Posts tagged Gifts
Celebrate May: National Gifts From the Garden Month
Apr 30th
May is National Gifts from the Garden Month, I’m sure I am not the only one out there who awaits nice weather so they can get fresh produce. I used to plant a garden before we lived in an apartment and I loved getting my hands dirty and having fresh produce to show for it. Now I buy most of my produce from Farmers Markets, I love supporting local growers. I decided in celebration of the upcomming month I would share with you some of the best things on Etsy I’ve found for gardener lovers like myself.
These wonderful Custom Copper Plant Markers are from Takit on Etsy. I have always wanted a herb garden and this would be actually something I have room for in my small outdoor space. This set comes with a set of ten copper plant markers that you can customize with whichever plant names you need and ten galvanized steel posts for hanging them on. I think at $28 this is an incredible value, especially for something customized.
When I first saw these I just knew I had to share them, no they are not “from the garden” per say but I feel they would be a wonderful Garden Party favor gift. These Vintage Floral Seed Packet Cookies from Queen of Tarts Cakes look incredibly real, at first glance I even though they were seed packets. These yummy Tahitian Vanilla Sugar Cookies come in a set of 6 and you can choose whichever packet design you would like from a selection of 12. These are amazing, it would be so hard to eat these.
This last piece in my “Gifts from the Garden” collection post should come as no surprise to many of you. I am really into repurposed items. It just amazes me that something that may otherwise end up in the landfill is given a new life in somthing functional and alot of the time really freakin’ cool! I love this Repurposed Teacup Birdfeeder from Redesigned by K on Etsy. You can use the cup for either seed or water, how cute would it be to watch a bird splash around in this? You can even use this for a small potted plant. PVC pipe is attached to the bottom of this planter to stick in your garden, I like this idea better then a wooden stake, it’ll withstand the constant rain here.
And there you have it folks, my mini-collection of Great Gifts from the Garden. Happy May (well almost)!
Lavoro Designs Giveaway
Mar 25th
One thing that makes me happy in this world is having jewelry to coordinate with outfits. It’s really irritating to have a great outfit but nothing to make it “pop”. I was so happy when Shelly from Lavoro Designs on Etsy contacted me about hosting a Giveaway. I could tell right away that this was a lady after my own heart. Her jewelry designs are simply beautiful and so so great for summer time.
There is nothing better then tanned summer skin. I have a plethora of products to make my skin glow but no summery jewelry to showcase. I’m kinda picky when it comes to jewelry and while talking to Shelly I realized we have very similar tastes. We both enjoy classic, timeless pieces. I don’t like anything too large or too constricting. Shelly introduced me to her Memory Wire Bracelets and I fell in love. The great thing about these are that they can be completely customized to suit any color scheme. You can check out all the wonderful designs Shelly has made in her shop or Shelly will even make custom bracelets with any bead color for you. I wish I still lived in Michigan. Those of you who don’t know about the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry, it’s a huge one. My family is absolutely split both ways between the two teams. I would love to have one of these bracelets in Michigan colors to wear to family functions or games. I love that I could wear my team colors but still have a piece that was lady like and pretty. These are just so wonderful!
Another amazing thing Lavoro sells are these Santiago Earrings which I feel match perfectly with their Memory Wire Bracelets. 
There are many matching sets that you can buy or you can also get these earrings in a custom color just for you. I hate earrings that are really large because they tend to make my ears feel like they are being tugged on. Not so with these earrings, they look like they would be very comfortable to wear. I love the colors on these too, they are very vibrant yet still remain classy. I think this statement is true with all of Lavoro’s jewelry, you could easily wear these during the day in an office and then keep the same jewelry on to go out that evening. Fun yet functional, it’s really a win/win.
Lavoro was created in November 2009 when Shelly was having problems finding earrings to match her style, simple, timeless, and easy. She decided to take matters into her own hands and make them herself. Being creative Shelly then started making Memory Wire Bracelets to have something comfortable and versatile to wear with her earrings. She then moved on to necklaces to widen her creative scope. Lavoro currently has almost 400 items in stock and surely something for everyone. All of Lavoro’s items are very affordable too, which was another thing that attracted me to Lavoro. Lavoro also sells amazing Non-Pierced Earrings which in my experience are hard to find. I remember a few years back searching and searching for a client of mine for a birthday gift of non-pierced earrings and coming in empty handed. I wish I had known about Lavoro then, it would have saved the day.
Shelly is also an incredibly sweet lady. She sent me a custom made bracelet for hosting this giveaway for her. I wanted it to be a surprise so I don’t have pictures of it yet but look for a post in the near future showcasing my custom Lavoro Memory Wire Bracelet. I’m so excited, I just told Shelly the colors that I wear the most and she made it very quickly for me (seriously it was in the mail the next day). Great customer service and super quick turn around times, I love it.
While searching through even more of Lavoro’s creations I came across a really neat thing Shelly makes called Little Miss Lavoro Sets. These are cute little sets for your princess that come with two sets of earrings that are tiny enough for little ears. These are so very cute, I wish I had a little lass to gift these to. I think they would make super stocking stuffers, birthday gifts, or even just to keep around the house as a reward for a job well done (my parents used to do this with us when we were younger, incentive is a beautiful thing). The Little Miss Lavoro Sets are very reasonably priced too at only $5 per set! Adorable.
The last thing I want to share with you today before I get to the best part is a wonderful necklace from Lavoro that I found. If you’ve been reading my posts you know that I tend to gravitate towards heart shaped things. I really couldn’t tell you why, I just love wearing a heart shaped necklace. I had a heart shaped necklace that I adored but it’s missing, I’ve looked everywhere for this thing and I rarely leave the apartment so I think my cat stashed it somewhere. I found this amazing Isle of Hope Necklace at Lavoro which I adore and it’s going on my favorites list. There is also a darling set of Isle of Hope Earrings to match that I’m eyeing. Eventually I am going to have to give up hope of my lost necklace and just purchase another one. I love this necklace enough that this may very well be it! Isn’t it just so pretty? I am smitten with Lavoro!
And now on to the Giveaway: Lavoro is giving away one custom set of a Memory Wire Bracelet AND a pair of Santiago Earrings to one of our lucky readers. You will get a chance to work with Shelly and come up with colors that are compleatly custom to you! How cool is that? This set is valued at $22 and can be won by any reader from the US ONLY, Lavoro only ships domestic for the time being.
How to Enter:
Head over to Lavoro and find a piece of Jewelry that you like the best. Come back here and leave a comment with the name of the piece you like. Your comment MUST include your email address or some other way I can contact you.
Additional Entries:
Additional enteries to the Giveaway can be made by doing any of the following:
*Stumble this giveaway or blog.
*Follow the Little Black Box on Facebook * Follow Lavoro on Facebook
*If you place an order say so and that counts as an entry
*Subscribe to our feed
*Follow the Handmade Guru on Facebook
* Blog or tweet about this giveaway, with a link back to the Handmade Guru blog. Make sure you post the link in your comment so we can view it!
* Follow the Little Black Box on Twitter.
* Add the Handmade Guru or Little Black Box banner to your site, you’ll find the code in the right hand column of our blog.
Just For Our Readers:
Didn’t I tell you Shelly was amazing? She is kindly offering all of our readers a free pair of any earring of your choice under $8.99 FOR FREE with any Lavoro order over $35 (before shipping). Just use the code HGB in the comment section upon checkout and mention which pair you would like. How cool is that?
This Giveaway is open to US Residents ONLY and will end on Thursday, April 1st 2010. I will then draw the winning comment using random.org and notify the lucky winner.
