Occupational Hazards 9 - Summer Gift Mart

There are a few folks out there who think that Missy and I make a living off our crafts and TOFU BABY comics - WE WISH! We actually pay our bills with careers in the art department of a company that produces and distributes "balloons and coordinating gift items". We work together! Missy is a PRODUCT DESIGNER and I am the department's research/reference/resource LIBRARIAN. Missy gets to do all the fun designing stuff while I get to handle the not-so-fun stuff like copyrights and licensing. Anyways, a couple of times during the year we have to attend the ATLANTA GIFT MART - a giant convention center complex consisting of hundreds of company showrooms spread out over three multi-storied buildings. It's pretty intense. We were there this past weekend to check out our showroom and to observe market and product trends. At our company showroom, we were SUPER EXCITED to see the new line of HALLOWEEN products that Missy designed. It was the first time we saw all the actual pieces displayed together. Don't they look cute?

Above are a couple of FELT BANNERS (the stars have twinkling LED lights when turned on) and below are a collection of FELT BAGS for collecting candy...







Missy also designs ceramic pieces like this CANDY DISH and CERAMIC CONTAINERS...







One of the few perks of being at "The Mart" is all the FREE FOOD and PRODUCT SAMPLES to be had. We were resting our feet for a moment when someone came by handing out free BEN & JERRY'S ICE CREAM...and then soon after that, some one came by handing out PLASTIC LEIS and SUNGLASSES...





There were STEEL DRUM performers throughout the Mart, entertaining all the attendees...



We stumbled upon superstar designer KARIM RASHID (in his signature pink suit, no less!) in front of a showroom, handing out free samples of his BOBBLE - re-usable plastic bottles with built-in filters that he designed. We could hardly believe it...of course, we had to add a couple of autographed Bobbles to our little stash...





Back at the hotel, we tallied up our swag: 2 autographed Bobbles, an autographed cookbook, a pair of scented candles, a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses, and a hawaiian lei: