2022 Arkansas Made Mother's Day Gift Guide: 14 Locally Made Gifts Mom Will Love

Mid-mod birds, macramé vases, honeybee necklaces, Arkansas-made bath soaks, gorgeous Arkansas art and more make our 2022 Arkansas-made gift guide.

On the hunt for an original Mother’s Day gift? Make it extra special this year with something colorful, delightful and handmade locally by an Arkansas artisan. These handmade creations by some of our favorite Arkansas artists and makers are sure to bring a smile to the moms in your life. Each of these Arkansas-made gifts can be found in-store at Bang-Up Betty’s handmade jewelry and gift store, located at 429 Main Street in Argenta.

North Little Rock woodworker Paul Milholland’s mid century-modern wooden bird sculptures are impeccably made and delightfully fun to display. These birds are one-of-a-kind, so if you see one you need, hurry in before it flies home with someone else! Available in store at Bang-Up Betty.

Every piece of jewelry at Bang-Up Betty’s Argenta jewelry store and gift shop is made in-house, including the popular One Tough Mother necklace that’s a hit even when it’s not Mother’s Day. Available in store or online.

Bentonville water-colorist Joseph Buchanan shows North Little Rock’s iconic Old Mill a lot of love with this gorgeous matted print of his original painting. You’ll also find scenes of Argenta along with the Old Mill. Available in store.

Hot Springs ceramicist Carla Churchwell’s unique handmade flower pots are one-of-a-kind. We especially love her mandala flower pots that match her mandala ring dishes. Available in store alongside a huge assortment of Carla’s pottery.

Little Rock artist Kristin Sauer designed these Argenta tea towels especially for Bang-Up Betty. This design is also available in store as a print. Tea towels are available in store and online.

A gorgeous faceted drop of citrine is the honey on this bee necklace by Bang-Up Betty. Find this necklace in store and online along with tons of nature-themed jewelry and gifts.

Abbi’s Teas are hand-blended in Little Rock by Abbi Siler, who hand-crafted this custom “Bang-Up Bettea” tea blend exclusively for Bang-Up Betty. It’s an exciting black tea blend with tropical notes and a dash of edible brew shimmer to make your cup sparkle. Find it in store and online.

Hot Springs ceramicist Carla Churchwell’s flower frogs are always a huge hit, and they make especially great Mother’s Day gifts. Place these floral flower frogs on a jar or glass and slide the flower stems through the holes to keep your flowers perky and upright. Available in store.

These luxurious and creative bath soaks come in three cosmic scents and are made in Bentonville by The Bathing Native. Grab them in store or online.

Little Rock macramé artist Amy Darragh (AKA Creative Cords) made these beautiful macramé vases using upcycled mason jars. They’re perfect for holding Mother’s Day flowers, and they’re available in store.

Looking for a Mother’s Day gift that gives back? These “Elect Women” necklaces by Bang-Up Betty give back to Emerge Arkansas, a grassroots organization working to get progressive women elected to office in Arkansas. Available in store or online.

Sherwood-based artist Ashlee Nobel (AKA Lee Lee Arts) created these colorful llama prints based on her original art. They pair well with a “badass mama llama” card. Available in store.

Maumelle-based artist Sherry J. Williamson is known for her dazzling, colorful paintings that utilize meaningful quotes. This greeting card includes a Mr. Rogers quote we think is extra special for Mother’s Day. Available in store.

Bang-Up Betty’s birthstone jewelry is always a big hit at Mother’s Day, especially these customizable Birthstone Cluster necklaces. Available in store and online. Custom birthstone pendants take a few days to make, so it’s smart to order ahead and use code LOCALPICKUP if you’d like to pick it up in store.

Arkansas Made Mother's Day Jewelry Picks for 2021: Birthstones, Florals, Customizable and More

Mother’s Day feels like it’s coming up faster than ever this year. Don’t let May 9 sneak up on you! Here’s a list of my top picks for handmade jewelry magic that’ll make moms smile, be fun to personalize, and is made in Arkansas so you can feel great about shopping small and local.

Whether mom loves to garden, hike, or just stop and smell the roses, my newest cast bronze jewelry embodies Mother Nature, and most of it can be personalized by adding birthstones. Find the cast bronze sunflower necklace here, the dandelion seed necklace here, the rattlesnake tail necklace here, and the bronze butterfly earrings here.

This necklace pays homage to Arkansas’s staple crop while giving back to the Arkansas Foodbank, the largest hunger relief organization in the state. The Arkansas pendant was made by casting real Arkansas rice flowers (from Cornerstone Farm, near Altheimer, AR) in bronze, and it’s also available in sterling silver. 20% of the sales of these necklaces go directly to the Arkansas Foodbank. Each bronze Arkansas Rice Flower Necklace sold raises enough money to fund 58 meals for hungry Arkansans, and each silver necklace funds 67 meals for Arkansans in need. Get the Arkansas Rice Flower Necklace here.

If your mom is as into cats as my mom is, she’ll appreciate the Leonardo da Vinci-Inspired Cat and Mouse necklace from my Gallery Collection inspired by art history. If you’re surprised to learn that the man who painted the Mona Lisa spent a lot of his time observing and sketching cats, I’m with you. “Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece of nature” is a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, whose sketches of felines and studies for a painting he intended to finish portraying the Madonna and child holding a cat attest to the artist’s reverence for the animals. For my da Vinci-Inspired Cat and Mouse Necklace, I chose to focus on this playful fact and add a layer of my own friskiness. This necklace features a large cast bronze medallion impressed with the likeness of one of da Vinci’s cat drawings, and I added a hand-sculpted cast-bronze mouse connector charm above the cat to appear as if it’s stalking the mouse. Click here to get the Bronze Cat and Mouse Necklace.

If your childhood was filled with empty threats, immortalize them on a custom keychain to create the funniest Mother’s Day gift ever. Get the Don’t Make Me Turn This Car Around keychain here, or click here to customize your own keychain.

The perfect gift for mothers, grandmothers or anyone with several special people close to their heart. Wear the birthstones of each little one in your brood. Each mixed stone birthstone cluster necklace is unique. You select up to seven (7) stones for your necklace. Click here to get the custom birthstone cluster necklace from my Birthstone Cluster Collection of jewelry. Be sure to order this one ASAP! The pendants take a few days to make.

If you love the custom birthstone pendant necklace but think mom would be more into a stackable strand version or you’re looking for a custom birthstone necklace that costs a little less, check out the custom birthstone strand necklace here.

And if you already found a necklace here and you’d just like to add a personal touch to it, it’s affordable and easy to add a birthstone or two or three to your necklace. These birthstones are gemstone chips, and they’re the perfect addition to a vertical bar necklace or charm necklace. Just add the necklace you want to your cart (may we suggest the custom vertical bar necklace?) and then add this listing with your chosen birthstone to your cart. Create your own custom birthstone jewelry! These birthstone chips look great with vertical bar necklaces and charm necklaces, but we don’t recommend them for horizontal bar necklaces. Click here to add a birthstone to your necklace.

These dainty, Art Deco Arkansas state necklaces and earrings are simple and beautiful. These little bronze or sterling silver Arkansas charms are cast with a beautiful Art Deco fan pattern and come as a dainty necklace or a set of hoop earrings. Find the Art Deco Arkansas Jewelry here.

Custom name necklaces are a great gift for Mother’s Day! Keep those you love close to your heart, figuratively and literally with this sweet, classic custom name necklace stamped by hand. Click here to get the Personalized Name Necklace.

Is mom your missing puzzle piece? Get a friendship necklace for you and one for mom with these puzzle piece necklace sets. Handmade bronze puzzle piece charms are about one inch across and hang from gold-filled chains. Please note that the pieces don’t fit PERFECTLY together, as is the nature of hand-cast charms (they’re all unique!). But they are cast from matching puzzle pieces. They are available with a decorative, Art Deco pattern or without a pattern and also available on 18-inch and 20-inch chains. Find the Missing Puzzle Piece Friendship Necklaces here.

Is your mom the queen of Bingo? Get her a trophy she can wear to let the world know she plays for keeps. Find the Bingo Queen Necklace here. It’s cast from a real Bingo chip!

My Rose Window Necklace was inspired by the stained glass windows of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and would make a perfect Mother’s Day gift for moms who love to travel and need to stop and admire all the beautiful churches when they do. Find the Rose Window Necklace here. It’s part of my Gallery Collection of jewelry inspired by Art History.

Is the mom in your life a total goddess? Then I bet she’d love something from my Siren Collection of jewelry inspired by Greek mythology. This necklace is the Hera Peacock Necklace inspired by the queen of the Greek gods. Find the whole Siren Collection here to see which god or goddess fits your mom.

If you’ve found a necklace mom will love, but you think she’d like a little bit longer chain for it, add one of these extenders to your order and I’ll attach it to her necklace so it’s ready to gift when it arrives! Get a necklace chain extender here.

Thank you for shopping small and shopping local this Mother’s Day!

What Does Your Birthstone Mean?

Birthstones aren’t just beautiful gemstones to commemorate the months of our birth. Each stone itself has so much more meaning beyond just the month it represents. Every month has had multiple different birthstones over time, too, but here are some of the most prominent stones that I’ve made part of my Birthstone Cluster Collection and which are now available to add on individually to necklaces on my site. Of course I don’t endorse these stones having any healing properties, but it’s fun to know some of the reasons why they’re significant. It’s also fun to find great reasons to wear stones that aren’t your birthstone:

The January birthstone, garnet, with its rich crimson hue, is particularly luxurious and elegant. Garnet is named for the latin word for pomegranate because of its luscious color. Garnet is associated with creativity, purification, love, strength and protection. 

The February birthstone, amethyst, with its violet hue, is particularly romantic and alluring. Amethyst is associated with balance, temperance, pleasant dreams, positive energy and healing. 

The March birthstone, aquamarine, with its sea blue-green hue, is particularly mystifying. Aquamarine is rare and precious and is associated with courage, calm, clarity and tolerance. 

The April birthstone, diamond, is possibly the most coveted of all. Because diamonds are rare and valuable and diamond chips aren’t readily available, we’ve substituted a beautiful alternative: the Herkimer diamond. Herkimer diamonds are quartz crystals that are double-terminated; each end of the crystal has a point. Quartz is associated with healing, enlightenment and clarity. 

Double-terminated quartz, also called “Herkimer Diamond,” makes a gorgeous substitution for diamond as the April birthstone in my Birthstone Cluster Collection. Here is a line of Herkimer Diamonds as a Birthstone Strand Necklace.

The May birthstone, emerald, with its rich green hue, is particularly exciting and energizing. Emerald is associated with love, domestic bliss, friendship and positive actions. 

The May birthstone, Emerald, as featured in my Birthstone Cluster Necklace with a personalized stamped brass monogram.

The June birthstone is often said to be Alexandrite, one of the rarest and most expensive gemstones on earth, but we prefer its equally elegant counterpart, the pearl. Pearls are associated with nurturing, calm, integrity and femininity. 

The July birthstone, ruby, with its lush red hue, is particularly romantic. Ruby, a variety of corundum, is coveted and second only to diamond in its hardness. It is associated with passion, protection, peace and prosperity. 

The August birthstone, peridot, with its otherworldly green hue, evokes magic and mystery. Peridot, a form of olivine, is associated with protection, happiness, well-being and transformation.

Peridot, the August birthstone, seems to glow from within with eerie green light, especially when it’s set against silver. Check out the August Birthstone Cluster Necklace here.

The September birthstone, sapphire, with its deep blue hue, is rare, cool and dreamy. Sapphire, a variety of corundum, is associated with wisdom, spirituality and kindness. 

The October birthstone, Pink Tourmaline, an alternative to opal, has been associated with creativity and enlightenment. In many cultures throughout history it has been a stone of protection. 

The November birthstone, citrine, with its amber hue, is particularly warm and inviting. Citrine, a variety of quartz, is associated with clarity, energy, creativity and imagination. 

The December birthstone, turquoise, with its blue, greenish blue and sometimes robin-egg blue hues, is a variegated surprise, kind of like azure confetti that comes out of the earth. Turquoise is associated with protection. 

It’s typically a face-off between blue topaz and turquoise for December’s birthstone, and we’ve chosen turquoise for the win. Turquoise, with its blue, greenish blue and sometimes robin-egg blue hues, is a variegated surprise, kind of like azure confetti that comes out of the earth. Turquoise is one of the oldest stones used by humans, found in artifacts as old as 5,000 B.C. Turquoise is associated with protection. Check out my turquoise Birthstone Strand Necklace featured above here.

Simple, Elegant Birthstone Jewelry, Just In Time For Mother's Day and Wedding Season

Simple, elegant birthstone strand necklaces and earrings make perfect Mother’s Day, birthday and bridesmaid gifts this spring. You can even select your own stones to create a custom multi-stone birthstone strand necklace.

For more than a century, birthstones have been a delightful way to celebrate your children, loved ones and yourself in a simple, gorgeous, meaningful way. To me, birthstones are a language for people who know birthstones, much like folks who are really into astrology sort of have their own language. This proud Virgo has always adored her birthstone—sapphire. But I notice immediately when I meet a person wearing other birthstone jewelry. I can see right away that someone very dear to them is an August baby. Or maybe their sweet grandmother left them her collection of amethyst jewelry because they shared a February birth month, much like my incredible grandmother gave me her September gemstones because she adored that we shared a birth month. I like to guess which precious person their birthstones represent, and if I’m lucky, they’ll share the story.

Last year I created a collection of birthstone jewelry that is still very dear to my heart, especially because I originally created it to give to my bridesmaids, mother, mother-in-law and my honorary bridesmaids at my wedding (See all of my handmade and heirloom wedding jewelry here!). This spring I added to it with a line of necklaces and earrings that are simple, elegant, straightforward pieces the layer well when you’ve already got a special necklace you wear all the time or you just can’t pick one necklace to wear. My Birthstone Cluster Strands represent all of the colors of the year and come on individual card backs that explain just what they mean and why these stones are important. Their matching earrings are just as elegant and versatile and also pair perfectly with my original Birthstone Cluster Necklaces, which feature pendants made of birthstones.

Below is a sample of the many birthstones and styles available now. To view the full collection of Birthstone Cluster Necklaces, Birthstone Cluster Strands, and Birthstone Cluster earrings, click here.

Faceted sapphire stones represent September’s birthstone in our simple, elegant birthstone jewelry collection that’s perfect for layering. Find the matching faceted sapphire earrings here.

The January birthstone, garnet, with its rich crimson hue, is particularly luxurious and elegant. Garnet is named for the latin word for pomegranate because of its luscious color. Garnet is associated with creativity, purification, love, strength and protection. Find our January Birthstone Jewelry here. Photo by Collin Buchanan.

The May birthstone, emerald, with its rich green hue, is particularly exciting and energizing. Emerald is associated with love, domestic bliss, friendship and positive actions. Find our May Birthstone Jewelry here.

September and August birthstones shine in the light on these birthstone cluster earrings. The August birthstone, peridot, with its otherworldly green hue, evokes magic and mystery. Peridot, a form of olivine, is associated with protection, happiness, well-being and transformation. The September birthstone, sapphire, with its deep blue hue, is rare, cool and dreamy. Sapphire, a variety of corundum, is associated with wisdom, spirituality and kindness. Find our September and August birthstone jewelry here. Photo by Collin Buchanan.

Choose your stones to create your own custom multi-stone birthstone necklace and represent everyone in your brood.

Our original Birthstone Cluster Necklaces feature birthstones set into cluster pendants and are customizable with stamped discs that fit up to three letters. Monograms, the word “mom” and a heart shape fit perfectly. Photo by Collin Buchanan.

The November birthstone, citrine, with its amber hue, is particularly warm and inviting. Citrine, a variety of quartz, is associated with clarity, energy, creativity and imagination. Each birthstone necklace comes on a card back that explains the stone’s significance. Find our birthstone jewelry here.

What a Jewelry Designer Wears to Her Wedding

Your wedding jewelry should be as magical to you as your wedding day. Especially when you’re a jewelry designer.

Full disclosure: I bought my wedding dress on a Dillard’s pink tag sale rack for less than $100. And I made my jewelry. That’s about as handmade as my wedding got, though. I don’t know how my discount dress ties into that, I’m just really proud of that deal I got.

My jewelry was literally the last thing that was ready for the wedding. I made my necklace that same morning. Like, four hours before the ceremony. Not because I wasn’t worried about it, but because I wanted it to be so perfect.

I wanted to wear something of my Grandmother’s, and I chose a little amethyst, gold and diamond charm of hers that I love so much. It was on a very worn, lackluster box chain, and that just wouldn’t do, so I built a new chain for it out of Czech glass beads, creating two graduated layers to frame the charm perfectly. I love this charm so much because it looks like a tiny stained-glass window and is so rich and warm in color that I can’t help but smile when I wear it.

I built an elegant and vibrant Czech glass chain in graduated layers to frame this beautiful little amethyst, diamond and gold charm that belonged to my Grandmother. I was sure that I wanted to wear something of hers on my wedding day.

For my “something borrowed,” my sweet sister was kind enough to lend me the handmade brass bangle she wore at her wedding. My “something old” was my Grandma’s diamond ring. For my “something blue,” I had my deep blue sapphire engagement ring that makes my heart sing whenever I see it. I think the little black diamonds studding the middle band are the best touch and really make the teenage goth girl inside me happy, er, sad.

My earrings I actually made as part of a collection of jewelry I released right after the wedding. I called it the “Stay Gold” Collection, and it was inspired by The Golden Girls. They usually pair with a pineapple necklace and include the same chain as my wedding necklace. This pair I’ll keep forever, but you can snag your own if you like them.

My wedding earrings were intended to be part of my Stay Gold Collection inspired by the Golden Girls. They featured a brass spiral circling Czech glass bead chain and matte gold chain in a long, elegant chandelier shape.

For my bouquet and each of my two bridesmaids’ bouquets, I created a brass charm stamped with C + S to attach to the ribbon. Anyone who knows me knows I wasn’t going to get through one day without stamped brass.

How about this amazing bouquet of tropicals by Hannah Allen?! Is it not a dream come true? It’s certainly mine.

I personalized my bridal and bridesmaids’ bouquets with brass charms stamped with our initials.

Little Rock floral designer Hannah Allen created this luscious bouquet of tropical plants and local flowers. It’s so dreamy!

Our wedding was a tad unconventional. We had yeti cake toppers, an inflatable dancing man on the dance floor, and I threw the bouquet to all the single men, much to the relief of all of my single gal pals. It was the most fun night of my life.

Back to jewelry. I wanted each of my honorary bridesmaids (and bridesman) to have something special from me, so I created each of them a unique necklace of their birthstone using real, natural gemstones, some in their raw and unpolished forms. I dropped each of the stones into resin to create a cluster of stones so that each one was unusual and couldn’t be repeated.

For each of my bridesmaids, my honorary bridesmaids and my honorary bridesman, I made a unique necklace of their birthstones, using real stones set in resin in an unusual cluster setting. I personalized them with their initials.

I loved making these cluster birthstone necklaces so much and getting to know all of the stones involved. I spent a lot of time researching and learning about gemstones, from their structures to their origins to their symbolism and historical use. I had to collect them all, and I made more necklaces so you can claim one, too! Find your birthstone necklace here.

See the entire Birthstone Cluster Necklace Collection and find your birthstone. Let me know which one you like the best!

Shoutouts to:

Katie Childs Photo for slaying my wedding photos.

My husband Collin Buchanan for photographing my birthstone jewelry.

Hannah Allen for going above and beyond with my tropical wedding flowers.

Angela Alexander for doing my hair and makeup perfectly.

The Edgemont House for being the most beautiful home to get married in.

Boulevard Bread Co. for the most delicious catering that I ate probably way past when I should have.

Kelli Marks of Cathead’s Diner for making our beautiful cake (and bringing donuts!).

Our friends and families for celebrating with us and supporting us. You are everything and more to us.