The women stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind their new counter, stealing quick smiles at each other. They worked in harmony when ringing up a sale and they pleasantly finished each other’s sentences.

Carol Boldman and Mary Brophy, mother and daughter, respectively, are delighted to have opened a business in their hometown of 18 years. After a year of research and planning with other family members, they chose to spread their wings, take a chance and open the doors of Little Bird. Located in the heart of Oviedo, Little Bird specializes in handcrafted gifts, educational toys and gently used baby, children and junior’s clothing.

Brophy said she was first inspired to open the store after hearing about the success of a friend who opened a consignment shop in Orange City. Consignment is not only a good economic choice for families with growing children, it also is Earth-friendly, Brophy said.

“I have an 11-year-old boy who grew a foot over the summer,” she said with a laugh.

As the mother of three children, Brophy said store ownership gives her the freedom to build a business while remaining readily available for her three young children.

“My youngest child is special needs, and he was gearing up to be accepted into his first typical class, so I thought maybe we could combine the two and I could do something at the same time he is doing something,” Brophy said. She is also able to maintain homeschooling her 12-year-old daughter while working at the store.

Decorated with yellow walls and bird prints, the store is lined with neatly-arranged jeans, dresses, skirts and shorts. The clothes, arranged by size, are in excellent condition and feature brand names such as Old Navy, Tommy Hilfiger, Children’s Place and American Eagle. Because of numerous recalls over the years, they do not don’t accept any toys on consignment. Little Bird splits all proceeds with consigners 50/50.

Educational toys and activities on display include the well-known wooden Melissa & Doug puzzles, flashcards made by eeBoo that focus on manners, good citizenship and respecting the Earth, as well as wooden sushi and pizza kits for hours of imaginative play.

Little Bird also serves as a showcase for local artists.

“We are different from a typical consignment shop because we really want to emphasize locally handmade products,” Brophy said. “For the most part, it’s local moms who make stuff out of their homes and sell them at trunk shows and farmers markets.”

About 90 percent of the handmade items at Little Bird are crafted locally.

Boldman said she believes it’s the handmade items that set the store apart. The store features silkscreened T-shirts made by a local father, under the label Kennedy Baby Company. The “pillowcase dresses” for girls are sold under the name Cori’s Closet and are made from soft cotton by a local mother whose husband works as a third-shift policeman and sews during the night. Little Bird also sells tutus, hand-crafted bows and headbands.

For baby shower gifts, Little Bird has diaper cakes – diapers creatively arranged to look like a large cake – and charming blankets, quilts and burping cloths elegantly decorated with fabric.

Also on display at Little Bird is one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry, such as stretchy beaded necklaces, stylish bracelets crafted with safety pins and beads. An individual case on the main counter contains jewelry made by a missionary group in Africa, known as Work of Our Hands. The label features a photo of the person who crafted the piece, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to Africa.

The eye-catching work of local photographer Rebekah Schuck is also available for sale at the shop.

A little closer to home, the store plans to donate a portion of proceeds from the crocheted hats made by Boldman to the family of 5-year-old Ava Hunter, a close friend of their family who died a few weeks ago after being diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer.

“We are very blessed in our family; my dad (Loyd Boldman) is a graphic artist, so he did our logo, and my sister (Anna Ware) is in marketing and advertising, so she has been doing all of our networking, and my mom and I have been doing inventory and working in the shop,” Brophy said.

Brophy and Boldman agreed they are thrilled to work at the center of their community.

“I really do love when I come in in the morning being greeted by a chorus of crowing roosters,” Boldman said.

“It’s funny when you are on the phone with a vendor ordering something and there is a rooster crowing behind you; they think you are in the middle of nowhere,” Brophy added with a laugh.

Brophy said some customers have asked if the store was coined Little Bird because of the high population of chickens in downtown Oviedo, but the name holds more sentiment to their family.

“The real reason was because my youngest son is diagnosed with a high-functioning form of autism, and we have a lot of hand-flapping,” she said. “I had read Jenny McCarthy’s book (about her child’s autism), and she called her son ‘my little bird.’

“This shop was my first step out of the special needs world. I am going to tippy-toe out and see if I can manage in the real world.”