop, and HAND CRAFTED "shaved ice" lampwork bead by Donna at Roxemarie. Maybe you want to make 25 simple necklaces with 25 mystery charms, links, and small pendants from MarcenzJewelSupplies and 15 yards of red twine from TK Co? How about getting a Large Handmade Crochet Flower, from CrochetGrannyforU, and adding it to a boring headband, or pinning it to your shirt to proudly display your love for hand created art pieces? My mind already created a beautiful bow with Vintage Ribbon with Bears and Balloons from TheNewFrontier, and that vintage Retro Turqoise button at FriendlyWrenJewelry, I used a glue gun, and attached it to an alligator clip. The project is purely in my mind, so the items are still available :) Goodbye now, I'm leaving you all to make butterfly stickers with my special butterfly washi tape. I figured out that if you accordion fold the parchment paper before you add your washi tape, then removing the backing off the stickers becomes a cinch. I made SO MANY washi stickers this weekend...
