Category Archives: Gifts
Stamp It Out with Sweet Harvey
As it happens quite often with me….one moment I’m knee-deep in work, the next moment I’m knee-deep in design goodness after spotting a simple tweet: Recently I’ve come to appreciate a good stamp, after endlessly addressing several Christmas cards, thank you notes and — bills. Naturally the word “stamp” caught my eye, leading me off to peruse Sweet Harvey’s Etsy Shop. And when something strikes my fancy I investigate further, taking me to her gorgeous website. Its design just screams: “Hi, I’m Brandi, I’m cool, easy to talk to, love to laugh and I’m pretty good at designing cool stuff”. My kind of gal. In true, stalker-like form, I click through to her Facebook page, Pinterest boards and another website I hadn’t heard of. Have you heard of Dribbble? Yes that’s three b’s! Looks just about as cool as Brandi is. I follow them all. You’d be wise to do the same. And I finally settle on her blog (I have a tried-and-true process to my inter-web stalking). It’s fresh, her designs pop off the page and makes me want to create new project just to have her design something beautiful to accompany. In the meantime, I might have to settle for a few … Continue reading
Continuing the Homemade Pledge: Bare Root Designs
Tis the season to start Christmas shopping! We’re continuing our “Homemade Pledge” by highlighting an event this weekend by one of my favorite local artisans: Bare Root Designs. Here’s a quick story about how small our great town of Des Moines really is…. I first saw Bare Root Designs’ gorgeous jewelry at a coffee shop in Valley Junction while taking Landry‘s 9 month pictures with Mimi & T Photography. I HAD TO HAVE a pair of silver, bird-dangling earrings. Had to. Then! As fate would have it, our friend Tara Dudley from Plant Life Designs (you know Tara) shares an image of their earrings and plugs their open house on November 10th. Now you know I’m obligated to share this local, homemade goodness with you. Here’s a quick teaser….. This one is my favorite!! See all this and more this weekend! And — you can’t deny you love to hear the back story to every company…..learn more about who Bare Root Designs is…..right from them. We started Bare Root a few years ago, as a fun adventure for two best friends. We had no idea what the next few years would bring for our little business! Initially, we made about 20 pairs of … Continue reading
Giving Compassion
I’m always looking for meaningful stocking stuffers for my little ones. The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines has just made this easier for Santa. They came out with gift cards that can be redeemed for your favorite charity! Imagine the conversation you can have with your child about giving to others on Christmas morning. Click here to purchase. A little bonus for businesses? You can get them customized with your brand! What a great employee gift.
A week of gifts – For the ones that love our children
The other day I received a package in the mail. We received our first ever (drum roll please) FAN MAIL! And of course with any fan mail, comes fan presents. Someone (oh ok, it was Nana) saw our post about our different holiday decorating and couldn’t resist. The runner, she said, not only complimented my holiday decor perfectly, but illustrated Katie and I succinctly. Burlap with sparkles. Sigh. And no blogger with a blog entitled Hard Hats High Heels could be complete with out holiday heel inspired tea towels. The glow continued into the night and even the next day. The perfect thoughtful gift can do that. A few weeks ago, we had you take the handmade pledge. Now let’s give you the thoughtfulness pledge. All week we will be giving you ideas on how to find the perfect inspired gift for your loved one. With young children, I’m always searching for the totally appropriate “capture their littleness” gift for the grandparents and myself. But like I told someone today, I still vainly cling to my pre child days of stylish snobbery (or at least pretend to). Straddling the cliche kid yet stylish adult chasm: difficult, yes. Impossible? Don’t know. … Continue reading









