Wrap-up: The Indie Craft Experience

The Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular was held November 19th and 20th, 2011 at the Ambient Plus Studio in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was our first Atlanta show and only the third time I've ever been to Atlanta.  Wayne was unable to make it, so my sister Sara agreed to tag along and I was very glad to have her. We stayed at the Westin downtown.  I didn't know anything about the hotel when I booked it (I was going solely for cheap), and we were surprised to find out that it's the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere!  Naturally, we headed up the glass elevator to the 72nd floor for a quick picture. The hotel itself is actually 73 floors.  The top floors has a rotating room where they serve drinks.  A nightmare for the wait staff I imagine....forever looking for the right table for the order. We also had a few yummy meals including the largest drinks ever at a cafe by the hotel (hot chocolate with nutella anyone?) ...and some amazing Thai food at Spoon. On to the festival.  The space itself was gorgeous.  It was an old mill that they now use for events. To get it out of the way, here's the required picture of our Belle Terre booth.  I haven't worked with only a six foot table in quite some time, so it was a bit of an adjustment to get everything to fit. Please forgive the lighting.  We had sunlight coming in the windows behind us...great for lighting the room, not so great for photos.  Below is a selection of my favorite vendors from the event.  It was a fairly large show, so be prepared.  The full vendor list is available here. Viva Greetings offers bilingual greeting cards...much fun! I loved Sweeteeth's stuff as soon as I saw it.  Their packaging is gorgeous, they are (relatively) local, and they make chocolate.  Enough said? So She Sews makes eco-friendly goodies like these adorable coffee sleeves that are made from fused plastic bags. So, remember those little slide things you put into viewer-thingies when you were a kid?  (Or at least when I was a kid).  Ever wonder what the heck happened to those?  Reuse First found them and converted them into small notebooks using recycled paper from Chicago area businesses.  So entertaining...Sara and I had fun looking at the photos. I took two shots of their book as they had such a variety of recycled items they used to make into notebooks.  Bingo cards?  Another fun choice.  :) Owlette Collective had the funnest (yep, I think that's the appropriate word here) kiddie items including tails! Another children's booth was LylahG.  She had hats with ears.  Absolutely adorable.  Almost makes me want a small child to put them on.  Almost. Jeanette Zeis offers gorgeous ceramics.  Everything is appealing - the colors, the forms.  Check out this post on her blog about her little spoons.  I didn't see any at the show or I would have totally taken a few home. Sara bought some goodies from Foamy Wader.  Beautiful necklaces and earrings.  Plus, her sign totally tickled me. I went through an embroidery phase. It was a few years ago when I had extra time and quite a bit more patience then I have now.  I can safely say that nothing I created came anyone close to the amazingness of Flex Family Arts. Madeline Burdine Jewelry had more beautiful jewelry and a gorgeous display.  I chatted with her a bit about her decision to use the rough wood.  It turns out that they were originally cutting boards.  I love the look. We are in process of re-designing our display at Atherton and have already purchased some similar pieces.  Stay tuned for pics. Every show I have at least one item I regretted not taking home with me.  The earrings below from Olaria Studio definitely fall on that list (almost any pair would do). More greeting cards/thank you notes/just because cards from Concrete Lace.  They have many occasions and offer french, hebrew, greek, and german. How creative and amazing are these?  Cuz I felt like it makes them (great name!).  Their quirkiness is totally appealing. Another slightly quirky shop is the Argyle Academy.  I wish I had been able to get a better picture of the booth as his work is amazing, but this one will have to do: Lastly, our neighbors.  On one side of us was BBW Papers.  There were selling gift wrap and ribbon and pillows (both gorgeous as you can see).