For my mom who is a lover of coffee, cooking, and knits. She also loves to get dolled up for a special occasion and fills her cozy home with love and photos of the grandkids. Can you guess what her favorite color is?!

Click on the image to go to the item or Click here to view my ‘Lover of coffee, cooking, and knits’ treasury!

Purple,Shawl,Perfect fo… SRdesign $32.00	Aubergine Cut Out Just … Storeyshop $4.75	A set of four crocheted… TomBjornDesign… $9.90	Plum Purple Mug 18 oz. KarinLorenc $22.00
Long fingerless gloves/… nathaliedembel… $45.00	hand dyed pot holder – … goodkarma $15.00	Set of 3 Plants, Succul… VivaFlora $36.00	Majestic Ornate Frame amye123 $19.00
TWILIGHT Purple Amethys… VeraidaGifts $69.00	Blackberry Sage Scented… FreshPickedCan… $8.00	The Meaning of Life – S… metalandmud $33.00	NzLbags Handmade – Hand… NzLbags $67.00
Parisian Romance Escapa… NandJDesigns $29.99	Granny Square Pot Holde… JacBerKitsch $14.00	Purple coffee sleeve wi… thingirl $5.00	Two Hand Painted Stemle… PrettyMyDrink $30.00

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with our latest handmade creations!

Your little one will be stylin’ and having fun this summer with our newest handmade items! From the cutest baby espadrilles you will ever find to cushy cubes that will entertain baby for hours, we’ve created unique, handmade gifts that you can share with the little ones in your life for just about any occasion. Shop now!

PS. Be one of the first to get the news from embe by signing up for our email list. Just enter your email over on the left!

I have never been successful in buying gifts for religious events in Catholic specialty stores, but I feel I hit the jackpot with this weeks favorites.

First row: Personalized Baptism wall hanging, Girl guardian Angel (felt softie), Baby girl embroidered cross blanket

Second row: Custom personalized cross/lovie set, I am a child of God print, God loves me growth chart

Our items make the perfect gift for babies and we want to make it even easier for you to give that special gift. How so? We’ve just added the “send as gift” option to our store!

If you choose to send as a gift, we will send the item directly to the recipient with a handmade card with a message from you enclosed. Your gift will be wrapped in tissue paper, tied with a ribbon and mailed in a bubble mailer. No pricing information will be disclosed. We will send you two photos – one of the finished item itself and one after it has been wrapped.

The small tag on the ribbon reads:
“A gift for your little one from [your name].”

The card is neatly tucked inside the ribbon and includes your personalized message. Card size will vary by the length of your message.

**Ribbon, tissue paper and card colors will vary.

One summer I worked in the Wrap and Send department of what was then Dayton’s (now Macy’s). It was a fun job because one of my best friends worked there along with a handful of other high school students. What was better then hanging out with friends and wrapping presents in pretty paper?

While I already knew how to wrap gifts (my mom use to make my sister and I do all the holiday gift wrapping!) I did learn a few great tips to make the gift look spectacular. With the upcoming holidays here are some tips to make your presents pop:

Instead of taping the paper closed in the middle of the bottom of the box, tape it to the edge. Its one step to fold the paper over and tape.

Then after wrapping the gift define the edges by running pinched fingers along the sides. This gives the gifted a “finished” look.

A little ribbon goes a long way! Make a bow first and then tie it on with a second piece. By making the bow first you don’t have to wrestle with the ends to make them face the right way. Ribbon with wire works best since you can shape it and “curl” the tails.

If your child is like mine, he receives many gifts that–I’ll be honest with you–don’t get a lot of mileage. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the thought and the gift itself, but at the end of the day, he loses interest in it. And then it takes up space and starts to collect dust. (Hmmm, I hope I didn’t just talk Isaac out of some presents come Christmas time!).

When I create things, not only do I go for aesthetics, I think about its usefulness. “Will the recipient get a lot of use out of this?” is what I’m constantly asking myself. I find inspiration in its purpose. Can it do more and last longer than a toy off the shelf? More importantly, will he/she (and the parents) really enjoy it months (and even years) afterwards?

Just because something is practical doesn’t mean it can’t also be pretty. I like to create things for my customers that I would be proud to have displayed in my own home. For instance, we have Isaac’s growth chart hanging in the kitchen. He’s too young to understand what it is right now, but I can tell that he is attracted by the colors and textures. The colors are nice and bright but not tacky . It’s like a work of art, if I say so myself!

So in a world full of gadgets and gizmos, I like to create pretty and practical gifts while preserving the art of handmade goods that can be enjoyed without having to buy batteries for it.

Cathy and I are very excited to unveil embe, our online shop offering unique, handmade gifts for babies and tots! I remember one day back in May when we took the kids on their first official playdate, the idea came up to start something together. At first, I thought “it’s just an idea” but after giving it some thought, I realized that there was something there. During our first meeting, we both shared our ideas for what we could call our shop, and we both came up with embe on our own. Now, talk about coincidence!

The months leading up to our launch can be described as exciting, filled with late nights, inspiring, a learning experience, fun, and fulfilling. Starting a business is a lot of hard work but so rewarding in the process. We are both passionate about being mothers and being creative. embe allows us to combine both passions, and we hope that you join us on our creative and parenting journeys by reading our blogs and enjoying our creations for the little ones in your life!