Around here…

This photo is part wishful thinking, part incantation. Maybe if I put enough pastel Easter stuff around those lingering piles of snow will finally melt away and bring the daffodils into bloom. We're currently still cranking the heat, and still wearing heavy winter coats and hats for our daily walks to the post office. But at least the days are longer now and there is more sunlight. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've got bunnies and feather trees out all year round, but when push comes to shove I'll pull out even more to create some weather defying table top parties.

Some of my favorites have to be our faux chocolate rabbits. We love faux sweets...faux cakes, faux donuts. We found these years ago in a cute shop here on the Jersey shore. I wish I could find more. 

This race car fella kills me! Totally looks good enough to eat! Usually I'd start with a bite to the ear, but in this case I'd likely nibble a tire. 

Here is a tiny peek at my prized vintage paper mach rabbit collection which is on display in the studio all year round. 

We've been chipping away an hour a night on "home stuff". We're currently painting trim and walls. The darker walls and dark trim really balance things and make our pastels pop. I can't wait to finish and share some pics with you guys. We've been moving things around and creating some happy vignettes.

Here's a little peek of a shelf in the kitchen. That's a Cake decorating tip used as a holder for a vintage inspired flash card. 

We've been cooking some yummy meals and Aaron has been baking. These are some of our favorite banana nut muffins. 

Mostly we've been working on lots of orders, but we did manage to finish up this piece! It has been on the back burner for far too long. We chipped away at it for the longest time and finally finalized the details. We love how it turned out. It may be my favorite diecut to date! It's in the shop now and we've got it on sale for a special introductory price, which lots of peeps have taken advantage of already. If you're interested it will be on sale until very very late tonight.

We had our first flash sale last week over on Instagram, and as a result lots of donuts will be off to happy new homes this week!! So fun!

Popped into Target the other day and hit up the dollar spot! Although I only walked away with one thing this time…this adorable little file folder thingie. It opens accordion style and has tabbed sections. Perfect for holding all my little bits of ephemera and cute papers that I've got waiting to be added to art journal pages or other mixed media and crafty projects. 

Oh and on the weekend I shared this on Insta and Facebook. My sweet friend Court featured me on her blog for her #GirlCrushFRYday . I was so flattered and had fun answering her great questions. You gotta check out her blog. It is sooooo great. 

Last thing I'll mention...We're presently finalizing some details, but if you are in the NYC area…stay tuned. We will be teaching an Art Journaling class very very soon! 

Thanks for popping in!!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi! 

January…aka: the fastest month of the year.

How on earth is it Jan 22?! No seriously, how? Somehow Christmas came and went, and I'm nearly convinced that New Year's lasted for about three seconds. For a couple months we have been in this cruise control mode…and not the slow kind of cruise, just the constant kind. We've been almost exclusively working on orders. So many orders came in right up until Christmas and truth be told we are still getting some out. We are really lucky to have super awesome customers and collectors that are willing to wait for handmade items. Also, this was our first year offering gift certificates, and they seemed to be a hit. So we are filling lots of those orders right now as well.

 One thing that we love is that we had a bunch of post-holiday custom orders for more ornaments! A lot of folks subscribe to the "celebrate everyday" lifestyle, and will be displaying their ornies all year round! We've been seeing pics on instagram of donut, cupcake, and ice cream ornies being used in Valentine's Day vignettes and we love it! 

We have some really fun new designs coming very soon! But to be honest, there are only so many hours in the day, and we just can't take time away from orders to finish up new paintings just yet. But very very soon! We'll be sure to share some sneak peeks as soon as we can! 

We haven't seen much or done much outside of the studio, except for a few quick trips to Target, which happens to have some great stuff in the dollar bins right now! Lots of minty, sea foam green, office-y stuff! Like this adorable file folder seen above! For $1!! Oh, and that sweet pink lidded vintage style jar for only $3!

I couldn't pass up these little plastic bins either! Perfect for holding invoices! (picture a New Yorker cartoon with an overworked guy at a desk…the "out" basket is empty, while the "in" basket teeters like an advanced game of Jenga.) And also from the dollar bins are these cute jars, pencil holder, and that to-do list pad has a magnet on back. It's on our fridge and quickly getting filled with lots of ink. I really don't think I've ever gotten through the dollar section without putting at least one thing in my cart. 

We definitely are getting a bit of cabin fever due to this studio lock-in, but seriously it's been so cold that I don't feel like I'm missing anything out there. We had a frozen pipe a week or so ago, and we're lucky it didn't burst when it thawed. For the coldest of days we put together a mini makeshift studio upstairs where it is way more warm. 

Our days are spent working, listening to music, cooking yummy meals, and burning candles. Party right? When I put the above pic on Facebook and Instagram I got a lot of questions about that candle. It's called Sweet Tobacco and is from Candelles. It's definitely more masculine than most of the scents we go for. Definitely earthy, woodsy…and to quote straight from the description on Candelles: "it begins with top notes of mandarin orange and tarragon; middle notes include rose, honey, and osmanthus; base notes are caramel, amber, musk, and hints of patchouli."

And I'd say that's fairly accurate.

Well, I wish I had more new stuff to share. We will very soon. I really just wanted to pop in and say hi! And let you know that we are still here! Hope 2015 is treating you all well!

Love from the Jersey Shore!

xo Jenny… and Aaron says hi!

I heart November

Being self employed, working from home, and making up your career as you go, will often put you in a place that makes you feel slightly out of step with the rest of the world. But all of that changes around the holidays. For artists, crafters, and makers such as ourselves, this is a very special time of year. All of the sudden we feel like we are exactly on the same page as everyone else. Beginning on pretty much November 1st, we debuted this year's Everyday is a Holiday ornaments, and in the following days we shared more and more pieces…and to say that the response from you guys was AMAZING, would be the understatement of the century. Me and Aaron actually cannot believe how well our ornaments are being received. And don't take it the wrong way…I am in no way boasting. I'm just insanely THANKFUL. But I'm thinking of it on another level that isn't related to sales. I guess what I'm trying to express, is that right now, me and Aaron feel so utterly CONNECTED to all of you. We feel like we made the exact stuff that you guys were looking for. Like somehow we knew precisely what you guys wanted this holiday season…and we delivered it! 

In a matter of a few days you guys carved in stone what me and Aaron will be up to for the next few weeks. Yep, we'll be working round the clock, and I mean ROUND the CLOCK, on these ornies. Holy cow! We are gonna wear out dozens of X-Acto blades. And we couldn't be more thankful for it.  Just the other day we completed the final prototypes of our Holiday 2014 ornament offerings. I shared a bunch on a previous post, and below you'll see a bunch more that you may not have seen. Well wait…there are a few more on the way, our Starlets! but I put those in an entirely different category. I LOVE our Starlets! Last year they did fabulously…and this year we added some new gals with adorable little details. I hope to be able to share those this week…maybe by the weekend. 

But for right now, this particular collection of ornaments is complete. We wanted to offer a wide range, but not too wide. Our goal was to have something for everyone…and Jeez, so far it feels like we met that goal. It thrills us to flip through our latest invoices and see the sheer variety of ornies! So cool! Here's a few of what will be shipping out very soon.

This is one of our favorites! A triple scoop neapolitan sugar cone! 

And guess what?…we're working on a big wooden die cut of this cone! Usually we make ornaments based on our diecuts. But in this case we're doing the opposite. We loved the ornie so much that tonight we painted a large version of it. Tomorrow we'll be making the first printing of it, and we'll be cutting it out of wood. And it's gonna be big…like 16 inches…can't wait! It will be available in a day or so. I'll keep you posted.

This soft serve cone has been one of our best selling diecuts…and now it's one of our best received ornaments. I love the rainbow sprinkles.

We originally didn't have plans for making this Pink Mixer, but just last week a customer suggested it…so we stayed up late that night, and voila! 

Two collector favorites from last year are back. You can just barely see it in the photo, but they're both glittered!

Another holiday fave from last year. Our bottle brush tree with shiny brites. 

Also embellished with clear crystal glitter!

As you know, our color palette is heavy on the pastels. But we always make an exception for red. Especially when it's in the form of a Red Velvet cupcake. I love seeing these two versions side by side. And these are glittered too!

I love this little "feather" tree of ours. The "feathers" are actually vintage book pages. It's so cool that it's the perfect size to display exactly one of each of our ornaments. 

And despite what you may have heard…me and Aaron actually do leave the house every so often.

The other day, after completing all of the ornies and packing up some die cut orders, we realized that we were going a little stir crazy…and we also desperately needed some groceries! So we popped into Target, browsed a bit, and grabbed a small amount of food essentials. Target's food selection is getting better and better. And so are the dollar bins! That's where I found these super cute tags! They're perfect for adding to art journal and planner pages. 

And I feel like the stripy patterns and minty green of the tags work as the perfect segue for this pic. Also, more proof that we leave our house. We spent Sunday evening with my brother Walt and his girlfriend Val at their new place. Aaron worked some stripe magic in the bathroom! It looks so so fun! Walt and Val are remodeling the whole place, and me and Aar lent them our painting skills. Doesn't this pic look like a the set of a movie…like on a sound stage? That window looks fake. It's due to the lack of moldings, and the crazy bright spotlight. 

Happy Monday guys… hope your week is off to a great start!!

Love from the Jersey Shore! 

xo Jenny, and Aaron says hi!

Oh Target, You so so get me! ( a happy haul)

Jenny and her trusty space heater were like white on rice. My wintertime appendage, hummed along with my entire workday. Day in, day out. So it's no surprise that the absence of it's comforting hum, due to the warm weather of the past few days, would effect me so much. It was part of my workday much like the hum of the air conditioner becomes part of your summertime sleep ritual. How on that first cool autumn night without the AC the silence of the night is deafening, and you wonder how in the world you'll ever be able to sleep again without the sound of the AC lulling you off to dreamland. Well, I guess the wicked month of March sensed my unease...because today it is absolutely FREEZING once again, and my trusty space heater is at my side and humming with life. 

Hey March "Thanks, but no thanks!" 

As close as my space heater and I have become, I'd be more than happy to see her go. Just give me back my warm weather!

Just yesterday it was Spring jacket weather and I celebrated this fact by taking a day trip to Target. It had been forever since I had been there and it seems that Target had been anticipating my triumphant return to their aisles. Upon crossing their threshold I saw that they had rolled out the red carpet for me. I was greeted with pink and aqua galore! The dollar bins! Like a moth to a flame, like a bee to honey, so is Jenny to dollar bins filled with cute.

We grabbed a cart, and began filling the kid's seat with what I call "littles". First, these aqua and silver notecards kill me! Their accompanying envelopes have an adorable polka dotted border. The loose hand painted motif is very art journal-y...and yes...$1.00! The only items not found in the dollar bins are these sweet cupcake notecards. They were $4.99 and can be found in the stationary section.

This faux leather journal has lined pages inside. That cover pattern just makes me so happy! I'd love a stencil like it for art journaling. The journal is the perfect size for keeping in my bag for quick little ideas for classes, projects, designs, blogging, or shopping lists! And it was $3.00.

How pretty are these?! Little zippered pouches made of very thin material. Great for make up brushes, or pens & pencils. I bought two...because...$1.00! 

And then adorable aqua paper clips! Ah!! $1.00! 

I'm a sucker for these oldschool date roll stamps! How could I pass up this set! Look at the tiny little aqua ink pad! $3.00

Classic little alphabet stamp set. $3.00

I had blogged these chairs from IKEA when they first came out, and they remained on my wish list, awaiting my next trip to IKEA. Since they are now only $10.00 I had every intention of picking up at least two of 'em on my next trip there. Beyond cute! 

Well, it looks like Target jumped in at the last second and stole the show! I almost died when I walked down the aisle and came upon these chairs! and ummm...yessss! YAAASSS! Could you die? No really, right?! And I love the pattern even more than the IKEA version. It's a bit more vintage. like vintage wallpaper patterns.

Doesn't the pattern remind you of the motifs on our JUMBO hand painted vintage wallpaper wall? 

If you don't have a Target near you, they do sell them online! And guess what...$12.99!! They look bluer in the pic on the Target website than they are in real life. They are truer in color to the photos you see here.

So yeah...pretty great right? I'm in pink and aqua heaven right now! I also grabbed an adorbs aqua wallet and a new lipstick that I'll share another day!

If you look back at the pics on this post (which only represent the tip of the Target iceberg), I think it goes without saying that this here blogger, and you there Everyday is a Holiday readers, are how shall I say it??...Target's target demographic right now. 

So I simply had to share! 

You are welcome. wink.

xo Jenny, and Aaron says hi!