Hey there! If you’re here it’s likely because you’ve been following along with me and 11 other shops for the past 12 days. Here I’m going to highlight the lovely shops that have graciously been involved with the 12 day giveaway, and hopefully encourage some of y’all to shop small this holiday season and BEYOND.
Small businesses are truly the backbone of this country. It’s mamas, daddys, sisters & brothers that are behind the scenes of these small companies. By spending even a tad bit more, you are directly contributing to the success of these families. A purchase by you can mean a family gets to feed their children, or a mama gets to take herself to coffee. Every little sale results in a little happy dance by the owner. It means SO MUCH.
I’m going to introduce these in random order. Some have a lot more than others and that’s just the way it came out.
Megan Stephenson is the owner of WeeBird Studios. I have mad respect for pottery artists. They have so.much.skull. WeeBird Studios is based here in Wilmington. When asked about her and her shop, Megan had this to say:
“About my shop: I began pottery about a year ago, and quickly became intrigued with learning all about glazing, wheel throwing, and hand building. I love working with bright colors, and am inspired by nature. All my mugs and thrown on the wheel, and I hope to learn how to make teapots and plates soon!
About me: I enjoy working with my hands, and have ventured into fiber art, crocheting, working with metals, and am a bit obsessed with growing orchids. I am currently focused on ceramics, but also make time for reading, staying active outside, and traveling.”
Check out her pottery here:
www.etsy.com/shop/weebirdstudios
Thank you for sharing Megan!!
Little Lentil Clothing is a children’s clothing brand I stumbled upon on Instagram, and I’m so glad to have found it and to be able to share it with y’all. Katie was more than generous with her sharing. Here’s what she had to say about her and her business:
“As a first-time mom and lifelong Earth lover, I found it challenging to find truly organic and sustainable clothing options for my little one. Little Lentil Clothing curates and creates organic and sustainable baby clothes designed with parents, their babies and the earth in mind.
Since organic clothing can often be expensive, we aspire to help parents purchase organic for their babies through our Loved Again Program, which offers pre-loved quality organic clothes at up to half the price of new items.
We are dedicated to leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible. Our Send-Back Program is a leading sustainability initiative to help ensure that the clothes we sell don’t unnecessarily end up in landfills. We purchase renewable energy credits to offset 100% of our operational and shipping footprint and all of our packaging is made from 100% recycled material and is 100% reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable.”
Little Lentil Clothing can be found at https://littlelentilclothing.com/
Thank you Katie for participating!
Vicki Stromer from EchoEchoLily is actually my sister! Not only is she an entrepreneur, she’s a mom of 5 sweet kids! She creates beautiful handcrafted farmhouse style signs, both custom and predesigned styles.
Vicki stumbled upon signmaking, and it quickly grew into a passion and a business! She works from her home among her five growing kiddos. Talk about busy! A little bit about Vicki from Vicki:
“Mother of 5; married to my best friend and high school sweetheart; designer, painter, builder and shipper of the signs here in shop. I love doing. Going. Hike, mountain bike, walk, run, camp, yoga, etc etc.”
About her shop:
“I seem to have stumbled into a beautiful little sign making business! And I love it! It is so satisfying to create a sign with my own hands, ship it out to a special customer, and imagine it hanging in their home! If I'm lucky, they even send me a picture!
Thank you for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions! I love to do custom orders also!”
Want a custom statement piece for your house? There’s seriously no better place to get one than from her site!
Vicki’s shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EchoEchoLily
While we’re chatting about sister’s, I’m going to introduce y’all to Nellie Ek. She’s the owner of Willow & Leather, a new company where she designs and creates beautiful leather pieces for you, your children, and your home! She’s been busy designing new products, so you’re definitely going to want to keep an eye on her Instagram and her Etsy shop to see what’s going to be available.
About Nellie: She grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but married her now husband Alan and lived in Battle Ground, WA for three years. Just this fall she returned to the UP with her two beautiful baby boys. She loves coffee, creating things, and taking care of her kiddos (sounds like this all might run in the family!).
Nellie’s about me says this:
”Hello I am Nellie! I am a mother to two boys who keep me very busy! I have always been into crafts and have tried so many such as crocheting, sewing, embroidery, eBay and more. But I have never truly loved it like I love working with leather! I hope to sell my products to make people happy and so they can get the experience of soft quality leather at a great price! Thank you for stopping by our shop!”
Check out her etsy and make sure to follow her on Instagram to keep updated!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WillowLeatherCo?ref=search_shop_redirect#about
Ryan from RSA - Ryan Stokes Art was generous to join the giveaway and to provide a beautiful wooden ornament for someone to win. His artwork is handcrafted wooden pieces that are absolutely one of a kind. He takes reclaimed wood from the Cape Fear Region and turns it into intriguing pieces that combine nature, photography, graphic arts, and woodworking.
A little about Ryan, from Ryan:
“A native North Carolinian, my passion for art led me from my hometown of Kinston to Appalachian State University where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. In Boone, I was strongly influenced by the natural beauty of the area and spent my time exploring the mountains. After graduating, I followed the wind to Wilmington to indulge my passion for the ocean and warm sandy beaches.
I have been working in the graphic arts field for the past 18 years, and from that experience and personal tenacity I decided to start RSA (Ryan Stokes Art) as a way to showcase my unique works of art.”
Many of his pieces have influences of the coast found within them and I LOVE that. Find his work here:
I found Sue from SuSuStudio this summer at the Poplar Grove Farmer’s market (held every Wednesday in the summer, it’s a must-do!). Her designs instantly caught my eye at how unique the patterns were, but how simple the pieces really were. She instantly came to mind when I thought of Wilmington based small-businesses. A little about Sue’s shop:
“My biggest focus with the things that I make are cute,modern,comfortable and easy care! I like color but not frills, I try to incorporate a lot of gender neutral options as well. Most of my fabrics nowadays are organic cottons.”
Her site can be found at SuSueStudio.com, but be sure to follow her on Insta as well as she’s always coming out with new designs and seasonal lines. She also posts her locations of her stand at local shops and markets around Wilmington!
Nicole of Solstice Woodworking is located here in Wilmington, NC, and like a lot of these brands, I found her via Instagram. Her work is phenomenal. Seriously. She was so, so kind to donate to this giveaway.
Her woodworking takes reclaimed wood and turns it into beautiful art (some functional pieces, like the wooden tray she created). She’s always coming out with incredible new art! Her recent work on Instagram has been some of my favorite.
A little from Nicole: “Hey everyone! I'm Nicole, the face and hands behind Solstice Woodworks. I started my business in 2017 after salvaging truckloads of reclaimed lath from a century old home in Wilmington, NC. As pieces make their way into new homes, my hope is that they bring with them a little spark of joy.”
Her stuff can be found here:
Cargo Coffee Company is a fairly new coffee stand/shop found in Holly Ridge, NC (just north of Wilmington about 30 miles). I used to drive to Jacksonville quite a bit and this stand is perfectly located along the way. It also has a drive-thru which is a huuuuge deal for moms! And I haven’t even got started on the coffee.
I’m from the north, from a Scandinavian family and we take our coffee VERY seriously. The South is just a bit different, and it was really hard for me to find a coffee shop that I just loved when I got here. Cargo Coffee Company made the list. They make their caramel syrup in-house and you can very much taste the difference. Gabrielle, one of the owners, is so great. She has great ideas, and a passion for coffee & taking care of this planet. They have coffee beans for sale as well, just in case you need to take some CCC home with you.
Cargo Coffee Company, thankfully, has it right with their drive thru window AND their outdoor seating space. It’s perfect for sunny summer days and evenings alike.
L’oved Baby was a gem of a shop I found while pregnant with Maverick. There are SO MANY OPTIONS with baby clothes, but once I found this brand I was hooked. And I feel like pretty much everyone that tries this brand agrees.
First, it’s organic cotton. Which is big for me, because I want to know what I’m putting on Mav is good stuff (as much as I can, anyway!). Next, it comes in the most BEAUTIFUL colors. I used a bright white footie for his Baptism outfit and it was perfect. I’ll be saving it for hopefully future babies. My favorite color has to be the seafoam they have, and next the sage. If ever I have a girl, I’ll be scooping up their beautiful blush pieces.
On top of their perfect basics, they come out with signature lines that happen only once. And they are so great, you won’t want to miss them. My recent favorite was their striped collection!
Sharon, the founder of L’oved Baby had this to say “One month before I became pregnant with my first child about 18 years ago, my mother, then age 46, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The news was devastating for me and my entire family. By the time little Arielle was born, I had heard and read extensively about the benefits of breastfeeding, for both mom and baby. As such, I set a goal for myself to nurse my daughter and future babies until they turned one year old. Finding it difficult to do so discretely in public, I created a nursing cover for my own personal use. Five years later, I began selling my nursing cover and L'ovedbaby eventually grew to include a full line of quality baby products. Thirteen years later, I am proud to say that L’ovedbaby is recognized for our award-winning products and exceptional customer service.”
Their products and customer service definitely deserve ALL of the awards. I have had nothing but excellent exchanges with this brand.
Here’s Mav wearing my two favorite L’oved baby outfits.
Molli Ek is the owner of Pooki Font, and she does creative calligraphy. She basically writes on anything that can be written on! Pooki is a nickname given to her as a child and stuck with her through the years! Her work is so cute and sometimes cheeky and I love it. Her shop has mugs, shirts, signs, doormats, calendars, etc. Have an idea for a custom project? Send it her way!
Her personality shows through her Instagram and I love it when shops do that! Make sure to follow her to keep up with her funny little stories and cool work that she comes out with!
Here’s her page: https://www.etsy.com/shop/pookifont and her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pooki.font/?hl=en
Tiffany from Ginger Lily Shoppe sells a variety of soaps and other bath & beauty products in her Etsy shop as well as throughout festivals and markets in Wilmington. Her products are also sold at Up Beet Market in Wilmington! Sulfate-Free, Paraben-Free, vegan friendly and cruelty-free, Ginger Lily Shoppe’s products are a perfect choice!!
I especially love how beautiful her soaps are! The colors are magical in different ways. Her Instagram is continuously updated with product shots as well as her locations at different markets so you don’t want to miss her ‘Gram! Here’s some photos of her products available through her Etsy.
Last but not least, Adapt Kitchen & Juice Bar. Chris & Ellie are the owners, and they’re nothing short of fantastic. I love, love, love when I can go into a local business and the owner is not only there, but is chatting and working away. That shows SO much about their dedication to their customers and to their business. Adapt sells a whole variety of juices, smoothies, bowls, poke, coffee and teas/wellness shots. The best part is, it’s all the reallyy good stuff. Good for you, and tastes good. I was very skeptical to eat a smoothie bowl made out of seaweed and bananas, but it was AMAAZING (get the Blue Majik!).
Adapt has quickly begun my favorite place on Wrightsville, and I’m so glad it’ll be here when the hot summer comes back around. Their food, drinks, and atmosphere just make it a perfect stop at the beach (let’s talk about their gorgeous, Instagram-worthy decor). Their website below has their menu posted, as well as a little about the owners. Be sure to check it out next time you’re at the beach! I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
And then there’s me/Stefany Mae Photography. And you probaaaaably know a bit about me because, well, y’all probably have been following me if you ended up here!
But hi. I’m a family & newborn photographer, who especially loves candidy/lifestyle work. I love to show personality and connection above ALL else. My style is clean, natural and timeless and I hope it resonates with a few of you!
My husband & myself moved from Northern Michigan and now find ourselves on the Carolina coast, serving Wilmington and the surrounding areas. With our baby boy Maverick, we LOVE spending our time in or near the ocean. I drink a lot of coffee, love to mess around with anything artistic, rummaging through thrift stores for fun stuff, and learning anything I can about anything in the world. I’d love to get to know you and yours, and create some incredible artwork for you to cherish forever.
Thank you all SO much for joining me/us on this little journey! A HUGE thank you to all the shops who have participating. You are what make this world special, and YOU are what makes America great.
I hope this mini series impacted you in some way. I hope next time you buy a gift, you search Etsy instead of Target, or visit your local merchants before you head to the big chain store. I hope you eat local, drink local coffee, hang out in local places. It makes a HUGE difference, and we as local business owners depend greatly on your support, so thank you!!
Get to know the shops in this feed, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! Leave a comment to let me know a small shop I need to check out.