by guest contributor Heather Buzzard

A new kind of vinyl has been released at the record store, and it’s cute, cozy, and cool enough to hold all of your favorite monies. The re-purposed vinyl wallet was one of a thousand and something stuffs and things for sale at the maker’s paradise, Indie Craft Experience Atlanta, brain baby of Christy Petterson of a bardis and Shannon Mulkey from Patina. Local music hub Criminal Records recently morphed into a pop up shop for independently designed goods, or, more obviously, a place for price and environmentally conscious shoppers to get all their holiday gifting knocked out in one fell swoop.

Pop up shops are to grown-ups what pop up books are to the younger set: interactive, fun, exciting, and better and better with repetition. This year is Atlanta’s lucky 13th ICE market!

Originally modeled after handmade shopping ops in Austin and Chicago, the Atlanta tradition has now grown into a major indie arts mecca.

Notably, this year’s market featured many squid and cupcakes. Thankfully, there was no shortage of super heroes.

To follow in the footsteps of the indie aesthetic, the grand opening extravaganza featured well-loved food trucks, “Oh Goodie” bags chock-a-block with free swag, and local independent musical act Christ, Lord, a band that magically wrenched attendees from the checkout line to the dance floor and back again in the best of ways.

Watch out for one of these handily-dandily made Christmas markets to pop up under your feet and shake the ground with grassroots goodness!

About the contributor:
	Heather Buzzard is a freshly hatched graduate of Emory University, where she studied creative writing, sociology, religion and environmental science. Her time is spent frolicking as a musician in two Atlanta bands, dressing up for silly photoshoots, inventing recipes, and drooling happily over her Indie Fixx work.