The Kraftleen mascot: a stick figure in a craft apron with a pencil and ruler in the pocket, red scribble hair under a navy baseball cap, cutting a red heart out of a folded card. Her name is written in cursive thread by her feet.

Handmade gifts, made to order — for one person, or the whole group.

Kraftleen is Kathleen. She makes bespoke, custom gifts and themed sets — engraved, printed, stitched, cut and assembled one at a time. Birthdays, holidays, new babies, and any occasion that calls for eleven of something with everybody's name on it.

One at a time, on a kitchen table in Brooklyn.

A copper lighter engraved by hand with the New York City skyline and a set of initials.
A new-baby gift assembled as one bundle: a custom bodysuit printed with a name and the New York skyline, a Jersey Fresh tomato bodysuit, an NYC cap, a plush pigeon, a plush New Jersey, a MetroCard-patterned hat, a muslin swaddle, and two picture books.

New babies and kid gifts are the specialty.

You don't have to arrive with an idea. You arrive with a person, an occasion, and whatever you know about them — and she builds the whole gift.

This one was a new-baby gift with New York and New Jersey both accounted for: the name on the bodysuit, the pigeon, the MetroCard, the little stuffed Jersey. Made, sourced and put together as a single thing to hand over.

Made for the occasion

A group order, a birthday, a holiday. The job usually starts with a date and a list of names.

A group order

Eleven of something, and every one of them different.
A folded stack of identical matching tees, each printed with the same four faces and the words EST. 1985.
Two handmade gift tags on baker's twine, one white and one red, each with a folded paper Christmas tree, a gold star and a handwritten signature.

A birthday

The shirt, and the thing on top of the cake.
A navy baseball-style tee customized with a surname, the number 40, and small photographed faces worked into the lettering.
A birthday cake topper: gold foil balloons on sticks mounted in a small base, with a cut-out photograph between them.

A holiday

Halloween through to Christmas.
A hand-built prop of a 1990s dial-up software window reading Welcome, Shopgirl, made as part of a Halloween costume.
A yellow backpack built as part of a child's Halloween costume, personalized with a name and a Seattle Mariners baseball design.
A layered paper turkey sculpture with a fanned tail, built from cut and stacked patterned paper.
A jointed paper doll dressed as Santa, with movable arms and legs.
A hanging photo ornament of an elf with a child's face, dated on one boot.
A black cut-paper lantern lit from inside, showing a reindeer and sleigh in silhouette against a warm glow.
A red cut-paper lantern lit from inside, showing a snowy window and snowflakes against a warm glow.

What Kathleen makes

Five kinds of work. Most jobs are one of them, and plenty are two or three at once.

1Custom paper projects

  • greeting boxes
  • cards
  • clever gift card and ticket presentation
  • paper flowers

2Holidays

  • Halloween costumes
  • themed party decor

3Personalized trinkets + keepsakes for events and birthdays

  • t-shirts
  • tie-dye
  • stickers
  • magnets
  • puzzles
  • wax alphabet candles

4Engraving & etching

  • custom metal lighters
  • glass etching

5Gift concierge

  • thoughtful gift giving
  • hosting consultation

Not on the list is not a no. Plenty of jobs start as something she hasn't made before.

Two ways to ask

Whichever one you are, the job starts the same way: a person, and a date it has to exist by.

THE FIRST WAYI know what I want made.

You already have the picture in your head. Tell her the thing, who it's for, and when you need it in your hands. She'll tell you whether it can be done that way, or whether there's a better way to do it.

THE SECOND WAYHelp me figure out the gift.

You know exactly who it's for and you have absolutely nothing. So tell her about them instead — where they're from, the in-joke, the dog's name, the thing they always say.

She comes back with a couple of ideas. You pick one. She makes it.

The second one is the real service, honestly. Most people arrive there.

ORDER SLIP No.
Which one are you?
This goes straight to Kathleen. Leave your email and she'll write back to you there.