Favorite Gift Finds at UncommonGoods

*Note: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of UncommonGoods. As always, opinions and words are mine - I only partner with brands that I love and that I think y'all would too! Thanks for supporting MRFB in this way. See my full disclosure notice at the bottom of the page.

I'm always on the hunt for new and unique sources for gifts for folks, so when I ran across UncommonGoods, I knew I had to come share some of my favorite finds with y'all. Considering we're entering a big gift giving season soon (Mother's/Father's Day, graduations, weddings, anyone?!), I'll bet you have some shopping to do in the coming months.

UncommonGoods certainly provides a great source for new and unique gifts, but what I really love about this company is that they're focused on being an online marketplace for emerging artisans, makers in low-income countries, and handmade pieces. Each item has a story behind it and they want to make sure you have a chance to hear it. Also, every time you make a purchase they donate $1 to your choice of one of their non-profit partners. Isn't that cool? You can read more about the company and its values here.

Alright, let's get to the good stuff! I've pulled together a list of my favorites from the UncommonGoods website, including a couple of items that they were kind enough to send me for this post!

1 | Layered Block Print Table Runner

This table runner caught my attention because of its funky mixed patterns, pom pom trim and modern-meets-boho vibe. It was one of my picks for our new dining table and I think it looks great in there!

This would make a great gift for someone who like me who loves to entertain. Perhaps it would even make a great wedding or Mother's Day gift? (P.S. if you're on the hunt for Mother's Day gifts, UncommonGoods has a great selection over here.)

2 | Gilded Branches Jewelry Tree

If you've got pretty jewelry, why not display it on something pretty? This jewelry tree certainly fits that bill.

3 | Succulent Living Wall Planter

I think y'all have probably figured out by now that I have this thing for succulents. They're easy to keep alive and pretty to look at. If I had a wall that got some great sun exposure, I'd be all over this wall planter!

4 | Coral Carved Hanging Planter

Speaking of plants, here's another planter I thought was very pretty. It would be perfect on a front porch.

5 | Free Form Bulletin Board

The organizer in me really liked this bulletin board for an entryway, command center or office.

6 | Neighborwoods Map Coasters

Local art gets my attention every time, and these wood coasters with snippets of city neighborhoods are awesome. They had Philadelphia on their list of available cities and I almost pulled the trigger on them, but realized that I already have three sets of coasters in our house. I probably don't need a fourth. :) I love when gifts have some sort of personalized element (there are more items like that here if you're in the market!).

7 | Woven Daily Crossbody Bag

This is the other item that came home with me. I love crossbody bags and this one goes with just about any casual outfit. I tend to bike a lot in the city and this kind of bag works perfectly for that. It holds the essentials, but has room for extras when needed.

8 | Whale Booties

Another kind of event I'm headed to often these days is baby showers. While it's always great to snag something for those off the mom-to-be's registry, unexpected, adorable little things (like the ones over here at UncommonGoods) are always fun too!


I hope these ideas have inspired you to think outside the box the next time you're in the market for a gift! Do you have a favorite source for unique gifts?

Have a great start to your week, friends!

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Best of March Round-Up

It's the last day of March, y'all! How did the time pass by so quickly?! I think I ask myself that every time a new month rolls around...

I love doing these wrap up posts each month - especially for those of you who are new around here (hi! nice to meet you!), or if you're a regular and missed a post or two. So let's get right to it, shall we? Here are my favorite posts from the month of March.

New Site Design & Branding

The biggest thing to happen to the blog this month was definitely launching the new site design. I'm loving how much it reflects me and my personality.

10 Complimentary Typeface Combinations

Y'all seem to love fonts as much as I do (yay!). This is a good one to pin for reference later...

Hand-Stitched Monogrammed Onesie

This gift was a big hit with my friend, so I'm definitely planning on making a few more of these in the future.

River House Tour: Day One | Day Two

I loved sharing these photos of my parents' river house with y'all. It's such a special and relaxing place for us and we can't wait to spend a bunch of time there this summer.

April Calendar iPhone Wallpaper

Don't forget to download this freebie April calendar for you iPhone (or other smart phone - it's just a photo). It's handy to have the month-at-a-glance when you turn on your screen.

Decorate for Spring Without Breaking the Bank

Y'all, it snowed again yesterday. I don't mean to be a whiner, but I'm so ready for spring and it's arriving so late this year. Writing up this budget-friendly spring decor post helped me remember that it will come. It's only a matter of time.

DIY Instagram Coasters

And lastly, I shared a tutorial for these easy, make-em-yourself Instagram coasters last week that I think are so fun! Have y'all done any fun projects with Insta-prints?

See ya March! April, I'm ready for you!

Hand-Stitched Monogrammed Onesies

The baby boom continues, my friends, which means I'm always brainstorming new and creative ways to welcome these little lives into the world. It's been nine months or so since I showed y'all how to applique onesies and make cute burp cloths, and today I've got another fun onesie tutorial to share!

This time, I decided to hand-stitch a little monogram onto the backside - yep, literally on the bum. I thought it would just be so stinkin' cute to personalize that area and keep the rest of the onesie plain jane so the little one can wear it with any outfit ('cause you know they think about that sort of thing, right?). And bonus, the threads on the backside will sit against the diaper and not rub against any skin :).

Let's call this the lazy gal's version of monogramming, ok? You'll see why in a minute :).

First, the materials you'll need to do this are:

• White onesie
• Embroidery thread
• Embroidery needle
• Scissors
• Embroidery hoop (or if you don't have one, I've got a solution for you!)
• Printout of the lettering in your choice of font

I keep a stash of white onesies around for baby gifts like this, so I grabbed one out of there and made sure it washed already so it didn't shrink later and make the monogram all wonky.

I flipped it over and eyeballed where I wanted to put the monogram. I'll be sending this to a baby boy, so I printed out the letters of his monogram in a size that would fit the area (I used Illustrator, but you can do this in Word too) and chose some blue embroidery thread to stitch it with.

Then came the tricky part - I had to stabilize the fabric so I'd be able to stitch the monogram without it stretching in weird ways, but I didn't have an embroidery hoop on hand. Yikes! Thanks to Google, I found a perfect substitute that didn't involve me going out to the store: a mason jar lid and some rubber bands!

It worked perfectly. I just slipped it under the backside of the onesie in the area I wanted to stitch on, and secured it to the fabric with rubber bands. 

Then I used the printout monogram as a guide to stitching the the letters by hand. If you have a washable fabric marker on hand, you can trace the letters first and then stitch, but I didn't have one (lazy gal's version, remember?) so I just did it freehand.

I used a simple backstitch to make the letters one-by-one. I think it took about 20 minutes max. Here's the front-in-progress as I was stitching the Y of the monogram:

And the backside:

Once I finished stitching all the letters, here's what it looked like still attached to my makeshift mason jar lid hoop:

All done! What a cute little monogrammed bum!

Since it's hand-stitched, it's not perfect, but I actually love that it looks hand-sewn. What do you think?

It would make a perfect gift paired with one (or a few) of these customized burp cloths, yes? I made the yellow and white polka dot one below using that method from that post.

Now it's time to pop this little set into the mail to its new owner! If you're reading this, Laura, sorry I'm spoiling your surprise if you hadn't guessed it was for your little man!

Do y'all have any favorite hand made baby gifts that you've received or given?

Or, in case you're not into making gifts, but would rather buy something, you might want to check out my line of modern patterned onesies right over here!

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linking up to: DIY Showoff, Rain on a Tin Roof, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, If It's Not Baroque, Liz Marie Blog, Blissfully Ever After, Design, Dining and Diapers, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Craftberry Bush, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, It’s Overflowing, House of Rose, Love of Family and Home, Dear Creatives, Madigan Made, First Home...Love Life, Simply Dream and Create, Whipperberry, Sparkles and A Stove, Making Home Base, Naptime Creations, Remodelaholic, Work it Wednesday, Living Well Spending Less

GIVEAWAY from CSW Designs!

Woohoo! Giveaway time! 

If you're a regular visitor over here at May Richer Fuller Be, you probably saw my announcement about the launch of a new product line at CSW Designs - modern patterned baby onesies! I am so excited about them, and to celebrate the launch, I thought I'd give one of these away to one of my lovely readers. 

If you've got a little one of your own, this is a perfect item to add to his or her closet (they come in sizes from newborn all the way up to 24 months). Even if you don't have a child of your own, one of these would make a great baby shower gift! I might be a little biased, but I think they're pretty darn cute :).

From now until August 15th at midnight, you can enter to win one here on the blog. Earn multiple entries by leaving a blog comment, following May Richer Fuller Be on Facebook or Twitter, or tweeting the link to this post. Spread the word! Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

Thanks for entering!

(If you're reading this in an email or feed reader, you'll need to click over to the blog to enter!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

July Project Round-Up

July was a really fun month over here. I loved all of projects I took on and there are lots of exciting things in the works behind the scenes that I can't wait to share with you. In fact, one of things is happening TODAY! I am guest posting over at Serenity Now. I'm honored Amanda asked me to be a part of her guest posting schedule this week while she's away. If you've been around MRFB for awhile, the crafty project I'm sharing might look familiar, but go on over (have I piqued your curiosity yet?) and say hello.

I'm hoping to make a few more announcements next week about the exciting things to come once they're set in stone, but you'll just have to wait a little longer to hear about them!

Now let's take a look back at some favorite posts from the past month. If you missed anything, this is a great way to catch up.

My biggest (and most exciting) undertaking by far this month was launching the onesie line for CSW Designs. You can read more about the announcement here. I had so much fun designing the animals, prints and colors for these guys. Again, I'd love for you to spread the word about these fun baby items - they're perfect gifts for your own little one or would make a great gift!

Green polka dotted elephant anyone?

My favorite DIY project for the month (and seemed to be many of yours too!) was this vintage kitchen cart makeover I did for my parents at their river house.

Just a hair behind that, my other favorite DIY was the upholstered headboard I made for our bedroom. It's sooo nice to have it after living without one for over a year!

I love the summery look of my Ralph Lauren-inspired aqua and white striped tray. It lightens up our big, dark coffee table so nicely. Ah, the power of paint. :)

I shared a bunch of photos from our Fourth of July spontaneous photo shoot, as well as some portrait photography tips in this post. 

Ever since I put up my vanilla almond granola recipe, I've been making it non-stop over here. It's definitely our new breakfast staple. I've even been adding some healthy stuff to it like chia and flax seeds - heyo! Considering how much of a sweet tooth I have, I'm pretty proud of myself for trying to incorporate some healthier things as well.

Operation {Re}Organization continued on this month in the kitchen. I'm right in the middle of overhauling the bottom half of it, so expect to see more posts about that in the near future. You can read the first three I wrote this week here, here and here. 

And lastly, many, many thanks to these wonderful blogs for featuring my projects over the past month - so grateful and humbled!

Craftivity Designs | Living Better Together  | Just Do It Y'all | The Shabby Creek Cottage | Roadkill Rescue | The Inspiration Gallery | Sparkles and a Stove | Serenity Now | Give Me the Goods Monday | Rain on a Tin Roof | Suburbs Mama | If It's Not Baroque | Tatertots and Jello | Lambert's Lately | Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home | Chase the Star

Announcement! Printed Animal Onesies Available in the Shop!

Y'all, I've got a really exciting announcement today! I'm thrilled to announce the launch of a line of simple, modern-patterned baby onesies that I've designed. CSW Designs: The Shop is officially open for business and stocked full of these adorable pieces. They would make perfect gifts for any little one - boy or girl!

There are six animals to choose from: giraffe, elephant, cat, dog, bird and turtle. Once you choose the animal, pick your color and style (chevron or polka dot) - there are lots of options. Here are a few of my favorites:

I would absolutely love if you'd come by "The Shop" by CSW Designs and take a look. If you like what you see, would you mind forwarding this post or the website on to your family and friends? Feel free to post the image above to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or even your blog! I would be so grateful if you did. I'd love to start this thing off with a bang!

So why do this now? 

If you've been around May Richer Fuller Be for awhile, you may remember I mentioned that a ton of my friends are pregnant right now or have just had babies. That meant lots of opportunities to make or buy baby gifts! During the spring, I put my design and DIY skills to work by sewing up a few appliqued onesies for these new little ones. The tutorial I shared was such a big hit with y'all, which was really exciting for this little blogger. That got me thinking that I might be able to do more than just make a few onesies for friends and talk about them here on the blog. Instead, why not actually design a line of onesies in the same kinds of modern patterns and designs, and make them available for people to purchase online? (And never have to worry about getting out that sewing machine!) That idea has now turned into a reality, and I'm excited to announce the launch this set of printed animal onesies.

If you or someone you know is looking for a baby gift, I'd love if you'd send them to CSW Designs: The Shop. If you want, you can send them here to the blog too - there's a new link up at the top (CSW Designs: The Shop), and the CSW Designs logo on the sidebar will take you to the website as well. (If you're reading this post in email or reader form, you'll need to click over to the blog.)

Thank you so much for helping me spread the word! Y'all are the best!