The holiday season is in full force in the stores so I guess it is time to start thinking about holiday gift giving.
This year I have taken the Buy Handmade Pledge. It is a movement that is going on in the blogging world where people are pledging to buy handmade gifts this holiday season and choosing to support independent artists.
If you click on the “I took the handmade pledge” button on the right hand side of my blog you too can take the pledge. You will also find a list of websites where you can buy handmade gifts including Etsy, a great site with thousands of handmade items.
With the current economic situation many of us find our gift giving budgets a little more limited than usual. Because of that I want to make sure that the gifts I give this year are meaningful.
While I was in Utah several weeks ago I visited a boutique where many women were selling their handmade items. At the boutique I met Jenine of Savanna Hill. I fell in love with her jewelry – all handmade by Jenine.
She makes beautiful custom photo pendants featuring your custom photo. Each piece is its own one-of-a-kind creation.
I had Jenine create some custom photo pendants for some of the people on my gift list this year. I used some of our old heritage photos. I just emailed her a jpg of the photo that I had scanned in, let her know what I wanted on the back (a letter, a word etc.)
They arrived last week and they are beautiful! (I’m not going to show them to you because some of the people they are for might see them and I want part of it to be a surprise!)
Jenine is very prompt and does beautiful work!
She has graciously donated a custom made photo pendant, chain and one bobble for a giveaway. This gift has a value of $49.00
By leaving a comment and letting me know who you’d like to give this custom made photo pendant to you will be entered in the drawing for this giveaway. The giveaway will be open until Friday, November 14th at midnight PST. Don’t forget that you need to click through to the actual blog to leave your comment.
If you would like to order some custom made photo pendants for the people on your gift list this year please visit Jenine at her website – Savanna Hill She is a doll and would love to help you!
Jenine Abegg, founder of Savanna Hill jewelry has been designing jewelry since she was a little girl. Her hobby became a business when many of her friends and their friends and their friends wanted jewelry for gifts. The rest is history. She resides in Pleasant Grove, UT with her husband Taylor and three children; Joshua, Grace and William. Besides jewelry, Jenine enjoys anything outdoors, cooking and her favorite- playing with her children!
For the next several weeks I will be featuring gift ideas that are handmade by homebased moms. If you or someone you know has a handmade at home business that would like to sponsor a giveaway on my blog please email me through my contact page.
A big thank you to Jenine for sponsoring our Charming Giveaway this week!
Charming Giveaway Guidelines
- Anyone in the U.S. with an email and a name is eligible.
- You can use a code name if you want to.
- One entry per person, please.
- Emails are never published nor is your identity revealed if you choose to use a code name.
Tell your mother, tell your sister, tell your girlfriends so they can enter too! Share the fun!
I have a family photo to put inside of it. I will present it to my mother in law because she is a source of strength and inspiration to our family. She will LOVE to receive this
Count me in for a chance to win. Thank you.
What beautiful jewelry! I would love to give one to my daughter. Home-made pledge is a great idea!
I would like to give this necklace to my daughter. She is juggling a busy life – husband, home, 2-year-old daughter, and is a few months away from earning her degree as a registered nurse. With all that is on her shoulders, she maintains a cheerful and determined attitude. Thanks for this opportunity!
Those are really neat! I would give one to one of my sisters who is also my best girlfriend. She is always so generous to me and this would be a perfect thank you!
Beautiful! I would give this to my daughter who is named after my mom who died before my daughter was born. Back in the day when my parents married, small crowns were “in” and so my mom looked like a princess on her wedding day. I’d love to put a b/w photo of my mom in her crown in the frame. Thank you for sending this link. I’ll visit SH today!
Such beautiful jewelry!!! I would also get a custom photo pendant. I would love to put both my boys in on pendant! Thanks so much for the chance to win!
Yay! look beautiful! It would be a great birthday gift!! My birthday is friday the 14th
). I would give this to my grandmother as she reamins the glue of our family!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful vendors with us! I’ll be looking at her website today.
I love them! This would be the perfect gift for my sister for Christmas. We draw names as a family and spend a certain amount. But, with a tight budget this year I could give her something above and beyond the price limit with this giveaway. She would love it!
Thanks for sharing these creative gift giving sites! I would definately give this to my best friend Heather.
mmm….. There are several people on my gift list who would love one of these beautiful pendants. I might just have to order a few.
Leigh Anne, what a great idea–pledging to buy handmade is wonderful.
If I won your giveaway of such a beautiful necklace I would put a photo of my Dad in it, and give it to my Mom. He passed away in January of this year and I know she misses him each and every day after 55 years of marriage.
How beautiful! I love the hand made pledge idea too.
I’d love to give it to my daughter when she graduates from highschool this year.
Those are beautiful! How nice.
What an awesome giveaway. I would love to win one for my sister.
There are so many people who would love to get one of these you could just finish your shopping!! Homemade pledge is the neatest idea yet!! Thanks!
What a wonderful idea! I really enjoy your blog!
These are beautiful! It would be a perfect Christmas present for my mom.
Gorgeous! I love to win one for my mom.
Oh those are so beautiful. I’m glad you posted about this because right when I saw it I thought it would be the perfect thing for my Mom. She’s been in the ICU for 2 weeks now after a very serious brain trauma. Her recovery is going to take months and just last night I was telling my husband how trivial and stupid the gift I had planned to give her is now and I was trying to think of something else that would possibly mean anything to her. If there’s one thing I’ve come to know in the past few weeks of trials, it’s how important family is and I’d love to give my Mom a reminder of how much she is loved by hers and let her know what an inspiration she is to everyone around her.
I just read all of that and I’m not trying to be all sobby here, lol. I’ve just been an emotional wreck lately and I’m happy this gave me an idea of something I could do for her. I know she would love it.
Thanks Leigh Ann
OOOhh so cute, I myself have been going with the homemade gifts as well, so much more personal
I would love to give one to my mom—what a nice gift.
Handmade is always the best way to go.
I love these beautiful necklace what a beautiful gift to give one of my girls. Put my name in the pot for chance to win. Thanks again.
I would love to win one of these beautiful pieces and give it to my beautiful daughter.
I can’t give you a name because she reads your blog often, but there is someone in my life who has always been there for me and is an amazing “sister” to me since I was not blessed with a biological one. She would love it and I have a fun picture of her daughters to put inside. Thank you once again for another good idea and inspiration! I love the homemade pledge.
I would give this to my mother-in-law. She is a wonderful help with my children and a fantastic grandma!
Gorgeous!! I would choose it give to my best friend, my Mother! Her support and love has never wavered! She is my biggest fan.
I LOVE this jewelry…it’s so unique! I would probably give to my mom because she has been my source of inspiration and a great supporter in my “homebased” business!
I’d give that to my very bestest friend. I left her back in Utah when we moved to Massachusetts, and it’s hard to find the perfect gift. She was so good to me!
These are just beautiful! I am always looking for something unique to give to my dear friend, Debi, because she always finds things that are so perfect when it comes to shopping. I’m hoping she hasn’t seen these yet
My sister would cherish this photo pendant. I have the perfect picture to put inside. I hope I win, handmade is awesome!!!
I love anything with real photograghs. This jewlery is
beautiful. Our family did a “Made especially for you by me” christmas one year. It was fun and creative to see the gifts that we all came up with.
Jenine’s work is lovely. I am married to an artist and I know the love and care that go into custom, hand-made pieces. There are a ton of people I would want to give one to. My first choice would be my sister, Kari, but she is no longer with us, due to breast cancer. So I have other awesome sisters who would love it too, but I have a precious friend who is really struggling right now. I think she could use the lift the most. Anyway, whoever gets it will be delighted I’m sure! Thank Jenine for her generosity!
These are beautiful! I would love to give one to both my mother and mother-in-law with a picture of their grandchildren. I will definitely be checking out your hand made websites. Thanks!
I think this is beautiful! I would give it to my mom with a picture of her mom.
I guess it sounds sort of selfish but I would probably keep the necklace. I would personalize it and keep it as a type of personal memorial for my two babies that I lost.
These are gorgeous. What a wonderful giveaway. If I win, it will probably go to my mother, but like a couple of others have mentioned, there are so many people that would like it I may end up ordering a few!
I love, love, love it! Will be visiting Jenine’s site often for gifts. If I won this I’d have a hard time deciding which special friend/sister would recieve this. They are all so deserving of such a beautiful gift!
Leigh Anne, great minds think alike! After being introduced to Etsy by you and Sherra on iLash girls, I had decided to buy handmade as much as possible throughout the holiday season. Yes, the economy is shaky, yes, people’s cash flow is tight…but even laying those things aside..why doesn’t it ALWAYS make sense to support people that put love and care and a piece of themselves into the things that they make. It is, in many ways in our culture, a dying art. This artist is amazing and the pieces here on your site are beautiful. I’m “going right over” to check it out! Who would I give it to? Hmmm…tough question. I DO know that the recipient will be filled with joy! ;0)
Hi Leigh Anne,
I would love to give a pendant like that to my best friend. She is the strongest woman I know who has been through so much and has always supported me. We’ve actually been best friends since high school, but have known each other since first grade (then went to different schools for a while). She is amazing and knows me so well. It is such a joy to have her in my life and to know that I have someone who loves me unconditionally and just ‘gets’ me.
Thanks for holding the giveaway. Incidentally, since I live in Utah, I would love to know what boutique you went to (and where) if you happen to know.
Thanks again!
What a beautiful gift this would make for the best sister- in- law ever!
I would definately give it to my aunt who has been a true inspiration to me and my children since my mother passed away in 2005.
Such a beautiful piece of jewelry..I would love to win it. Thanks for the chance!
I would love the pendant! Thanks for informing us about these great causes and ideas!
The pieces are beautiful! You definitely do know how to find great things!
Beautiful–I will be spending my dollars with local craftsman this year. Great idea.
These are absolutely amazing. I would love to give one to several dear friends and my inspirational mother. THANKS for sharing all these fun ideas!
These are so beautiful. I love homemade gifts, especially with pictures. I would love to give it to my mom, who has the cutest grandkids ever!
I love your blog and tell so many of my friends her in the Northwest all about it. I would love to give this gift to my sister who is one of my best friends. Her 5yr old was just diagnosed with cancer and we have decided on a homemade christmas this year. this would be perfect for her.