For the Holidays....

dining room ready for thanksgiving!

new stumps...

robots!!!

my new favorite....

I am so excited that the holidays are here! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with our families and Jeff cooked an amazing meal. His food never disappoints and this year was definitely no exception....the menu was huge and it was all delicious. I ate way too much and induced myself into a food coma by dessert (which was homemade personal cheesecakes with banana flambe' and cinnamon ginger ice cream). YUM. I also really enjoyed my few days off and got to work re-building my inventory after the recent shows. I made a couple of new robots (I love the gray and orange one!) and several new sticks and stumps. I am trying to work hard to restock my etsy shop which has been low on inventory for a while now. Check out the shop for all the new stuff....more coming soon!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season...can you believe tomorrow is December already???? I can't wait to get our tree!

fattycakes in the news....

I.C.E. was great last Saturday and I really enjoyed talking with everyone and seeing all the great handmade items. There was so much talent there and great handmade gifts! I bought a few things for myself and great illustration for the guest bedroom. Pictures to come of my booth!

fattycakes has been kinda in the news lately.....check out these links

http://www.pnmag.com/blog/haute_mama

http://homemadegrits.blogspot.com/2008/11/ice-winter-2008.html

These two links are from my good friend Lesley, who is an avid blogger. Check out her blog Homemade Grits for everything from family to babies to organization!

And I met a super nice new friend and fellow plushie maker Fluffy Flowers at I.C.E. She blogged about I.C.E., featuring a great mini octopus picture from my booth. See it here http://fluffyflowers.typepad.com/fluffy_flowers/2008/11/ice-atlanta-holiday-08.html

I'm also on pg. 29 of the Creative Loafing Holiday Guide out at newstands now. They have a great section on money-saving d.i.y. for the holidays featuring an article with myself and Shannon Mulkey of Patina and I.C.E. fame (she is one of the two wonderful organizers). Check it out and learn how to make this felt toast ornament!

And last but not least, fattycakes will be at the Big Angel Blowout at Whitespace this Thursday through Sunday so please stop by for some great holiday shopping!

Things are getting crazy and around here and we are gearing up for our first Thanksgiving in our new house! We are so excited and will be hosting both sets of our parents, and Jeff will be cooking a fabulous meal....I can't wait!

I.C.E. is back for the holidays....

The Indie Craft Experience's Holiday Shopping Spectacular is coming up this Saturday!!! Can you believe it is already almost mid-way through November and seriously time to start thinking about gift-giving? There are going to be so many great vendors at I.C.E., including fattycakes, so come out and support your favorite indie-crafters. For the holidays, fattycakes has some fun ornaments in the works....your tree will be jealous if you don't get one! And....next week look for fattycakes at the last year of the Big Angel Blowout! My friend Abby got me hooked up with the people who do it, so I'm excited to participate and to shop for myself and friends. Find out more information on ICE at http://ice-atlanta.com. Dates for the Big Angel Blowout are Nov. 15th(Pre-view), Nov. 16th, Nov. 17th, and Nov. 18th. At Whitespace814 Edgewood Ave.Atlanta, GA30307. See you all there!

back from hiatus...

So with all the recent insanity with moving in, getting settled, painting, and my recent job move things have been busy to say the least. I feel like I have been on a bit of a hiatus on this blog since we have been posting our progress on our house blog Home Sweet Split-Level. Home ownership has been a great adventure so far and our plate is full with future and current projects. I want to do it all at once, but that just isn't going to happen! I finally finished my art room last week and it looks great and makes me very happy and crafty. It is a bit bigger than my old art room, the layout is much better too. Did I mention all the nice sunlight it gets being way up there on the front upstairs of the house. Long story short--I love it...it is just what I pictured! In crafty news, I really need to start prepping for ICE and other shows coming up this winter, so I broke out the felt and got to work on a few critters this weekend. I finished a couple more giant octopi and a couple more robots are finished. I also started making some baby octopi which I will show you soon! (That means that octopi now come in three sizes!) I thought they would be great little stocking stuffers and such and they are just so darn cute. I'm also considering adding a hedgehog to the lineup, but I think he needs to be more jazzy than the prototype I made. There is still lots going on with the Craft Mafia and a lot of great events in the works for this fall, so we will have more info on that soon.

it's finally here....

Everything has been super crazy recently and tomorrow is finally the big day.....closing day on our house! Boxes are packed, some of the paint has been purchased, and we have been brainstorming future plans like crazy. We can't wait to take Pizmo-dog there after the closing tomorrow so we can see what she thinks. I think she will love it, and so will we. Look for an all new blog soon about the trials and tribulations on our venture into home ownership!

In the meantime, I can't wait to unpack my art room and start sewing some felties again. I am so excited about my sunlight-filled art room! I'll post pictures as I set it up.

We can't wait to be home sweet home tomorrow!

new developments...

Something fabulous happened last weekend and I am just so excited about it! The founding girls from the ATL Craft Mafia asked me to join them as a founding member! Of course I said YES! These ladies are just the best and work so hard for our organization, I was already proud to be a member and now I'm super proud to be a founding member. Thank you ladies!

If you haven't already joined please check it out. It is a great opportunity to meet other crafters in Atlanta, make contacts, sell your craft, and ultimately grow your indie business and besides all that it is just plain fun!

a few new critters...

My efforts in packing aren't going so well....instead I seem to be diverting my attention to all things octopi. I have made about 10 since last week! I'm also trying out a bigger, more huggable size that turned out really great. I made my first owl in a long time, which is funny since that is essentially what fattycakes started with. I love how it turned out and I think I will add it my list of critter inventory. Here are just a few pictures of the new critters. Things seem crazier and more hectic than ever with all that is going on and I am just trying to hold on for the ride. I am so ready for the relief of closing on the house. I know I will feel a ton better when that is done with (then the fun can start.....decorating!)

so much to catch up on...

(from the Atlantic Station Market)


I have a lot of blogging to catch up on! I'll start with the Atlantic Station Market that was a couple of Fridays ago....It was great to be there with other members of the Craft Mafia. Overall, it was a really fun night! The weather was nice and it was interesting people watching. I was very happy with what we took home from the show...we actually did better than I had expected. I had a lot of great friends come out to see me at this show, which also made it super-fun! Thanks everyone for stopping by to see me! Another huge thanks to Jeffo for helping me with the booth again!

(Baby smock from Starbugaloo)

(Owl plushie from loveyu)

I also got a great baby outfit for Lesley's shower that was made by Sara (Starbugaloo Designs) from the ATL Craft Mafia. She is a founding member and makes the most adorable smocks from re-purposed and up-cycled fabrics. I really want one of her smocks in my size ,too! And...I brought home a little something for me as well....this adorable owl that Wren (LoveYu) made! Wren is another founding member of the Craft Mafia and I adore her stuff because...well...I just can't get enough of plushies! While I'm on the subject of the founding members of the ATL Craft Mafia, the third founder is Sam (Talulah B.) who makes amazing jewelry. I cannot wait to make a purchase from her as well and I love her button rings and necklaces. A special thanks to these three ladies for all your craftiness and organizing skills. They do such a great job with the A.C.F. and I am really proud to be a new member. Not only are they generally awesome, but they make great crafts!
(Jodi, Lesley, and Emily)


(Baby-friendly robo-buddy)


(Me and Les...why are my eyes so squinty?)


(Hostesses, Emily and Jodi)

Today I went to my friend Lesley's baby shower! I am so excited for her and her husband Sam (oh, and Guinness too) to welcome baby Matilda into the world. Our friends Emily and Jodi were such wonderful hostesses and fun was had by all! I got to see lots of fun people that I don't get to see that often and the gifts were all so cute. I love that babies of these times are so hip and Matilda is sure to be one of the hippest around. Emily's house was the cutest little cottage, which I knew it would be! I also got to see Erin and finally meet Ashley...so we chatted about our little blog circle!



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Back at home we are starting the packing process. If all goes as planned we will be closing and moving around this time next month! We are so super-excited about it! The house is a disaster area....there are piles everywhere for the yard sale that we are having soon and boxes are all over the place. It really seems like we have so much stuff, so we are trying to simplify our lives by selling/donating/recycling the things we just don't need. Wish us luck. My parents are also coming for a brief visit this Friday to see the house and drop off some things.

Atlantic Station, Tonight!

These past few weeks have been really crazy around here. There is a ton of new stuff going on at work and I'm still recovering from my jet-lag from my California work trip. Then there's the new house we are in the process of buying, the thought of having to go through lots of our junk in an effort to have a yard sale and not take it with us, and packing our lives up. We are super excited about this though. The house is amazing and we are so looking forward to building our little nest there. Then there's the Atlantic Station Market tonight too! Oh, and a Braves game with Jeffo and my father-in-law on Saturday evening. So my life is nuts right now, but in a great way. I'm really excited about the new prospects of home ownership and continuing to work on fun projects for fattycakes.

The Atlantic Station Market tonight runs from 6-11ish and is located in the Central Park area. It is a special event for members of the Atlanta Craft Mafia. Here are all the great crafters that will be on hand tonight! See you out tonight for some craft shopping! Don't forget how important it is to buy local and handmade products!

Atlantic Station Market...

Hello All! Sorry for the lull in posting recently....there has been lots going on lately and now I am in Danville, CA on a work trip. It is super hot....going to be 107 today, yikes! In the meantime I wanted to mention that as part of my new membership in the ATL Craft Mafia I'll be participating in their special Craft Mafia market night at Atlantic Station! It starts at 5 pm on Friday, July 18th. It is going to be fun with lots of really talented crafters (and the weather will be nice to boot!) Hope to see some of you there!

Yay...Look!

fattycakes got reviewed by Miss Serendipitist! She writes reviews for tons of different products, most of them here in Atlanta. Thanks so much for the kind words Whitney!

This Week...

So far this week I am super pumped about two things....this new robot I'm working on.And these baby watermelons that are growing up a storm! They are so cute!

This is going to be the first felt-bot with "treads" instead of legs (Jeff has been asking for treads on the robots for a while now...). I think he might be funnier with no arms, but we'll see how the treads turn out first. Jeff calls the robots robo-nuggets in this stage which I think is hilarious.

A few more garden veggies are on their way to ripening too!

Back to Craftin'....

This weekend Jeff and I spent some time hitting up our favorite local thrift stores. We mostly end up coming away with books and I usually purchase some fabric or printed sheets to use for stuffies. We have been on the hunt lately for great mid-century modern home books and furniture books. We found two great ones yesterday, the first is Sunset's Planning Your New Home from 1967. The second is in conjunction with the Parsons School of Design and is called More Furniture in 24 Hours from 1978. I also picked up The Complete Book of Sewing from 1972...which you can imagine, has some great pictures! We also stopped by the Varsity on Jimmy Carter for lunch which made my day!

After we got home, I broke out all the crafting supplies and started whipping up these tiny plush logs. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought to make tiny versions to go with the big stumps. They turned out so cute and squishy! I really am completely enamored with tiny things!

Homegrown...

Well, I am finally winding down from all the hype and excitement of the ICE show. I took a creative break from sewing and have been focusing my time on reading about small businesses and the like. Not really my idea of fun, but necessary nonetheless! Jeff has been a huge part of helping me with fattycakes, especially the more business-y aspects.

So in the meantime, here are other things I'm excited about!

Our mini-garden! We have corn, squash, watermelon, tomatoes of all varieties, bell peppers, poblanos, serranos, herbs, and zinnias! When I got home from work today Jeff had left me this little grape tomato and then as I was watering I spotted this squash that was ready! There really is nothing like growing something for yourself! We mostly planted our tomatoes and peppers in big pots since we rent and cannot do a full on tillin' of the back yard. They are doing great and have gotten huge already! I know Jeff can't wait to harvest a bunch of tomatoes for a rustic tomato pasta sauce (and I can't wait either....sounds yummy!)

And Pizmo! Pizmo-dog turned 5 this past May and she is just about the best dog ever. She is full of quirks and eccentricities! Loves to crawl around the back yard using only her front two feet to propel her and dragging her belly the whole way. She makes us laugh everyday.

Okay, so on my plate for this week is to start making some fun critters again! I have a pretty full week at work too... and I'm working on some top-secret excitement that I don't want to say yet for fear of a jinx!