Here it is....the Northcrest Tour of Lights!

I just posted some of the wonderful holiday lights around the neighborhood on Home Sweet Split Level....
Take a look!

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas to All!

Merrry Kitschmas!

Here we are, on Christmas Eve eve, waiting for that guy in the red suit and hoping for a snowy white Christmas here in Atlanta!  Jeff, our good friend Brian, and myself are all going to saddle up in the car tonight, eat some bbq and do our annual "Northcrest Tour of Lights"!  Look for the results tomorrow on Home Sweet Split Level!  There are really some impressive houses in the 'hood, but Brian's probably takes the cake!  He prides himself on riding that line between over-the-top awesome fun, without being tacky.  It really is spectacular this year!  Here is sneak peek...

Oh don't worry, he has added more since this picture!



And, last but not least, here are our holiday decorations this year.  I swore I was going to pull out all the stops, but I just didn't have time with everything going on this year.  I am determined to stock up on some crafty holiday supplies for next year's handmade holiday when everything goes on sale.  I did make the wreath I had been dreaming of this year, and I may have squealed when the handmade vintage felt deer ornaments went perfectly with it.  We also usually get a real tree, which I adore, but we weren't in town much earlier this month so we pulled out our old college tree.  It is so tiny that I had to put it up on boxes for it to fill the space!  Oh well, it is really about the ornaments to me anyway!  I adore a good vintage ornament, and I picked up several new ones this year....we are going to have to get a bigger tree eventually because all my ornaments won't fit!

Improvised vintage Santa tree-topper.

Awesome wrapping paper from Target.

Holiday Tea crafting.

Holiday House.

Best attempt at a holiday dog portrait.

Have the happiest of holidays, all!

Loving...

Free photo apps for my Iphone!  I just downloaded the free version of tilt shift generator yesterday when I saw it on a great local blog Piewacket written by Lara Rossignol.  Lara is a very talented photographer who takes stunning pictures, so I trusted her suggestion and dowloaded it immediately.  It makes a dreamy blur vignette which is so lovely.  I also just jumped on the Instagram bandwagon (thanks to my friend and lovely blogger Lesley at Homemade Grits), which I like because you can upload photos directly to your Twitter, Facebook, and/or Flickr accounts.  It also keeps up with a live feed of your photos and friends that you "follow".  You simply take a photo, layer a filter over it, and upload.  Simple and fun.  Photoshop Mobile (free version) is always handy to do quick effects and touch ups on the go. 

Here are some recent photos I have taken with these apps:

Breaking News...

...in my world at least!  fattycakes has an official home on the internet now!  The robots are super-pumped to have a place to call home.  Check it out for all the latest news about fattycakes and where you will see us next!

Getting Crafty...

So, I am in full-on craft mode these days....working hard to build up an army of robots for my upcoming stint at the Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular. My newly organized art room is a holiday crafting wonderland (disaster) right now, as I stamp tags, cut felt, sew, and go through my inventory. I am also super excited to announce that fattycakes will also be at the Indie Craft Experience Pop-Up Shop in the Woodruff Arts Center for the holidays! I am very honored to be featured in such an amazing space along with some great company...there are so many wonderful artists that will be featured in the shop all season long! The Pop-Up Shop opens on infamous Black Friday (Nov. 26) so don't fight the mall crowds, come out and buy handmade from local artists! The shop runs from November 26 through December 30, so there is plenty of time to check it out! Here are a few things I'm cooking up in the craft oven right now...

Hope to see you out buying handmade soon!

Catching up...

Where did October go?  We have been super busy around here doing neighborhood fall things.  I took a quick trip to visit a good friend who is in law school in Montgomery, AL, then there was our Northcrest Neighborhood Yard Sale, and of course Halloween festivities!  Oh, and did I mention sewing an army of felt-bots to prep for fattycakes 2 day stint at the Indie Craft Experience?!  The Holidays are officially coming, and I can't believe it is November! 

While I try to catch up on life...here are some great Mid-Century gems that I saw in Montgomery.  It was a great place to find reasonably priced Mid-Century Modern items, especially lamps.  I brought home a few trinkets and a cool lamp, all for around $75!



Here is the lamp I brought home along with that white candy dish next to it.



Northcrest Neighborhood Yard Sale Extravaganza!

This Saturday, October 16th from 8am-4pm!

Mid-Century Modern Neighborhood Yard Sale!

HUGE SALE, MULTIPLE HOUSEHOLDS!

Northcrest Neighborhood Yard Sale Extravaganza, featuring 40+ homes. Yard Sale Headquarters at Northcrest Swim and Tennis Club (3524 Bowling Green Way, 30340), get official Yard Sale Locator Map, buy snacks and refreshments, and use our restrooms. Vendors will sell at the Swim and Tennis Club too! Go to http://www.northcrestclub.com/ the day of for the map and listing of homes.

Come check out everything from clothes and household items, to Danish Modern furniture and vintage kitchenware!

AND....if you live in Northcrest be sure to come out to vote for the Northcrest Sign Design Contest!  The ladies of the Hoe n' Hope Garden Club will have a booth at the pool selling items and baked goods to raise money for our new neighborhood sign.  They will also have the entries on display and voting for households in the neighborhood!

Good News...

fattycakes will be a vendor for a third straight year at the Indie Craft Experience Holiday Spectacular!  This is my fourth I.C.E. event, and they are always so fun...great people, fun times, and so many awesome local handmade products!  This year is sure not to disappoint since the wonderful I.C.E. ladies, Shannon Mulkey of Patina and Christy Peterson of a bardis, have extended the show to two fabulous shopping days!  The show is right before Thanksgiving, so come out and get all of your holiday shopping done while supporting local independent artists...it's a win-win! 

It will all go down November 20 + 21 from 11-6 each day at Ambient+ Photo Studio (I.C.E.'s holiday home for the third year in a row!)

Here is a sneak peek of the latest and best fattycakes products, all hand-sewn by yours truly!

Patio Living...

We worked hard on the basement workshop this weekend, which means we are rounding the corner to other projects!  We did lots of organization and thanks to a lucky find through our neighbor, we now have the perfect basement work bench (more on this later over on Home Sweet Split Level).  Having the workshop finally finished (2 years in the making!) means we can conquer other projects with much more ease.  We are finally focusing on finishing up the basement Rompus Room, which will feature our vast tiki collection, a new tiki bar, the Heywood Wakefield rattan set we bought a while back at Kudzu Antiques, and the WW2 bathroom.  It is so nice to have an end in sight on that project.....which means we are adding more projects.  Since fall is just around the corner, we are hoping to squeeze in a quick patio build for the next couple of weekends.  We bought an awesome vintage patio table and chairs (also at Kudzu) last summer and they are awaiting a good refinishing by me.  This will be the perfect time to get that project done.

Here is just a taste of some of the things we are thinking for the patio....