A little Holiday recap…and Happy New Year!!

Oh geez! Where has the time gone?! We had no intention of taking a nearly month long break from blogging, but as soon as we listed our handmade ornaments in the shop and posted a few pics of them on Facebook and Instagram, it was off to the races! The orders poured in, and literally overnight we found ourselves working 17 hour days. Next thing we knew, weeks had passed, Christmas showed up out of the blue, and in that blur of weeks this poor little blog sat here all alone…not a post in sight. 

 Hundreds of ornies took over our lives. 

Cutting and cutting and cutting. You'd be surprised at how physically demanding it is. Oh man were our necks sore! And our hands had blisters and cramps. I'm sure many of you fellow makers know all about it. We're all guilty of "hand abuse" for sure. 

 The ornies you see above are in the "rough cut" stage. We use scissors for this stage, and then use an x-acto for the final fine cuts. Then each is hand sanded like crazy, and some even get hand painted details to finish them off. 

We are so happy when we get to this stage…all wrapped up in their cellophane sleeves, with pink shred and shimmery stars. 

All set and ready to be shipped off to all corners of the globe. 

Our tiny studio quickly overflowed, so we set up a big folding table right in the middle of our living room. 

And it wasn't just ornaments. There were lots and lots of diecuts too. 

The end of each day looked like this.

And this.

And this.

So we were surrounded with all this Christmas cheer, but by the end of each day it was packed and shipped off to other homes. We honestly thought we wouldn't have the time to decorate our home for the holidays. But little by little we started to pull it together…starting with our fave wreath vignette.

And we simply couldn't imagine not putting up the tree. We pulled out our vintage ornaments, and stole as many decorating minutes as we could each night.

We woke our sweet pink haired angel girl from her year long nap…and she took her place of honor atop our tree.

We didn't hang as many ornaments as last year...but I think we still managed to achieve our ideal balance of magical and sweet.

Honestly, our studio, kitchen, dining room, and half of our living room was absolutely overcome with work stuff. So we made sure to reserve this one corner of our home as our own personal magical holiday refuge.  

We love the addition of our falalalala banner.

Our fave decorations of all…first up, our little peanut, Lt. Dan.

And our little old man Carlos, the copycat…I mean, dog.

So we worked hard right through December 23rd, and then spent Christmas Eve cooking and baking. Our families depend on me to provide the Red Velvet cupcakes. And I love baking them. 

We spent Christmas day over at Aar's parent's house, and as always, we had a super great time. And on the day after Christmas we went to my brother's house. My parents drove all the way down from upstate NY, but my brother Jason had to stay up there because he had to work. It was a bummer not seeing him for Christmas. : ( But we will make sure to make it happen next year. We had a great time. Our niece Olivia has grown so much. Like all girls her age, she's Frozen obsessed…and oh boy, do you see that frosting up above? Well, lets just say Olivia had her fair share of it…and she was absolutely zooming on sugar…hilarious! 

A video posted by Jenny Holiday (@jennyeveryday) on Dec 12, 2014 at 11:10am PST

This is a Flipagram summing up our year. 

2014 was definitely a year we will remember. We launched our first paper collection, got to see our book in stores everywhere, we made a whole lot of new artwork and shipped it all over the world, worked on some important home projects, traveled to some awesome teaching events, and made lots of new friends! We also will remember the year with both sadness and joy...we lost our beloved little Jack, but then we turned utter heartbreak into pure happiness when we adopted Lt. Dan. And our old man Carlos is thrilled to have his new baby brother. 

We like to keep our holiday decorations up until New Year's day. But we'll make little changes here and there…like changing our falalalala for this Happy New Year banner.

I guess we'll bring this blog post and this year to a close. It really was a pretty special year, but we look forward to making 2015 as awesome as possible. 

Thanks so much to all of you for sticking with us, and reading this blog, and keeping up with everything we've been up to. We hope to see you lots more in 2015!

Happy New Year!

xoxo, Jenny, Aaron, Carlos, and Lieutenant Dan!

Friday Favorites

Oh my gosh, excuse me while I take a deep breath. I have been buried under piles of ornaments-in-the-making for the past week or so. Cutting and pasting, cutting some more, trimming and sanding, stringing and sealing…all of this over and over and over again. We are deep in that holidaze! Days are just totally melting into one another. Of course we are thrilled beyond belief to be creating these pieces that will be sent off to happy holiday homes! And of course we're making stuff other than ornaments. Lots of in-progress diecuts and signs are lying around on any available flat surface, and Aaron has been perpetually coated with a thin layer of sawdust. We'll be sure to pop in and blog a little behind-the-scenes stuff at some point in the next few days. 

But for now, while I pause for a big glass of seltzer and some puppy cuddles, here are some Friday Favorites! 

I've been a fan of Dottie Dollie brooches for a long time. And I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to purchase one. I guess I've been waiting for the perfect little gal to come along. And I think I may have found her! Her name is Rose.

 She's handmade from paperclay, and handpainted with acrylic paint and soft pastels. Dottie Dollie has so many darling pieces to choose from! You have to check out the shop! 

I just adore these latte mugs from NS Pottery. I just love simple designs…basic stripes and polka dots in classic black and white. And I love the roughly hewn paint strokes. Mugs are sorta like intimate objects and we have a very up close and personal relationship with them, so it makes sense that the patterns bear so much of a "human touch".

I am such a sucker for old photos, cabinet cards, tintypes... We've been collecting them for years, and we especially love old portraits. We have a fabulous photo portrait pillow that we found at IKEA a few years ago.

Recently I came across this fellow while browsing on Curious Sofa, and I just had to add him to my holiday wish list! He'd look pretty great in our living room .

I honestly can't remember the last time I shopped at Gap, but the other night I was just clicking around the interwebs and I ended up on Gap's website, and there was this outfit. It is just sooo cute! So classic! I love the fair isle oversize turtleneck paired with the all black skirt, leggings, and shoes…perfect! Too bad the sweater is sold out. 

I love this black and gold Starry Skies cross body bag by Milkhaus Design, available from Moorea Seal. I think it is kinda perfect for day, night, and all year round! Oh, and Moorea is having a Secret Sale! Take 15% off all bags and scarves With code: SECRETSANTA Sale ends today!

This free DIY Printable Christmas Village from "Thoughts from Alice" is so incredibly charming. It's childlike and sophisticated at the same time, very much like a Hilary Knight illustration. 

It comes as a nine piece set including a church, town buildings, a city hall building, a cozy house, two little carolers, a snowman and lamppost, a decorated town tree, and two vintage cars taking their Christmas trees home! 

It's so cool of "Thoughts from Alice" for sharing these so you too can make them part of your holiday display. Just click the link above, and print them out on card stock! And if you do… she'd love to see pics! …so would I!  ;)

If you're reading this blog, chances are you have browsed our shop. But to get to the shop you probably just click the link and don't really pay attention to the actual address. Well, our shop is over on BigCartel.com, and there is a Big Cartel directory where you can browse categories, or search key words.

 Well the other night, in my five minute break from work I was browsing other shops on Big Cartel and I came across the awesome Georgie Peachez Wreaths. It turns out Suzy of Georgia Peachez is an old friend and long time collector of our work. It was so great coming across her shop out of the blue! Her wreaths are some of the best vintage ornaments wreaths ever! This one here makes my heart beat a little faster! Wow! You gotta go see more of her work. Amazing. 

Ok, guess what??…it's time to get back to work for me! I hope you enjoyed my fifteen-minute-break-Friday-Faves.

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

And the winner is...

We LOVE hosting giveaways, and it's such a thrill when we finally get to pick a winner! We truly want to thank EVERYONE who entered our OttLite Giveaway! We seriously enjoyed reading through your comments and hearing about what you guys create, and also hearing about all the ways you would put your Ottlite to use if you were to be the big winner. Honestly, we wish that we could send each and every one of you an OttLite…but alas, our name is not Oprah. 

But here's the good news...the folks at OttLite informed us that they have lots of fab new products hitting the market soon…

Annnnd we will be hosting ANOTHER GIVEAWAY in the very near future!!!

How cool is that?!

We really love our OttLite and use it daily! So if you are in need of a studio or workspace light, look no further…OttLight is the way to go. Aaron and myself both give the brand two very enthusiastic thumbs up! 

Ok…so let's get down to the business at hand…in case you didn't see the name up above in the heart!

Our winner, completely chosen at random, is:

 Martha Moore Porter!!

Congrats Martha!! We will be emailing you tonight for your mailing address!!

Once again friends…Thank You so very much for taking part in the giveaway! There will be another one in the near future…so keep your eyes peeled.

Wishing all of you a super Happy Weekend!!

XO Jenny & Aaron

Join us for CJS 2015 an Online Mixed Media Event!

I'm so excited to announce that me and Aaron will be participating as artists in Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2015, which is run by Nathalie Kalbach. Creative JumpStart features online video tutorials from 23 featured mixed media artists, called "JumpStarters", and we are so excited to be among these fantastic artists…what an amazing lineup! Throughout the month of January, 25 video tutorials will be posted, and as a participant you'll have full access and can watch them again and again. We're psyched about our particular project, (hint…it involves cake!) and this is actually our first time teaching an online video course. We were thrilled when Nathalie asked us to be a part of it.  

The holidays are such a busy and hectic time, and come January I think we'll all have earned a bit of "me time". Why not spend that "me time" creatively? Make some fab art, learn some techniques, discover new materials, connect with other artists and crafters! I think you guys will have a lot of fun with our project…there's paint, assemblage, collage…all sorts of fun techniques! This is a brand new project…it's not in our book, and we've never taught it before.

And check out this video to see some details and the awesome lineup of artists!

You get 25 videos for just $25 (USD).

Such a great deal! So treat yourself, and head on over to Nathalie's site for more details, and to sign up!

And the deal is even better if you sign up now. Sign up today and you’ll get $5 off. 

Just use this coupon code during checkout:

cybercjs

*This is a limited offer valid from 9:00 am Dec 1, 2014 to 8:59 am EST on Dec 2, 2014.

CJS 2015 is proudly sponsored by Liquitex.

Making art and making friends in 2015…we love the idea of starting off the New Year this way! 

Make sure to sign up today! We can't wait to get creative with you!

xo, Jenny & Aaron

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we're thankful for our family and friends. These are the people who are there for us no matter what. We feel so lucky to have such great parents and siblings, and our friends old, new, and in between…you guys are directly responsible for keeping our spirits bright each day. We're thankful for even the simple things today, like getting to cook for our family, and baking our fave thumbprint cookies. 

But the main reason we're posting here today is because of you guys who support us in our work and creativity. Getting to do what we love for a living is definitely the main ingredient in our recipe for happiness. These past couple weeks we've been working round the clock on holiday orders, and nothing could be more rewarding. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Wishing you and your family the happiest holiday season!

xo, Jenny, Aaron, Carlos & Lt. Dan

It's Giveaway Time! Who wants to WIN an OttLite?!

It's that time of the year again for us artists and makers. A whole lotta long long days and late late nights spent locked away in the studio. We're busy as can be working on holiday orders…tons of diecuts and signs, but it's our ornaments that take up the majority of our time. When we debuted the ornaments a few weeks ago the immediate response was amazing, and since then the orders have been coming in steadily. As I said in a previous post…we're immensely flattered and grateful. So happy to be on the same page with so many of you guys. 

Anyway, this blog post couldn't be more fitting to the situation at hand. We happen to be doing the exact type of work that requires an OttLite, and it's also the season of giving! So yes, you read the title of this post correctly…we're giving away an OttLite!!! 

    Very recently OttLite contacted us to ask if we'd like to try out one of their lights. Of course we were super excited, because we had wanted an OttLite for years. I know many of you fellow artists and crafters are probably shocked to learn that we hadn't already owned one…or several of them. But I've always been terrible when it comes to buying things…I have so much trouble making specific choices when it comes to making an important purchase. Seriously, at least a dozen times me and Aaron were in either Jo-Ann's or Michaels, standing in front of the display of OttLites, but we were unable to pull the trigger. We are weirdos.

But we got lucky this time around. The gal from OttLite who contacted us took matters into her own hands. She asked us what type of work we'd be doing mostly, what type of studio we had, how much available space, all that stuff. And then she made the decision for us. She thought a tabletop model with an attached magnifier would be very helpful when it came to making our ornaments. And she was totally right! 

We also told her all about how concerned we are with color, and that we do a majority of our painting early in the day because nothing beats daylight when it comes to seeing colors correctly. And this is where OttLite comes in. As far as artificial lighting goes, this lamp is the closest thing to actual daylight we've ever worked with. Most other lamps give off a yellowy glow, but the OttLite casts a cool even pool of light directly on our work surface…no glare, no flicker, no heat. We seriously Love it! It has made our late nights in the studio much more pleasant.  

All of these ornaments were made over many of those late nights...and there are plenty more of those late nights still to come. I believe we'll be working non stop right up until Christmas Eve!

Ok…this is where it gets good! Up at the top of the post you probably noticed the pic of Aaron holding a brand new, still-in-the-box, OttLite. It's the exact same model that we own, and we promise…it's fantastic. We can't believe we get to give this away to a lucky Everyday is a Holiday blog reader. The people at OttLite are awesome!

Below are all of the product specifics from the OttLite website: 

13w DuoFlex Magnifier Lamp

The perfect tool for seeing details easily and colors accurately, the 13w DuoFlex Magnifier Lamp couples the benefits of OttLite Illumination™ with optical grade 3x magnification in this sleek and flexible design. Two flexible arms extend from a sturdy base so you can individually and easily position the light and magnifier exactly where you need them. 

Product Dimensions:

Max. Height: 21.5"

Min. Height: 7.5"

Base Diameter: 9" x 7.125"

It's perfect for artists, crafters, makers…perfect for art journaling, scrapbooking, sewing, embroidery, sculpting, and wow, it would be perfect for miniatures. For us it makes precision cutting a lot easier. It's great to have a light directly over the project so that there aren't any weird shadows to throw you off. And the magnifier makes for a safer experience when using an X-ACTO blade.

And now…here's how you can win it: 

Entering is super Easy! 

Just be a follower of this blog, and leave a comment below telling us what type of crafting or art making you will be doing with your OttLite!? For an extra entry like OttLite on Facebook , and leave a separate comment below letting us know that you did! 

That's it! Good Luck! And a very big THANK YOU to OttLite!

xo Jenny & Aaron

Friday Favorites

If you're familiar with the work that me and Aaron do, it probably goes without saying that Wayne Thiebaud is one of our favorites. Going way back to when Aaron and I first got together we can remember going to see his paintings in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. I don't think there is another painter who has rendered cakes so authentically. The way his paint sits on the canvas…his textures…his highlights and shadows…can almost be described as delicious. And his paintings never require explanation. They simply are what they are. 

A friend of mine recently pointed out the work of Sharon Core, which you can see above. The top image is a Wayne Thiebaud painting. The image directly below it is a photograph by Sharon Core. Yeah…crazy right?! She had the imaginary Thiebaud cakes made in real life, and then photographed them to exactly mimic Thiebaud's painting. Amazing! 

If you're not familiar with Wayne Thiebaud's work, you should check out this short video. With our work we have always strived to celebrate everyday, and I think Thiebaud's work has the exact same spirit.

I swear, Mercury glass is one of my favorite things ever. I have been collecting for years and lucky for me, it has become more and more popular. Lately I have been able to find so many beautiful vases and candle holders, and when the holiday season rolls around I'm amazed at the latest offering of Mercury glass ornaments and christmas trees. I love this set of cream, pink and mauve votive holders. They would be perfect in our bedroom, where our color palette gets deeper and a bit more…romantic might be the word. We've got Victorian rose studies in our bedroom, and deep grey walls. So you can imagine how well the above set would work.

And here is the "Sea Glass" set in cream, aqua, and greens…which totally works in the downstairs rooms of our house. I think we may really need this set for our living room! I am on the hunt for a large serving tray to keep on our ottoman which also serves as a coffee table. I think this set is officially on my Christmas wish list. 

This piece from Dot & Bo would be perfect in our kitchen or dining room…but I don't know if we have the space for it. I love it's rustic industrial feel, and I can see it full of our cake stands, favorite cookbooks, and kitchen things.

One of my favorite decorative elements is lighting. I'm not really a fan of overhead lighting. I like lighting a room with candles, lamps…and especially strings of lights. They just make the space feel festive. They've got a magical twinkle, and work both outdoors and in. We have strands of lights in our studio, which bring a carnival feel to the room. Last Friday I shared a fantastic Edison bulb lamp…so it's fitting that this week I follow up with these Edison string lights. I just adore them! 

When we were at Target the other day we spotted some really cute holiday items in our favorite shades of aqua and turquoise. This pillow would be perfect in our living room. Actually, the entire collection is lovely.

This incredibly cute bottle brush tree is also a part of the Target collection…and you'd be correct in thinking that there was no way that we could pass it up! It has a slight iridescent finish, which I am not normally a fan of, but I can totally look past it here. This is the larger size one…it's 15" tall.

Here it is temporarily...yet happily...sitting on a table in our kitchen. 

I just adore these metallic geometric trees from Studio Mucci. I've been instagram friends with Amina, the talented and fun gal behind the brand, for some time now. I can always count on her for eye candy galore! 

I just adore her classic tassel garlands! I think Aaron and I really just need to finally decide on which color combo would work best in our home. They are perfect for celebrating everyday…as I stated above…that's our motto! :)

Ok, thanks so much again for reading! I hope you're staying cozy! Have a great weekend!

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!