Fall, in all other parts of the country outside of Florida, means falling leaves, pumpkin-spiced everything, crisp, cool weather and hoodies. This is a particularly busy season for small shop BamBam Threads. “Our hoodies are very popular, especially the color-blocked hoodies,” Shalena Janis explained. “The most popular is my ‘Huckleberry’ style. It is a fun pattern with a lot of options.”

BamBam Threads, which describes itself as “tough for boys and precious for girls,” was started by fellow boy mom Janis in 2013. “I started under a different shop name six years ago while I was on bedrest at week 27 of my pregnancy. It was just bibs, burp cloths and a few blankets and just for a few mom friends from a group for August 2014 babies,” she recalled. Janis quickly grew bored making only shower gift items and looked for a new challenge. “I tried making a shirt after I had my son, Liam. After a few successful, functioning shirts, I moved to pants and a few different shirt styles, but this was a slow process with a preemie newborn.” Liam actually inspired the shop name. “My mom gave him the nickname ‘BamBam.’ He has bright blonde hair, only wanted to wear a diaper and banged on everything,” she laughed.

The small shop now offers custom raglan tops and tanks, dresses, coordinating short and jogger sets, and, of course, hoodies for kiddos. “Kids are so fun, adventurous and imaginative. I love taking something a kid or family loves and creating an item or outfit for them. It adds such a fun element to designing a hoodie or shirt knowing a mom is a huge Disney fan or dad has a huge love for a fandom or a toddler loves dragons and unicorns,” said Janis. “Most of my items are one of a kind. I rarely have an item recreated as the same, which is my personality. I am very spontaneous. I don’t conform to routines and I thrive with change.” Janis also finds design inspiration spontaneously. “Usually comes from a fabric sitting on my shelf for months. Out of nowhere, a new coordinate comes in and it is a match made in heaven. Or, I see a pattern for the first time and see how amazing a print will look.” Bam!

Janis credits her “amazing customers” for the shop’s success. “So many of them challenge us to design items I wouldn’t without them,” she explained. Janis is currently working on a new release of hoodies for autumn. “I’m adding two new styles this fall. Well, more like one new and bringing back an old one from two years ago. I have some fun inspired prints ready to launch!” Grab a new hoodie in time for the next hayride or football game through the BamBam Threads website and join the shop’s VIP Facebook group here.

“While slaving away as day job zombies, my husband and I dreamed of opening a little online shop where we could mix our love for all things geeky with our maker skills,” recalled Kelly Messer. “For years, it was just a dream, but in March 2017, that all changed.” Messer gifted a set of Poppets – her crocheted stuffed toys (also known as amigurumi) – to Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, better known as “Jay and Silent Bob.” “We gave them the Poppets after attending their live podcast of Jay & Silent Bob Get Old. Kevin Smith shared a picture of the two of them with their Poppets, and suddenly, I was getting DMs on Instagram with requests for other characters.” From these unexpected beginnings, Freak + Pocky was born. I asked Messer to speak geek with me about the small shop.

Freak + Pocky specializes in the Poppets, both original (7”) and mini-size (5”), as well as crocheted ornaments, decals and t-shirts. “You want to hear something funny? My original plan didn’t even involve Poppets at all, but now it has become my favorite thing to make,” Messer exclaimed. “People really seem to love the little chubby bellies, short legs that turn in, and the chibi style of each character.” (“chibi” is Japanese slang for “small” or “short”). Many of the Freak + Pocky designs are influenced by the Poppet Master’s love of movies and video games. In fact, the shop name itself is derived from Messer and her husband’s gamer tags, Freak4Geek and Apockylypse. “Yet another way to add our geeky ways into what we do,” she joked. “We have always been focused on bringing our favorite fandoms to life. I try to find the one thing about a movie or game character that really makes them memorable and exaggerate it, like Yoda’s ears or a mermaid’s long hair. It is wild how that one little thing can add so much personality to a Poppet!” Some of Messer’s favorites include the Baby Demogorgon from Stranger Things, Harry Potter’s Dobby the Sock Elf, and Gir the Mongoose Dog from Invader Zim. “Not only are these inspired by some of my favorite fandoms, but I think these little guys have so much personality in the designs,” she said. “Our geek gang has a few favorites, too. Right now, the Louise mini Poppet and Baby Demogorgon have been getting the most love from our friends.” Freak + Pocky will also customize Poppets for small shoppers. “I have turned a few friends into Poppets and they have been a big hit. When anyone makes a custom request, I usually send a rough sketch of the design before starting the project – but one added feature is that people can now watch their custom Poppets come to life in real time on my Twitch channel, Apockylypse.”

Working with yarn allows Messer to “sculpt” the Poppets into different shapes. “I enjoy how relaxing it can be, especially after a long, stressful day at work.” And, while crocheting can be time consuming, Messer measures the time spent on a project in the number of episodes of Supernatural she can watch while working. “I catch up on a lot of my fandoms during my crocheting. Most of my ornaments can be done during one episode of Supernatural, but the more detailed ornaments take between two and three episodes.”

Poppets make perfect holiday gifts for video gamers of all ages. Check out the new cute and creepy Poppets inspired by some favorite scary shows and movies, plus a new pocket-sized Poppet hitting the shop soon. “The more ways to geek out together, the better! For those geeky crocheters, we are going to be adding our very first pattern. Stay tuned for a few more secrets we have up our sleeves,” Messer teased. All of the current Poppet Posse designs are available on the Freak + Pocky website and in the shop’s VIP Facebook group here.

Getting littles to keep their shoes on is no easy “feat.” “Kids don’t lie. If they don’t like something, they will tell you. If they hate the shoes, they won’t wear them,” said Cassie Zakurdayev. “It makes me happy to come across picture and stories of my shoes being worn to everyday things. When the kiddos love the product as much as the parents, it makes life easier.”

Zakurdayev is the Cassie of Classy Cassie Collection, the small shop known for its handmade leather footwear. Classy Cassie’s most popular style is the shop’s soft sole foldover boots with laces and a snap at the top. It takes Zakurdayev about three hours to complete each pair. “I think the classic style fits the needs of most kiddos. It is the easiest to put on and has a versatile look.” Like many designers, Zakurdayev draws inspiration from all over. “Sometimes it is a fabric I love. Sometimes it is a need to be filled. Sometimes it is the way something makes me feel. Sometimes it is a color I see in nature,” she shared. “My biggest challenge is finding the balance between functional and fun. There are several elements in shoe making that can’t be altered too much or it takes away from functionality.”

The leather designer actually found her start making scarves. “When my son Vincent was a couple months old, I was trying to navigate what I was going to do for work now that I was a mother. I knew I wanted to stay home with my son, but transitioning from two full time incomes to one was a big change. I wanted to find a way to help contribute to my family financially and also find something for myself,” Zakurdayev recalled. “Motherhood is hard and there are many sacrifices, but it is important to keep some of ourselves present.” The crafty mom conferred with friends and decided to take a leap. “I started my business with $70 worth of fabric from fabric.com and a simple infinity scarf pattern. I vividly remember sitting on my living room floor, at 11 at night, watching Glee and cutting fabric after I put my son to sleep.” Vincent, now 5 (and his sister Olivia, 1 ½), influenced Zakurdayev’s move into footwear. “A couple months went by and I kept finding myself struggling to find shoes that fit my chubby footed baby. My husband didn’t like the look of the popular leather moccs and most of the cool shoes we both liked were based outside the U.S. This sparked the idea of making a shoe that was chubby foot friendly, stayed on and was husband-approved. So far, I think we are nailing all three.”

After five years, Zakurdayev still considers her original designs and use of high quality materials to be paramount to the small shop’s success. “Every pair is handmade by me, designed and developed from scratch. I want my shoes to last, be desired from a design standpoint and function as they should, i.e., stay on,” she exclaimed. “I am still a one woman show. I have had five years of practice and fine-tuning. I am no longer in the beginning stages, but I am always trying to find ways to make my products better. Not only are they made well, they are made with quality materials that are CPSC compliant. You know Classy Cassie Collection shoes when you see them.”

Soon, you are going to see Zakurdayev’s footwear shipped even more quickly. “I recently made the decision to transition to ready to ship and while we are switching over, I’ll be adding several new colors and even a new shoe style!” Shop for a new pair of leather sneakers on the Classy Cassie Collection website here and join Zakurdayev’s Insiders Facebook group to stay on top of upcoming releases.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual health campaign to increase awareness of the disease and the importance of early detection. Even as we say goodbye to October, the small shop community is continuing to do its part to support one of our own who is battling breast cancer.

Kirsten Orcutt Johnson is a mother of three who is diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. Over the last three years, she has bravely gone through a variety of chemotherapies and radiation treatments, each more devastating to her body than the last.

While we continue to hope for miracles, in October 2019, Kirsten’s medical team at Huntsman Cancer Institute indicated that the tumors in her brain are no longer responding to the treatments and that there are no viable treatment options remaining. The news is devastating to her family. Kirsten’s three boys (ages 5, 9 and 12) deserve a lifetime with their mother; absent the ability to give them that we would like to give them the gift of quality time.

Hänni Baatz, “Chief Childhood Magic Maker” behind small shop Wolfe and Scamp, along with many other generous small shops, has organized a charity auction this weekend for Kirsten and her family through the Facebook group Dinos Doing Good.

100% of the proceeds of this small shop auction will go to cover day-to-day living expenses, so Kirsten and her husband Andrew can focus their energy and efforts on each other and their boys during this time.

The auction opens today and runs through November 3, 2019. If you would like to donate a small shop item to the auction, please sign up here. You can also donate directly to the Johnson family through Paypal or Venmo. For more information about Kirsten’s fight, please visit her website. As always, thank you for your support and generosity.