Gypsy Soul

One month ago today my mother passed away.  It's been the most difficult thing my sisters & I have ever gone through.  Surreal really on so many levels.  Having never lost someone in my adult life I realized all the things people say are true...nothing can prepare you for it!  Most days I feel as if a fog is surrounding me keeping my thoughts unclear and my actions hesitant.  But I have had one realization over the past weeks.  I woke up thinking about it today and decided to share...

Like all of us, my mother was flawed.  She lived life on her own terms.  Her free spirit (or Gypsy Soul) was probably her biggest strength and her biggest weakness.  A characteristic I would generally respect in another woman but as her child I struggled with it my whole life...until now.  You see I realized since receiving the news that awful day - all her faults, all the bad memories, they've been quieted and seem inconsequential.  I'm sure they are not gone for good but ultimately it made me realize just how important the here & now are and the memories I hold most dear are the treasured good...

Van Morrison said it best in 'These are The Days'..."there is no past, there's only future, there's only here, there's only now"...

All of these photos are so precious to me but the one below shows where my love of animals came from!  From one cat woman to another :)

Mom, I Love You...

  

Spring Show Schedule

Hello Spring, so happy you're here!

In Texas spring in synonymous with wild flowers, mild tempered days & art shows galore!!! It's our busiest & most exciting part of the year! We have a huge line-up of shows we are thrilled to be a part of...

April 3-7

Roundtop, TX

This week, thru Saturday, you can find us @ Marburger Farms Antique Show under the folk art tent. Booth G3. We are sharing a booth with our friend & talented artist, Stephanie Jones Rubiano. http://www.roundtop-marburger.com/

April 6-8

Dallas, TX

Tomorrow evening thru Sunday we will be in Dallas @ Deep Ellum Arts Festival. This super fun event includes tons of art, several stages of music throughout the day, food and a can't miss Dog Parade on Sunday! If you're in the Dallas area you won't want to miss it!

http://www.deepellumartsfestival.com/

April 21 & 22

San Antonio, TX

We will be back in San Antonio at the wonderful Fiesta Arts Fair at the Southwest School of Art! This show always guarantees great artwork, wonderful Mexican food and the wonderful party that is FIESTA in San Antonio! http://community.swschool.org/page.aspx?pid=487

April 27, 28 & 29

New Orleans, LA

We couldn't be more excited to be invited to participate in New Orleans Jazz Fest!! We will be there the 1st weekend in the Contemporary Crafts Area. It guarantees to be a party New Orleans style with a awesome line-up of art & musicians! http://www.nojazzfest.com/

May 5 & 6

Austin, TX

We are so excited to have been invited to be a part of the 7th annual Handmade Austin Women Show this year! It's an wonderful family friendly event geared to promoting & sustaining women artist in the Austin area. http://handmadeaustinwomen.com/home.html

Info on Additional May events to come...

Don't forget...if you can't make it to a upcoming show you can check out our on-line items for sale on our Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/fatcatjewelrystudio

Are you ready for a Fat Cat GIVEAWAY???????????

"Like" our page on Facebook & then post a comment about what you hope to win (ie. earrings, bracelet, necklace, particular style, etc.) to be entered.

Deadline is April 13th.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fat-Cat-Studio/246208252922

Thanks for supporting Fat Cat Studio! We hope to see you all soon!

Kari + CeRee

Fat Cat Finds

Okay friends...it has officially been 1-1/2 yrs from my one & only Blog! How sad is that? I set up the blog with the intention to actually use it and I think I got stunted by what to actually post about! I had made a list and would come across it from time to time when playing the paperwork shuffle in my office. Each time I did I would question myself...does anyone really care about what I have to say about design or our garden or our pets, etc? Well it's now 2012 (my other blog was in 2010) and too much has happened in our life not to share! So away we go...

We just returned from 2 weeks in Florida. Primary purpose...participate in the 49th annual Coconut Groves Arts Fest in Miami! This in turn gave way to a very overdue visit with my family! It's always great to see everyone but 3 short days in Sarasota & GA means a lot of time in the car shuffling between households sneaking in a few moments of beachcombing along the way!

Each time we get to travel to a show we like to hunt for tins!! It's great to see what tins were more common to that area and often we stumble upon new tins we've never seen before. This trip was great because we were able to hit 6 different states along the drive there & back and found 41 tins (and tin trays)! Not too shabby!

Not all our tins get cut. If you've ever seen us at a show you've probably heard us say we have a huge collection that we won't cut, and we do! Either they're more rare or just plain too cool to cut! But I'll save showing you guys those for another blog :)

This tin is one of those that won't get cut. It's my favorite from this trip! It's a "DeMet's" Assorted candies from Chicago. Part of what I love is of course the awesome woman's face & color but also, if you look to the left you can see someone along the way sketched a woman's silhouette into the tin. That's pretty priceless!

We found lots of awesome treasures while "hunting for tins" which is hands down the best perk EVER!!! Here's a glimpse of the ones that made the voyage home with us...

Back to work I go! Next blog coming soon...

The Territory Ahead...

Hello.

First of all...welcome to my very first blog! I have to admit, I signed up for this page quite some time ago & designing the page seemed so overwhelming I ignored it. But that's never really possible. It just became one more thing on my to-do list NOT getting done! When I realized I had a new, exciting experience to write about I decided to bite the bullet and write my first blog & worry about making the page fabulous later!

So, what's the new, exciting adventure you ask??? We got our very first catalog order!!!

I was approached at a holiday show about the possability of a catalog order. I have to admit, the idea was equal parts exhilerating & overwhelming! I mean, what an amazing way to grow this little business but, are we ready? Well, come February we were overnighting samples to a design meeting in CA and by April we had an order! An order for 50 bracelets & 50 necklaces! That was followed by CeRee & I trying to wrap our heads around what 50 pieces of the same items would even look like! I mean, I've had hundreds of pieces of jewelry at a time during show seasons but never mass amounts of one particular item!

I have to admit, the start was slow. We received the order during April when we had 3 shows. Plus we were trying to finish renovations on our house and I will have to save the animal rescue stories, that happened during this time, for another blog! Let's just say when it rains it pours! But we stuck with it & were madly producing until the last minute but....drum roll please......it shipped Friday! The weight lifted was HUGE and a beer was definately in order!

Oh, I guess I should tell you what catalog...it's The Territory Ahead. They are under the umbrella of Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill, etc. From what I understand they are revamping the catalog a bit. So, I'm excited to see the fall issue...well, for two reasons!

For now, check out the pics...catalog image to follow in Aug or Sept.

Until next time...

Cheers,

Kari

p.s. Please don't give up on me & the website! I swear we will have on-line items for sale soon!