I love handmade. I love local.

Who doesn’t love a beautiful hand-knit sweater, a table carved from a tree in the woods behind your house by a neighbor down the street, a home cooked jar of blackberry preserves tied up with ribbon by your old Aunt Sue? No one, that’s who! But in this day and age, you may be a little hard pressed to receive many of these treasures, let alone pick the colors, the size, the oil on the wood, etc. Instead, we do what most of us do and head to a store that sells a lot of options and pick from a collection they’ve curated for us. Boooorrrrrring!

I am a huge fan of shopping at small, locally owned shops and directly from the artists and creators themselves, when possible. Double bonus if the designations handmade and local coincide! When I pay a little more for a handmade something instead of its department store sort-of-look-alike, I cherish and care for it more, am proud to know the person who created it, and smile knowing that my money helps an individual or family keep doing something they love, maybe in my very own city!

So... I love Etsy!

Etsy is a global network of craftspeople, artists, selling collectors and small scale producers of anything and everything - from finger wool puppets to more glamorous things like a big cowly designer-quality wool neck wrap (a personal fav)!

Tons of you know all about Etsy, but if you don't, well! Wowzer, there are categories for handmade, for vintage, for supplies (for the crafty among us) and much, oh muuuuuch more - even an army of crafters ready to bid for your custom order project ideas *gasp* *squeal*. And if you, too, are locally-minded with your purchasing dollars, there’s a handy-dandy shop local option to find creators near you! The Etsy Journal is a fab way to keep up with their community of creators and get fresh ideas, too.

So how does this relate to the moms of us, and especially in OCTOBER? Well, two big ways!

1. Etsy Baby Kid Teen Mom You-Name-It Handmade - Funky fingerless gloves included, Etsy gives moms a shopping experience like no other with knitted, felted, sewn, constructed, painted, you-name-it-ed things for baby, child and more. Check out this awesome curated list of young child items curated by an Etsy member called Happy Little Rainbow or just pop on over the the Etsy Kids page.

1. Etsy Halloween - Oh yes! You know how we all spend countless hours sewing and gluing and heaven-help-me-if-this-thing-jams-again-stapling costumes each year? Well there are hundreds of Etsy folk doing that, too! Handmade! Just like you did it yourself, but you get to sleep on October 30th (just sayin’). I tried my hand at a little list curatin' on Etsy (you should try it - like shopping and pinterest and stuff, with all handmade stuff on a cute page with... well, I digress... I'm sort of an Etsy fanatic, you see). Check out my Oh Baby! Halloween Etsy treasury list (twin set sushi, anyone?).

So, to recap:

1. Get your stuff from Aunt Betty or Grandma Sue (or the sweet girl next door who has a knitting addiction, of course)

1. Make your stuff yourself.

1. Shop for your stuff on Etsy! (Some very nice artist-type person will thank you for it!)

Happy Halloween or dress up day in october and EVERY other day of the year!