Category Archives: gift guide

Shop to Empower Women Worldwide – April 14

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Want to have a girls-night out with wine and shopping for gorgeous Fair Trade products, all while helping women around the world to make a decent living?

Trades of Hope works with the artisans themselves and organizations that are empowering women otherwise living difficult lives in difficult circumstances. Amanda Schmidt works here in the Twin Cities for Trades of Hope and she’s throwing a party at Blooma-St. Paul.

“Women empowering other women here in the Cities and around the world!” says Amanda. Make a night of it and bring a friend! Get a sneak peek at the types of Fair Trade goodies you might see. Continue reading

The Sweetest Baby Gift Ever — Original Artwork

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Minneapolis artist and Blooma mama Megan Moore has been pretty busy lately — and not just because she’s a new mom to an adorable 5-month-old boy. People from all over the country are catching on to her latest artistic offering, a project called “Commemorate the Date.” We thought you might want to know about it, too!

8.13.11 Cara KimOnce your baby is born (or a friend’s baby), just let Megan know baby’s name and birth date, any preferred colors, type of flower, or other significant image, and she’ll create an original oil painting to celebrate the day your little one arrived!

The sweet peas above, for example, were painted for a foodie mama and farmer’s market fanatic. So what cuter image to choose than sweet peas for her little one? Adorable, right?

Are you a Blooma mama who makes something by hand? Tell us all about it by e-mailing me at alisa (at) blooma.com or in the comments sectin below!

Love,

Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma

 

Celebrate Mother’s Day Near & Far with These Great Gifts

With so many wonderful ways to support mothers both locally and abroad, we at Blooma thought we’d offer a few Mother’s Day gift ideas.

• Support local mothers in need (and support doula care) with this gift to your mom or to yourself — become an Isis Rising founding mother! Isis Rising is a prison-based pregnancy, birth, and parenting program provided to women at Shakopee Women’s Prison.

If you donate $25, $100 or another amount in your mother’s name, she’ll receive a hand-made Mother’s Day Card. Donations of $100 or more will qualify the honorary donor as an Isis Rising “Founding Mother,” and their name(s) will be incorporated into a public art piece to be hung and displayed at Isis’ parent organization, Everyday Miracles Pregnancy Center. Donations of $500 or more will also include a bouquet of flowers hand-delivered by an Everyday Miracles volunteer (if in the Twin Cities area).

• Near and dear to Sarah’s heart  is Shanti Uganda, which began with a vision to bring the healing power of yoga and conscious birth to communities experiencing trauma in Uganda. (This is where Sarah helped build a birth center in 2010 with the generous support of Blooma families!).

The gorgeous beaded jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, and earrings), handmade yoga mat bags and handbags sold through Shanti Uganda are available in celebration of Mother’s Day at 40% off, AND support women who’ve graduated from the Income Generating Training Program. Each woman must be HIV positive and either a grandmother taking care of multiple grandchildren, a widow or in a situation of extreme poverty. Just enter  ”springcleaning” at checkout for the discount.

• The book from National Public Radio called Mom: A Celebration of Mom from StoryCorps ($14) makes a great gift for your own mom, grandmother, sister, or new-mom friend. ”Meet mothers and children of all kinds—immigrants, adult children caring for an elderly parent, a woman remembering the sound of her mother’s laugh, and visit families in moments of profound joy and sadness, courage and despair, struggle and triumph.”

• And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t recommend a Blooma gift card for your loved ones — great for using toward any of our yoga classes or a wellness service such as a massage or acupuncture.

Happy (almost) Mother’s Day from Blooma!

Love,

Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma