The Beehive - Grand opening party tonight!

Mama's home away from home has moved to fabulous new digs and the store is officially opening tonight! The Beehive (formerly Beehive Co-op) is under new ownership and just moved to the Edgewood Shopping Center in Little 5 Points. Don't miss the grand opening party tonight from 6 to 10!

The Beehive Co-op turns 5 on Saturday, and you are invited to the birthday party!

Sadly, I won't be able to make it because I'm doing a festival all day Saturday. I'm bummed! The Beehive was the original boutique in Atlanta to create a retail venue for small, local designers to show and sell their wares. I've been a vendor there since June of 2006. It has been a place where I've met and developed great relationships with other like-minded designers and small business owners. It provided my teeny tiny business with exposure to press and it helped me build my customer base, starting when I first moved to Atlanta and this was the only store I was in. So show your support for local design and stop by on Saturday! There are lots of great raffle prizes, including a fabulous Mama Zen gift set. Happy Birthday Beehive!

Mama has a new retail store!

Mama has some exciting news, which has been brewing for the last couple of weeks. We have moved into our very own retail store! Well, not exactly our very own. We are sharing space with the fab folks at Taj Ma Hound Dog Bakery. I met Krista, the owner and proprietess of Taj Ma Hound, through a very good mutual friend of ours. She has a big old shop and I have been jonesing for a retail space for a while now, so it was serendipitous that we join forces.

You may think, body products and dog biscuits? We thought that at first too. But upon discussing our businesses and our customers, we realized that we have a lot of crossover. Also, she bakes in the back and sells in the front, and I needed a retail space where I could do the same. So it really is such a great fit. We may just be the new business model for weathering this economic downturn! I will miss my spacious studio, and my wonderful studio-mate Mary, but there are so many pluses to my new store. Not only is it less than a mile from my house (I can finally ride my bike to work!) but it also gives me the much desired opportunity to meet and interact with my customers.

The store is located in the heart of Oakhurst Village in Decatur. If you want to come check out the new digs, stop by the Oakhurst Wine crawl this weekend! Click here for address and directions.

Busy Crazy Happy

And not necessarily in that order.

First of all, on August 1st, I moved into a new store in historic Roswell called Gifted! They don't have a website, but the address and info is on my site under stores.



I still need to make more goodies to stock my booth, but I didn't have time to get everything made before the soft opening on August 1st. The grand opening is September 1st, so I have a little time.

I also sent some products to a new store that is opening in Leonia, NJ called The Craft Lounge. The owners are friends of a friend, and were interested in carrying my stuff, which is always great. Hopefully the Jersey girls dig Mama!

And (drumroll please) on August 3rd, Mama made the monumental move out of my house and into our new studio!! Ladies, and Gentlemen, Studio 658:





There will be more pics once I get a little more set up. The renovation took a little longer than expected, but the place looks fantastic. And it gave me time to get completely packed and organized, so the move was relatively breezy. And now I'm gearing up for a crazy August. My studio mate Mary and I are planning a grand opening for August 22nd and 23rd. So not only do I have to make EVERYTHING in my product line to have fresh product to stock up the studio, I also have a commercial shoot (my other job), and a long weekend trip to see my family in Ohio happening between now and then. Which means I'm going to be working 24/7.

I have to be honest - I don't relish these overbooked weeks-upon-months. I tend to muddle through them all frustrated and cranky. I'm always better when I'm busy, but right now it's more like a 'wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-in-an-oh-hell-i-forgot-to-do-that' panic. So I am more than surprised to find that my general attitude has been great! Probably because I'm so excited about all of the new developments.

I tend to work so fast and furiously trying to keep up, that I forget to savor the good moments. So as I dove in to my new kitchen to make the first batch of lotion, I remembered to stop and enjoy what was happening. It was the best 30 seconds of my year;)

Hope to see you at our Grand Opening!