Apron Give-Away!

In addition to all of the cute things we listed in the shop last week, we've added some flirty, ruffled aprons. And we're giving one away this week on Lulu the Baker (my food blog).  In September, I posted a recipe for one of my family's favorite dinners, Cheesy Chowder, and it has been cookin' up a storm on Pinterest ever since!  To celebrate it's success, we're giving away one of our brand new aprons!  You can find the give-away HERE, and the recipe HERE (I promise, you'll love it!).

New in the Shop

Max & Ellie are ready for the holidays with a shop full of cute new items and more of your good ol' favorites!

bobbi pin trios:  a set of 3 coordinating silver-toned bobbi pins, all carefully matched, made by hand, and attached to a sweet, scalloped card; 1 large resin blossom, 1 fabric-covered button, and 1 stitched felt flower

$12

appliqued baby one-pieces and toddler tees:  sweet designs hand-drawn and hand-cut on the cutest designer fabrics, stitched onto cotton baby and toddler gear

one-pieces: $15 each or 2 for $25

tees:  $17.50 each or 2 for $30

little chef aprons:  oh, how we love these little beauties!  Perfectly sized for 3- to 6-year-olds, completely reversible, with elastic necks and velcro waist bands so they can put them on by themselves; perfect for playtime or helping in the kitchen.  And did we mention they're adorable?

$20

tiny charm earrings:  hand-stamped on sterling silver or 14K gold-fill, these little 1/2" beauties are made to order and oh so sweet; choose from 4 cute designs or your initials!

$18

tiny charms:  just like our tiny charm earrings, but attached to a super-sturdy jump ring and ready to string on a chain or charm bracelet

$8

boo boo kits:  fully stocked with band-aids and alcohol wipes, but also the perfect size for credit cards, gift cards, business cards, etc

$5

blossom earrings:  sweet, resin blossoms in a variety of bright and happy colors, all with sterling silver posts and backs

$13

celebration bunting totes:  grocery shopping and taking books to the library have never looked so good!  A canvas tote with two lines of hand-painted triangle bunting, plus one appliqued felt flag and one appliqued fabric flag

$20

December Giveaway Day!

Comments are now closed. Congratulations jhitomi! We'll be contacting you shortly. Thanks everyone for entering our giveaway, and Happy Holidays!!

We at Max and Ellie have been participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Days for a few years now, and we are thrilled to once again offer up a fun prize from our store. If you're new to Giveaway Day, here's a quick synopsis: hundreds of bloggers, some associated with generous online shops, some just associated with their own generous selves, all do fantastic giveaways on the same day. The sponsor, Sew Mama Sew, has link lists of all of the participating blogs, and you can spend literally hours checking out new blogs and shops, leaving a comment, and entering to win fabulous prizes. Click HERE to go to Sew Mama Sew's master lists.

Now, onto our prize! We have tons of lovely, new items in our shop, and we'd love to send one of them to one of you! The winner of our giveaway can choose one of the following from our shop:

an itty bitty boo-boo kit in their choice of color (we have lots of new colors not yet listed in the shop, like orange and lavender; just ask!)

or

a bobbi pin trio in their choice of color

or

a set of blossom earrings in their choice of color

or

a set of cute-as-a-button earrings in their choice of color (not currently listed in the shop, but you can see them in the picture below, and if that's the prize you choose, we can send you lots more pictures!)

All you have to do to enter is visit our shop, pick a favorite item (or 2 or 3!), and leave us a comment on this post telling us what it is! Be sure to include your email address in your comment so that we can get in touch with you if you win. The giveaway will end sometime on Friday, December 17th, at which time we'll announce and contact the winner and ship out their prize. We'll actually be out of town while that last part is going on, but we have a sweet, helpful husband who will be dealing with packaging and shipping the prize. But because of that, we are only opening this contest to US residents.

Happy Holidays and Good Luck!

love, Max and Ellie

Share the Love Week with The Anderson Crew

I won't get into too many details, because you can read them all HERE. I'll just tell you that Emily, her husband, and their 4 beautiful children are raising money to bring a new member of their family, sweet Elisabeth, home from Ethiopia. 46 shops--including Max and Ellie!--donated items, and starting Tuesday you can bid on them. All of the donated items have been divided into themed bundles, with each bundle having a value of over $300! Why are you still reading? Go! Go! Go!!

Shop Spotlight and Giveaway: Sweet Eventide

All photos in this post are the property of Sweet Eventide

Way back when (definitely 2010, but no clue what month!), I happened to sign up to participate in sfgirlbybay's Blog It Forward event. Hundreds of bloggers participated, and we all jumped around every day for weeks and weeks checking out each other's blogs, interests, eye candy, and inspirations. Blog It Forward introduced me to tons of new, gorgeous blogs, but the number of participants was so overwhelming that I don't remember a lot of them now. There is one notable exception: Sweet Eventide by Jessica Nichols. Jess's day to post came before mine. I commented on her post (it was very inspirational, after all), she responded, she commented on mine when the day came, I responded, bada-boom, bada-bing, now we're friends!

Sweet Eventide showcases Jess's dreamy photography, which is available for purchase through her Etsy shop, also named Sweet Eventide. Here's a little introduction to Jess, her blog, and her shop. And be sure to read all the way to the bottom for an chance to win one of her gorgeous pictures!

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M & E: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jess: I have a hard time with the bio bit so I'm going to steal from my Flickr profile and my blog's About Jess page: "I'm a writer and photographer. I'm a Virgo who doesn't make lists. I share art, photography and other beautiful, inspiring thing on my blog Sweet Eventide. I'm a mama to one 7-year-old boy that I call The Noodle and I'm happily married to Jeff. I'm a four-time survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and eventide is my favorite time of day. I love all of the following things: bokeh, polaroids, lisa mitchell, surf art and culture, even though I am not a surfer, sustainable food, cities, making stuff by hand, pretty papers, lanterns and twinkle lights, red wine, all things Italy, the french language, and guitars.

M & E: How long have you been taking pictures?
Jess: I first started taking pictures at 15 in my high school's only photography class. I have always had a camera but I began taking pictures in earnest again once I became a mother seven years ago. When I began blogging in 2006, my interest in photography grew more and more intense.

M & E: Do you have any formal photography training or are you self-taught?
Jess: I am a self-taught photographer, minus the one class in high school. My father (deceased) was an avid photographer with a darkroom at times during my childhood so I think there is a genetic component to it.

M & E: Are you strictly a digital girl or do you use film too?
Jess: I am not strictly a digital girl. I fell in love with Polaroids again through blogging and my husband surprised me with an SX-70 last September. When I can get my hands on film for it, I am in camera heaven. I have a small collection of vintage film cameras but so far, I haven't gotten my hands on the right film to try them out.

M & E: When did you decide to start an Etsy shop? And how's that going? For us, we seem to have months of inactivity broken up with little spurts of orders. Funny how that happens! Jess: I had an Etsy shop a couple of years ago because I liked to make cards and invitations. I really didn't make it a priority so I let it go. When I relaunched my blog in the spring of 2009, with a new name and look, I decided to venture back into Etsy and focus solely on my photography. I still really believe that it's possible to get out of Etsy what you put into it, even though it has grown so large and overwhelming since I first discovered it. When I am actively listing items, promoting them and advertising the shop, I definitely see an increase in views and sales. I really dream of my shop providing a steady, part-time income for me.

M & E: Do you have a favorite place to take pictures?
Jess: Yes, my favorite place to take pictures is someplace new to me. Nothing inspires me more than a change of scenery. I am especially drawn to cities. I get to San Francisco and Portland mostly, but boy do I daydream about New York and Europe from behind my lens(es). I also love to be in wide, open spaces in nature with my camera.

M & E: What is your favorite type of thing to photograph? Flowers? Machinery?

Jess: My favorite type of thing to photograph is that thing that most other people don't notice: doorknobs, small objects on a desk, collections of things. I do swoon over spring blossoms so I find my camera pointing that way constantly. I also have a fondness for photographing children's toys after they've been played with and are left strewn about.

M & E: Being a cancer survivor probably affects every aspect of your life. Do you think it affects you as an artist, and how so?
Jess: Definitely. I've been known to say that cancer is the window through which I view the world now. It's not always an intense awareness but it is always there. Survivorship affects me as an artist because while I was always detail-oriented, it is more heightened because cancer has taught me over and over again that life is precious and it is the small moments and the small things that make up a happy, good life for me.

*****

Jess is generously offering to giveaway one of her gorgeous Dahlia prints in a 4x6 size!

To enter, swing by her shop, Sweet Eventide on Etsy, then leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite photos are. I'll get you guys started, just in case you can't narrow it down: I love the Satsumas print, and I own the Old Singer print. It hangs just above my desk!

You can get extra entries by becoming a follower of Jess's blog, Sweet Eventide, or by making a purchase from her shop before the giveaway ends. Just leave comments on this post telling us what you've done. The contest will end next Monday, June 14th. Thanks Jess, and Good Luck readers!

New in the Store: Earrings and Aprons and Blankies, Oh My!

As mentioned a few weeks ago, we've been very busy lately. One of us had a baby (not me), and the other sewed up a storm in anticipation of our biannual craft boutique. Now that the boutique is behind us, we have lots of cute, new items in the shop. Our brand, spankin' new items are

Cute as a Button Earrings & Hand-rolled Fabric Flower Bib Necklaces

And we have some updated Oldies-but-Goodies in all new colors and fabrics: Button Bobbies, Itty Bitty Boo-Boo Kits, Little Baby Blankies, Little Artist Crayon Kits, Little Chef Aprons, and Infant Carseat Covers.

I'm Not Ignoring You, I Promise

So, it isn't that I haven't been busy Max and Ellie-ing. Quite the opposite, actually. I've been working my little tail off (although, not literally; that would be too wonderful, wouldn't it!) getting things ready for a craft boutique. Last Holiday season, a few friends and I threw together a little craft boutique. Much to our surprise and delight, it was pretty well-attended, so much so, that we decided to make it a biannual event. Our first ever spring boutique is coming up next Friday, and I've been cutting and sewing and gluing like a mad woman making this's and that's. To date, I have made:

6 Little Artist Crayon Kits


12 Little Chef Aprons


5 Infant Carseat Covers
(with more to come because Max's mommy is overdue with baby #2 and I told her to just send me her fabric)


20-something Itty Bitty Boo-Boo Kits


18 pairs of adorable earrings and 2 lovely necklaces (with hopefully 5 more to follow)


6 Little Baby Blankies


plus business cards, displays, stickers, etc.

If you're in the Eugene area next Friday, I'd love to see you! Click HERE for the details. And check back next Monday for a fun give-away as part of Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day!

Give-Away Winner and New in the Store

Congratulations to the winner of Let's Make Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aranzo: Beth! Beth, you can expect an email from me shortly to get your address. Thanks to everyone for playing!

We have more lovely, new items in the Max and Ellie shop. Our cute button bobby pins feature a 7/8" handmade, fabric-covered button on a 2" silver bobby pin. Stripes, fruit, flowers, polka dots...there's a set to please any little princess or hot mama. And at only $5 a set, they'd make the perfect little Valentine's Day treat. Click HERE to go to the store!

Shop Spotlight & Give-Away: True Love Found

I was delighted to be paired up with Amy, the brains behind True Love Found, for the Shop Swap & Blog event I signed up for last September. Amy is a stay-at-home mom to two adorable kids: big sister Buggie, and brandy new baby brother, Jellybean. Amy's Etsy shop, True Love Found, is stocked full of the most adorable handmade felt crowns I've ever seen. When we started emailing each other, I told her I'd love a birthday crown for each of my two daughters, but gave her very little info besides one's favorite color (red) and the other's nickname (the little Hedgehog). I let her have complete creative power, and within an hour Amy had emailed me pictures of the finished crowns. And they are just perfect! Amy also sells adorable magic wands, and felt and fabric flower hair clips. And she loves to do custom orders. Amy also blogs at Buggie and Jellybean, where she has lots of great posts and fun give-aways.

Amy is generously sponsoring our give-away today. The winner of the give-away will receive a $25 store credit at Amy's fabulous store, True Love Found. That's enough to buy a crown, a wand, and a hair clip! Thanks Amy! To enter this amazing give-away, visit Amy's store, True Love Found, and leave a comment on this post with your favorite item. You can get 5 additional entries by buying a bit of cute, felty goodness from Amy's store (just leave 5 separate comments on this post). The give-away is open until next Monday, January 18th. We'll close comments at 9 AM pacific time and announce a winner! Comments are now closed. Congratulations Carole; we'll be contacting you shortly!

New Items for a New Year!

We've reopened the Etsy shop and stocked it full of cute new things! Up first are the Little Baby Blankies. A certain Max and Ellie seamstress--I won't say who, but it's not me!--still sleeps with the blankie she's had since birth. What stories that blankie could tell! Every baby deserves a soft, snuggly blankie to cuddle up with at nap time, bed time, or any time. Our blankies are made from quilter's weight cotton in beautiful designer prints, and are backed with super soft minky dots in white or pink. Measuring at 16x19", they are the perfect size for snuggling at home or on the go. They fit in purses, backpacks, diaper bags, and suitcases, so they can go anywhere your baby goes.

Little Baby Blankies--sweet designer fabric backed with soft, white or pink minky dots