Christmas Wrapped

Preparing for the big day – there’s nothing simple about it. Finding the perfect must-have gifts, trimming the to-die-for tree, prepping to host the party of the year (in a great outfit no less), and then of course—how to do it all within an already tight budget. The Christmas Wrapped site focuses on helping people save money and time, while simplifying a notoriously overwhelming process.

Christmas Wrapped features authors of the best and most influential parenting, cooking & home accessories websites that exist today.  Target is the sponsor of ChristmasWrapped and provides the context for the holiday discussion, but authors maintain editorial discretion.

NOTCOT – Jean Aw

NOTCOT is a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements. NOTCOT’s two sites have become the daily sources of inspiration for creatives everywhere, fighting the good fight against “creative block” since 2005 with visually stunning imagery, the latest in international trends, and a passion for all things well designed.

NOTCOT.ORG is a community of creatives, design lovers, and trendsetters — where .org serves as the studio bulletin board gone— each image and caption brings you to a place worth visiting. It’s about sharing what inspires you. Bookmarks, del.icio.us, digg, blogrolls, etc. make you read, search and think. This is the PICTUREBOOK to their novel. NOTCOT.COM is the editorial face of NOTCOT, offering in-depth features on products, artists, technology, innovation, and up-and-coming trends.

Savvy Source – Stacey Boyd

The Savvy Source for Parents is an online community founded by parents, for parents, to help parents navigate the incredibly challenging issue of identifying the best educational options for their children: preschools, camps, classes, educational toys, books, activities, etc. A combination of Craigslist and Zagats, the goal is to provide parents with a comprehensive and detailed overview of educational options in their city based on the feedback of parents with children currently enrolled in preschools, camps, etc. and to help parents make the right choices for their children at home based on “expert” advice and counsel.

Cool Mom Picks – Liz Gumbinner & Kristen Chase

Time Magazine declared that “Cool Mom Picks has a knack for finding kicky togs for tots” and indeed, tens of thousands of parents, editors and opinion leaders across North America agree, coming here first for what’s hot in gifts, gear, services and websites. The cheeky shopping blog has gained a loyal fan base through a combination of fresh, fun writing and an eye for spotting trends before they hit the mainstream.

Editors Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner have been seen doling out shopping wisdom in newspapers across the country, on Martha Stewart Radio, and in their own series of on-demand shows on the national Alpha Mom cable network.

Work It, Mom! – Victoria Grace

Work It, Mom! is a supportive and vibrant online community and resource for moms juggling work and family. From moms who work in corporate offices to those who work at home or run their own companies, Work It, Mom! offers members many ways to share their stories, interact, network, and vent through member articles, profiles, notes, groups, and the extremely popular Q&A area. In addition, Work It, Mom! features popular bloggers who write about their daily juggle of work and family and offer timely and helpful tips to help working moms get organized, save time, and find a bit of time to invest in themselves.

Suburban Bliss – Melissa Summers

Suburban Bliss is the story of an imperfect wife, mother and woman. Melissa Summers started her website in 2003 and began attracting readers with her irreverence, candor and self-effacing style. Still she cannot find a hairstyle that suits her needs.

Craftzine – Natalie Zee Drieu

Natalie Zee Drieu is Senior Editor for CRAFT Magazine and writes for the CRAFT blog at craftzine.com. She’s a regular speaker at conferences around the country about this new do-it-yourself (DIY) movement and the convergence of crafts and technology. Natalie brings her crafting know-how to TV appearances for shows such as KGO/ABC San Francisco’s The View from the Bay, KRON’s Bay Area Backroads, and nationally on The CBS Early Show. As an award-winning interactive designer, she has also written three best-selling web design books and brings her design expertise to both the craftzine.com and makezine.com websites.

Parent Hacks – Asha Dornfest

At the collaborative Parent Hacks, Asha Dornfest applies the hacker ethic to parenting. Here, parents swap scrappy tricks and practical product recommendations – stuff that never makes it into airbrushed magazines or “expert” books. It’s a modern take on what parents have always done: sharing tweaks that make the crazy adventure of childrearing go a little easier. Featured in Parents, Real Simple and PC Magazine, and winner of the Best Family and Parenting Blog in the 2007 Performancing Awards.

Mommy Track’d – Amy Keroes

Mommy Track’d is the working mother’s guide to managed chaos. Standing out in the crowd of mom-related websites because of its fresh and funny voice, the site’s mission is to inform and entertain time-crunched moms as they manage the daily tug-of-war between work and home.

Mommy Track’d has been featured in all forms of media, including Advertising Age, Parenting, Pregnancy, Pregnancy & Newborn, Country Home, Family Circle and other national magazines. The site has also been in the Wall Street Journal, on CNN and Martha Stewart Radio, on BusinessWeek.com, About.com, iVillage.com and on numerous entertainment and news shows.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman – Ree Drummond

Award winning blogger, Ree, aka “The Pioneer Woman,” chronicles her decade-long transition from spoiled city girl to isolated ranch wife on her weblog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Ree faithfully posts daily contributions to her site, including inspiring photography, tongue-in-cheek poetry, and often hilarious stories about her experiences as a city girl stuck in rural America. Ree’s site features sections about cooking, home & garden and photography.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman won a Bloggie for “Best-Kept Secret Weblog” in 2007 and won Bloggies for “Best Food Weblog” and “Best Writing of a Weblog” in 2008.

Dooce – Heather Armstrong

Heather Armstrong, a former web developer, started publishing Dooce in early 2001. Her distinctive voice and harrowing tales of her stay-at-home-mom experience in suburban Salt Lake City have attracted one of the largest audiences for any weblog on the Internet.

Mighty Girl – Maggie Mason

Mighty Girl is the personal website of Margaret Mason, author of No One Cares What You Had for Lunch, 100 Ideas for Your Blog. Mason also publishes the shopping sites Mighty Junior and Mighty Goods, which was one of Time Magazine’s “Top 50 Cool Sites of the year”. Mighty Girl was born in 2000, and has been nominated for several awards, including a lifetime achievement Bloggie. Mason lives in San Francisco with her husband Bryan and her son Hank, who is almost two and clearly a genius.

Participating Authors

FM represents outstanding authors whose sites cater to cultural influencers, technology decision makers, and business leaders. Our first federation, focused on digital culture, currently reaches millions and millions of readers every month. New federations in the media/entertainment, parenting, and small business categories, representing millions of entrepreneurs, consumers, and families, are in the process of launching as well.

In addition to establishing a devoted following, each site in the FM fold subscribes to a core set of values: strong voice and point of view, accuracy to the facts, engagement with its community, responsibility, integrity and transparency.

About FM

At FM, our mission is to support independent website authors and audiences, by connecting them to marketers in an ongoing and robust conversation that feeds everyone involved.