Supporting Small Business

Small Business Saturday felt like a good time to share some of my favorite online shops and small businesses who create one-of-a-kind products and experiences for shoppers.  I am so inspired when women follow their dreams to create and share their talents in any way they know how.  Many of these businesses are run by mom-bosses who live day to day balancing so many roles.

So sit back and take a minute to view these 7 handpicked small business’s with incredibly inspiring products and shops.  If they strike your fancy, go visit them, thank them for their creative work, and feel free to support small business.

*Non of these shout-outs are sponsored or affiliated.  In fact, many of them don’t know I’m doing this, so feel free to tell them I sent them your way!

1 – THE GOOD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

My first encounter with The Good and the Beautiful was when someone shared their homeschool curriculum of choice on Instagram.  Now, I don’t homeschool, but I was immediately intrigued by the idea of supporting my children’s public education with some of the curriculum offered by The Good and the Beautiful.  Once I hopped onto their website to learn more, I was so impressed with what they had to offer, and could tell that Jenny Phillips (a homeschool mom) had poured her heart and soul into creating valuable curriculum for parents to teach their children.

I’ve since got to know Jenny and learn more about what she does.  She sent me some goodies to see for myself the type of things I could share with my kids and so I could better share with you what it is like.

I am especially excited about the Science, History, and Creative Writing Notebooks.  Just so happens my oldest is obsessed with History (got that from dad), my middle girl is a true writer at heart (got that from me), and my second to youngest is intrigued by all things science (definitely from dad).  While I try to gear their gifts and a few Summer activities toward their individual passions, that is where their education on these topics would stop.  But now, I have some all inclusive tools to teach them more about what they love to learn, and some great material to easily supplement their public education where I feel these topics may lack on occasion.

She also sent me some of her Language Arts curriculum for my preschooler to help him get ready for Kindergarten, which we all know takes a great deal of preparation these days.  He may be far more prepared for school than any of my other kids.  My favorite part is how she weaves Art and Literature into all her Language Arts curriculum.

Actually, I think my favorite part of all of this is that it is in notebook printed form.  My kids get so much of their education behind a screen, and I love that they can turn pages and write with their hands for most of it.  (Digital format is also an option).

I apologize, this is getting lengthy – but if homeschool or supporting your child’s education in any way is of interest to you, please go check out The Good and the Beautiful and explore the website.

FREE DOWNLOAD OFFER

Jenny was kind enough to offer my readers a limited time FREE DOWNLOAD of her tried and true BOOK LIST.  This is sooooo valuable as she has reviewed and offered information on 546 recommended books for your kids to read.  SNAG IT NOW until December 1st.

2 – CRUNCHY COVE ARTISAN GRANOLA

My sister Marci met Sara at our local farmers market this past summer.  You already may know we are homemade yogurt fanatics, so to find a wholesome natural granola to throw on top of our yogurt was exciting for both of us.

Sara helped us supply granola for our Pinners class samples and we can see that this mother works so hard to share her healthy living passion and does all she can to help support her family.  Moved by her work ethics, incredibly delicious granola and her food philosophy, I’m excited to share the best granola you will ever taste, Crunchy Cove Artisan Granola.  She states,

“You may not have known that you can taste TRUTH, LOVE and COMPASSION . . . But you can, I make sure of it.”

3 – FARMHOUSE ON BOONE

I adore my creative friend Lisa from the blog Farmhouse on Boone.  A hard working mother of 4, with another on the way, she creates the most lovely farmhouse pillows covers and grain sack stockings.  I love looking at the pillows in my home and thinking they came straight from her house, to mine.  Check out her shop and see if there are any goodies waiting just for you.

4 – LangBaron Macramé Art

We had a Pinners Conference booth this year, and just across the way from us was a booth full of the most lovely handcrafted Macrame works of art.  The artists themselves ran the booth while nursing their babies!  I enjoyed chatting with them and finally could no longer resist this macrame swing.  I bought it, brought it home with me and delighted my little girls with the perfect addition to this corner of their bedroom.

At this time, Elaine Lebaron (the crafter of this swing and so much more), only has an Instagram account where she shows her work and takes custom orders.  Feel free to visit her on Instagram and DM her for anything you might be interested in.

5 – SMILE MERCANTILE

I discovered this Etsy shop while searching for paper mache house for my Christmas decor.  I ran into Smile Merchantile and fell so head over heels in love with her whimsical collection and crafting goodies.  You’ll see plenty more of these items in my Christmas home tour.

If just for the eye candy, go check out all the fun items in the Smile Mercantile Etsy shop.

6 – KEY LIME DIGITAL DESIGNS

The sweet Kendra from Key Lime Digital Designs is my graphic designer of choice.  I’ve worked with her on my blog design in the past, and she still does some graphic design work for me.  But for all of us, she has created the cutest Etsy shop full of her design creations.  From kids chore charts, quotes, to-do sheets, reward coupons . . . her designs are the cutest you’ll ever see!

Go tell her HI for me!

7 – BLOGS

So this is a general shout out to so many moms and at-home-entrepreneurs who use a blog platform to share their skills, talents, and teach others to create for themselves.  Of course, I’m slightly partial to this small business, being a “mom blogger” myself.

Mostly, I bring this up to THANK YOU for your support.  I can testify of the countless hours and hard work it takes to keep a blog afloat.  It’s a true labor of love and a great blessing to our lives to be able to help support our family while staying home to raise our kiddos.  We burn the midnight oil, we raise early, we invest and sacrifice our time and money to grow our business and always strive to provide value to our readers.  Inspiring and teaching is at our core.

The thing is – we couldn’t do this without you.  I couldn’t do this without you.  It’s your visits, your comments, your support and encouragement that keep us going.  Your feedback is everything to us.  I encourage you to thank the bloggers you love and show them the support they so desperately need to keep going and sharing with you.

Thank you so much for supporting small business!

Please share in the comments below any Small Business that you love and support.  I’d love to hear about them!  I personally feel supporting small business is what keeps our nations dreams alive.