This Weekend

Hey friends! We've got some cooler weather here on the Jersey Shore and I couldn't be more thrilled. Being that we have a pretty heavy workload right now, we couldn't take the time to enjoy a day outdoors, so the best we could do is have windows open while we work. Though we vow to start getting out more. I'm not big into hot weather so now that my favorite season is upon us I can't wait to get outside some more. I'm an October baby…I love Fall fashion, hats, layers, scarves. I can't wait to get the bus or train into NYC a day soon. Oh, before I go on…the above pic actually isn't just a selfie… there was a certain chihuahua in the pillow cave behind me doing a little excavating. If you're familiar with tiny dogs at all, you'll know how much they're into digging out the perfect spot to curl up in.

We have been working like mad over here so forgive me for not popping in on Friday for my Favorites. I'll be back this week. I'm not one of those bloggers that schedules posts, so if I run out of time on a given Friday I have to put off posting until another time.

This week happens to be my blogiversary. I've been blogging since 2006. For me, the blog has always been a place to kinda pop in and say hi, show you some behind the scenes things, our collections, vintage finds, recap day trips, some family get togethers, home improvements, favorite recipes, Art Journaling…

 It's definitely more of a personal blog that also ends up being a peek into the artful life as well. Way less of a profesh blog. The professional stuff stuff kinda fries my brain and I really don't think I'd ever be able to get into it. I don't want it to feel like work. I like it how things are. 

Things have certainly changed over the years in blogging. When I started blogging in 06', it was a time I like to call the golden age of personal blogs and craft blogs. There were so many swaps, and it was common to get 50 comments on a post. We were all coming together in blog land. Now we are on Facebook , Instagram, etc. So now even though we have way more blog readers than we did back then, the comments are often spread out throughout social media. 

I found so many awesome friendships over the years. I actually just made a list the other day while sitting in the studio after cleaning and organizing and coming across a little scrapbook I had made after Silver Bella back in 07'. Those girls really hold such a special place in my heart. I'm feeling nostalgic and think that I may just have to host an old school swap soon…you know, in my "spare time".

Speaking of friendships, my friend Krista (Saturated Canary) did this insanely cute illustration of me and one of our macaron die cuts! Her style is so much fun!! Love it!

Late last night and early this morning I took a little bit of personal time to make these sweet and simple tags. I used my favorite girls stamps from our friend Ashley G. Just simple manila tags, painted polka dots, stamped girls, a light antique wash, gold glitter accents, and some white and gold twine. Perfect to keep on hand to tie to a gift or package, or to add to art journal pages. 

You may remember a little tutorial I did using Ashley G's stamps.

It was back in the Spring and I figured the egg shape was fitting for the season. I call them Mixed Media Cute Girl Ornaments, and I blogged the tutorial here.

After making the tags I really wanted to plan another quick little project for this week. So I pulled out my vintage printers tray full of favorite tiny bits and ephemera. I just adore tiny little cut out people from vintage photos. I promised myself I'd make something using them this week. And I promise you that I will share whatever that may be.

Well, I really just wanted to pop in and say hi! Our only night of TV is Sunday. The rest of the week we do podcasts while painting, a whole lot of Marc Maron. So tonight we are looking forward to The Strain and Boardwalk Empire…and chips and salsa of course. Hope you guys had a great weekend!

Love from the Jersey Shore!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Life Lately...

It's hard to believe that this week is almost over…it totally flew by. We have so many projects going at once, that our heads are kinda spinning. We're simultaneously working on orders, doing some custom designs, finishing up house "stuff", and getting ready for Art Is You in Connecticut…which is in a month! We're so excited for that! We love everything about Art Is You. 

Earlier today we finished the above cake. It is for a very special super exciting and fun event. I'm going to have to be a little vague here just in case the recipients wants to keep the detail of the event under wraps until the unveiling. But we promise to share more pics and details very soon. We feel like this is the ultimate CAKE. It's design just says "Celebration". It could easily be a wedding cake, or a super duper sweet 16 cake, or a Quinceañera cake. Think of the three tiers and those piped buttercream roses as the starting point…beyond that the customization possibilities are endless.  

It's BIG, just in case you can't tell from the above pic. I hope to snap a better pic tomorrow. Today it was gloomy and grey here, so the photo above isn't very crisp...but you get the idea.

The group of cakes we're working on have lots of piping. Very much in the style of vintage Wilton cake decorating books. We will be shipping these special pieces off tomorrow, but I promise to take more pics! And we plan on adding a few of them to our regular shop offerings! 

Working on so many different projects all at once is totally putting us in the mindspace we'll need to be in for the upcoming holiday season. Do you remember our Starlet ornaments? Well they were so incredibly popular last year that we could barely keep up with the orders. So many of you had asked if they'd be back this year…and the answer is Yes!…they'll be in stock, along with a handful of new designs! Lots more ornaments…definitely some macarons, more cupcakes, kitty cats, doughnuts, etc.

I'm not sure if I shared this pic a while back. These are vintage Stanley Home cookie cutters. It must have been another very gloomy day when I snapped this pic. When I shared this pic on Instagram it started the best conversation.  All of us were trying to solve the mystery of the guy in the bottom left-hand corner. Is he a Dutch boy? And what's with the cowboy-at-high-noon stance?

Some were saying that he must be "Mr. Stanley". And some figured that he's a gingerbread man. And a few people said that they owned this set, but in place of the "Dutch-gingerbread-Stanley-showdown-cowboy" their sets included an Astronaut. Which is equally strange!

So, if you look at this pic that I shared the other day of an aqua set that I just found…you can see the Astronaut. And if this pic were part of a grade school IQ quiz that asked "which cookie cutter doesn't belong?"…the answer would be: the Astronaut! 

All of the others are holiday themed! That bunny is my fave…and jeeez, I love the Valentine…and the Jack-o-Lantern! I also own a birthday cake cutter in this same color. Do any of you own these? I know there is also a red set. I love these!

Ok, gotta go back to work. We are really cramming to get a bunch done tonight so that we can ship a big batch of boxes tomorrow. Wish us luck! 

Thanks for popping in!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Around here… (and a Giveaway)

The weather this Monday is perfect! But over the weekend it was super hot and rainy in Jersey…yes, that's always a gross combination. Saturday was the Ocean Grove Flea Market. There are two each year, and we'd love to be able to attend both, but this year we only went to the one in June. To read about that adventure, you can check out this post detailing our fun time at The Flea by the Sea. 

This time around we skipped the flea market, knowing that the forecast called for hot steaming rain, and we also had a bunch of projects that we had to finish up.

Afterwards we heard that Ocean Grove dodged the rainstorm that hit us a mere 30 minutes away. I was definitely happy for all the vendors and shoppers. Here at home we stayed in and kept the AC cranked. 

So, one of the projects we worked on last week was this piece. Some of you long time readers and collectors of our art may recognize it. We actually designed it years ago and it was one of our best sellers. While organizing, and going through our paintings we came across the elements for it, and decided to repaint some of the details and enhance the colors a bit. It's titled "For the Love of Baking"  , and it's a mixed media piece that combines prints of our paintings and actual hand painting. It's a larger piece, measuring 12 x 22, and we love how it instantly sets a mood in a kitchen. We've also made plenty of these for bakeries. I can't decide which wall it looks better on. It's so vintagey and warm on the creamy white wall, and on the black wall in the photo up top the pretty pastels just pop.

While it was grey and raining and super hot outside, we were in our cool studio, working by twinkle lights, surrounded by favorite things, burning a favorite candle, while playing our favorite Pandora stations. When you work straight through the weekend, it's important to enhance your environment as much as you possibly can.

I finished up this little project the other day. Just a makeover on one of my vintage toy pianos. Before the makeover it was a cute little piano, but the color just didn't work for me…it was way too blue. So I fixed it up with some pale aqua paint, some light distressing, an antique wash, and collaged paper stars. Toy pianos are another one of our favorite collectibles. We have a bunch of them around the house, and I blogged about them a year or so ago, which you can see here.

I had some happy mail this week! This is the newest member of our bunny family. I absolutely love this fella's one floppy ear. Like the rest of his bunny family he's perfectly aged, he's a great color, and has an overall sweet demeanor. 

And would you look at this! It's a vintage paper "cake" made up of individual gift boxes. Yes, those are holes for candles! I just love the way the piping and cake texture are illustrated. Can you imagine this for a kids birthday party…having each individual slice/box filled with party favors!

Also in my mailbox was this incredibly adorable tiny macaron bracelet! I put it on as soon as I opened it! It was a gift from one of the cutest gals around. Jenny aka @shelovesdresses on Instagram. She makes the cutest things…case in point being the above bracelet! I adore it!

And here's Jenny herself modeling one of her adorable dresses! She's a living doll, and her Instagram feed is so fun! I love seeing her #dressoftheday. She creates adorable stuff and captures magical images on a daily basis. Every time I see one of her pics on Instagram it brightens my day.

And speaking of brightening my day...would you just look at this lil guy! This little peanut was all curled up and cuddly, and could barely keep his eyes open. I was sitting there and he kept peeking at me like this, as if he was worried that he might miss something if he closed his eyes.

Today while diecut and sign orders were drying, I pulled out some of my older home inspiration scrapbooks. Over the weekend we picked up the paint for the living room, so I'm really trying to make some decisions. 

We are doing away with the pink and cream striped wall in the living room. I'll miss it, but I'm also very excited for change. We're overhauling everything, but in the end I know we'll end up adding some pink stripes all over again. Not in the exact same way…but they've been ever-present in our home for many years…so, some way and somewhere, there will be pink stripes….ha! 

Ohhh before I sign off for the evening, there's one last thing. If you are on Instagram, I just posted a Giveaway today! Two lucky Donut loving friends will win a donut die cut each! Pop over to my feed to enter!

@jennyeveryday

We are hard at work on a bunch of orders and some very exciting projects that we'll share with you soon. If only there were a few more hours in the day. I think I might make that my new go-to wish when I blow out my birthday candles each year. ha! 

Hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks bunches for popping in!

xo Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Friday Favorites

If you're even slightly familiar with the artwork that me and Aaron create, you'll know that we paint sweets very often. Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream…each of these things have been our muse at one time or another. And using sweets in our artwork is a no-brainer for us…sweets are easy on the eyes. But then there are sweets that transcend our pay grade…like these gorgeous chocolate pyramids you see here! These need not be artistically recreated in any way. They are the be-all end-all of chocolates, and they represent themselves perfectly…simultaneously they are dessert and they are art.

They're made by dessert designer Nectar and Stone, who's creations you can check out on Instagram .  Seeing photos of them all lined up and nestled in boxes, is about as close to edible perfection as one can get. 

Oh gosh I love this Malt Shop heel from Jeffrey Campbell! To me this design contains bits of so many aesthetic elements that I hold dear. They've got schoolgirl appeal, but at the same time they're sophisticated…they're vintagey and classic, but at the same time they're modern and sleek. I just love when a cute shoe is so much more than a cute shoe. 

Jeez, I've been reading some of these flavor descriptions online, and now I'm pretty sure that I'll be putting together an order for a variety of Sloane Teas.  

Seriously, Almond Truffle…this says it's got notes of dark chocolate and Brazilian cocoa!

This one will probably be my favorite...notes of bergamot and creamy vanilla.

And it goes without saying that I'm just as drawn to the beautiful tins as I am to the teas themselves. This is another one that grabbed me…I'd love it after a super flavorful meal. It's Assam black tea blended with pure peppermint leaves and Brazilian cocoa nibs. You gotta check out they're offerings for yourself…they even recommend which blends are the best for making iced tea.

This Bow Derek dress from Hello Holiday is totally my deal. Hello Holiday often have exactly what I'm looking for. I LOVE that bow!

And these keychains are super cute. They're from ban.do. I'm a huge fan of pale candy pastel tones paired with gold.

And I love this Stay Focused print, which is also from ban.do.

I want to have a party just so I have an excuse to make these Party People favor bags! You can find the tutorial for them at Oh Joy! 

They're so kooky cute and fun!

I just adore this image. I love the idea of words and letters made from food. In my art journal I recently did some lettering to resemble donuts.  

Specifically, golden glazed donuts dipped in pink frosting with sprinkles on top. I've got so many ideas for sweets theme fonts. One day, when we figure out how to work 24 hours a day without sleeping, we just might get some of these ideas down on paper. :) But seriously, I want to put a kit together with all sorts of letters like this. Wouldn't that be fun?!

And the last thing I'll mention in these Friday Faves is our beloved Boardwalk Empire. This Sunday night kicks off the final season! The show will pick up seven years in the future since the previous season, making it 1931…the end of prohibition is in sight. We are so excited that the show is back…but we'll sure be sad when it's all over. 

I mentioned in a previous post that we discovered Six Feet Under about a decade late. We watched all 63 episodes in a matter of weeks. We LOVE that show! Just last night we watched the series finale. I must say, it was one of the best finales ever. 

I hope Boardwalk has an equally impressive send off.

Ok, thanks again for reading! Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Meet artist Michelle Lauritsen

As far as blogging goes, one of the best perks is getting to share my favorite emerging artists with all of you. This month's feature sponsor, Michelle Lauritsen, creates some of my most beloved items to collect…paper mache dolls/figures. And right at the top of this post I wanted to illustrate what a fan I am of her work. The above pic of those three wonderful bunnies, is a photograph that I took here in my own home. Those were the first three pieces I got from Michelle about 6 months ago. I can't believe how perfect they are. Everything about them compliments my personal aesthetic…from the pale pastel tones and polka dots, to their vintage style and faint antique wash.

I love every new series she creates. I was saying to Aaron that if we came upon her work at a show…something like the Country Living Fair…that one stop at her booth would probably break my budget for the entire day!

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be able to share this interview with you guys. Michelle is great…total sweetheart…and it's so awesome when the personality of the artist perfectly matches how lovely their artwork is. I hope you enjoy this little behind-the-scenes glimpse. 

 What is your name and/or business and blog name?

My name is Michelle Lauritsen and my business/blog is A Pinch of Prim.

 What do you do? ...and when did you start?

I make Paperclay/Mache dolls and whimsical characters. I started playing 

around with Paperclay in 2010.

What/Who are you inspired by?

My dad is very creative and artistic. He used to have a side business 

making ice carvings. Huge, heavy pieces that started out as a block of ice, 

then were roughly cut with a chainsaw, and detailed and perfected with a 

bevy of chisels and tools. It's funny how different yet similar our art is 

to each other’s. He definitely inspired me growing up. There are also many 

artists that inspire me, including Nicol Sayre, Colleen Moody,  Jenene 

Mortimer,  Danita Art,  Jenny and Aaron!, etc….

 Where do you create? home studio? kitchen table? sofa?

Luckily, we have a spare room that I converted into my studio. It's one 

of my favorite places to be.

What are some of your fave movies/shows/bands/music?

We probably don't even need cable in my household. I love Netflix. There 

are plenty of shows on TV that I like, but I prefer to watch them on 

Netflix. I can watch at my own speed with no commercials! Some of my 

favorites are: Sons of Anarchy, The Killing, Scandal, The Walking Dead, Hell 

on Wheels, any Jane Austen movie Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre. 

Documentaries!! I LOVE a good documentary. I love all different kinds of 

music. While I'm typing this I'm listening to some Brandi Carlile.

 Do you collect anything?

 Although I'm not sure how it happened, I have a big collection of old 

jars. I love finding teeny tiny ones.

Favorite art/craft supplies?

 My favorite art supply is definitely Creative Paperclay. It's soft and 

very easy to work with. Oh yeah, I also have to have on hand, Folk Art's 

Vintage White and Burnt Umber acrylic paint. I use those on every single 

piece I make.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I'm happy with how I've improved these last 5 years. So, in 5 more years 

I hope to improve even more. I would love to have my work licensed one day. 

I'm hoping to start selling some illustrated pieces in my Etsy shop in the 

future and there are a few other things I have up my sleeve!

Three favorite websites/blogs/shops…etc?

Pinterest, Instagram, and FB.

Anything else you'd like to add?

I'm 38 years old. I graduated High School in 1994. I just celebrated my 18th wedding Anniversary to my husband Mike. I have 2 amazing kids. My 16 year old son Dylan and my 14 year 

old daughter Casey. I don't ever discuss my personal life on FB, but I love 

my family so, so much!! They're my true inspiration!

I'm doing my first Halloween Art Show on Sept. 20, 2014. The name is 

Hallowbaloo, it's produced by Robert Eberz and Dennis Haynes and there will 

be some great artists attending this year. It's in Bothell, WA, so if you 

are around the Seattle area, be sure to check it out! You can find 

Hallowbaloo on FB.

Thank you Jenny and Aaron!

…………………………………………….

As I said…total sweetheart! Don't you just love discovering talented people, and then getting to know a little bit about their artistic process and personal lives? I know I do.
Be sure to visit all the links above…and definitely reach out and say hi to Michelle!

You can find Michelle on Instagram, Facebook, and on her blog.
And if you're a fan like I am…you can shop 'til you drop in her Etsy shop!

Thanks for reading!
xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

How we spent our Labor Day weekend

This Labor Day weekend was a hot one here in Jersey. So it was the perfect time to stay indoors and organize some areas of our home. We also caught up on some work, and did little projects like the shelf above…that's a new aqua looped scallop. It took mere minutes to paint, but it totally makes the shelf. It's a little homemade shelf we found in an antique shop maybe 15 years ago. We have a thing for scallops as you can see. Our studio walls have a hand painted scallop, as did rooms in all of our past homes. 

Earlier in the day, while Aaron was out on the deck cutting a bunch of wood for signs and diecuts, I chipped away at organizing the studio. A whole lotta stacks have accumulated in there, and none of the stacks are junk. That's what makes the job tough. I keep uncovering things like you see above, and it's hard to find a place for all of these ephemeral goodies.

Here's a little peek at one of the walls in our studio. It's a mix of things we love. Some pieces from our favorite artists, some itty bitty collectibles, and some artwork of our own. A studio isn't finished until you've properly surrounded yourself with inspiration and eye candy.

You may also know that we are crazy for rolling carts. We have several in our studio. This here is the Raskog from IKEA. We use it mostly for mediums and adhesives. And then as you can see, we usually keep endless bottles of acrylic paint in baskets. Easy to see and easy to grab! 

And with home on the mind, we grabbed some paint samples from Lowes yesterday. 

We also were prepping this big menu board for shipping. Each of those cakes is custom painted. Our favorite flavor of all is Lt. Dan.

And yessssss, finally. After so many requests, we finally squirreled away enough time to finish painting our red velvet cupcake die cut. We have our own signature pastel color palette, which we can rely on forever…but some of our friends love red, and we thought that a red velvet cupcake would be the perfect introductory piece! It's in the shop now, and you can take 20% off your order with code: SWEETSUMMER (Sale ends tonight)

Ok, just wanted to pop in to say hi! We both hope you had fabulous weekend!

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!