For the past three years or so, I've been trying to find great gifts from small businesses, handmade artisans, and independent stores. Yes, it can be pricier to buy handmade, but the value is much, much greater than anything you could find in a chain store. When you purchase a handmade item, you know that a real person poured their heart into making it, and you know that they loved it as much as you will.
Here are three of my favorite purchases and gifts from Etsy:
These three felted Christmas ornaments came from Best Day Ever Design. After a lot of searching for unique ornaments, I was so happy to have found these. I have to say, the deer is my favorite, but the squirrel and bird are adorable too! Best Day Ever Design carries these, as well as other ornaments and garlands, but they also have some awesome cake toppers including this bride and groom fox set.
This last item from Grah-Toe Studio was actually a gift to myself. I'd been eyeing this hair fork for some time and eventually decided I had to have it. This hair ornament was hand carved from a shed antler tine and works perfectly in my extra long hair! It's always been a hassle to put my hair in a bun, but this makes it really easy. Grah-Toe Studio has lots of exotic wood and antler hair accessories, and they were very helpful in figuring out the right sized fork I needed for my hair.
These are just some of the great finds I've made on Etsy. Hopefully they'll make you consider buying handmade for the holidays too!
