If you’re ready to join the buy-handmade crowd, but not sure where to start, try The Sampler. These collections—a sampling, if you will—of indie artists’ goods include jewelry, stationery, plushies, soaps and more.

The site includes many packages from which to choose—classic, sampler select, city sampler—which make it easy to try one. I started with city sampler featuring artists from Columbus.

This plushie owl from L. CabaneroDesigns was a big hit, as were the Lindsey Lohan mug-shot earrings by Lisa's Paperdoll.

My favorite is Adam Brouillette’s homage to the Village People with his Little Red Men O-H-I-O postcard shown above.

Here’s The Sampler’s official description:
Each month, independent crafters, artists, shops, zines and record labels who run web-based businesses send samples and promotional materials to a contribution pool. All the samples are photographed, posted to the site and then are portioned out, put in little packages and sent off to Sampler Subscribers, other Sampler Contributors and members of the Media all over the world!

Check out the galleries to see what indie artists are up to theses days. Or, maybe you can become a contributing artist and get a little notice for your work.



--Robin