Looking for holiday gifts? The indie community has come together to provide you with an endless supply of great gift ideas! Here are a few of my favorites.

IndieHolidays.com

I don’t just love this website because I am the site designer- I love the products! We’ve worked hard to put together a guide that brings you a wealth of products with prices ranging from $5.00 to $500. There is sure to be something for everyone on your list!

The Switchboard Gift Guide

This .pdf guide was created by kjcreative, one of the generous members of The Switchboards. The guide is a listing of products that can be downloaded and emailed to your friends and family. Thanks to KJ for her hard work!

Holiday Sale on Today’s Business Mom

This is a wonderful shopping guide featuring unique gift ideas sold by Mother Owned Businesses! Some crafts are mother-designed as well. The mother owned stores feature:

*unique jewelry pieces
*books
*natural soaps
*spa delectables
*a variety of other gift ideas

Mixed Plate Holiday Gift Guide

A wonderful guide that covers the following categories:

* For the Ladies
* For the Boys
* For the Little Cuties
* Bling!
* Furry Friends
* What a Body!
* A Little Bit of Everything

By purchasing from the vendors you are supporting mother owned businesses!

This past summer, I went to a festival in Starkville, Mississippi - a town not so far from my home. My mother and I had taken different paths around, and she, obviously, hit the jackpot. When we met back up she gave me a bar of homemade Mango-Melon Soap by Creature Comforts. Wow. It was nicely made and locally, too. If you are from the south or a sparsely populated area, like I am, you know what a surprise it is to find locally-made goods so close to home.

The makers of the soap had (intelligently) attached the web address to the soap, and I, of course, found myself there.

I was surprised by the makers’ motivation to start this business. It wasn’t originally about soap; they started out making better, longer-lasting collars for dogs. The business-owners are Meg Woolley and Elizabeth Miller students at the Mississippi State University Veterinary College.

I won’t waste your time on their history, that’s what the website is for - I’ll shoot it straight.

Their collars run about $10, and are cute as everything!

They have All-Natural Flea Shampoo bars for $3.

Their soaps are top-notch and are also priced right - most from $3 - $4.

They have lip balm for just $2.

And these are NOT sale prices!

If that isn’t a deal, I just don’t know what is!

It seems that summer just ended, and yet I was met with a dusting of snow when I left the house this morning. In Vermont, this signals a few things: Time to put on the snow tires, stack firewood, and pick out your new winter accessories!

I love scarves, not just for their added warmth on cold mornings, but because they are a great accessory to brighten up the dull months of winter.

Here are a few of my favorite handmade scarf finds from the indie world:

Vintage silk scarves from Kimono Momo

Silver Convertible Scarf from India Romeo

Tentacle Scarf from Mod Cloth

Desert Bloom Scarf by Auriis

Cabled Mustard Yellow Scarf by PixiLelu

As many of you know, I am a YouTube fan. This morning I woke up at an unholy hour and was wasting passing time by watching videos from all around the world. While I was browsing I stopped by the Fred Flare page, since they’ve always got something entertaining going on. I couldn’t believe it when I realized their latest video is a clip of Chris and Keith as they take a roller coaster ride!

Secret Confession: I’m terrified of roller coasters, but I force myself to go on them. Here in Florida we have quite a few. Here’s the last roller coaster I rode (other than the indie business roller coaster we are all so fond of!): The SheiKra. If you like heights, love going really fast and have an addiction to adrenaline, the SheiKra is definitely the ride for you! Personally, you couldn’t pay me to go back on it!

You might be asking yourself, “So what’s The REAL reason Tamara is rambling about all this?”. Well, the truth is Georgia and I both adore Fred Flare and you can just imagine that roller coaster feeling of surprise we had when we found out that they have been reading our blog! [Waving Hello To Everyone From Fred Flare!]

Even better, they dropped us a line to let us know that they’re having a sale! You all know that we LOVE a good sale, and this one sure qualifies!

The new Fred Flare holiday gift guide has launched and they’re offering 25% off for two weeks!

They have some super great products in the gift guide, including this Roller Tote (a much safer rolling experience than the SheiKra and my personal favorite!):

So yes, dear reader, get your beautiful behind over to FredFlare.com and take advantage of this rather advantageous sale!

OH! And while you’re in the holiday mood, check out THIS treat from Reliving Moments: Personalized Santa letters!

Each adorable letter comes with holiday stickers, a combination Christmas coloring/activity book and crayons! There are seven different letters to choose from and they even have the official postmark from the North Pole! How cute is that?!

Order early though, so that your little ones get their letters from Santa in time!