Jen Bowles Design

209 Things in 2009 ** 1st Quarter Update

Back in late December/early January, I started making my list of 209 Things I'd Like to Do in 2009.  Since today marks the end of the first quarter of the year, I thought I'd check in and see how I'm doing.

Overall, not too bad.

Done:  #8  Visit Savannah   (much more on this coming this week)

Not done:  #10 Visit my cousin Karyn--who lives an hour and a half away and whose house I was 10 minutes away from a couple of weeks ago.  Poor planning.

Done:  #16 Paint my office (that's the accent wall color in the background of the basket picture)

Not done:   #17 Paint upstairs bathroom.  But I am thinking hard about a color...

Doing:  #39 Record a year of Wednesdays.
I've been pretty dedicated to this one.  Every Wednesday I take out an index card and write down all the seemingly mundane details of the day. I have a growing treasury of ordinary days that I think will make a cool scrapbook at some point.  It's amazing how many Wednesdays I have a headache.

Not doing:  #13 Art Journal page a week.  I've done 4 all year, and 2 of them aren't really done.  I'd like to do much better on this one.

Done: #21  WOOF letters.
Not Done:  #22 HANG IT letters--but I've collected almost all of them.

Done:  #31 pull out holly bushes at back door (thanks to BGD)
Not Done:  #27 Make a terrarium

There are several more that are currently in progress (#7 Strip wallpaper from bathroom, #36 Display more flower bouquets, #15 business plan for Jen Bowles Design, #42 participate in 3 online swaps). 

I'm pretty happy with my progress and I do love my lists(!).  One more thing I must admit:  I currently have only 65 things on my 209 Things to Do list.

#66  Complete entries for 209 Things in 2009 list ; - )

Sunday in Savannah

We walked to breakfast.
I had the Stuffed French Toast.
We saw some beautiful houses.   And some beautiful vintage hats at the Mansion on Forsyth Park.
We took some pictures at the fountain at Forsyth Park.
We browsed at some shops on Whitaker Street.    Then we visited the Telfair Museum of Art.   At this point it was after 4 o'clock and we were a bit hungry.  We trekked back along Broughton Street and had a sandwich.  My mom also sampled a Red Velvet cupcake.

And then we went back to the hotel room to rest.  After all, isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?

(Makes Me) Happy Friday

Yipee, it's Friday and we made it to Savannah safe and sound!
Arrived here around 10:30 this morning and were on the go until after 10 o'clock tonight!  I did manage to squeeze in a power nap around 6:30 which is probably why I'm still awake, seeing as I woke up at 2:20 this morning.
Let's take a quick peek from our first day in Savannah and see what makes me happy...

• Our hotel.  We arrived at 11:30 this morning and they had a "beautiful" room ready for us.  This is the view from our window overlooking the Savannah River and the bridge to South Carolina.  Even prettier at night!
• One of our first stops of the afternoon was Magnolia's, a great gift shop with a super friendly owner.  He showed me the complete Bethany Lowe catalog and I nearly passed out from all the yummy-ness.  Yes, that could happen.
• Four letters:  SCAD

Much more to come, hope you have a great weekend!

Playing with Patterns

I'm supposed to be packing, but I just took a teeny, tiny break to play.
I was looking for free Photoshop brushes and I came across this site:  Brusheezy.com
On that site, I found a link to this designer: Pehaa
Though I had no idea how to use them, I downloaded one of her free patterns.
Then I opened Photoshop and googled how to use patterns.
Next, I made this:

I tell ya, the more I learn about Photoshop, the more I glimpse into the vast universe of what I don't know about Photoshop!

It sure is fun finding out though.

Now, back to packing.

Flower Fairy #2

Last week I made another little clothespin flower fairy to send off to live in New York.
Last fall I made a Ruby fairy, this new girl is a Gina fairy.
It was a surprise, hoping I remembered the color and glitter preferences correctly from
a conversation last fall.
She's very sparkly and sweet, what with her flower skirt and her vintage button topped fairy cap, I'm sure she'll be well loved no matter what.  Because really, how could you resist a face like that?  ; )       

My New Studio

One of the reasons we moved back from North Carolina to Massachusetts was to have more land (because at 40 degrees and windy on March 24, it surely wasn't the weather--but talk to me again in July!).  While our old house had more square footage, the lot it was built on was about 1/10 the size of our current lot.  In NC, I looked out the window while blogging and could see 5 of my neighbors houses, practically in their windows.  Here I can barely see one other house from my desk, it's pretty far back and in a few months it will be pleasantly obscured with foliage and flowering trees.
Of course we have about 10 times the yard work that we did before as well ; ).
One of the hidden gems on our 'acreage', is an old chicken coop.
At one time, my neighbor's house was the so-called manor house of a 100 acre working farm with apple orchards, migrant workers from Italy, horses and of course, chickens.  The current property line runs through the chicken coop (faulty surveying tools from 50 years ago??), with most of it on our side.
Right now, the chicken coop is very, um, rustic looking...
In fact, some people might just have at it with a sledgehammer and a dumpster and be done with it.
Not me.
I want a studio out there.
Jen Bowles Design at the Coop.
There are 3 full rooms that could be renovated--and they're big rooms, about 20'x15'.  There's quite a bit of work to be done--the space currently lacks a roof, electricity, running water, a heat source, a floor and windows. Details.
But the dream is there.
It could be such a cool space with just a bit of vision and a lot of hard work and of course a small pile of $$.
Ebby thinks it should be a clubhouse.
A clubhouse for artists, maybe.    
Perhaps in a few years...

Or if I win the lottery. 

Until then I'll just keep looking out the window and dreaming.

And cutting back brush on the weekends : )

(Makes Me) Happy Friday

First of all, HAPPY SPRING!
It's been a long, wintery winter and who isn't ready for spring?!
I certainly am : )

Here are a few more things that are making me happy this first day of Spring Friday...

• New seating in our family room.  I don't have a picture but suffice to say things are a lot more comfortable since our trip to the Jordan's Furniture Colossal Clearance center this week.  We've moved our uncomfortable-for-more-than-one-person sleep sofa down to the basement (hello new guest room) and now have a sofa along with a matching chair and a half and ottoman--all with down wrapped cushions that make you drowsy just sitting on them.  The new furniture is slipcovered in a light green stripe fabric (which probably wouldn't have been my first choice for stain resistance) and so far things are going pretty well re-training the dogs not to go on it.  Of course everything is covered in blankets as well.  Just in case.
• Pies baked in tiny jars as seen on Not Martha (via Little Birdie Secrets).

{image from Not Martha}
These are sooo cute, no?  Too bad that when I showed them to BGD he didn't think they'd be nearly big enough.  I guess I'll still be making full size apple pies.

• Wedding inspiration websites.  No, I don't see any weddings in my near future (unless TLC comes along and wants to send us to Hawaii to renew our vows a la John & Kate plus 8...) but the photography is beautiful and the ideas are inspiring and adaptable for many occasions.  Here are some of my favorites:   Once Wed  {photo is from Once Wed website, I wish I could've been at Ashley & Todd's wedding!}, Kiss The Groom (not just weddings, other "love stories" as well), and 100 Layer Cake (weddings, celebrations, color inspiration, craft projects...).  Tons of great ideas and stunning photography!  I wonder, is it too early to start planning Ebby's wedding?? 
• Finally, I'm happy because I got my hair cut today.  I think it also looks blonder--or that could just be wishful thinking ; )

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Wall of WOOF!

This is a project I've had on my to-do list for quite some time.
Finally, it is finished.
Maybe not completely finished, I'm on the lookout for more dog art and I need to frame a few photos of our own beloved canines, but the letters are up and I'm psyched about that!

Here's the scoop on the letters...
The 'w' was unfinished paper mache from Jo-Ann.  I painted it red, used an empty toilet paper roll dipped in white paint to make the circle outlines and then punched out circles from an old book page that I painted.
The 'O' was purchased last fall at an antiques/junk shop in upstate New York.  It's from a store sign and the inner circles are reflectors.

The second 'O' was a flea market purchase, also from last fall.  It was originally used an outdoor movie theater marquee.  It was red but I decided to paint it with the blue stripes. I'm glad I did.
Finally, the 'F' was another unfinished paper mache letter from Jo-Ann.  I cut some old book pages into strips and decoupaged them onto the letter in a random criss cross pattern.  I used matte Mod Podge to adhere the strips both underneath and on top.  When the glue was dry, I brushed on some watered down green paint and then wiped a bunch of it off.

I'm loving the dimensionality of it and the bit o' whimsy and funkiness it adds to our downstairs hallway.  In fact, the boys do not approve of my 'wall of Woof' moniker. 
They call it 'The Hall of Woof'!
Either way, I'm diggin' it   : - )

{Print sources:  Beagle and Golden Retriever on either end:  John W Golden, 2 dogs: Margin, and Parts of a Typical Pooch:  Sarah Ahearn}

(Makes Me) Happy Friday

Yes, it's back!
After hibernating for a good deal of the winter, today's bright sunshine seems a fitting day to bring back (Makes Me) Happy Friday.
Let's get to it...

• Silicone baking cups from Crate & Barrel.  My pretzel party pal Marianne gave them to me as a housewarming gift way back in February (ok, not that long ago). I used them for the first time this week and wow, how cool!  No rusty muffin pan to deal with and the muffins I made just popped right out.  Applesauce muffins.  Mmmm, those were good.
• My new Mary Kate & Ashley rug from Target.com. It arrived, unexpectedly early, yesterday.  It's going in my office, which shares space with the mud room.  I've yet to actually unwrap or unroll the new rug.  I have to paint 3 more walls in this room.  I'm afraid if I put the rug down before the painting is done, the effect won't be quite right.  That and the fact that it's awfully muddy this time of year (between the dogs and the kids) is holding me back.  My solution?  Try to find the motivation to paint the remaining walls this weekend.  Wish me luck! 

• Listed 3 more Spring flags in my etsy shop this morning.  I'm still working on getting the hang of photographing them to their best advantage.   In the meantime they are quite festive all sitting in a vase in my office      : )

• 

Wishing everyone a wonderful, sunny weekend!

Thank you bird

I shipped out my first order of spring goodies from my etsy shop yesterday.
{Insert jumping up and down, fist pumping, here : )  }
I like to include a little thank you gift with any order and someday I will make a bunch of things all at once, just for this purpose (maybe even today).  In the meantime, I brainstormed for about 3 minutes and whipped up this little chipboard bird for Dawn.
Hope she likes it!