Mamas Like

I’m just a sucker for a cute bag and Andrea Baker has some really cute bags!  Not only are these bags stylish and attractive, but they’re really well made, fully lined, and durable.  Use one of her bags as a purse, or a book bag for the library, or a diaper bag.  While you’re browsing her site, check out her handmade business card holders and aprons too!

If you love unique jewelry finds, look no further than Moore Taste, Teri Moore’s Etsy store.  Is this pendant cool or what?  She makes these dichroic glass pendants as well as bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. 

Love the look of handcrafted cards, but don’t have the time of inclination to make them yourself?  Jen will be happy to do the creating for you!  Check out her Etsy store for handmade greeting cards, picture frames, home decor, and mini scrapbooks, and more!  Jen uses all sorts of interesting materials in her creations and each one is unique.

Sky Girl Style is another fun Etsy store with a variety of handmade items from tag blankets, bibs, and mittens, to magnets, barretts, and cute ponytail holders made with fabric and felt.  While you’re browsing her store, check out her headbands for both women and girls in gorgeous fabrics!

Do we have any knitters here?  Check out the totally cute, beaded stitch markers at Dizzle Pop!  What a great way to mark your stitches in style.  Gigi not only makes stitch markers, but a wide variety of other whimsical, homemade goodies like coffee cozies, barretts, ponytail holders, button clippies and more!

We had such a great response from the milkchic Nursing Cover post, we thought we’d give away two!

Here are the winners:

Shandra & Jenn

Elizabeth at milkchic will be contacting you soon with details.

THANKS!

Attention all you dog lovers!  Check out these totally cute pet beds from Treasured Heirlooms!  Spoil your precious pooch with his own custom made bed!  Each bed is individually made from hand painted and sealed solid wood.  The beds come with pillows and coordinating, custom made covers that can be removed for easy cleaning.  You can even have them personalized with your pet’s name at no extra charge!

Choose from five different sizes to fit any dog (or doll!)  Tammy, at Treasured Heirlooms, not only makes gorgeous custom dog beds, but she also makes raised pet feeders, wooden toy boxes, stacking stools, and snippet and tool stools (for those who stitch or hook rugs). 

From now until January 30, save 10% on your order (excluding wool) when you purchase through TAMMY’S ETSY STORE or her TREASURED HEIRLOOM STORE.

Have you all heard about nursing necklaces?  I’d never heard of them until I was nursing my sixth little baby.  When she got to be about four months old, like most babies, she became engrossed in anything and everything around her while she was supposed to be nursing.  She’d nurse a little, then whip her head around to look at the wall, then she’d go back to nursing, only to turn her head at the sound of the TV a couple seconds later.  Nurse, look around, nurse, check out her hands, nurse, look at the couch, nurse, try to put her feet in her mouth.  This made for some really long feedings! 

So, I got this nursing necklace from Mommy & Me Necklaces and wore it when I sat down to feed her.  She would reach up and hold onto the necklace while concentrating on the task at hand - breastfeeding.  She enjoyed looking at the brightly colored, chunky beads while nursing and it saved me a ton of time and stress.  As Brooklyn got older, I kept the necklace in my diaper bag and used it to amuse her now and then.  She loved to look at the beads as I named the shapes for her.

You can get a personalized nursing necklace in bright, fun baby-inspired designs, or in fashionable, stylish mommy-inspired designs.  All necklaces are made with non-toxic beads in different textures and bright colors that engage baby’s senses.  These are extremely strong and durable and they have safety closures to help prevent breakage.

While you’re there, check out Raelynn’s reminder bracelets to help sleep deprived moms remember on which side they last nursed, or choose from tons of beads to create your own personal design.

There are a lot of places that sell handmade blankets out there, but Sugar Baby Blankets are some of the most decadent, luxuriously snuggly blankets I’ve ever seen felt!  I know I should probably give my blanket to Brooklyn, but I think I have to keep it for myself.  I’m so taking it with me the next time I fly so I can cuddle up with it on the plane and sleep instead of listening to the guy, seated next to me, say things like, “If the plane crashed right now, do you think we’d be close enough to the ground to survive?”

These blankets come in several different sizes and you can choose from dozens of different fabrics when you order your very own custom-made blanket.  Sugar Baby Blankets offers smooth satins, faux fur, soft chenille, and cuddly flannels in a rainbow of colors and combinations.  Most of their blankets are machine washable too!

And what better to go with a super soft, cuddly blanket than a coordinating pillow?  Sugar Baby Blankets offers pillows, sleeping bags, bibs, burp cloths, personalized Christmas stockings, and pet bedding!  Check them out!

And Jennifer and Holly, from Sugar Baby Blankets sew and donate every tenth blanket to a child in need.  How great is that?!

Chock this up to “I-wish-I-had-this-when-my-babies-were-babies,” because you can’t find slings this nice in stores. I know - I’ve tried. Both of my girls, like many of your kids, too, loved to be held (a LOT) when they were infants. So, I went out the the big-box store and picked up the brand name sling. Guess what. It didn’t work for us.

But, at Tot-to-Go, work-at-home mom, Shani, helps customers decide what will work for you and your baby. Slings and wraps are not one-size-fits-all. They need to fit your body and your baby. They work if you fit them! (If only I’d have known…)

Tot-to-Go offers different choices for fabrics like fleece and stretch cotton and adorable designs. Shani has also added Ellaroo Mei Tai child carriers to her web store. Check them out now while there on sale!

Gifting a sling or wrap to a new mom is simple with a gift certificate to Tot-to-Go. This way, the new mom can shop for herself to find what will work for her.

Please visit Tot-to-Go to discover all of the styles offered to shop for yourself or another mom (or dad). You can double this gift as a gift for mom and baby!

Just for our readers, use coupon code “mamaslike” for 15% off regularly-priced Tot-to-Go Baby Sling.

milkchic offers one of those products that moms WISH we’d had when we were nursing our babies and happily gift to moms who are nursing now. Every mom who nurses wants to do so with modesty. That sometimes means breastfeeding in public. With milkchic, moms can comfortably breastfeed their babys while keeping eye-contact and developing a bond.

Nursing moms can use this innovative stylish cover that has a specially-designed top that allows the drape to stand out from the mom’s neck in order to keep an eye on the feeding baby. The cover is not hot like a blanket, and it is kept in a steady place over the baby with the adjustable wrap-around neck strap.

milkchic is the PERFECT gift for a new mom or for yourself to nurse your baby with modesty. This wrap comes HIGHLY recommended from this once-upon-a-time breastfeeding mom. (Man, I wish I’d had this when my babies were babies!)

Please check out milkchic for their great product. For $24 and FREE shipping, you can’t beat this deal. They’re website is fabulous, too!

Win a milkchic cover for yourself or one to give away! Elizabeth at milkchic will contact a randomly drawn name from the comments left here through Wednesday, December 19th.

The winner of By the Book:  How to Take Care of MY Kids

is…

Tiffany Baillie!

Congratulations! 

Email Melissa at zzbishop@charter.net to claim your copy of this awesome book!

I LOVE this jewelry!  Patricia, a stay-at-home mom of three has been making jewelry for years.  Now she’s found a way to combine her art and her faith!  At Precious Text, you’ll find fine art jewelry that is a source of encouragement and a reminder of faith, not to mention the fact that it’s really gorgeous!  Patricia crafts these exquisite pieces from a material called metal clay, an innovative art material which begins as clay and during firing, becomes fine silver (99.9% pure).

She imprints verses from Scripture on her jewelry.  Choose The Lord’s Prayer on a scroll pendant, a pin imprinted with Joshua 24:15, the names of God written in Hebrew, or one of her many other beautiful designs. 

 And what a perfect Christmas gift the necklace, featuring the Nativity picture and Scripture from Isaiah 9:6, makes!

Patricia also welcomes custom work.  Have a favorite psalm or prayer you’d love to have on a piece of artistic jewelry?  Just ask Patti!

Calling all scrapbookers!  The guys at Mockutv.com have made a DVD spoof on scrapbooking.  This half hour “mockumentary” will have you laughing out loud (especially if you’re a die hard scrapper).  The story follows Molly McGann, played by actor Russ Jones (he assures me this is perfectly normal in California) as she and her “Scrubby” (scrap bookers husband) prepare to go to Scrapapalooza!  Check out their site to see a free trailer of the DVD.

The cool thing about this DVD is that $1.00 of every one sold now through January 1, 2008, goes to Austism Support Daily.  This DVD would make a great gift for any obsessed, I mean, avid scrapper on your list!