Art from the inside....

Lately, with Nada coming up, I have been digging deep inside and letting go .

  To reveal how I feel about  my life and faith and self.

 to create with abandon and put on canvas,

 Without judging myself, trying new things and new mediums.

 putting down whatever comes in my head without censoring.

just creating and revealing.

Jen

Show your boy's room linky party...

Welcome to the boy's room bash!
Last week was  girl's rooms; now this week is the guy's turn. Let's see those cute, fun, rugged boy's rooms. It's all pink at my house, but I can share a mountain-scape room mural I did once, way back when I was doing my mural business. The parent's who are friends of mine loved the Rocky mountains.

I have to warn you though, the picture is pretty old and not that clear, but I stumbled across it the other day. I think it was taken with a disposable film camera in 2003, way before I even knew what blogging was.

That little guy is HUGE now.

How fast time goes... That was two kids ago for me :)

So let's see those boy's rooms! The only rules are: You must link your blog post directly so party goers can find it long after the party is over and

You have to link back to this post directly so everyone can find the party. Using an old post is fine as long as you amend it. :)

Less than a month away.... eeek!

Okay ladies, I am freaking out.

It  is  now less than  a month till the big Nada Farm Event.

There is stuff to make and paint and create and do and I already feel spazz-iated .

 Fifi's coming to sign her book and many other bloggers I can't wait to meet, there is even a special blogger area we'll have set up so you can meet other!

 Also, if you are coming to the sale, let myself or Anne Marie know, she has a list started on her sidebar.
Friday night is the Boho ball night so wear your Boho gear! There are a ton of great giveaways, lots to buy and lots to see!

my good friend and amazingly talented artist Jeanne Oliver is teaching avery cool at class in the barn on Saturday. There are still some spots availible, so if you're interested, pop over here.

And if you are going to be in the Western Suburbs of Chicago May 20th and 21st come on out the Nada Farm and join in the fun!

Anne Marie and I can't wait to see you there!

Jen

Gorgeous girl's rooms....

 For some Monday inspiration...

                                                                            Dear Lillie

 French Larkspur

 Grand Design Co.

Centsational Girl

 Shine your light

 Thrifty Decor Mom

My Sweet Savannah

Evolution of style

Jen

Happy Easter!

faith, hope, prayer, thought, life, renewal, joy, risen, spirit, family, friends, celebrations.

Blessings.

Jen

Me and Cabbages and Roses!

Not long ago, the amazing company Cabbages and Roses and I started a collaborative project. A European manufacturer of amazing clothing, housewares and beautiful, romantic fabrics led by the super-talented founder and author Christina Strutt; I immediately jumped at the chance!  

Since my littlest peanut is ready for  a big girl room, it only fits that we recover this gorgeous just -her-size chair with some of their amazing fabric. I put it next to a bigger chair so you could see how cute and little it is.

After chatting we decided that the Jolly stripe in blue would be a perfect fit. 

There is something about it being a more masculine fabric; but putting it in a little girl's room that appealed to me. Maybe with a little striped ruffle on it on the bottom as a contrast after I paint the wood white with a little distressing, or maybe I should just leave the wood, well, wood. Even though I've picked out a wall color, I am still trying to figure out what I am going to so for  a bedspread, so hang in there over the next few weeks for the big reveal! You can also visit their website here, or Cabbages and Roses blog and see some of the on-going projects!

Jen

The winners and the Girl's Room Gala linky party...

There were over 200 entries for my big $175 giveaway, I was floored, thank you all so much for entering! So here's what you have all been waiting for..... the winner of the $175 gift certificate to my etsy store is...

Bella Storia!

 Congrats!

The winner of a 50% off one item coupon is...

Carol-Anne!

congrats ladies! e-mail me!

Now, let's linkup!
The rules are
Make sure you link to this post in your post, and you link directly to your post, not your blog, so everyone can find it.
 I want to see your Gorgeous girls rooms!

Next wednesday we'll have the boy's room bash.

Total coolness...

We are lucky enough to have one of the nation's best arboretum's with in a short drive. Every year they do art installations and when I recently saw the start of this one  I was blown away. I can't wait to see it when it's finished. It's a part of their Nature Unframed exhibition.

   as someone who crochets; I cannot even imagine the amount of work it took to get this far, standing on a ladder, working around a tree branch.

   You can see various spots where they've started on other trees as well.

 and you'd see little pops of color around the park in various spots. It was fun for the kids to find them. I have to admit, I was the one who got excited when I spotted them first. I think after  a while, they were tired of it... I'd excitedly yell, "Hey, there's another!" and there would be eye-rolling going on behind me.

If you're ever in Illinois, stop by and visit. It's definitely a place to feed your soul.

Jen

* My drawing end tonight, make sure if you want to be entered, click here to leave  a comment.

and join in on the girl's room gala linky party Wednesday.

Bunny love...

Somebody in my house is ready for Easter...

She's obsessed with this Halloween costume and wears it around a good part of the day when she's home.

It obviously gets way more use than the vacuum cleaner behind her which has only been sitting there for about 3 days now.

It's normally fine, except it was about 75 degrees oone nice day last week. I had to forcefully peel her out of it while she kicked and screamed she wanted to keep it on and her beet-red face dripped sweat. It was a bit warm out for a fleece costume and her hair was plastered to her head. I was afraid she was going to have heat stroke. Talk about suffering for fashion.

I love all of my little bunnies. Especially my eight year old. Who, last week, upon giving me a "Number one mom" sticker, after I hugged her and gave her  a big kiss and said to her "Am I really you're number one mom?"

She said. "Well, you're the only mom we've had so we wouldn't know the difference."

I really should know better than to ask.

Oh I love my bunnies.....my  sweet, sassy bunnies.

Speaking of nature, does any one know what those birds in the midwest are that sit outside and call too each other? It goes di-doo  and then eventually it's new girlfriend calls back doo-di.  

seriously, they are making me crazy.

between birds and bunnies it's  a jungle out here.

Jen

P.S.  MY $175 drawing closes Monday. Click here to leave a comment to enter.

And join in Wednesday for my Girl's room gala party and the following Wednesday for the Boy's room bash linky party.

The what the heck am I going to post about post...and a linky party...

I woke up this morning and knew I wanted to post. I've been so pre-occupied for so long with doing everything for my Etsy store that I feel like I haven't chatted with you all in ages.

I've been so busy ,

I haven't been able to share with you the light fixture we finally put up in a rush over the sink for the Country Living photo shoot.

It was a $6 thrift store find that I painted brass and I bought a clear glass globe to go over. I think the total was about $15. Doesn't it look pretty? I love he way the glass looks when the sun hits it in the morning....Don't ask me to turn it on though, it isn't wired yet. The things you do for print.

And I also finally put up the mirror that's been in my garage for over  a year.  It's an old dresser mirror. Can you say heavy? We had to put wall anchors in that would hold up to 75 pounds. I put in two  just to be safe. I had fears if it falling at taking out two of my little tax deductions at once.

I've started my garden. My seedlings are popping up, the beet seeds are in, and the potatoes go in the ground next week, and I went outside and the plum and nectarine tree are loaded with blooms. As long as the frost doesn't get them we might get some fruit this year. I can hardly wait!

I am also working on some more of these tiny canvas necklaces for the Nada show.

These are some of my favorite and are so fun to do. I also have some in my Etsy store.

   

And ladies, I think we might need a party. I am in the middle of starting my youngest daughter's room. She is ready for  a big girl bed.  I am thinking  grey for the walls, but I haven't totally decided.

Let's have a linky party next Wednesday, April 20th...  the Girls' room gala

I need some of your inspiration, so link up your girl's bedroom and all of it's cuteness and prettiness.
A reader brought to my attention that she only had boys, so the next Wednesday after that we'll have The Boy's room bash.

It was so great to chat with you again.. what's going on with you?

Jen

P.S. If you haven't already, make sure you enter the $175 giveaway I am having here.

Thank you and more...so, let's do an even bigger giveaway...

You guys have been so awesome, I've decided to go from $75 in my drawing to.. are you ready for it???  $175!   Yep. You guys are that awesome. $175 to spend how ever you like in my shop,

so make sure you leave  a comment on this post to enter! And make sure read what can do to get your extra entries!

I have even more goodies I am adding daily including more jewelry, home decor and art.

Make sure you check out the flip book too on the top left side bar. It's full of some of my favorite pictures from the shoot and some of my favorite inspirational quotes.

   And have you met my awesomely gorgeous model Stacey W. ?

She was amazing, and looks amazing.

I so owe your lunch girlfriend!

And I forgot to introduce you my other "local" model who volunteered his services during the shoot... ahhh...There's nothing like taking pictures near  a train station to meet the most interesting people..He so modeled from H to T (head to toe).

if only the clothing fit him....

Jen

It's here! The Urban Journey Collection on Etsy and an awesome giveaway!

Whew!  While I am still going to be uploading more things all week long, the majority of my Etsy collection is finally ready to go on-line.

The  Urban Journey Collection.

I guess this collection means  a lot to me because it's the first time I am really putting myself out there to live  a dream  of selling 90% hand-made. By me.  This whole wonderful process was full of firsts for me.  Using a model, shooting on location, and making what I wanted, working in a magazine format. It somehow all fell into place.

I picked the name Urban Journey because this collection for me is about  the road I am traveling on to create uncensored, and with complete abandon. We all have a journey inside of us, and sometimes instead of taking a train or car; the traveling is completely inward, and the destination is so much more personal.


The collection includes,

 jewelry 

upcycled clothing.

handmade

vintage 

art work and prints.

 Art dolls and Santos dolls, little gifties and so much more.

To give away some opening day love.....

I am giving away  a $75 gift certificate to my store to one winner  
and a 50% coupon code to another.

Leave a comment on this post to enter. For extra entries tweet, facebook, become a follower or do  a blog post about my collection. You could get up to 5 entries! Drawing closes next Monday the  18th.
The drawing is closed. Thank you.

To help inspire you, and take you along with me; I've created a small inspired book of some of my favorite pictures in a flip book format, inspired by my good friend, Jeanne.

Click here to go to the flip book

Ladies, you rock! Thank you all for your wonderful support! 

Jen