Babies, Babies Everywhere

Is it me, or is everybody pregnant all of a sudden? There are babies, both actualized and in potentia, everywhere in my life these days (including a constantly rotating roster of BEST mommies!). If you’re like me, it seems like you’re always on the lookout for baby gifts, whether for showers or to send after the birth announcement has come out. Here are a few great suggestions!
You absolutely can’t go wrong with a baby hat, and this adorable pixie number from BEST’s own Sweet Pepita is a sure-fire hit. Insider tip: keep an eye out for the occasional collaboration with The Littlest Bean , when these great hats are embellished with darling felt flowers that up the cute factor by at least ten.

The trick to giving a useful gift at a baby shower is to be thoughtful without being presumptuous. Beautiful burp cloths like these from TrulyBella are a can’t-miss idea – everybody needs them, you can’t have too many, and handmade with style? They’re perfect.

Sure, baby showers are generally about the baby gifts – but don’t forget about Mama! Pamper her with a thoughtful gift like this luxury spa set for those sore pregnant footsies from BEST’s own Spa Therapy Works. And if you’re at a co-ed shower, with both parents present, why not give them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, to help them take time out together for themselves in their remaining time before baby?

Finally, if you’re sending a baby gift to a far-away friend or relative, one of my favorite indie business success stories will be sure to impress. Baby Bunch offers beautiful bouquets made of baby gear! Each bouquet includes a variety of useful baby items, like onesies, burp cloths, and socks, and they come in blue, pink, and neutral yellow. They even offer an organic bouquet.

Written by Jamaila of Anapurna

What I'm Working on- Sweet Pepita

These days, the question is more like 'what am I not working on'...



Hey Boyfriend! sleeveless hoodies Our version of the sweater vest. It's urban and oh so anti-Wall Street. Layer it over a short or long-sleeved tee or sport it as-is!



Sweet Pepita Tunics My new favorite outfit... These are so pretty and yet so wearable. As the kids grow, these tunics can be worn as tees. Gotta love the value in clothes that can be worn for multiple seasons!

Hey Boyfriend! Images from Tya Anthony

Good Giveaways!

Oh, how I love a good giveaway. Especially when the giveaway is something I not just could use, but want to use. And like you already know, we here at BEST have some fine prizes!

First of all, don't forget about the BEST Summer Giveaway yet! The drawing will happen on August 29th, so if you haven't signed up for our mailing list, sign up now!

In the mean time, you can enter to win this beautiful pendant from The Broken Plate!


Guess how many unbroken plates are squirreled away in Juliet's basement in the comments at her blog under the original post.

Get the little one in your life ready for November's election by winning this one of a kind Obama tee from my shop, Sweet Pepita.


Tell us about your first visit to the polls in the comment section of the original post and it could be yours!

Good luck!

Sweet Pepita is the Best!

In case we haven't talked about the Best of Baltimore enough, one of our own was given her own special nod in this month's issue.

Baby Greens Shannon Delanoy had a hard time finding sweatshop-free clothing for her daughter Alice. So she started the Sweet Pepita, sweetpepita.etsy.com, baby clothing line last year. The line takes retro T-shirts and blends them with brightly colored, 100-percent organic cotton shipped from New Mexico. Delanoy makes shirts, dresses, scarves, bibs, and hats. She explains that most of the T-shirts that she alters come from thrift stores or friends' closets, so some toddlers get adorned with a Guinness logo or Jimi Hendrix decal. A small price to pay for sustainability.

Go Shannon!!!

Get the entire BOB 2008 list here.

It Happened Kinda Like This...

I'm one of those saps who believes that everything happens for a reason. I know it's not the intellectual thing to think, but it's something I have to do if I'm gonna get through this life. The choices I've made along the way have helped, too. I know. But some people are meant to be your friends and some things are just meant to be.


BEST was a glimmer that none of us could put our fingers on. The organization it would take to form a street team was daunting and the timing was bad. I'm not quite sure if any of us were prepared to work even harder, to have our families wonder if our marbles hadn't gotten stuck in the floorboards somewhere. But we were drawn to each other. We had to do it.

I wrote this in my blog just before Christmas of last year, before any of us had met or imagined what we would work together to achieve...

I love fabric of different prints and textures layered and stitched together. This petite brooch from The Littlest Bean is so feminine without being frilly. It would look VERY sweet affixed to a baby girl's soft knit cap. Hmmmm. Maybe one day it will be! Find this brooch and a ton more at jenmenkhaus.etsy.com

A set of note cards from JennyJen 42 is the perfect gift for ANYONE. Really, we use up our coolest stationary fast in this house. Besides, it's just nice to get something in the mail that's not a bill or a forest's worth of junk. Hey, when you think about it, a gift of cards sends cheer all over the place! jennyjen42.etsy.com

And then came Leah. The tenacious CuriousZoo. Leah was not going to give up. Bad timing, be damned! This street team is forming! And we did. JenMenkhaus got us all in line. Her management and organizational skills were essential in our creation, and she still keeps us going strong. And growing. We have all worked so hard. And now, again, it's time to work even harder so we can live up to our Best of Baltimore title.


Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the collaboration between The Littlest Bean and Sweet Pepita turned out great! It's like these hats were meant to be.

Twenty Things - Sweet Pepita

1. My husband called me Little Chrissy when we first met because I ate that much candy.

2. Even though I have 2 cats (who I love), I’m really a dog person.

3. I don’t wear a wedding ring.

4. Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t want to move. I love our little house.

5. I speak Spanish, although it’s not as good as it used to be.

6. There are ghosts in the past 2 houses I’ve lived in.

7. If I had given birth to a boy, and not a girl, I would have named him Link Emiliano. (Link, after Link Wray and Emiliano, after Emiliano Zapata.

8. I’m superstitious. Very, very superstitious.

9. My memory of things that have happened is so much better than my ability to remember to do things.

10. I come from a long line of psychic women.

11. Marigolds are my favorite flowers. Some people think they’re pedestrian, but I think they’re magnificent.

12. I love feeling the warmth of the sun shining through a glass window in the wintertime.

13. If I have to spend any time in Hell, I’ll probably be removing wallpaper. While on a treadmill.

14. I could eat tamales every day.

15. My mom has tried several times to teach me how to make tortillas, but I can not.

16. Steve Buscemi is my big movie star crush.

17. We still don’t have cable television, but I wish we did.

18. I like baking because it’s scientific and makes me feel smarter than I actually am.

19. I like vacuuming.

20. Nothing grosses me out more than mayonnaise. I don’t care what fancy name they give it, it’s still nasty.

Would you like to be featured? Email your twenty things (keep it clean, please!) to baltimoreetsy (at) gmail (dot) com. Be sure to include your name and URL.

Sweet T's

Our very own blog mistress Shannon of SweetPepita was featured in the Urbanite this month! Check out this write up by Rebecca Messner:

Outgrown your old Sex Pistols T-shirt but aren’t ready to part with it yet? Give it to your newborn! Shannon Delanoy of Sweet Pepita clothing custom-makes long- and short-sleeved T-shirts from organic and recycled materials for tots up to size 4T. Send in your old (freshly washed) shirt, choose from colors like avocado or arctic blue for the sleeves and trim, and Delanoy will hand-sew your very own hipster baby creation. Browse her website (sweetpepita.etsy.com) for pre-made, thrift-store-chic designs, like T-shirts with a screen-printed image of the late PBS painting guru Bob Ross and his “happy trees” or the modern idiom “Don’t hate the playa, hate the game.” Also for sale: pixie hats for infants, bibs, and color-block scarves for adults. The line is named after Delanoy’s daughter, Alice Antonella Pepita, and inspired by the fashion rights of babies. “When Pepita was born, we got an onslaught of pink clothing,” Delanoy says. “It was like we lived in a bubble-gum world. If you meet my daughter, she’s not that girl. We felt she should be able to wear blue and green.” Also available at Red Tree (921 W. 36th St.) and Bediboo (4321 Harford Rd.).

Hmmmm.... What to do this weekend...

Join BEST members JenyGwen, JenMenkhaus, Miscelena and SweetPepita at the EcoFestival in Druid Hill Park! We'll be celebrating Baltimore Green Week and selling eco-friendly goodies for you and your family. Prepare yourself to fall in love with our park on a guided hiking or biking tour, discover how delicious and extraordinary vegan meals can be with fare from Yabba Pot, and just relax! Listen to music, enjoy art displayed in green space and maybe even learn a little something about how to take better care of your world.


And if that's not enough, this Sunday, April 27th, Bowerbox Press will be at the Day of the Book Festival in Kensington, MD. The fair is from 12 to 5, rain or shine. There will be authors, publishers, book artists, craftspeople, musicians and more!

Information is available at dayofthebook.com

Sweet Pepita!

So, hi! I’m Shannon from Sweet Pepita. I sew kids’ t-shirts and hats from organic cotton and recycled fabrics. Pepita is one of my baby girl’s many names. For real. My husband and I couldn’t choose just one. And if it weren’t for the birth of my daughter, I’d probably still have a jewelry studio in my house instead of a sewing machine parked in the dining room. So it was only fitting, I think, to name my business after her.

















I think my Sir Isaac Newton realization of the importance of art came in the kitchen as a child. Unable (or unwilling) to control my impulses, I grabbed my mama’s carved wooden bunny from off the windowsill. It was 6 or 7” tall, maybe 3” thick, and deceivingly light. Its color was a nearly perfect match to our cupboards, a kind of sickly yellow-brown. With a healthy pink eraser, I removed bunny’s penciled-in eyes, and held bunny, now a smooth, monochromatic woodland creature in my hands.

My mom was crazy mad.
“No, No, No. No. You do not do that. Why did you do that?” She grabbed the pencil and scribbled bunny’s eyes right on back. “That’s how the artist wanted it.”

Except now it is so obviously Mom’s scribble.

Nearly twenty years later, I graduated college with a degree in Spanish. While working towards that degree, I studied jewelry fabrication and design at MICA and began working for Barbie Levy, a jeweler based in Owings Mills, MD. From Barbie I learned so much about jewelry production and the craft world.

A friend taught me how to knit. I baked vegan cakes. A lot of vegan cakes. I did a little bit of everything. And then came Pepita. After the colic subsided I drew design after design for a line of infant clothing I just couldn’t get out of my brain. I knew I wanted to create a green product. And it had to be super-cool and unique. Finally, in late August of last year, my ideas were realized in fabric.

I sew because my mom taught me how to when I was still small. And I think it’s in my blood. Working with my hands has always been the most satisfying way to make a living. I can feel that I’m doing something and I can see my style and my touch in what I do. I know that with love and skill and care, our craft and our art is our history. And that’s how I want it.