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Maggie Whitley

joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith & simple living

You are here: Home / inspiration / guest bloggers / {on finding inspiration from the handmade community.}

{on finding inspiration from the handmade community.}

May 6, 2011 · 11 Comments
Filed Under: guest bloggers, inspiration

♥ Supporting one another is the start to building a community. Below is a spotlight story on inspiration/the handmade community, plus 6 mini-features from my post on building community right here on this blog. The handmade community has helped me take my business to the next level, so my love for it is natural :] With all the great blogs out there, if you are a Gussy Sews reader ~ please know I appreciate you and your comments.

Working from home is no easy feat — maybe this quote [a favorite] can help to encourage you? Inspiration is all around you…

Spotlight story >>

Hi ~ my name is Carrie from Caroline G. I currently live in North Carolina where I work as a teacher and run my business on the side. I started my business out of my love for all things pink and green, ribbon, and the desire to bless others by giving back.

About five months ago, as I began to transition my business from selling locally to selling online, I stumbled across the handmade online community. At first glance, it appeared to be marvelous, glorious, wonderful, and certainly overflowing with encouragement and community. The more I discovered it, the more I started to fall in love with it. Every day, I am in awe as I read blogs of women who let their guard down and share their beautiful hearts with the world. I am continually inspired by stories of trials, heartache, prayers answered, and great accomplishments. And I love watching as encouragement dances across the pages of twitter as business owners and bloggers continually tweet kindness back and forth.

There have been moments where I have wanted to throw the towel in and give up on my dreams, and your emails have whispered to me to keep on going. When I feel like I’m alone in this, your encouraging words remind me that we are all in this together. When I find myself struggling, your wisdom and advice seem to out pour endlessly. When I have needed a helping hand, someone has always put one out and graciously helped.

The handmade online community is quite possibly one of my favorite things about owning an Indie Business. I have been so moved by the out pour of love, support, advice, and encouragement. I will probably never met most of the people who have sent me encouraging emails or written me beautiful letters. I will never get the opportunity to hug their necks to show my appreciation for their kindness. And I love that despite my inability to personally thank anyone to their face, people continually keep on giving, encouraging, inspiring, and helping even when they have nothing to gain in return.

The handmade online community has taught me that encouragement is like medicine to a weary and tired soul and the sound of praises ringing as great things are accomplished. It is like a warm hug to comfort a hurting heart, and endless kind words that continually remind us that we are not alone in the trials and tribulations of life.

I simply could not imagine running my business without the support and love of this beautiful community. Your words of encouragement have put an extra skip in my walk. Your kindness makes me want to shout your praises from the mountaintop. And yes, your love and support makes me dance and fist pump around my living room!

*

6 mini-features >>

Back in December I wrote a post ~ {creating community on this blog} ~ and I asked readers to leave a comment answering four questions. The idea was readers could come back to the post to find new friends to connect with. As of today there are over 300 readers looking for community ~ yeow!

Below is a mini-feature on 6 readers that left a comment on the community post. I’ll feature more readers like this again soon, but if you want to find a new friend by reading through the comments, you can search for a specific topic, by pressing command + f [for Mac users] or control + f [for PC users] and then type your word in the search bar. You’ll have to scroll through a few pages to “read” all the comments, only 50 comments show up per page. [xo]

Here are the questions:
1. what is your name and blog/shop URL?
2. what is your blog or shop about?
3. share something fun about yourself.
4. what is something that’s a “favorite”?

And the 6 mini-features:
1. Tahnie – http://ahappygirl.com
2. Being happy living with a chronic, incurable rare disease and soaking up the precious moments with my miracle daughter.
3. I’m addicted to sour patch blue raspberries.
4. I love love love making gratitude lists and combing over the bliss filled facets of my beautiful life!

1.) My name is Carissa. My blog is http://bumblebeebliss.com/blog/
2.) My blog is about all things crafty; mainly my sewing adventures, the big pile of handmade purses in my closet, and how-to’s for sewing purses.
3.) I am addicted to purses!! I LOVE making them! I never get tired of designing and sewing purses.
4.) Starbucks. I love coffee. :)

1. Blog: http://www.apearantlysew.blogspot.com / Shop: http://www.apearantlysew.bigcartel.com
2. My blog is about: My day to day life, my family, sewing & crafts
3. I spent 3 + months in Guatemala doing missions (when I
was younger & not yet a mommy and wife)
4. A cup of coffee & a good book.

1. Sarah from http://sillygrrl.com
2. my life, web design, my quest to become an aerialist, my love for Detroit, what I wore, adventures, accomplishing goals
3. I’ve been taking aerial silks and static trapeze classes for just over a year. I had my first duo trapeze performance last Sunday and pretty much fell in love with trapeze all over again :)
4. leopard print, dessert, my cute rat terrier, a nice font.

1.my blog is palfreymansjourney.blogspot.com
2.my blog is about my family and the small adventures that we have everyday.. learning to enjoy the journey of life and learning to live in the “NOW”
3. something fun about myself….i refuse to grow up.:) still love to watch cartoons, tom and jerry is my favorite.
4. what is something that is a favorite….music is a favorite of mine, cant go a day without it. i believe we all have a soundtrack to our life and i think that is pretty rad!

1. Diane from Something Diane Made – http://www.etsy.com/shop/somethingdianemade
2. It’s about cozy, warm, and yet cute items. Something to make the winter blues bearable.
3. I am mis-places northern, and Michigan will always be home in my heart.
4. Green and polka dots :)

♥ Remember to visit this post if you’re looking to be a part of this community.
[xo.]

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11 Comments
Filed Under: guest bloggers, inspiration

« {sponsor feature: Everyday Keepsakes}
{saturday craft: decorative earring display} »

Comments

  1. Citlalli says

    May 6, 2011 at 8:57 am

    Thank you for the inspiration. It’s posts like this that give me hope and strength to keep on going!!

    Reply
  2. Alison says

    May 6, 2011 at 10:07 am

    Thank you so much for including me! I’ll definitely have to go check out these other ladies & make some new friends! :)

    Reply
  3. Molly @ A Bit O' Shine says

    May 6, 2011 at 10:21 am

    Great post. The handmade biz is a constant learning process and I so appreciate those willing to share.

    Reply
  4. teresa says

    May 6, 2011 at 10:59 am

    Sweet Gus~
    Your blog is such an inspiration!
    Thank you for being such a great ENCOURAGEMENT to DREAMERS like myself!
    One of the sweetest things about you is that you GLOW from within as you represent GUSSY
    and the handmade community!
    You are very special and Doogan and I are BLESSED to call you and Mr. B {Bauer} friends.
    Hugs~
    xo
    Just went on to register for The Creative Connection! Wow~zee! xo

    Reply
  5. Sarah says

    May 6, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    Aww thanks for including me! Excited to find more blogs to read :)

    Reply
  6. Sarah-Anne says

    May 6, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    congrats to allison for the mini feature!! fellow NC girls fist bump…

    Reply
  7. Kristi {at} Live and Love Out Loud says

    May 6, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    I love Carrie! She’s amazing and sweet and I’ve so enjoyed having her as a sponsor on my blog. I wish her much success in her business! :)

    Reply
  8. monique says

    May 7, 2011 at 12:56 am

    Thanks for sharing this inspirational story. It is really motivating me to start my own handmade indie business. I really liked the mini features too! I just joined your commnunity.

    Reply
  9. Bojjez says

    March 19, 2014 at 1:55 am

    “Looks like I was trying to exrseps love with every fiber of my little being.”You were successful! I felt very loved… and still do… even when I’m crabby (which isn’t very often)! :-) Maybe that’s why the tears came to my eyes when I read that little book again yesterday.Well, God bless you, too!Love,MumXXOOXXOO

    Reply
  10. Cantipla says

    March 21, 2014 at 11:28 am

    a1Cue1nta gente respondiendo a tu cnoaocvtoria. Geninne! a1Que9 calorcito en el alma te debe dar esto! Me apunto para el sorteo, obviamente. Estos pajaritos son realemnte increedbles. No sabreda con cue1l quedarme…Marcela Calderf3n, San Nicole1s, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Vos ya tene9s un premio sabiendo que tanta gente admira tu arte, bfno?Te mando un abrazote!

    Reply
  11. http://www.muxi.org says

    March 25, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    I seriously love your site.. Excellent colors & theme. Did
    you develop this site yourself? Please reply back as
    I’m planning to create my own personal blog and would love to know where you got
    this from or what the theme is named. Many thanks!

    Reply

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