Welcome to the Succulent Wife’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide on 1000Markets. We are excited to be featuring some wonderful hand-picked, could-not-be-more-perfect gift ideas for mom. We have something in every price range, but the true value of these handcrafted items comes from the imbedded passion of their creators. Please come in and take a look!

I discovered this product, haphazardly, by surfing the infinite web and reading an article about the  Miracle Noodle® on NaturalNews.com.  A noodle with ZERO calories, ZERO fat and less than one gram of carbs per serving? Just rinse and eat? Are you kidding?

The too-good-to-be-true alarm went off for a second, but knowing the natural advocacy zeal that burdens NaturalNews, I was pretty sure there was no BS here. Indeed not.
Turns out that the “miracle noodle”, aka Shirataki, has been around in Asia for quite some time.

“Gold becomes kundan only after passing through fire.”
This is a saying that Sapna Mehra heard as a little girl and that resonated loudly years later when she used it to help her surmount difficult events.
In Hindi, “Kundan” translates to “pure gold”. Here, we refer to kundan as a 400 year old jewelry making technique, traditional to India and that Sapna admired from her earliest years when playing for hours on end in her mother’s jewelry box.
Kundan is a method of gem  setting, consisting of inserting gold foil between the stones and its mount. It is often combined with enameling on [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
Did you know that board games are making a big comeback? Makes sense as we are all refocusing on things that are important to us and make us happy. Board games are one of the most fun ways ways to spend – inexpensive – quality time with family and friends. There is nothing like a great board game to bring on the laughs. Much needed these days…
Invite over a few friends over and grab the Game of THINGS.  The only premise of the game is to answer questions that start with “Things you…”.  For example, [...]

With all the talk about Green, Ecological, Environmentally-Friendly, Sustainable, Renewable, Recyclable, Earth-Friendly, Fair-Trade, Waste-Reducing and Organic labeled products, how can we tell what’s really green? As we are approaching Earth Day 2009 (Wednesday, April 22), I thought it would be timely to address the question.
And, here’s a fantastic resource for that: BuyGreen.com has become a trusted source for green products. Allison Huke and a partner started the company a couple years ago when she found it difficult to find all the green products that she needed and trusted for her family and her home. She certainly solved that problem! BuyGreen [...]

Remember this article? Well, some casual discussion between 1000Markets.com founder, Matt Trifiro and I has lead to the creation of a gift-centered marketplace on 1000Markets. Be careful now. You never know what casual conversation will lead to!
Today, I am thrilled to launch this marketplace, the perfect venue to express my passion for indie made goods. The Succulent Wife’s Marketplace on 1000 Markets resurrects one of the Succulent Wife’s original missions to promote independent artists. This time (as opposed to my previous endeavor with my own online shop) I am simply curator, not shopkeeper and get to indulge in hand-picking gift [...]