An old photo of my family. My grandmother with my little mom on the right and my aunt on the left. Strangely enough, 60 years later, my mom still looks exactly like this!
Here we go, another day of the Etsy Holiday Gift Challenge. This list is for my mother. Just to recap, I plan to purchase all of this year’s presents from Etsy or other small businesses/artists and my budget is $50 per person. I skipped a couple days, but Caroline and I were both so busy gearing up to press our Holiday cards, which we will have up soon. Better a little late than never 🙂
So, my mother is from Germany. That being said, a number of these presents have a German theme to them. She also loves nature: birds, flowers, really anything to do with the outdoors. So, following are a few items I think she would like. All are $50 or under, except for one, but it was just so lovely, I couldn’t resist!
First, we have this amazing antique Deutsch Mark necklace from sweet2bliving. I think I am going to have to get it, that is if it is not already gone! I’ve never quite seen anything like it before.
Antique Deutsch Mark Necklace from sweet2beliving.
My mom also loves photography. This vintage looking photo of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin taken by RetroLovePhotography, would probably be a big hit with her. I’d even love to have one in my apartment!
Retro-looking photo of Berlin by RetroLovePhotography.
Yum, all my favorite winter ingredients: pumpkin, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. Speaking of nutmeg, that reminds me, when I used to live in Saudi Arabia many years ago, nutmeg was illegal – really, you couldn’t find it anywhere. It was considered an aphrodisiac. Omg, I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence about a gift I am thinking about getting my mother…just, wow. ANYWAY, this pumpkin soap by wyldeivy looks like it would make an excellent present.
Pumpkin soap by wyldeivy.
My mother loves bees, I mean really, really loves them. There are bees all over her house: Queen Bee signs, bee art work, bee coasters, bee photos, bees, bees, bees! But these tea cups have the most elegant bees on them that I have ever seen. They come in sets of two and are made of porcelain AND the are made by fellow New Yorker, Faith Adams. Check out her great Etsy shop for these bee tea cups and all her other beautiful work.
Sweet bee tea cups by FaithAdamsCeramics.
Another German themed gift. I love these Edelweiss hand towels by EmbroideryEverywhere. They are so elegant and they come in many different colors. I happen to like them in the natural color, as shown. This design can even be put on other items such as pillowcases and aprons.
Pretty Edelweiss hand towels by EmbroideryEverywhere.
My mother is a big coffee drinker. Whenever I visit my parents, my mom and I can sit around the table drinking coffee for a very, very long time. This set of 6 Azberg German teacups, from WrappedRoundMyFinger, would be perfect for our coffee marathons. A couple years ago, after a particularly long coffee drinking session, I realized my hands were shaking a little…that’s how much coffee we drink! The more I look at these, the more I like them…I am kind of thinking I might get these for myself now!
German tea cups from WrappedRoundMyFinger.
I love the Scherenschnitte work by ePaperCuts. Scherenschnitte is an old German art, whereby an image is created by using small scissors to cut out intricate designs. ePaperCuts has tons of great work, but I love this French Bulldog. My mom would love it, too because it would remind her of her little four-legged grandson, Pascal!
Little Pascal Scherenschnitte by ePaperCuts.
As I mentioned, my mother loves nature. I think this butterfly art by BugUnderGlass is just lovely. The detail, the color, the delicate lines, it is all just so pretty.
Butterfly art by BugUnderGlass.
So, this gift is over my budget a little, but I just had to include it. It is a mid-century serving dish by Ernest Sohn and can be found in the BrakingSandsVintage Etsy shop. I’m going to share this listing with my husband and see if we should just get it for ourselves…sorry mom!!
Beautiful mid-century serving dish from BarkingSandsVintage.
I love any type of salty and sweet combo and these sea salted carmel lollipops by VintageConfections look too good to pass up. I think they would make an excellent stocking stuffer for my mom…and unlike nutmeg, neither caramel or salt are known aphrodisiacs!
Totally tempting, caramel and sea salted lollipops by VintageConfections.
This vintage inspired locket by dreamyvintage is absolutely beautiful. What I think would really make it perfect is a photo of my mom’s grandson, Pascal, on one side and another photo of her other grandson, Gabe, on the other!
Beautiful vintage locket from dreamyvintage.
This set of 4 Spode saucers from sesameandsparrow is lovely. In fact, so lovely I would almost want to hang them in my (I mean, my mom’s!) kitchen as decoration.
Spode saucers from sesameandsparrow.
Like I said, my mom is a big coffee drinker. I think she would love this vintage apothecary shot glass by fifthseason.
Vintage shot glass from fifthseason.
Here we have another German inspired gift. Love this sweet little Fachwerkhaus ornament by ARTISANIEeurope. Actually, I love all of their architectural ornaments!
Sweet German inspired ornament from ARTISANIEeurope.
Sometimes my mom can become a little wound up. Things that set her off: people who cut her off while driving, people who move too slow and people who slurp while eating. On the flip side, certain things make my mom really happy: the bluebirds in the back yard, seeing me (haha) and getting joke emails from her friends. Well now, with this cute Mood Diary from EineDerGuten, she can chronicle the day’s events and write down what mood each one put her in! I have no doubt all entries pertaining to me will have “good” checked off next to them!
Mood Journal from EineDerGuten.
I love these bees wax candles from underthefigtree, and I bet they smell amazing! What makes them even better is that half of the proceeds for each candle will make sure that a child in need gets a Christmas gift, too!
Bees wax candles by underthefigtree. They come in these great little tea cups that can be reused once the candle is finished.
And finally, Caroline and I are in the process of drawing and printing monogram stationery. My mother’s name starts with a “B” and I think she would love our set of “B” letterpress, monogram cards.
Our hand-drawn, letterpress, monogram notecards from PressedInBrooklyn.
Oops, I almost forgot. I took this photo a couple weeks ago. The full moon was glowingly intense and the way in which it illuminated the clouds and bathed the night sky in an other-worldly light was gorgeous. I just had to take a photo, this is from my living room window in Brooklyn. When my mother saw it, she told me she would love a print of it. I think I will go ahead and do that…now I just need to find a nice frame.
A night in Brooklyn.
So, that wraps it up for my mother’s holiday shopping list. Just have my dad, brother and husband to do…saved the hardest for last!
– Stephanie, www.pressedinbrooklyn.com
pressedinbrooklyn 
