There are so many beautiful shops on Etsy, it's easy to get sucked into an inspiring vortex of things you didn't even know you needed. The best part is that if you do indulge in a little impulse buying, you know you are supporting small businesses and handmade artisans, and are purchasing a unique and most likely one of a kind or small-batch item.

Obviously, I'm an Etsy fan. I've officially been an Etsy shop owner for 14 months, and it has been the BIGGEST learning curve of my life, as well as one of the top 3 best decisions I've ever made in so far. The top two best decisions probably involve Ben, so yeah. Big deal.

Even though I am thrilled at the level of modest success I've been able to achieve in my "little bit here, little bit there" business approach, most of the time I still feel like I'm blindly wandering in a land of the unknown. I'm a figure-it-out-as-you-go type of person (which also makes life really scary at times), but I'm realizing how much this opportunity has given me. I've developed and learned so much in the subjects of business ownership and management, branding, marketing, sales, sewing, photography, modeling (haha), painting, customer service, bookkeeping, budgeting (sort of...) and the list goes on and on. I feel like I'm well on my way to an advanced degree from the University of Experience!

Tonight, because it's Friday and I'd rather make collages of pretty pictures than go into a deep post about things I've learned over the past year, I am going to share just a few of the shops I really like right now! If you're on Etsy and want to see more of my favorite you can follow me here.