I am so excited for the launch of my newest series, Gotta Have Handmade // Gotta Have Handmade is a curated collection of modern picks and products paired together by season from my favorite handmade
vendors. At the beginning of each month, I style 5-10 of my favorite handmade products together to create a cohesive collection by season
and theme!
October's line up is top notch & the best part? You'll have a chance to win it all each month!
christina || sweet eloise designs
My name is Cristina D'Andrea and I run Sweet Eloise Designs, a shop dedicated to making quality handmade crochet items for all ages. I taught myself how to crochet three years ago when my daughter was born. I found I was spending a lot of time on the couch and decided to find a hobby that I could do while I was sitting! Naturally, the first items I made were newborn hats, but I quickly found myself exploring lots of different patterns and styles. I honestly enjoy making each and every item, knowing that someone else will get to enjoy them.
Before my daughter Lucy Eloise was born, I was a first grade teacher. I absolutely loved teaching and may go back to it someday. I graduated from ASU with a teaching degree and a dance minor. I was a dance major for three years until I decided I wanted to do elementary education instead. I currently teach dance at the studio I grew up in and have taught there for the last fourteen years in some capacity.
I used to crochet in my spare time, but now I don't have much spare time due to crocheting! When I do have some time, I spend as much of it as possible with my daughter. We like to shop, do crafts, play princesses, and dance!
morgan || wonderfully stitched
Our shop is Wonderfully Stitched and we make handmade headbands that fit adults and babies. When our little girl was born she was rushed to the NICU and stayed for 7 days. We will never forget the families that we met and the love that was poured out on our girl by so many. While she was in the NICU she received a little baby beanie super small and handmade that was donated to us and we still have it in her memory box. Such a simple gesture but it warmed our hearts to have a piece of normal in such a hectic and not normal situation. We continue to have a heart for these little squishies so each purchase that you make in the shop we will donate a headband to a local children’s hospital. Hopefully this will warm some families hearts in the same way that beanie warmed ours.
My husband and I knew we had to find a way to give back to help other families find some joy in the midst of their crazy situation. So I went to practice on a birthday present sewing machine that my mom purchased for me. After nights of practice after my little would go to bed I learned and practiced making headbands. The vision was very clear to me, everything just clicked. So through lots of encouragement from my husband, family, and friends I used whatever fabric I had and made my first set and put it out on an Etsy site. I delivered my first donation of 11 headbands to a local children’s hospital my first month and my heart was so full, being able to do this motivates and fuels me during those late late nights. Now for this next month I will be delivering 145 headbands to our local children's hospital. Our next step is Mission Reps for Wonderfully Stitched all over the country that we can send the donated headbands to so we can bless other local hospitals. We will be doing a search very soon to find a new Mission Rep to send the donated headbands to because as of right now we have California and Washington local hospitals covered.
The uncertainty of the future is always a deterrent for most people to not continue or worse yet, not even start in the first place, but I know what is driving me is the desire to bless families during their hectic times in a NICU/PICU situation. As long as I can encourage at least one family then it has all been worth it!
amy // shop emily gold
My name is Amy and I'm the owner of Emily Gold; a hair accessory shop. I'm the mother of three little girls, who are the reason I started making bows and headbands to begin with. My shop is named after my middle daughter, Emily Grace.
My favorite part of making my own hair pieces is that I get to decide what they look like. It's so fun to come up with new creations and then to see not only my girls wearing them, but my customers children as well.
denise // wise looks
My name is Denise Stone and I am the founder and owner of Wise Looks, a custom hair accessory line for girls of all age. My company was inspired by her two daughters, Malin and Josephine. Since having them I have wanted to invest more time into my creative energy and passion. I studied at Seattle Pacific University, fashion design and merchandising. And have done visual display at Barneys, Anthropologie and Eddie Bauer. I live in the Bay Area, with my husband and two children. I wish I had a more creative way I came up with my name.. my mom and I were shopping at Michael's and saw an owl stamp, I will have to give full credit to my Mom for the name inspired by a stamp of an owl!
I started just making hair clips, and have since expanded to other things, the most popular being the head wrap. I hope to go on and expand further into other accessories but am just doing what I can handle day by day! I am the only person behind this business with of course the support from my amazing husband. I love being inspired by high fashion, street style and travel. One of the most difficult things has been not to take "No's" personally and to keep moving forward when things don't go as planned. A lesson that has helped not just in this business and starting up but in life as a Mom Also, having good time management has been hard and definitely something I am trying to figure out. Making time for family and husband and also time to get done what I need to in the work arena. Outside of work I love to do fun adventures.. the beach, day trips, biking hanging out with my family and friends. We love to be outside and enjoy the amazing California weather.
heather || lilibelle boutique
My name is Heather Carlino, owner and founder of Lili Belle Boutique. My little shop is named after my 3 year old daughter, Liliana Belle. She was born 3 months early, weighing only 2lbs 5oz, and is 100% the inspiration behind each and every piece that I create!
I started my business just over a year ago, specializing in Crochet Headwraps & Infinity Scarves. My products now include many different patterns/styles of Jersey Knit Headbands, Oversized Infinity Scarves & Cowls, and bow clips. My crocheted items are much more time consuiming than those that I sew, but they are what I am known for, and they'll always be at the center of my work!
This last year of building my own business from scratch has been the most rewarding experience! (Well, besides being a mother!) I am blessed with some of the most amazing customers, whom are also mothers, and I feel so honored that so many people want their children to own a piece of my work. Most of my days are long and tiring, and some days when it seems I have too many orders to fill and not enough time, I look at all of the adorable photos of little girls wearing my products, and it reminds me why I do what I do!
I am 27 years old, and have been married to my amazing husband, Steve for just over 7 years. We love Jesus, our daughter, and pretty much anything outdoors! My grandparents own a Winery/Vineyard/Tasting Room in the gorgeous Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon, where I have worked since High School, as the Bookkeeper & Wine Club Manager. I only work 2 days a week, and get to take my daughter with me, where she stays with my Grandmother all day, which is the biggest blessing ever!
Starting my own business has allowed me to spend more time at home with my sweet girl. When I was 28 weeks pregnant, I suddenly developed Severe Preeclampsia, and was forced to deliver my daughter via Emercency C-section. She was immediately taken into the NICU, where my husband held her tiny hand as it took the doctors 6 minutes just to get her to start breathing. Her 69 days spent in the NICU felt like an eternity as we were constantly warned of all the health issues our daughter might face, Cerebral Palsy, Brain bleeds, Chronic Lung Disease, etc. But our Liliana is such a fighter, and we give thanks to God that she is a happy and healthy almost 4 year old with more sass & spunk than we know what to do with, AND absolutely NO health problems! She inspires me daily, and will always be the inspiration behind Lili Belle Boutique!
heather || seed by heather
SEED designs sprouted from the ever-creating Heather Essian in the autumn of 2013, from hopes of creating pieces that are easy to pair with anything and everything. Bringing quality & style to wear for littles & ladies. Quickly expanding to wall art and cute tote bags, the artistry of SEED is the perfect marriage of comfort and style, committed to high-quality, fabrics & handmade designs that will compliment any outfit. We're known for our super soft fabrics and know that you'll find yourself reaching for our tees all throughout the week. Whether you're buying a gift for a new bebe or adding basics to your wardrobe, SEED is perfect for the one who wants to make a statement with ease.
SEED designer, Heather started out as a professional photographer and after having her first baby, Harper almost four years ago she began making and designing onesies for her new little babe. Then sister, Hollis came along and with Heather's need to stay creative she began hand sketching designs during her littles nap times. Soon, those designs made their way onto baby onesies and tees, and with that, SEED was born.
ashley || threads & arrows
Hi, I’m Ashley from Threads and Arrows! I’m the blessed (and tired!) momma of an almost 2 year old, Everly, and the very proud wife to Kyle, who just began his medical residency. Free time is a very rare thing in our house but is pretty much spent either at the zoo--doing my daughter’s new favorite thing...petting goats, of course!--or at the park with friends. I started this little business just over a year ago, at a time when I desperately needed a creative outlet other than sitting and staring at my new baby all day long!
I went to school for interior design, and worked in commercial design for several years before I finally convinced my husband that our little family needed to grow and I needed to be a stay at home mom. Threads and Arrows has been an incredible blessing in our home, not only financially, but also in allowing me to see that I really can do hard things. This past year has taken my shop to places I never imagined and I am thrilled with the recent release of my a/w line of boots. They are so much more time consuming than moccasins (which is primarily all that I have sold in the past), but it is so rewarding to see a finished product that is unique to my shop.
sarah || the little design co.
I started making accessories (hair bows, hats, clothing items) for my daughter when she was first born in 2011. It was a creative outlet for me at first. I sold at craft fairs and art shows but it couldn't be considered much of a business. I didn't have much of an online presence or even an Etsy shop until June 2013. I was in business with a friend and you know the advice most people give on that. Well we were no different. It was challenging to have a business partner that was also a good friend. We split almost exactly a year ago. Thankfully we have remained great friends! Since the split last Fall, The Little Design Co. was born. I have expanded from simply making hair accessories and hats into the world of shoe making. Though I still love to make leather bows, head wraps and headbands, designing and creating shoes is one of my great passions.
The best part of business is seeing pictures of my customers in their Little Design Co. gear. I can't tell you how excited I get when I am tagged in pictures on instagram/facebook or someone emails me pictures of their littles in our shoes or headbands. It completely makes my day.
As far as home life goes: I have two littles and an amazing husband. Joe and I have been married for 6 years and it's been an adventure. I am so glad he chose me to be on it with him! I have the absolute highest respect for him. He is such a good husband and dad! I'm convinced that our kids are crazier about him than they are about me. Annabelle is 3.5 years old and Charlie is 21 months. I always consider myself a wife and a mommy before a business owner. As you can imagine this is challenging though. Annabelle is in preschool two mornings a week so I get a lot of my work done while she is in school and in the evenings. My husband is an immense help to me in the evenings. Many nights he stays up with me to cut leather while I sew. It's a sweet little date. I would say some of our best conversations happen when we work together. Also, I could not be more grateful for his help and support.
Lastly, and I would say the absolute best thing I have going for me is my relationship with Jesus Christ. It molds and shapes everything I do in life. And though I've been advised to keep my spiritual life and my business life separate, it is something I refuse to do, because it makes up who I am. I would not be the wife, the mom, the friend or the business owner that I am without that relationship.
giveaway || enter below to win all 8 of these beautiful handmade pieces. giveaway is open to residents in US and Canada and will run from wednesday oct 1 through friday oct 10. the winner is responsible for contacting a blessed nest within 24 hours of being announced to claim their prize. all entries will be verified. reposts on instagram must be recorded below for them to be counted; the winner will be selected from the rafflecopter.