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Posted on 11/21/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

A selection of lovely handmade gift ideas

I can’t always feature every lovely handmade item I come across as a monthly surprise gift, but I love so many of them nonetheless and know they would all make lovely handmade gift ideas!

Here are just a few of the wonderful handmade items I’ve come across via my craft festival explorations, online handmade searches, face to face artist interactions, and in emails I’ve received from potential artists. I know they would all make wonderful surprise birthday gifts, so check out all these shops!

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Handmade soap: Lovely handmade gift ideas from Fair Ivy

I love fancy soap and bath products, but also like it to be a little bit on the fun side sometimes, too. So these Birthday Cake Bubbling Bath Bombs by ReveilleReveille really topped the cake.

Here’s a blurb from their Etsy item page:
“Fill your senses with the delightfully sweet scent of white birthday cake with confetti frosting! Our Birthday Bash bubbling bath bomb is the perfect way to celebrate for no reason at all! Just drop one bath bomb into running bath water and watch the bubbles grow. We only use SLSA to create our bubbles, which is gentle on skin.”

How delightful!

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I love puns and all things wordsy and silly, so couldn’t resist the a-peel of this cute letter-pressed card (see what I did there?) from One Canoe Two. It’s a great little handmade card to include alongside a romantic gift for a cooking enthusiast, or you could even frame it and put it on the wall in your cozy kitchen. I love the style of this artist in general—definitely check out their shop for other cards, journals, calendars, and even adorable recipe cards!

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Handmade soap: Lovely handmade gift ideas from Fair Ivy

I heart this gorgeous vintage-looking Chai and Vanilla Handmade Owl Soap by Seventh Tree Soaps. Even the box it comes in is timeless, and would make as great a gift for an older woman as it would for a younger woman!

Below find a little blurb from their Etsy page:
“A gorgeously fragrant soap with an arresting blend of cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and clove, sweetened with vanilla. A fantastic soap for unapologetic tea lovers.”

Although I do worry that I’d have trouble not plopping it into a mug and trying to steep and drink it—I bet it smells like a cozy cafe on a chilly Autumn day!

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I hope you liked my hand made gift picks. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter (on the left) to keep updated with handmade, cute gift packaging, surprises and other fair ivy news.

Shopping for someone specific and need a few lovely handmade gift ideas? Drop me a line and I can suggest some of my favorites that will suit your recipient to a tee! (Or of course you could sign them up for a Fair Ivy surprise gift subscription by clicking here!)

Posted on 11/20/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Cute packaging tips – Washi tape: Washi tape

A month ago, the marketing representative at Whole Foods in Santa Monica asked me if I’d do a cute packaging tips presentation for the holidays…of course I said yes!

I sat down and started to plan what sort of packaging I’d present and teach the class, and came up with three categories of cute packaging that were easy to do and looked fantastic: Organic packaging, feminine packaging, and creative packaging. However, I decided that no cute packaging presentation was complete without a quick mention of washi tape!

Cute packaging tips - Washi tape

…so I purchased some. Ok, I purchased a lot. 32 mini rolls to be exact! StickerStop on Etsy has a wonderful collection and allows you to get little sample sizes of a ton of types of washi tape, and lets you pick each and every design you want included.

Cute packaging tips - Washi tape

Even though I saw the photos on Etsy beforehand, I still squealed with delight when I saw these little rolls, all wrapped around tiny little wooden spools.

Cute packaging tips - Washi tape

Washi tape is a wonderful easy go-to for turning a plain wrapping job into a really cute packaging gift! Use kraft paper, wrapping paper, or even newspaper, and then simply use washi tape instead of regular tape. Many of Fair Ivy’s surprise gift boxes have incorporated washi tape in their adorable packaging designs—it has a really cute, handmade vibe to it. Check out StickerStop on Etsy for some awesome washi tape designs!

Here are a few great examples of the many ways you can incorporate washi tape as cute packaging tips, or even use them as a a branding style for your handmade business!

Cute packaging tips: Washi tape in action:

Cute packaging tips - Washi tape

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Want more fun washi tape ideas (not just packaging ones)? Check out washitapemania.com! I bet you’ll have as much trouble as I did tearing yourself away!

Posted on 11/19/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Rain jewelry and other handmade weather jewelry

Handmade silver jewelry and handmade gold jewelry are our top favorites when it comes to handmade products. You can tell because not only do we feature them in our Fair Ivy Original Subscription surprise gift boxes, but we also created a specific subscription just for handmade jewelry, which sends a single gift box every month that contains a unique jewelry piece.

Back in the day, Fair Ivy used to feature artists from all over the world. We’ve since focussed on US artists, both so we can decrease shipping costs for our customers, as well as being a bit more environmentally-friendly (less exhaust produced from international shipping flights). However, we did lose access to some of our absolute favorite artists in the process, one of which is the lovely UK-based Huiyi Tan.

She creates the most amazing silver and gold jewelry pieces, but we especially love her rain jewelry….well, really her entire weather jewelry collection.

Check them out: Handmade rain jewelry | Monthly surprise boxes from Fair Ivy

Handmade rain jewelry | Monthly surprise boxes from Fair Ivy

Handmade weather jewelry | Monthly surprise boxes from Fair Ivy

Handmade rain jewelry | Monthly surprise boxes from Fair Ivy

Handmade weather jewelry | Monthly surprise boxes from Fair Ivy

I know what I’m asking for this Christmas! To view Huiyi Tan’s shop with these and other lovely handmade jewelry pieces, click here. She ships all over the world!

Wanting to get in on some monthly surprise packages fun?

Posted on 11/11/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Best Homemade Beauty Products: Recipes

Fair Ivy receives tons of submissions each week from artists and handmade businesses, looking to get their products featured as one of our monthly surprise packages. We thoroughly enjoy perusing each and every submission, and have found that over the years we’ve gotten very familiar with handmade and homemade beauty products. And now we’re hooked!

If you aren’t a subscriber to Fair Ivy’s handmade surprise packages, you still may be interested in buying or making some handmade or homemade beauty products on your own. And we’re here to help!

One of our absolute favorite creators of handmade beauty products is Mickey Cho from Fabled Soap Co. She’s been a featured artist with her gorgeous soaps on Fair Ivy both in August 2013 and October 2013, and we’re sure she’ll be showing up a ton more. However, she doesn’t just make soap and lip balm. Check out these wonderful homemade beauty products she creates:

Bath soak sample set

Homemade laundry detergent

Soap Samples – Handmade Old Fashioned All Natural Vegan

Alright, enough of our gushing about how much we love Fabled Soap Co—onto some recipes!

Our favorite homemade beauty products recipe sites:

The Daily Green: This lists 10 different types of homemade beauty products and the recipes to make them!
Refinery29: This site focuses on the thrifty aspect of homemade beauty products—it’s true, they can be really cost-effective!
Babble: List of recipes, with great photos
Keeper of the Home: Along with recipes for what ingredients to use, this page tells you what ingredients you should specifically AVOID using. Very helpful!
Wellness Mama: With just 7 ingredients, make 20+ different items!

If you have any of your own favorite recipes, please send them along and we’ll post them here!

Posted on 11/07/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Last minute Christmas shopping: It doesn’t have to be stressful

Last Minute Christmas Shopping: We all do it

It’s the classic tale: we think we have so much time until Christmas rolls around, only to realize we don’t….and thus begins the panic. Perhaps we can’t get enough time off work to shop, everything we want is sold out, we have too many friends (what a terrible problem to have!), or we just can’t face the horror of the shopping mall war zone during the holiday rush.

It doesn’t have to be painful.

I’m not here to tell you not to procrastinate, since we all know we’re going to do it regardless. What I CAN tell you to do is to find a gift idea that makes last minute Christmas shopping kind of….fun, and quite a breeze.

First of all, there is the super fun and easy way out.
Since YOU feel stressed about last minute holiday shopping, it goes to follow that OTHER people feel the same way. Talk with your friends and family early and feel people out—if you find that your best friend also hates last minute Christmas shopping, create an agreement together that neither of you will buy each other gifts, and instead you’ll go out on the town together, or get your nails done, or some other sort of treat. This also avoids the problem of getting someone something that they will never use—this way, you both get to enjoy an experience (oh, the memories!) and you know your money is well spent!

If that doesn’t work, there is always the ACTUAL last-minute gifts
Obviously I always tout Fair Ivy as a great last minute gift, because who doesn’t like receiving multiple surprise gifts every month? They’re handmade and they all already come hand-wrapped. We even have a little gift notice you can print out to let the recipient know the surprise gifts are on their way—so you can literally buy a subscription on Christmas morning and they can start getting excited about the future surprise gifts they’ll be receiving.

Ok, promo time over. Beyond actually BUYING something, here are 4 lovely last minute gift ideas that we fully endorse:

Make a lovely dinner for someone. Or invite a bunch of people and knock them all off your gifting list at once! If you can’t do this before Christmas, why not handmake a really cute coupon that they can redeem at any time (perhaps with a week’s notice)?
Buy two tickets to go see a band you know they like, that is upcoming a few weeks or months after Christmas. Memories can’t be beat!
We don’t usually like recommending gift cards because they don’t feel very personal. However, we do like travel gift cards! Most airlines or train operators sell these, and you could even make a cute little handmade card with recommendations for where they could go.
Our favorite gift this year: With so many of our photo memories stored digitally nowadays, we start to appreciate the tactile once again. Take the time to print out a photograph of a cherished memory you share with a loved one, frame it, and hand-write a note about what the shared memory means to you. We know your loved one will cherish it as well.

We hope this post will help dispel some last minute Christmas shopping blues. As always, feel free to contact us to help you with gift ideas—we specialize in finding handmade gifts that fit your recipient to a tee.

Posted on 11/03/201309/08/2020 by Lucy

Dead sea bath salts surprise

We love luxurious bath products, and these dead sea bath salts from Paradise Bath Boutique drew us in immediately. The were sent as one of our September monthly surprise packages, and came in one of three different scents—Eucalyptus Spearmint, Lilac and Peach. Pictured below is the lilac-scented version.

Dead Sea Bath Salts - Monthly surprise packages from fair ivy

We love that there were actual dried flower petals mixed in with the dead sea bath salts.

Interesting fact: This item was not originally scheduled for September, but after a different hand-maker had a bit of a last-minute emergency and had to cancel, Cindy from Paradise Bath Boutique stepped up to the plate and we couldn’t have been more pleased. She wowed us with her dedication, commitment and extremely quick turnover time (she had less than 1/10 the time of most of our surprise gift package artists)! We couldn’t have been luckier to have such a fantastic hand-maker on-board our surprise train.

Dead Sea Bath Salts - Monthly surprise packages from fair ivy

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Be sure to check out Paradise Bath Boutique’s store for her other wonderful surprise gift items that would make unique birthday gifts for women, and would be especially great pampering gifts to give to yourself!

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Do you want to receive a gift box every month? Or wait—make that THREE gift boxes every month! Be sure to head over to our options page to sign yourself or someone else up. Every surprise gift is handmade and comes hand-wrapped, along with an informational note card straight from the artist, to let you know about their process, business and background.