Jayne from
SmileyPomegranate joined Etsy in June of 2007 and opened her shop at the end of July this year. Her inspiration comes from offering stuff outside of the mainstream that isn't based on stereotypes that she doesn't particularly enjoy propagating. She was particularly inspired by the items she made for her own son. After gathering all the items she created she noticed that there was nothing in her pile that was even “remotely like anything you could go out and buy in a store.” There were certainly no "baby colors" or "boy colors" in there. There were no football or tractor appliqués, either. She is happy not to be pushing her baby into some gender identity that he hasn't signed on for yet. On the other hand, she has also made two blankets hoping would satisfy a mainstream customer, if one ever found their way to her shop, and admits that she ended up loving them as well.
SmileyPomegranate’s shop is made up almost entirely of hand dyed organic bamboo velour blankets. Jayne recently added a listing for some toddler pants and will likely add different items here and there, depending on what she is excited about at the moment. She also plans on adding scarves, loveys, and throw sized blankets at some point, but would like to keep organic hand dyed blankets as her signature item. Right now Jayne’s favorite item is her Five Flavor Blanket, but admits that her favorite item is usually the one she has most recently completed.
This is SmileyPomegranate's first Etsy Baby Shower and she is excited to see what everyone makes and gets. Jayne said she “wishes [she] had an Etsy shop and had known about [Etsy Baby Shower] in time for Augie.” The lucky mom paired with SmileyPomegranate will most likely be getting a five flavor lovey.
Jayne’s advice to new moms is to make things easy on themselves whenever possible. Nurse and keep the baby in your bed! Jayne said she has only had to get out of bed to care for Augie obly about three times since he was born eight months ago. She adds that most of the time she has been able to sleep right through feedings since she has everything right there in bed with her. She also said unless your baby is really tiny not to worry about how often they eat. Neither of her children ate anywhere near every two hours as infants. Her final pieces of advice are to not stress about any of that stuff you think you're supposed to unless there is actually a problem and enjoy your baby!
Nancy from
Lovems1 joined Etsy in April 28th, 2008. She says she was inspired to make her ‘lovems’ when her granddaughter was little and couldn’t drag around her stuffed animal and blanket at the same time, so she took her little animal and attached it to a blanket for her. She says the first few she made were kind of rough, but after making several hundred of them now they are awesome and could make them in her sleep! The goal of the Lovems shop is to create something that each child will love when they receive it. Lovems1 haw a huge stock of different kinds (colors and styles) of Minky and animals as well. Nancy spends a lot of time trying to create something that everyone will like, and if there isn’t something that a customer just loves, special orders are more than welcome!
Nancy says she doesn’t have a favorite Lovem, and adds that she is glad she doesn’t have to choose which one to get since they are just all so cute. She does LOVE Minky and has started making quite a few “MOM” size blankets for customers that buy the Lovems – no animal attached of course.
This is the first time that Lovems1 has participated in the Etsy Baby Shower and will be watching for it from now on. The two lucky moms paired with Lovems1 will each be getting a
lovems of their choice, and they have chosen the gifraffe lovem and monkey lovem.
Nancy’s advice to new moms is to “always stop and take time for your babies – anything else can always wait, before you know it they will be grown and gone, they are only little once!” She recalls a memory from when her daughters were little. She says she was a type A mom who had to have everything done and everything needed to be in its place. Her grandma came over one day and said the most profound thing to her. She said, “Nancy when those girls are grown, they will not remember the day you didn’t make the beds because you stopped to play a game with them, they will however remember that you always made the time for them no matter what!”
Gretchen Bristol from
TLCBlanketsandThings opened her store on Etsy in March of this year. Her inspiration for her products came from her daughter spending a year volunteering in a home for abandoned babies in South Africa. Her daughter requested a blanket for a special little baby and then before she knew it all the babies needed a special blanket. Gretchen wanted all the blankets to be individual so she appliquéd and embroidered themes on them and personalized them with the babies’ names. Gretchen points out the children in the home have nothing to call their own so she makes them all a special blanket and if they are lucky enough to be adopted they take it with them, and if they don't then they at least have their own blanket. Some of the proceeds from the blankets will go to buying supplies and shipping the blankets to South Africa. Family and friends encouraged Gretchen to sell her blankets because they are so beautiful and feels Etsy is the perfect place to market her home based business.
TLCBlanketsandThings sells custom baby blankets and is starting to add burp cloths, and wall hangings. Gretchen also paints murals and wants to include pictures to compliment her blankets and create a kind of one stop shopping for the nursery. I don't think I have a favorite product, I get a kick out of all the blankets and it is very fun for me to sketch the pictures and see them come to life when painted. I welcome custom orders and love to add different fabrics. The blankets are made out of minky and chenille and the back have a coordinating flannel.
This is TLCBlanketsandThings first time participating in the Etsy baby Shower, and thinks it is a wonderful idea. The lucky mom matched with TLCBlanketsandThings will be receiving a blanket.
Gretchen’s advice to new moms is to enjoy every minute because they grow up so fast. She encourages moms to remind themselves everyday that their baby will never be this age again and make it special and ads that “the special times are sometimes the most unexpected ones.”
Ann from
LittleBabyFooFoo joined Etsy December 2006. She has been making chenille stroller blankets, ribbon blankets and bibs for about nine years. The dolls have evolved from the idea of the patchwork chenille blanket that she made and a lovey type of doll. Ann has always been drawn to the sweet, southern, “foo foo” style…..hence the name…Little Baby Foo Foo. LittleBabyFooFoo specializes in chenille dolls and has incorporated a wide variety of the dolls made over the years so customers can get ideas. Although LittleBabyFooFoo consists of mostly chenille dolls, a bibs or blankets can also be found. Ann’s favorite products are the chenille dolls.
This is LittleBabyFooFoo’s first time participating in an Etsy Baby Shower and the lucky mom paired with this shop will be receiving a chenille doll.
Ann’s advice for new moms is get rest whenever the baby rests, even if there are a million things to do. She says is “it was the only way [she] kept [her] sanity!”
LittleBabyFooFoo has offered a 10% discount off any custom chenille doll order to blog readers during the month of November. Be sure to mention you read the blog post in the ‘message seller’ portion during checkout.
Please be sure to check out these other generous shops who also donated gifts to the Etsy Baby
Leanne from 
This is the first Etsy Baby Shower for VanillaKnitsandBits, and the two lucky moms receiving gifts from her shop will each be getting one of her beautiful hats.
kjmSILKS has participated in the Etsy Baby Shower a few times before and says “it's always a lot of fun!” The lucky mom matched with kjmSILKS will be receiving a hand-dyed silk scarf. New moms need a lot of pampering, and a silk scarf is a perfect, one-size-fits-all gift, she can “drape it around her neck to perk up an outfit, or wear it as a headband on a 'bad hair day'.”
Linda from 
Leslie’s advice to new moms is to enjoy each moment good or bad, because the baby's infancy and childhood will go by so fast. She reminds mom’s that their “child is lucky to have [them] there to savor this time... as you go thru these wonderful years together." Leslie encourages moms to "be a teacher and guide, to make [their baby] a strong, happy and positive person."
Jen from 
Sandy’s reminds new moms that their babies will grow up fast so “love them while you can.”
Ahmelie from 
Ahmelie’s words of wisdom to new moms are “You can never give too many kisses to your baby!”
Dana from 
We asked Plum Tree Studio what advice she might have for new moms. She said, “I am not a mother yet, next year is my time. The advice I would give is from an aunt's perspective and many years of watching friends and family members. Enjoy the time you have with your children, play with them, laugh with them, love on them. But don't forget to give them structure.”
Jennifer from 
This is SillySockMonkey's first time participating in the baby shower and is excited about hearing from "her" mom. The lucky mom matched with SillySockMonkeys will be choosing her gift from the many wonderful listing in her shop. I am happy to let the mom choose something she likes from my shop.
SavvyStitcher has also participated the spring 2009 baby shower and hopes to participate in many more! 
CuddleBaby also participated in the Spring 2009 Etsy Baby Shower. One of the lucky moms she is matched with will be getting couple of receiving blankets and another mom will receive a fleece blanket.
Mona's advice to new moms is to "spend as much time as possible with your new angel as they grow up way to fast…" Her son is 29 and she "[has] no idea where the time went" and now her grandson is 8 and says 'he has so much going on in his life that [she] almost [has to] make an appointment to see him."
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