Featuring: soandsewcrafty

When I browse through shops, I usually have myself in mind. But I'm also almost always shopping for my mom too ~ especially for certain things. See, my mom has certain (benign) obsessions. They include everything chicken, everything snowman and everything bunny. You should see her extensive snowman collection she takes out every winter ~ they are all so gorgeous!! My brothers and dad gripe about them all season ~ one year they even counted them. There was well over 150 snowman, and that was quite a few years ago!! The chickens and bunnies have a reason behind them ~ we own the cutest little black rabbit, Rosemary, and we had free-range chickens for a few years. But it does make my mom easy to buy for... so I always keep my eye open for snowmen, chickens and bunnies.

Today's featured shop is soandsewcrafty ~ a really great shop full of beautifully patterned material. But what immediately caught my eye was this chicken pillow. Isn't he adorable? It's really unfortunate that I've gone over budget for my mom this Christmas... otherwise he would so be sold!! Hopefully he'll be around come Easter ~ although soandsewcrafty is willing to do custom orders, so if he isn't I might just have to ask for one!

Soandsewcrafty (aside from having a really cool name) has been sewing for family, friends and customers for over 30 years! Her Etsy shop, however, is only a few months old ~ and already doing quite well. I think this speaks to the quality and beauty of her designs. She offers a wide range of baby accessories (like bibs, burpies and blankets), pet accessories, bags, dolls and much more! You are sure to find something to fit your needs. Plus, to help out with the holidays, everything in the baby / toddler section is reduced by 20% (lowered shipping too ~ prices are already in effect, go check them out!)!

These fleece blankets are my favourite. They are offered in wide range of colours (see other listing as well) and come personalized! You can have a name sewn into the corner or at the middle of one edge. What a great birthday or Christmas gift!! This would also make a lovely baby shower gift, since a last name can always be stitched instead of a first ~ that way it can become a family heirloom, handed down from generation to generation. Plus, if you aren't fond of having a name on something, you can always convo soandsewcrafty and work out some other design. If you browse through her shop, you'll see that she has a few Christmas towels with embroidered designs on them.

Now this cute little tote is labeled as THE perfect tote for fall... but I think it's a perfect tote for the whole year!! The top is made from an adorable print ~ little owls on a nice rusty red background. And by purchasing this, you are not only supporting one Etsy artist, you are also supporting fabricstash, who sold this material to soandsewcrafty. How neat is that? The tan fabric makes this bag a perfect neutral so you can use it all the time ~ the the knot / bow on the strap dresses the tote up a little. There are also two pockets inside (though from the picture it looks like at least on of them is divided in two) in the same cute owl print, but with a yellow background instead of the red. What a great purse!!!

Lastly, I actually saw something that I thought was really cool, but wouldn't be useful for me or anyone I know. Wow!! I was shopping with other people in mind!! I work at a hospital, so I see a lot of doctors in their boring green scrubs. Occasionally, a nurse will be wearing a scrub top in a fun, childish print ~ these nurses are usually around the maternity wards (or sick children). But soandsewcrafts has really nice scrub tops in pretty patterns that aren't too "baby". And this Christmas tree print is my favourite. I could definitely see the emergency nurses and doctors wearing these during the holidays!

Do check out her shop ~ and check out her blog too for more challenge features!!