Pour Yourself A Cup of Ambiton & Inspiration!

In this polarizing time is there any greater unifier than Dolly Parton? She exudes warmth, love, and tolerance.

Dolly stands the test of time in every facet of her life.  Her music, lyrics, movies, theme park, books, podcasts.  Her compelling life is full of highs and lows we can all relate to.  Her latest book "Dolly Parton, Songteller: The Lyrics of My Life" just dropped, and I am asking Santa for a copy (available at Barnes & Noble $50.00 hardcover)!  

It's hard to name a favorite song by Dolly, but admit it, haven't we all tried to belt out Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You?"  Probably the most authentic love song ever written, it's truly an anthem.  Of course, when I sing along in my off key warble it's cringeworthy!  I cracked up when I saw this coffee mug...a must have for any Dolly fan. (Amazon $14.99) 

Spice up your Dolly Fandom with these darling embroidered cashmere sweaters from Lingua Franca NYC ($380).

In case you haven't heard, embroidery is "hot" this year.  

Want the embroidery without the couture prices? 

Check out @apparelbyanne (on instagram) in Dallas.  She can tailor a shirt/sweatshirt/sweater to a name or saying to suit you for a budget-worthy price. These are perfect gifts for that college coed with a great inside joke, or your tween who has a favorite song lyric, or the hipster mom who is cutting edge! 

 Place your book and sweater in this cute canvas bag as your gift wrap.  From Draper James, a cute tote we could all use. (Draper James $30)

Top off your Dolly tribute gift with an enameled pin (Etsy $6.92). Among my favorite Dolly lyrics is "Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen, Pour myself a cup of ambition"  

Now, if that's not an anthem for 2020 I don't what is!

Be Your Dog's Best Friend

Anyone who knows me knows I am crazy for my dog Toby. So, when I stumbled across this gift I realized I found the ultimate pet owner gift! 

Sweater Hound creates darling knit sweaters ($128), ball caps ($48), hoodies ($128), blankets ($148), cookie cutters ($28) of your pooch. It's easy--you upload a photo of your pet and select if you want the dog in sweater, bow tie, Christmas attire, Superman cape (because your dog is THE Superdog for sure!) etc. It may seem a bit pricey, but it is higher quality than your average product.

    

Just a heads up that today is the deadline to order and receive in time for Christmas, So, hop on their site and get to it--it will only take you 10 minutes.  I ordered mine last night!

Not a dog lover? Have a cat that rules your world? Sweater hound will do custom order for pet owners of cats, birds, turtles, bunnies, etc.

Sweater Hound is truly a show stopper of a present to open on Christmas morning. However, if you want to really spice it up and round out the outfit then add these custom pet socks from Furbaby Socks ($25 pair). Upload a photo of your pet dog, cat, horse, bird, rock and you are all set.

What better way to snuggle by the fire than wearing sweater & socks featuring your best friend!

*Apologies we are experiencing difficulty with the formatting of the new Blogger and are working on fixing the layout.  In an effort to get this post out today, we are sending it now despite this awkward layout.

We're Back in the Saddle!

 Exciting news! Giftpepper is back and get ready for new gifting ideas starting tomorrow! Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook too! @giftpepper

We are tweaking our site, so bear with us in the old format.

Mission Impossible: Memorable Gift for my Niece

My niece turned 10 earlier this year, and I wanted to find something truly special to mark her first decade birthday.  I searched high and low for something that was personal and memorable--something none of her friends had seen.

Ta-Da! I give you this beautiful custom handwriting bracelet from an Etsy shop called SilverHandwriting.  Vivian, the artisan, hand crafts custom bracelets using the script you hand write and upload to her site on Etsy.

It is the coolest gift for ages 10-90! You (or your loved ones) can write out anything, and upload it to create a unique bracelet.

 A few weeks before my niece's birthday, I asked her to write out her favorite saying on a piece of a paper (you can use a sharpie,or any bold pen).  I didn't tell her why, and, of course, she forgot that I asked.

On her birthday,  I presented her with this special bracelet that read "Rats Rule!" in her own handwriting.  This is a treasure she will enjoy now, and keep for her hope chest (I hope!).

I was impressed not only by the speed the order was completed, but also by the high quality of the bracelet.  It was something any adult would wear, and you can choose from Silver, White Gold, or Gold--all of which look expensive and well made. (the picture makes the gold look brassier than it is in real life--truly a nice quality in reality).

This bracelet makes a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Birthday/Mother's Day/Bridesmaid gift.  Anyone from a spouse writing "I love you", to grandparents signing a special note, to children signing their names side by side for their mother, to a bestie writing an inside joke to her friend,  it is a lasting treasure to see your loved ones' handwriting memorialized.

Vivian at SilverHandwriting has a variety of signature jewelry to choose from.  This one runs approximately $46.00 and she is running a 30% off special through the holidays.

Spice It Up:  This special birthday needed one more memorable treat.  Many of you have seen photo-collage pillows online previously, but I am a believer in this gift for it high quality.

Collage.com produces pillows with your favorite mix of photos, and helps you easily sort & size them to create a fun collage.  Unlike many other photocollage sites, their pillows are printed on a fine canvas fabric.  It is something you would be happy to have on your couch or bed (not that smooth cheap fabric that makes the photos fuzzy).

The pillows range in price, depending on size, from $12.00 to $125.00.  First time buyers to the site receive 60% off.  This pillow was the largest (so I could fit more photos on the pillow) at 26x26.  This would be $125.00, but their holiday promo keeps it at an affordable $40.00.


Jazz the pillow up a bit, by adding a fun design pic with their name.  I found this temporary tattoo design on the web at Tattofun.com.  Fortunately, the design was already available in my niece's name, but Tattoofun.com will custom inscribe/add any name to your selected design.

They were kind enough to send me the JPEG of the artwork, so it was easy to upload to Collage.com for the pillow (better resolution than copying it from the site).

I bought a few of the temporary tattoos in this same heart tattoo design for her friends to wear at the birthday party.  These were fairly large, and ran $2.95 each.  Pretty neat to have all your friends wearing your name in a temporary tattoo!

The coupe de grace:  I grabbed a few multi-color fabric markers at Jo-Anns and brought them to the party so her friends could sign the back of the pillow.  (Though, I will say that a single black marker will do the trick, and is less expensive).

Whew!  Memorable gift mission accomplished!