January 2009

In the spirit of this historical election, last Fall we started our own Vintage Election 2008. We asked for your vote to select a new design to be incorporated into our line of vintage-inspired birth announcements and baby shower invitations at The Baby Gardner. Voting ended on Election Day, November 4th, and we announced our winner!

Now, we’re pleased to introduce and inaugurate our brand new design, Baby Bells! We liked your choice so much, we decided to create coordinating thank-you cards as well. 

Thanks to all who participated in our election! Let us know what you think of the results!

Congratulations to Harmony, our winner of the cherries cloche hat and Julsie, our winner of the puppy gift tags. Ladies, please email us your shipping information so we can get these in the mail to you!

Keep your eye out for more FREE Vintage Fridays. You never know when another might pop up!

Read this and you will too.

Can you feel it? Can you feel the love? We’re feeling it around here! We’re feeling it because thanks to all of you — our readers, clients, fellow artists, small businesses, and those who value handmade goods as much as we do — thanks to your willingness to help us take action, we successfully secured a spot in the Top 10 Ideas for Change in America at Change.org!

What this means is we’re one step closer to saving handmade from the CPSIA! Is the fight over? No. We still have hurdles, but we have made a huge leap forward thanks to YOU!

Sounds like a perfect time to celebrate with a giveaway from The Baby Gardner! What the heck. We’re so pumped around here, let’s make it TWO GIVEAWAYS!

Giveaway #1: Puppy Wishes Gift Tags – Set of 8 large tags with ribbon ties. The finishing touch for that special gift.

Giveaway #2: Cheerful Cherries Cloche Hat – Turquoise wool-blend felt with red gingham appliqued cherries. Lightweight and perfect for any season. Size: 3-9 months.

Win it! Just leave a comment on this post telling us why you love handmade! Be sure to specify which giveaway item you would like to win. Giveaway ends Thursday, 1/22 at 11pm GMT. A different winner will be chosen for each item. Winners will be announced next Friday and chosen at random. Good luck!

Want to improve your odds? Place a link to this post on your blog. Include that link in your comment and you’ll be entered twice!

Just gotta have it? Both of these giveaway items are available everyday at The Baby Gardner!

Giving is a wonderful thing. Receiving can be pretty nice too. But have you ever tried giving a receiving — a receiving blanket that is — like the brand new Puppy Love Receiving Blanket at The Baby Gardner? Can’t go wrong there. 100% soft cotton knit with a vintage graphic of baby’s best friend. Tied with grosgrain ribbon in bright blues.

Tonight the temperature here will drop to 10 degrees with a sub-zero wind chill. For the south, that’s pretty rare and darn chilly! Blankets all around!

Honey Bun:

What a honey of a pattern. I could totally see this embroidered on a vintage-inspired baby bib. Hope you enjoy it. Click on the image for a larger view.

Ba-what? Babushka! You know! Those adorable Russian nesting dolls? Well, get ready. The Baby Gardner will soon be introducing our own take on these dolls… which just happen to be the most adorable ones I’ve ever seen. Chenille and vintage-inspired fabrics make them totally unique. They’re an original design by Leah Littlehales, a new artist contributor at The Baby Gardner. (Welcome, Leah!)

Leah’s down-under, so these little treasures should be arriving in the states very soon. When they debut, you can find them here.

We’re still in this fight to save handmade goods for children. Now more than ever, we need your support and your VOTE! If you’ve already voted (thank you SO much), we need your vote again as we have now entered round two of voting at Change.org.

As you may know, the CPSIA passed the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act which goes into effect on February 10th (next month!) and will put many small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and craftsmen out of business.

Ironically, this law was passed in response to the many recalls in 2007 of products from China. But if this law is left as-is, toys from China will likely be the only products readily available to purchase. Small businesses and independent artists who create and sell handmade goods using natural materials, will not be able to comply with the $4000 price tag (per product) to test for chemicals that never existed in them in the first place. They will simply be forced out of business and what will remain are the large mass-manufacturing plants like those in China.

This law won’t just impact artists and craftsmen, it will also make the sale of secondhand clothing, toys and books for children illegal as well (think eBay, Goodwill, and every consignment store you know of).

Crazy, right? The law has good intentions. It just does not consider the broad impact to small business. And now, maybe more than ever, the government needs to preserve small business in America, not destroy it. Simple modifications can be made to the law that will still protect our children from chemicals without eliminating handmade goods and toys in the process. This is what we are fighting for.

The good news? We’re raising our voices and we need you! You can help! Vote for handmade goods! Voting will end on January 15, 2009. We have a very short window, so vote early and please spread the word!

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! We couldn’t do this without you!

For more information on this cause and links to government websites that outline the full impact of this law, please read our previous post on the topic.

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog for a while, you’ll remember Baby James (brand new son of my dear friend, Renee) and his arrival back on 11/11. I had been itching to get my hands on him (5-hour commute) and was finally able to do just that over these last few days.

I took every opportunity to spoil him rotten. Sleep on my chest for over an hour so you can get away with sleeping on your stomach? No problem. Christen me during diaper changing? You got it. Want to be held ALL the time? Your wish is my command. I loved it. Every second with him reminded me of the first few fleeting months I had with my own sweet little man, Aidan.

Renee is totally smitten with her new little boy. No surprise there. But what I think catches every new mom off guard a little, is when that tiny fist wraps around your finger for the first time and you wonder how your world could have ever been complete before he came into it.

As for James, he’s already charming the ladies. See for yourself… (Check out his personalized elephant onesie. You’ll never guess where that came from.)