Life Lately...

Life lately has consisted of lots and lots of painting...Any and every which way we can but loose. ( My gosh I've been dying to use that line ; ) ) 

Sure, we're doing lots of artful painting, with palettes and detail brushes...but mostly we are Painting. We're painting boards for diecuts and sign orders. We're painting our walls, doors, and trim...and it's coming along so nicely! And we're painting a bunch of other home projects...little signs, shelves, shadow boxes, and other decor objects. Whenever we step back and take a look at the stuff we've been working on in our home, we'll come to the realization that paint is by far, our weapon of choice. It is our crutch...it is our go-to medium. When it comes to art/home/decor/creativity...paint is the one thing we simply cannot live without.

 So yeah...aside from our work we've got a ton of projects all up in the air. I get so anxious when everything is in progress all at once. I'm just wanting to get it all done...but like I've talked about in past posts, we really have to balance it all. We can never take a big chunk of time and focus on just one thing. Instead, we paint maybe one corner of the kitchen while the orders that we're working on are drying. It's all about chipping away at the personal stuff while doing the work stuff. 

We took a trip to Michael's the other day and picked up some cute stuff, including these adorable little polaroid style candy colored chipboard frames. And I LOVE when newly purchased craft supplies magically harmonize with my already owned craft supplies. Just look at how the chipboard frames fit perfectly over the prints we ordered from Persnickety Prints, which I blogged about here.

I've mentioned my sweet friend Kimberlee Edgar before, in reference to how she truly truly gets me. She is of that rare breed of certain "Online friends" who truly understand me. I think we've all got those special online friends. These are friends that we've probably never met in person...and maybe never will. And not by choice really...it's just that we're all too busy doing other things...maybe the opportunity to meet will never arise. And that's OK. Because we find other ways to stay connected. Usually what draws us to one another are our collections...our passions for rare and unique things...all of these things that we "need"...the things that we simply cannot live without...the things that make our hearts beat faster. 

Most likely, these will be things that our family and friends may find a little odd...or maybe even consider them to be a waste of time or money. But our online friends get us completely...and we get them. Well Kimberlee is a jewel among my dear online friends. She's a gal who truly knows. And her heart just so happens to be made of gold. So...just the other day a very unexpected package arrived. It was brimming with the most perfect vintage treasures. Everything in the box was very Jenny! Vintage Birthday candles, party cups, and a tablecloth...a pack of bunny cake toppers that absolutely melt my heart...and a bunch more. This package was enough to make me dizzy. And it came at a perfect time. On that day, at that exact time, I was revisiting all of my favorite things. I'm getting the house back to being a home, and I have been pulling my fave decorations. It's been close to two years since I have been able to plan out my living space like this. I'm setting up vignettes, sketching room layouts, and I'm actually planning right down to the itty bitty details. You know that you're decorating for real once the tiny stuff comes into play. And Kimberlee infused my day with a very healthy dose of the tiny stuff! I am so inspired! 

 I definitely count myself lucky. And in my day to day existence I try to always acknowledge just how grateful I am...and I try to behave accordingly. I appreciate whole heartedly the great people that I am connected with. And here's a prime example as to why I should thank my lucky stars on a regular basis...Another amazing out-of-the-blue package arrived this past week! This one is from my sweet friend Marian. And Marian is and online friend who I've actually met in real life. Me and Aaron were lucky enough to spend time with Marian at the Sweethearts on the Homefront event that we taught at in Atlanta this past October. Once again...this is an example of a package arriving at exactly the right time. And of course Marian planned it this way. She's fully aware of how much Aaron and I have been despising this cold, dreary, everlasting, New Jersey winter. Well, this particular day had been especially gray...I think if you had to name a Benjamin Moore paint after the color of the sky on this specific day it would be "Sorrow", ha! but seriously...what a gross day it was. So...when me and Aar opened Marian's package and found a plethora of sunshiny florals...we both looked at each other and said "wow, she sent us a box full of Springtime!"

It was so thoughtful, kind...and very necessary on that gross day. Included was the sweetest vintage apron with little pink bunnies, also a big pink mercury glass heart ornament, and ornaments for our Christmas tree! Just so so kind! I can't even describe how lucky we feel to have met and connected with such generous and caring people. Although we have met only briefly, or not at all, we truly count them as real deal friends. I mean, I think a fitting definition for "friend" could certainly be: "a person with whom you share very specific passions & tastes...and one whose existence makes your day, and your life exponentially better and brighter."

And all of these friendships are made possible through blogging, art, crafts, and collecting! Wow.

Now like I said, decor-wise we are revisiting our roots. Our kitchen will once again feature sweet vintage bakery vignettes. The jars of sprinkles, tiny ballerinas, vintage recipe cards, aprons, and all that good stuff will finally be back on display. The new kitchen will be all about taking these treasures and making them part of our day to day.

 I ordered some happy things from Bake it Pretty. I just love how they package orders! See those pink sprinkles?...they are tiny pink bunny heads! 

Maybe 7 years ago or more we painted this little Birthday Party vignette on the back of this cute, chippy paint, vintage metal stool. We still love it today, and this will go in the kitchen as well.

And these insanely cute plastic clown toppers needed a bubble bath. Some look like they may have partied with a bit too much chocolate frosting.

Here you can see a tiny peek of the new wall color in the kitchen. I love how calm, soothing, warm, and inviting this color is. It will serve as a great vintagey neutral backdrop to our candy colored collections.

I'm a sucker for wire shopping baskets like this. You'd find them in the old five & dime stores. I remember going shopping with my grandma at Woolworth's, and then we'd take a break and sit at the lunch counter...both of us ordering grilled cheeses! This basket totally conjures up some of those memories for me. This one is actually new and I found it at Home Goods months ago. When I bought it it had an awful neon red handle with black smudges that must've been the maker's attempt at antiquing. The neon red had to go...so I painted it a pale aqua and gave it a little antiquing wash of my own.

I just had to share this! A gal on Instagram tagged me in this photo. She had been reading an issue of NY Metro Parents magazine and came across this article about scrapbooking your family vacation...And the article features our book! Namely, our Down the Shore art journal spread...which is maybe the most fun journaling spread in the whole book...just so many cool techniques go into this one spread. And yes...it's a great magazine article. The writer did a fantastic job!

You know what?...it happens to be National Pancake Day! Yep! It's a thing! Look it up. We've been making and shipping lots of Jumbo Pancake Diecuts! We're so happy that you guys like them so much! We just think they are super fun! And they can fit so many different types of decor! Who doesn't like pancakes?!  

And yes...little Jack is overseeing things as usual! 

If you have had your eye on Pancakes, or any other die cut in our collection, but for some reason you haven't been able to seal the deal...well maybe 20% off will be the extra nudge you needed! 

This sale is good on Diecuts and anything else in the shop. Just use code: INSTALOVE

And last but not least...Here is our Birthday boy! Our little old man Carlos turned 13 on March 1st!  Hard to believe he's been with us for that long! Geez! he's been around for so much stuff! I remember him as a tiny little thing in the back room of our store! One time we were in the store helping a customer while Carlos waited in the back room. Well, after the customer left we went into the back and found that little Carlos had thrown around Aaron's wallet. All of his money was in Carlos' water bowl, there were business cards and credit cards thrown everywhere, and also an entire roll of paper towel was unrolled, strewn all over the back room, and totally shredded. It was hilarious actually. We couldn't figure out how ONE little chihuahua could do all that in such a short amount of time. It was totally like less than 10 minutes! We had him for under a month at that point, and I can remember us thinking 'oh boy...this pup is gonna be trouble.' ha!

Luckily that was really one of the only times he did something like that. He's generally a good guy. Maybe he's a little barky in his old age...but I guess that's not too big a deal. He's our best bud! We'll be having a little joint Birthday party and cake for both boys at the end of the month. Yep, Jack is also a March baby! 

Ok, that's all for now. I'll be back soon with some artful projects and more!

xo, Jenny...and Aaron says hi!