favourite things ~ small shop mamas

Hey all.  I haven't written in awhile, but I've been trying to keep you up to date on my Instagram with photos of the house build.  There's walls now- framed ones, but still walls!  Probably in another week or so, we will be measuring up the kitchen and bathrooms.  GAH!

So I had a whole other post written about cleaning out my closet and scaling back my wardrobe.  But I realized that
a.) There's WAY more qualified people than myself that should be and are doing that
b.) I'm never going to stick the rules I wrote about- I broke them already
c.) NO ONE wants fashion advice from me

I have a bunch of little shop favourites that I've been picking stuff up from and I thought that today I'd share them with you.  When you purchase from a small business, you are getting something unique, made with love and care and, most likely, when that purchase goes through, the mama on the other end is doing a little happy dance.
NOT THAT I WOULD HAVE A FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE WITH THAT ;)

So here we go- some of my favourite small shop mamas......

Surfing Ninjas Clothing

I can't even remember how I stumbled onto Shay and her shop.  I think it was Instagram (one of my addictions)  I am SO SO glad I did.
I picked up a toque and shirt for my son for Christmas this year.  He's a bit ninja obsessed- Lego and Ninja Warrior.  It was a hit.

Shay sells mama clothing too.  So, of course, I had to get myself something too.

Pardon my Francais.  I bleeping love it.

Even though my kiddos aren't teeny- and she has some awesome stuff for little littles- these will not be the only Surfing Ninja shirts we are sporting.

Seriously, awesome stuff.  Made by a mama.

We Felt That

My friend Lindsey put me onto Julie and her wonderful shop.  We Felt That makes aromatherapy jewelry- that is wonderful.  If you are into essential oils- I have started slowly into it, and love it- these are perfect.  You can rub oils onto your bracelet and it will diffuse during the day.  Plus they are beautiful pieces to wear.

Julie is pretty awesome too- she just did custom bracelets for a group of my friends- they are beautiful and make me pretty darn happy. 

I have a sweet little car diffuser as well- I don't know if Tim loves driving the truck with a grey heart hanging from the mirror, but I do.

She also does Make and Takes, where you and a group of friends get to make your own bracelets. Pretty awesome.  Check out her site and her beautiful pieces.  AND she has some extra special pieces Roof for Ghana project, where the proceeds of those sales go to help a community in Ghana.  Take care of yourself with the bracelet and help to take care of someone else at the same time.  All the heart eyes for this.

Sarita Baby

A fellow Etsy mama- you have to visit Sarah's shop.  Especially if you have littles.  My guys no longer need bibs- but they still eat.  And they take lunches to school.  Oh the dreaded lunches.
Their school is an eco school- so we try to have as little garbage with lunches as possible.  And that means, I have a zillion containers to wash and put away.  I hate containers.
I picked these little snack bags up before the start of school this year- and I LOVE them.

Super cute and so functional.  Goldfish, Cheerios, cookies, veggies- I can put lots of different snacks in these babies, zip them up and throw them in the bag.  Wipe them out- they are lined with nylon- and use them again the next day.  End of the week, toss them in the wash.  Perfect.  I use them for work with my snacks too- so we need some more.

Sarah has a great eye for fabric-



And if you have little guys



Adorable.  Almost makes me want another baby- but not really.  I'll just take more snack bags- y'all can keep the diapers.

Sweet Tea Apparel

If you know me well, you know I love puns.  I LOVE THEM!  Again, I think I found this sweet little shop on Instagram- and I was hooked.  

Seriously.  Every design she does is amazing.  

There stuff for littles, AND stuff for mamas!

I may have just ordered myself a mama bear shirt.  

I'm pretty excited.  I think my littles will be sporting a design or two of these this summer too.

This is missy's fave.  Looking Sharp- ugh, the puns!  So good.

So there you go.  Four of some of my favourite shop mamas of the moment.  Be sure to check them out- you will not be disappointed and people will ask you "Where did you get that?  I love it!"  and you can smile and and tell them about the awesome little shop you found.

I'll check in soon with a house update.  Until then- happy shopping!

~Laura