It's back! The 2024 edition is here. I have curated a list of 5 small businesses to shop from this year. All of these small shops handcraft their products. From one of a kind dog accessories and market bags, to cute crochet animals. Plus, beautifully scented soy wax candles, whimsical needle felt and more, please check out the following businesses.

Broken chains can happen! Perhaps you tug on the chain or clasp a little too hard and it breaks. You have a pet who jumps up on you and their paw catches the chain. Maybe you have a pendant that's way too heavy for the chain. Today I want to share with you ways to help so your chains last longer.

When you think of England, what comes to mind?  Royal palaces, museums, shopping, theatre and of course rain! But if you go in the summer months when it's warmer and less rainfall, you won't be disappointed.

In July, my family travelled to England to spend 10 days between London and the countryside of Somerset. Upon arrival, we picked up our car rental as we wanted to have the flexibility to discover quaint small towns and beautiful cliffs along the sea. Driving on the left side along narrow country roads  is not for the faint of heart. If you can easily drive in downtown Toronto then be confident you can do it there.

We began with 4 nights in the Somerset area and then 6 nights in downtown London (with a few side trips along the way). 

During March Break this year, my family and I visited Baja California, Mexico, where we discovered an old, quaint Pacific Coast town for the first time called Todos Santos. Known for its artistic charm, it is filled with galleries and unique  handmade jewellery stores.  

While in our tour group, we stopped in at a local jewellery shop call The Velvet Box Todos Santos. Here we had the opportunity to learn about the formation of pearls . To our delight, the session ended with a GIVEAWAY coincidentally on National Jewel Day. Much to our excitement, my son drew the lucky number and won a  12mm authentic pearl - which he gifted to me . 

Intrigued by how pearls are formed, I wanted to share this process with you. Keep reading to learn what unique piece of jewellery I crafted.

Do you find yourself left with one earring and the other one lost? I am guilty of this. I have lost one of the earrings above multiple times and have luckily found it each time. If I have done the following, I would probably never have had to go looking for it!

If you are wondering if you should visit Costa Rica, stop wondering! PURA VIDA...that's their motto. It means "pure life"or "simple life". It's a way of life for Costa Ricans. They use it to say hello, goodbye, cool....we heard it a lot! 

Do you love wildlife? National parks and volcanoes? Latin American food? 4 different types of rainforests? Water activities?

​If you answer YES to any of these, then perhaps your next trip should be there.

My first blog of 2024 is starting off with a behind the scenes look at my  in person markets from 2023. I had the opportunity to work with a group of McMaster University students last fall.

​Their project was to focus on a small business and find ways to improve some aspect of it. We decided to focus on customer experience when shopping at my market booth.

In person markets are where I generate the majority of my sales. I don't get a lot of clicks to my website. (Even though I receive a lot of spam emails from unknown addresses saying they can get me on page one of Google).  I am curious how  did they find me?

My social media engagement has declined overtime. So attending markets are very important for me.

The McMaster students did the following:

1.  Interviewed me
2.  Attended my markets in the fall
3. Made observations and asked questions

They collected their data and they had three recommendations to help improve customer experience. 

It's back! The 2023 edition is here. I have curated a list of 5 small businesses to shop from this year. All of these small shops handcraft their products. From one of a kind cards, body care and more, please check out the following businesses.

Mun is the founder of Munday Body Care. With a background in architecture and a diverse life journey spanning multiple South-East Asian countries, Australia, and Canada, Mun's life experiences have led her to a profound appreciation for the remarkable healing potential of botanicals, rooted in the age-old self-care traditions of South-East Asian cultures.
 
Mun's personal encounters with the therapeutic wonders of plants ignited a passion to explore the incredible benefits of bio-adaptive botanicals such as moringa, turmeric, gotu kola, and thanaka. Stepping away from her architecture profession, she initially found a creative outlet in crafting artisanal soaps.
 
Fast forward to 2019, Mun and her husband decided to transform her passion into a full-fledged venture, giving birth to Munday Body Care. Munday stands as a testament to hand-crafted self-care products that embody the essence of nutritionally rich, plant-centric formulations. At the heart of Munday's creations are adaptogens, nature's answer to the everyday skin challenges posed by environmental stressors like fluctuating temperatures, pollution, and dry conditions. Mun elevates her products with the artistry of aromatherapy, crafting unique blends of essential oils. At Munday Body Care, it's not just self-care; it's a holistic journey of nourishing your body, mind, and soul with the power of nature.

​Stephanie is the creator behind Connelly Crafts, a small-batch handmade greeting card and paper goods company. She began making cards when she moved to Canada from Scotland and couldn't find the cards she wanted when she needed them. What started as a need soon blossomed into a love of all things papercraft.

In addition to greeting cards for all occasions, she creates card-making kits to help beginners find a love for papercrafts too. She also has a regular supply of gift tags, gift card holders and money wallets available.

Stephanie prides herself in keeping each piece as handmade as possible with the aid of stamps and dies and a hand-cranked die machine.

Casual, earthy jewellery made of eco-friendly recycled silver. Cheryl is the designer behind Clay Tulips by C. Her jewellery making began as a hobby when her youngest child started school full-time and turned into a small business in 2015.

Her love of the outdoors is seen in the silver jewellery she creates. Designs are inspired by nature and she imprints pieces of nature into her pendants, earrings, rings and bracelets. She also loves using unique stamps and interesting  buttons in her designs.

Since every piece is individually hand-sculpted, they are truly unique.

Thank you to each of these businesses for sharing their wonderful products. When you are thinking of shopping this festive season, think of supporting local.

Happy shopping!🎁
Cheryl 

September is Arthritis Awareness Month! It's a disease that affects 1 in 5 people in Canada.  That's more people than diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke combined.  Arthritis can look like anyone - a child, a teenager, your mom, your friends and myself. This month my blog is focusing on amber, arthritis and a new collection.

There are so many islands in Greece, it's hard to choose which ones to visit. Santorini and Mykonos are definitely two of the more popular ones.  But be prepared in the summer they are quite busy.

Greece begins it's tourism season on Greek Orthodox Easter weekend until October 31st of each year. In 2020, my family and I had booked a trip to Crete along with a small island called Naxos but it had to be cancelled. You know why!!

It took us 3 years to take this trip but in July we flew to Crete to spend 8 days there. It is the largest of the Greek islands and one trip cannot cover even a fraction of it. It takes almost 4 half hours just to drive from the east side of the island to the west.  Renting a car is a must if you plan to explore and try to get the smallest one you can. The roads are narrow especially in the small villages. One thing we learned when driving is when someone wants to pass you, be courteous and move to the right edge of the road so they can.

We decided to stay in eastern Crete near a small village called Plaka. I did very little research when planning this trip but I must say the eastern side was a great choice.

Eastern Crete is much less developed than the western side. It is more rugged with small villages interspersed throughout the mountains. The western side of Crete is more touristy and I think it's because they have the best sandy beaches there. They also have the Samariá Gorge which is a major tourist attraction. We spent most of our time along the eastern coast with a couple trips into the capital city of Heraklion.