Handmade in Our Hometown

I’m not crafty. I wish I was, but I’m not.

When it comes to creating a personalized or handmade gift, my skills are limited to gluing wobbly eyes onto my husband’s used socks. Thankfully, the St. Louis region is bursting with talented women who have the creativity and business savvy to bring to life beautiful and affordable children’s gifts.

I turned to some of these businesswomen to see what they offer and to learn exactly how they put their passion to work:

Spoiled Sweet – When I needed a tutu for my 1-year-old’s glam rocker birthday party, Christen Parker of Spoiled Sweet in Fairview Heights came to my rescue. The Spoiled Sweet gang creates a variety of incredibly affordable and cute pieces for little girls, including the aforementioned tutu as well as bows and monogrammed shirts.

Said Parker, “The number one thing that sets our products apart is the love that goes into each item. We make each product with the client in mind and construct it like we are making it for our own children. We are constantly striving to come up with new products and how to improve upon what we are doing. We often receive a request for an item we don’t have or someone wanting a tweak on what we do offer and we are always happy to change any product and customize. We also like to keep in mind the cost of each item. It’s important that it is affordable for anyone that is looking, and that each person gets the most for their money.”

Makaboo – Makaboo personalized gifts, available online at www.makaboo.com or downtown at 609 N. 13^th St., is run by St. Louis native Cindy Teasdale McGowan. After working at Fleishman-Hillard and Snapfish.com, Teasdale McGowan made the leap to retail in 2009.

 “I worked for a number of years in product development at Snapfish.com, managing their online photo calendar and photo book applications. I loved empowering consumers with intangible software that allowed them to create tangible products, and I thought no one was doing a great job in the baby gift space. It's been a lot of work, but so much fun. The site is now six months old, and we are growing by leaps and bounds. Our products are in the hands of Europeans princes and Hollywood tots, as well as a whole lot of St. Louisans! We're having a ball.”

Today, Makaboo is the spot for tots on the web. The site – and store –  is loaded with great gifts for newborns to toddlers, including Moses baskets, onesies and coverter gowns – all of which can be personalized.

Beautiful Day Publishing – Many moms want to write children’s books but have trouble finding the time. Author Emily Filmore actually sat down and did it – and the result is the With My Child series from Beautiful Day Publishing.

“I have always written poetry and knew I wanted to be a published writer but was waiting for the right book to come to life,” said Filmore. “The first book was originally written as an exercise for my brain that doubled as a way to teach my daughter to do yoga because she always ended up sitting under me as I tried to do my own poses. As I started showing it to other people I realized that it had broader appeal then just my family so I began investigating publishing it as a children's book. As the process went on, I thought the book could be part of a series about bonding with your child through simple activities. I decided to publish the first book when I was unable to find any children's book exactly like it.”

Filmore currently has two books available – It’s a Beautiful Day for Yoga and It’s a Beautiful Day for a Walk – with the third installment, It’s a Beautiful Day for Ballet coming in the winter. “The books in the With My Child series are intended to inspire families to spend quality time together doing fun activities that are good for the mind, body and soul!”

Skip to the Lou – Two new entries in the St. Louis retail world are Raymee Alper and Nicki Mason of Skip to the Lou, which features fun St. Louis-inspired onesies with toddler and child sizes coming soon.

Said Alper, “My cousin (Mason) is an artist, and we are always dreaming of turning her work into a saleable product. Over the past few years, between career dissatisfaction and after having my daughter, I became inspired to just put one foot in front of the other and get something creative out there. Skip to the Lou came to us, and it just feels right. We’re creating something we feel is unique, and above all, fun!”

Other creative businesses I’ve written about in the past for St. Louis Kids have included Necklets Jewelry, LOL Baby Designs and Sew Good and Trendy – all featuring great products and all run by fabulous, hard-working moms. Even more personalized and custom products can be found at STL Boutique Moms and the Etsy "Shop Local" Section.

So dear readers, help a craft-impaired momma out – what other local artists and crafters do you love?

By Nicole Plegge, Lifestyle Blogger for SmartParenting