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As the newspapers and television stations continue their media blitz of ads for holiday gifts from department stores and malls, 12 Small Things provides a welcome alternative, showcasing handmade gifts from artisans around the world. 12 Small Things, along with By Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine has curated a collection of great small gifts from skillful artisans preserving cultural craft techniques amidst challenging social, economic and political conditions. This week     we are showcasing great gifts from Asia.

As the holidays quickly approach I wanted to take a minute to be thankful for the year that has flown by. We have received so much support for our website collection12 Small Things by HAND/EYE, showcasing the work of artisans around the world. From neighborhood street fairs in rain or shine (many in the rain), to trunk shows at local businesses and friend’s homes, to events like the Green Festival and Women’s Expo, I have had so many people express their interest for the work we are doing to help artisans in need around the world.

With the holidays just around the corner, 12 Small Things, along with By Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine has curated a collection of great small gifts from around the world for thoughtful gift-giving this season. All the products are handmade by skillful artisans preserving cultural craft techniques amidst challenging social, economic and political conditions.

Just when you’re not sure how everything is going to come together, it does, almost magically. Such was the case when I was in New York for the International Gift Fair, for my job as a sales representative withKeena and for my website 12 Small Things. I was lucky to be able to share a hotel room near Times Square with my friend and merchandise advisor, Karen Gibbs from By Hand Consulting. My first two days there I had worked with two of our Keena vendors, first in the Roostbooth at the Piers and then at the Chilewich booth at the Javitz Center

From angels in February to suddenly summer and I’m still not sure where the time went. Between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day 12 Small Thingswas busy showcasing hand-made hearts from Haiti, Kenya and Guatemala along with recycled glass necklaces from Ghana and jewelry from the forests of Colombia. To supplement website sales, I joined forces with friends for a three-way trunk show of handmade products at the Apollo Cafe and also made appearances at a couple of Appel and Frank shopping events including Babes and Babies at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. I don’t remember when I’ve ever seen so many pregnant and young mothers in one place before.

As we enter the third week of January already, I’m finally able to sit down and reflect on the month past along with my wishes ahead for the new year. Holiday decorations finally put away, kids back at school and 12 Small Things by HAND/EYE‘s new Valentine’s Day collection up on the website, I have a rare Sunday afternoon free to myself. December was a blur of activity with holiday sales events and a lot of birthdays to celebrate along with Hanukah and Christmas. And then there was the morning of December 10th, when unbeknownst to me, our metal angel candleholders from Haiti were featured on the homepage of Yahoo!

I am so excited to launch 12 Small Thingsnew Fall 2010 collection in partnership withBy Hand Consulting and HAND/EYE Magazine! Karen Gibbs, co-founder of By Hand Consulting, has been advising me on my collection since we first met years ago when she was working with Aid to Artisansand I was attending their workshops during the New York Gift show. She and her partner, Colvin English, have  been working for over 15 years together promoting handmade goods through Aid to Artisans, the wholesale artisan company Melange they co-founded, and their work today with By Hand Consulting, advising retailers and governments about the value of handmade indigenous crafts.

Summer in San Francisco can often be cold, windy, foggy and frustrating. It’s often the best time to get out and explore other cities to get a taste of summertime. My good friends Terry and Ray Paetzold hosted a summer garden party for me, to introduce 12 Small Things to friends at their beautiful home in Lafayette. Terry’s parents and my father were best friends in their later years living in southern California. As our children have grown and our parent’s have passed away, Terry and I have grown closer with each milestone. Terry is a terrific chef, having cooked and catered with some of the best in the Bay Area, and has started a cooking school called In Terry’s Kitchen. Terry served a variety of appetizers to complement my artisan products from around the world, including India, Africa and Mexico. The weather was hot, the guests were lovely and everyone seemed to be having a good time enjoying Terry’s delicious food and wine while shopping generously in support of artisans in need.

As Mother’s Day approaches, I’d like to share with you three stories about mothers who are working as fair trade artisans trying to make a difference for their families and communities. My first story is about a group of mostly single moms who make luxury soaps from their homes in New Orleans. Fondly referred to as “Soap Box Moms”, these women are raising their children while trying to make ends meet in a challenging economy still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Once a working single mom herself, Beth James founded the company “Queen B” to make fragrant garden scented soaps and lotions with help from local women in need of a job where they could work from home.

My second story is about artisan mothers who are part of “The Silk Scarf Project”, a non-government organization created to help struggling rural communities in northern India who previously depended solely on agriculture to survive. Children had to work on the farms, and fathers often had to leave their families for work in the city. The Silk Scarf Program teaches these communities how to grow, spin, dye, and weave silk into beautiful scarves. This project has empowered women in the villages to earn an income and operate a business from their homes, enabling their children to attend school. I purchase these amazing scarves fromDolma Designs and 108 Mala who work directly with these resourceful women.

Jann Cheifitz started her first business making T-shirts as a teen in South Africa living under apartheid. “They became my form of protest, like wearable graffiti,” says Cheifitz, now a mom living in the East Village of New York. Jann was a political activist and taught people how to print up their own designs through a community arts project. Inspired by the punk do-it-yourself ethos, Cheifitz later moved to England and sold her T-shirts on the streets of London. She finally moved to New York and teamed up with fellow South African Carole Scott to start their own company “Lucky Fish”, making unique, graphic designs on casual clothing for adults and children from their fair trade factory in Brooklyn.

I feel honored to have been introduced to these women and to be helping to support their projects through12smallthings.com. I also feel very lucky to be a mom this Mother’s Day to my wonderful daughters and among my community of family and friends as we help support and celebrate one another. Happy Mother’s Day 2010.

February was a blur of activity from which I am now just starting to unwind at March’s end. My friendBarbara Adamson and I held a Valentine’s event the first Sunday at The Bliss Bar in Noe Valley called “Love, Jazz and 12 Small Things.”

Barbara is a jazz vocalist who’s been working in publication design until recently, wanting to get back into the music scene. With no street fairs to be found in the Bay Area for February, I wanted to hold a private event that would be fun to attend while providing a chance for Barbara and I to showcase our wares! When Barbara informed me we had chosen Super Bowl Sunday to host our event, I initially panicked about the attendance and fretted over the party I’d miss. Thankfully, Barbara and I have friends and family, our best fans and customers, who don’t care all that much about football or who own a VCR and aren’t afraid to use it. Barbara sang a great first set of love songs to a nicely turned out crowd who came to support us.

At intermission, I enlisted the help of friends and family to model my Valentine’s Day collection from 12 Small Things, while I told the stories of the artisans who made them. The show stopper was the “Mi Amor” underwear from Lucky Fish in Brooklyn, modeled by my niece Morgan and her friend Dylan who scored big points by missing the game to model a fair trade blanket from Peru! My daughter Olivia helped me sell product in Bliss’s upstairs lounge while Barbara sang her second set, finishing with “When the Saints Go Marching In”, as New Orleans won the Super Bowl on the bar’s muted television. Thanks to everyone’s purchases, I was able to donate $100 from the event to Doctors Without Borders for their relief work in Haiti.

February was also an eventful month for my family, as our daughter Olivia decided on her own to become a Bat Mitzvah, even though my husband and I are not particularly religious, preferring nature to churches and temples. However, we were happy to support our youngest who just turned 13 and impressed her family and friends with a beautiful service at Beth Israel Judea.Our Jewish friends and family members gave the Torah blessings for Olivia and everyone helped us celebrate afterward with food and dance, bestowing much appreciated gifts to Olivia for the five year journey she undertook.

After those two big events, March felt like a real letdown with no particular holidays to promote sales for my website. Fortunately I had the sense to say yes to opportunities for networking and trading services that kept my momentum going and a bit of revenue coming in. Thanks to my friend and retail mentor Darcy Lee at Heartfelt, I joined both theBernal Heights Business Alliance as well as a local entrepreneur group that help me stay in tune with my neighborhood and meet other merchants during this challenging economy. My entrepreneur group helps me prioritize goals for my business, makes me laugh and basically puts energy back in my tank for the month ahead. I feel very lucky to live in such a great San Francisco neighborhood with my family, friends and neighbors all willing to lend a helping hand.