It all started with a gift.

My about to be fiancé, Mike Sweeney, asked my mother’s permission to marry me. ( I know, but that's how we do it in divorced southern families who grew up reading Jane Austin novels). She knew I would say YES! She also knew I would not want to register for the same plates every other girl chose who was engaged that December. So my mother gave the gift of a set of unpainted, unfinished, unfired bisque dishes to me. They sat on my kitchen table for months because I had no idea what to paint or how to paint them…I was terrified... What if I wasn't “good enough” to paint anything I would be proud of an actually use? What if I ruined the whole set?

Then my mother gave the same gift she gave to me throughout my childhood -the confidence and push I needed to just go for it! And she gave me the freedom that comes with permission to fail. “Cabell, it's not so scary, you will learn something no matter what. It's all a process of refinement; failure is in your head.” I painted those dishes and learned that I loved the process. I wanted to paint piles more as gifts for friends. 

The next gifts —to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple, Sweeney presented me with a puppy and a kiln. Both were a little more than I bargained for. I began painting bisque in the corner of our hallway, glazing on our kitchen counters and firing in the kiln on our back porch. Teaching second grade by day and painting into the wee hours of the night became a familiar routine. I couldn't believe people other than my mom and friends wanted the stuff I made- and they were willing to trade real money for it! Orders continued and even overwhelmed. I spent weekends at craft fairs with makeshift shelving and a fanny pack as a cash register. 

Another gift came in the form of a friendship that has been as significant as a marriage in my life. Enter the gift of Susan Peterson. We became friends as we served together in our local Young Life area in North Atlanta. I gave her a few handmade gifts and she always acted like my gift was a treasure. One night, in tears, I spilled my heart to a room of friends, and Susan was among them. I knew Sweeney was about to try to pay our power bill. He would soon discover I had just spent close to our last $500 on paint and supplies. I had quit teaching. I was running this business out of our personal checking account… I use the words “running” and “business” very loosely. I couldn't bring myself to ask my mom to “invest in a promising new start-up” AGAIN! I was tired and overwhelmed, but I just knew I had something that could become something big, I just knew I couldn't get it there alone. Susan and her husband Todd laid in bed that night, they prayed, they talked about how they could help. I soon brought “my numbers” to their house for us to review. What that really looked like was showing up with a shoebox of receipts to a dinner with friends. Susan and Todd sensed a prompting to walk beside and support their friends. They saw a way to help more than they saw a favorable business opportunity. Susan and I became business partners; but it is her friendship that is worth more to me than gold. 

We found an old tile warehouse in Roswell and began wholesaling to stores around the country. We created a line of personalized dish ware, serving pieces and all kinds of tailgating items. That operation soon became more than we could handle. Then another gift... Magnolia Lane came to us and asked, “What if we took care of all the production, distribution and marketing of your collegiate and Christmas lines? You could continue to design and we will pay a royalty to Cabell's?” “Kinda like a record deal for art?! That sounds amazing!” was our response. 

Today, because of our partnership with Magnolia Lane, Cabell's Designs creates products for over 40 Universities and has put more than 4,500 products in more than 5,500 stores nationwide. BTW- that college line started with my painting of Toomer's Corner tree on a bowl as a Christmas gift. So even this dawg can appreciate a tiger.

And now Cabell's Designs has come full circle. We still design for Magnolia Lane but we have returned to our first love: creating handmade, personalized pieces in our studio.  

We've been in business for close to 20 years; there are more stories of triumphs and tears than you could read in hours. There have been more people who have come along side of us and given more of themselves, their time, their talents and treasure than we could have ever have been bold enough to ask for. More than any one person should be given in a lifetime. 

We are humbled to our cores and to say we are grateful is an understatement...awestruck, dumbfounded…reverent seems more fitting. 

Around our studio, you will find clay covered, well-worn copies of this quote from DK McKelvey:

“May our hands craft a thing that sings with the very substance of our hope.”- That sums it up, that’s what we want to create and share.