Buy handmade

I am just going to come out and say what I am thinking. Get ready. I think you should buy more handmade this Christmas. I think it’s more meaningful and I think we (as Americans) need to be more conscious about where the money we are spending goes. I am so sick and tired of seeing people buying tacky purses and gross picture frames that were mass manufactured for less than a penny, which were a rip-off of a knock-off of a rip-off of an artist 10 years ago. you know those picture frames I’m talking about – that “distressed wood” with the shabby chic paint on it. They look aged, but they were “Made in China.”

I am putting my foot down with myself. I am going to support my crafter friends. I am going to support the people that are just trying to change the world with an original thought. So if at all possible, I am going to buy handmade. I will be posting links of friends and artists that I admire that make beautiful and unique gifts. I will probably do the bulk of my shopping at Renegade Craft in Austin (and I’ll be there too!) I currently live in a state that is VERY slow to adopt any sort of new thing. But I think Mississippi can step up their game. I do. We can boast with visionaries such as Jim Henson, Elvis Presley, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and OPRAH! Bam. That alone should tell me that there is hope for my state. I want to see retailers in Mississippi start seeking out local artists to carry in their shop. I want to see a change. THIS Christmas. Yes. Even if it’s just two gifts you give that are handmade, that would be a start.

I feel so much better now that I’ve put this out there now.