GREEN CHRISTMAS~ NOVICA HANDMADE PORCELINE DOLL REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

When Melissa and I were discussing the Green Christmas Gift Giving Guide we talked about how 'Green' does not have to be just organic. We wanted our guide to show the FULL range of responsible gift giving options. This includes handmade products- especially those made by small companies or individual people.

NOVICA definitely falls into our definition of a 'Green' company.

NOVICA works with poor artisans in underdeveloped regions of the world. By selling their products at fair prices, they are able to provide these artisans with a livable income!

I received the Akha Girl porcelain doll made by Suwit Suthamtha of Thailand.

It came beautifully wrapped!




And she was gorgeous!

I LOVE that I can leave Suwit a message and let him know how much I love his work!! This is all part of their mission:



We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.

At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.

We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it.

In the spirit of the Internet, let us bring you together.

NOVICA. The World is Your Market.


However, the BEST thing, in my opinion, about NOVICA is their Artisan Loan program. Artisan Loans are small 0% interest loans the NOVICA artisans use to build their businesses by buying supplies, tools, land, shops, etc. And, YOU make the loans! $25 at a time. What a great gift to give someone for Christmas!! Make a loan in their honor. Then, when you get repaid, you loan the money to another artisan!! It's the gift that, literally, keeps on giving!!

Check out these other great gift ideas:

fair trade corporate gifts

green gifts
unique gifts
microfinance
Novica has great options if your company is looking for a corporate gift, too!

BUY IT- You can buy Akha Girl for $32.95

WIN IT- NOVICA is giving 1 lucky HGF follower a GC for $37.50 for anything on the site!

MANDATORY ENTRY
Stop by NOVICA Artisan Loans page and tell me to whom you would lend money!
You must be a Home Grown Families Google Follower to participate.

EXTRA ENTRIES
Must include email address if not listed in profile. Each entry must be a separate comment.

• Become a Facebook Fan of NOVICA and let them know I sent you - 1 entry

• Become a Twitter follower of NOVICA- 1 entry

• Sign up for their email newsletter- 1 entry

• Become a follower of Home Grown Families on Twitter- 1 entry

• Tweet about this giveaway for 1 entry per day! Please include Home Grown Families in your tweet and leave me the permalink.

• Follow Home Grown Families on Facebook, and leave me a note- 2 entries

• Email this giveaway to a friend, and CC it to momtosprouts at yahoo- 1 entry
  

• Subscribe to Home Grown Families via Feedburner in the upper left corner- 3 entries
  

• Add my button to your blog and provide a URL where I can find it.- 5 entries

• Blog about this Giveaway on your blog and provide post URL. Be sure to include Home Grown Families- 5 entries

• Enter any of my other giveaways and let me know which one you entered- 1 entry per giveaway.

• Vote for Home Grown Families on Top Mommy Blogs (link on the left)- 1 entry for vote

Good luck everyone! Open to U.S ONLY- Giveaway will run until December 20th! I will use random generator to pick a winner and will email the winner and announce it here on the blog. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be announced.

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid for this post. I was given a product to review, and I have provided my own honest opinion. Thank you , NOVICA for allowing us to review your products and for the awesome giveaway. You can view our PR policies here.

Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net