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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. Westin Altanta 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?) Sara at the Cafe ...and some amazing Thai food at Spoon. Pad Thai at Spoon On to the festival.  The space itself was gorgeous.  It was an old mill that they now use for events. ICE Attendees 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. Belle Terre Booth at the Indie Craft Experience 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! Viva Greetings 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? sweet teeth So She Sews makes eco-friendly goodies like these adorable coffee sleeves that are made from fused plastic bags. so she sews 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. Reuse First 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.  :) Reuse First Owlette Collective had the funnest (yep, I think that's the appropriate word here) kiddie items including tails! owlette 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. lylahg 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. janette zeiss ceramics Sara bought some goodies from Foamy Wader.  Beautiful necklaces and earrings.  Plus, her sign totally tickled me. foamy wader jewelry 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. 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. feathers & fronds 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). earrings More greeting cards/thank you notes/just because cards from Concrete Lace.  They have many occasions and offer french, hebrew, greek, and german. concrete lace How creative and amazing are these?  Cuz I felt like it makes them (great name!).  Their quirkiness is totally appealing. because I felt like it 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: argyle academy 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). bbw paper
I didn't get a good picture of our lovely neighbor on the other side, but we are grateful to her for being wonderfully nice and for recommending Spoon for dinner.
I managed to take home some chocolates, salt from Beautiful Briny Sea, a gift for my sister, and a few notebooks.   I didn't have much time to shop (probably a good thing) as we stayed busy most of the weekend.  To get a feeling for the crowd, check out the video below.  So fun!  Belle Terre is hiding in the top right corner.
[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5gL1lCv-uI[/tube]

We were really happy with the show and I so enjoyed meeting all the wonderful new vendors.  In spite of the traffic (not my best friend), I loved Atlanta and we hope to visit again soon.