Bon Bon Atelier is a darling little business owned by creative sisters Betsy Blodgett and Emily Blodgett-Panos in Kansas City, MO with both a retail storefront and a web shop for the rest of us. Their store looks so charming, doesn't it? Nice store, ladies. I love seeing young women in business for themselves like this, it inspires me all the more to someday open a shop of my own.

Bon Bon Atelier carries a varied mix of everything from Andrea Yates ceramics to Sheila Blodgett decoupage furniture and doors, wallets by Loop, and Japanese Decole and those iBride trays that are slowly taking over the world right now. I can't tell you how many blogs I've seen them on!

And Bon Bon Atelier isn't just a shop 'n go establishment, these ladies genuinely care about their community of creatives. If you live in Kansas City, they host a monthly get together on the 2nd Wednesday called the Bon Bon Sewing Circle. They set up sewing machines and also stations with glue guns and such for those who do not sew. The goal is to get together and share ideas, gain inspiration, and hopefully finish a project. I love this idea and hope to see mini events like these spread to other cities because we all need a little support and motivation without having to drop a ton of cash on formal classes. Classes are great, but not so much if you're on a budget and not really in need of learning anything, you just want to be around other creative types for an evening to sew and tell. Ha! Sew and Tell. That would be a cute name for a sewing group wouldn't it?

Are there are stores in your local area that have small business events, networking events, or free (or really cheap) classes that you've attended? How did they benefit you (or not)?

(images from bon bon atelier)