Creative Tithing - Support Handmade

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend. Today, I wanted to share some of the other items we bought from our trip here and discuss the concept of "creative tithing." Inspired by this post, Caiti writes about how she has started a monthly practice of supporting the handmade community & her motivation behind the practice of creative tithing.

By consciously choosing to buy handmade, you are supporting others not only financially but you're also contributing to & supporting a person's goals and dreams. You're recognizing their talent & the time & care that each person took in creating their product. Caiti hits close to home for me, when she says that she never purchases anything from Etsy but that she can go to Target & spend a lot of money on things she doesn't really need. I'm the last person to advocate against big box stores or companies because I so willingly purchase stuff from them. What creative tithing is about though, is finding a balance & to think about how you can support creative business owners, alongside the big businesses.

So without further ado, here are some of my handmade purchases:

These incredible vases are made from wood

Mark and Linda Milich are an adorable husband & wife team, from Marshallville, Ohio, who fashion these absolutely gorgeous vases from wood, found on their property, & elsewhere like Africa & South America.  The coloring is all natural; meaning the wood is not stained. Unfortunately they do not have a website, but their business is called Wood Art & you can leave a comment if you'd like their contact info. We bought the 3 vases below:

This is Walnut.

This is Maple & was a fallen tree. The lines running
throughout are actually mold.

This is Paduak & Cherry.

We also bought a lamp from DS custom concrete. The base is fashioned from concrete & the lamp shade is constructed from paper & wood. The artist, Dave Schoeppner, resides in Magnolia, OH, & works for his Dad's construction business. He also creates amazing tables, sinks, & other home decor, all made from concrete. You can check out his gallery here. Prepare to be blown away by his unique craftsmanship.

I haven't found a place for it yet, hence the
 floor picture. We're still waiting for furniture
 to be delivered & assembled.

I'll have one more creative business we bought from to share with you on Paper Love Wednesday. For handmade goodness, check out Etsy, Heartsy (you have to sign up for this & its like Groupon, where you pay a small amount for a lot larger amount to spend on handmade items at specific shops) & feel good deal of the day. (*Full disclosure: If you sign up for Heartsy or the feel good deal of the day, please let them know that I referred you because I can earn credit. Thanks so much!)

Thanks for stopping by & here's to a great week!