Find Handcrafted Unique Gifts on "The Frontier": Support Talented Rural Artists at ShopTheFrontier.com

www.shopthefrontier.org is a nonprofit website created by Stone Soup of Washington State, dedicated to assisting rural entrepreneurs pursue their passions. Shop the Frontier represents artists and artisans producing everything from handmade soaps and candles to oil paintings and furniture.

Republic, WA (PRWEB) December 30, 2006 -- Soft handknit wool slippers and stylish crocheted hats, handcrafted jewelry made with gems, pearls, and silver, hand-dipped beeswax candles and sweet-scented homemade soap - these are just a few of the unique items created by hardworking artists and artisans on the frontier in rural Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

www.ShoptheFrontier.org, a nonprofit website based in rural Washington State, showcases all of these wonderful products and more, bringing handcrafted quality and unique gifts to the world this holiday season while it celebrated its one year anniversary on the World Wide Web this past November.

Shop the Frontier geared up for its second holiday season on the Web in 2006 by adding more products daily and enhancing the website to make it even more user-friendly. With more pictures to view each product's detail, shopping on the Frontier is more enjoyable than ever. Shop the Frontier's sales category is filled with affordable handcrafted gifts, like Gloria de los Santos' breathtaking hand-colored photos of Eastern Washington or Artesian Glassworks' luminous "Light Bender." The creativity of rural artists is on display from handcrafted tables and chairs to original Western oil paintings to natural herbal remedies. The Frontier's commitment to quality and value is reflected in every product.

"I love the motion of the eastern Washington landscape. The sky, the grass, the rivers and creeks, all changing and moving around me, evolving from season to season. I'm inspired to create this same sense of fluidity in glass," says Laura Aspenwall, one of Shop the Frontier's newest artists. She lives in Winthrop, Washington and has created a series of colorful glass horseshoes which are currently displayed in the Art Gallery section of the website. While browsing Shop the Frontier, shoppers can find out more about each artist in the newly redesigned "Artist Community" section, including links to the artist's individual websites and more images of their work.

www.ShoptheFrontier.org is the creation of Stone Soup, a nonprofit organization that works to create jobs and increase family incomes in rural communities through the support of microenterprise efforts. Proceeds from the sale of these special gift items go to support their business and technology training courses and their micro-loan program.

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