Saturday Gift Post--Mom Stuff!

After several months of basically restocking fixtures, I finally have a few interesting things to display on the blog. That said, there's still a lot of reordering, like those Retro Pets magnets that sold through so well. I love having Halley receive these, as she gets positively giddy on seeing "Wigglebutt Biscuits" and "Determined German Shepherd's Stout." Anne also received orders from several card vendors, but no new lines, alas.

And while there are plenty of dog lovers among Mom's out there, it's hard not to focus on the flowers of spring for a motif, particularly as so many people, me among them, choose to get an arrangement as a gift for this holiday. We think, as an alternative, that you might want to get your Mom a floral pencil topper. These come from Winding Road, a fair trade importer from Nepal. Last year I spotted Marla's products at a temp stand at the Chicago gift show. They sat for a while, but picked up when we started putting pencils (we get no end of promotional pencils from publishers) in the pencil toppers to show what they are.

Marla told me her main market is museum stores, where they have been moving quite nicely. If your Mom is not a flower kind of gal, we're also carrying an assortment of animals, including lions, tigers, owls, penguins, and wildebeests. I was going to have an assortment of bunnies for Easter, but the best laid plans of mice and Daniels meant that this was not the case for 2013.

One day I should probably go to a museum show, assuming I am allowed in. Being that we were recently invited to a college bookstore show and get no end of invitations to shows for toy retailers and card retailers, it seems that they are pretty enhusiastic about just getting someone who might buy something, and tend not to close these things off to members.

Another floral option are the Sunflower leather bracelets, a new item for us from a vendor I first came across at the Atlanta gift show. At first I was showing them around to booksellers and folks were not particularly enhusiastic. I started worrying that I had bought a dud. Fortunately Halley turned out to be very gung ho and immediately bought one and started talking them up to everybody. Anne had brought in the perfect jewelry stand to display them too. Pretty, huh?

Somewhere between coin pouches and our animal purses are these new wristlets. I love the design, featuring a ladybug, caterpillar, or praying mantis on a leaf. Because I figured ladybug would be the most popular, I also bought a design that is simply one big ladybug. I think they are adoarable, and quite well priced.

Next week Halley and I have agreed to have a discussion about Mother's Day cards. I was a little worried because by a week before Mother's Day, our selection starts running low. I think we might move up our post by a few days and do a book post next Saturday instead.  You've got to be flexible about these things.