Handmade for the holidays

Have you started your shopping this holiday yet? Consider making as many of your purchases handmade this year. Here are my top seven reasons to buy handmade:

1. Support local makers. Keep our dollars in our communities & out of the hand of multinational corporations.
2. Reduce waste. Most hand-made stuff isn't packaged, or it's much less so than store-bought stuff.
3. Decrease your carbon footprint. Buying local handmade goods means your gifts weren't shipped in across an ocean.
4. Meet the maker. It's great to meet the person who produced what you're buying, be it a farmer at the market, or a knitter at a craft sale.
5. Avoid the stress of the malls. No matter how busy craft markets get, it's just not the same vibe as the malls.
6. Quality, not quantity. Often handmade products are more expensive than mass produced ones, but they're often much better quality too.
7. One-of-a-kind. When you shop handmade, you're getting unique products, not mass-produced clones.

If you're in the market for hand made baby stuff, check out my Etsy shop or come on over to my Crafternoon! It's happening THIS Saturday, 12-5pm. See the FB page for more details.