My New Home Holiday Style

I moved into Hamden in mid October and I am very happy to say that my house on Argonne Drive now has a contract and will hopefully ride on into a new happy situation. I have found this beautiful little row home on Hickory Ave. that I am renting for a nice little monthly fee. I have these gracious dreams of living this sweet little life, making my sweet little birdie bird products, living off of my makings and painting again, in another studio space one day. Yes, this is my retirement plan. On February 15, the county will mark as being employed by them for 25 years!!! AKA, I am hoping to retire in 5 more years. So the game plans is establishing my jennyjen birdie bird business and live a happy little life making people around happy when they see my fluttering, smart-alic birds. Any who, I am downsizing and learning to live as cheap as I can without sacrificing too much. And who knows, maybe this while scheme could work and I could even live a decent life doing what I want. I love teaching, but it really is beginning to wear on my creative soul.  But back to what I want to show you. I love this new sweet house My landlord has made this place a wonderful home with great aesthetic decisions and I have made a few changes in paint and added my decor and furnishing. Here is a quick peak of the living room with my fake Xmas tree! I believe you should either be real, or be really fake! I love my tree in this space. The space is small and thank god my mom has given me her organization of furniture skills so I could figure this out. 

Donna Wilson's Lovely Knitable Furnishings

Saw Donna Wilson's work as part of a poppytalk post form the NYC gift show. Very much loving this pillows! Check out more of her work here.

Kitties show off Beautiful Decor

Taking a little breather from the sweatshop to find inspiration ( or really just giving in to my short attention span today) and I found this great post on design sponge in her sneak peeks called best of cats. I love how these photos work so well with showing off the cats environment. Here are some of my favorites. Check out the whole post here.

Schoolhouse Electric Co. lighting up my Vintage!

I went to get my hairs done the other day and happened to fall a pond an interior design magazine and noticed these great retro lighting fixtures in one of the pics. I wrote down the resource, Schoolhouse Electric Company, and looked up the web page. I have always had this fascination with retro style lighting fixtures especially from the 40's tot he 50's. These remind me of the old fixtures from our school before they dismantled them and put up those horrible fluoresce lights. The story is great...read all about here...here are some of my favorite designs. Now to save up for that new kitchen light!

These are a few of my Favorite Things

I've been doing some cleaning and sprucing up of the place. Getting it summer proof with two new chairs and tins of herbs planted on the front porch. Looking for items that remind me of the good days of summer. Looking on the front page of etsy and I discovered this great refurbished Retro Toastmaster Yellow Electric fan that can be found in Fishbone Decor . I found some more favorites I wanted to share!!! Looking the aesthetic of the 60's so much!

before and after school renovations from design sponge

A good friend of mine is in the process of buying a house with not a lot of money. Got me searching and being amazing of how many houses are for sale in the B-more area under $100,000. Course you can also imagine the state that they are in. So in search of before and after renovations, I have to applaud angela tullier and her husband adam in their very hip renovation of a home that hadn't been changed since 1958, except for the vacancy prior to their purchase of four years. Check out the entire post here on design sponge...I'm really loving the colors of the bathroom as well as that kitchen!

Hmmmm....mural in the house time?

Now that I have my house all to myself and have been turning painting ideas into installations....I stare at my blank walls of color all over my house trying to imagine the perfect line drawing, painting, text for each. Saw this on Apartment Therapy this morning and had to post it to remind myself that I can so this. Great house...good article on James Nestor's home ...read here.

Art Star Coming Very Soon!

So sorry about lack of posts. This is the hectic time of HSA, AP's and other no child left behind horro stories of school tests and nonsense routines. These weeks really drag me down and then I have to find hidden energies for making! This weekend coming up is artstar in Philly. My first tie and I am SO EXCITED! I've been crazy making more pleasted birdy bags, pillows and small pouches and clutches. If you're in the Philly area, please stop by. Do some early shopping here for the Artstar vendor lists. Here are some of my favorites:

SaraSmedley's line of butcher’s aprons are inspired, in part, by aprons worn by her grandfather when he cooked.


Alison Tauber, a graduate of the textile & surface design program of the F I T in New York Citystarted her own line of screen printed clothing and housewares in the spring of 2008. With her eponymous line Alison strives to create art that is beautiful, comfortable and usable.


Spread the love is meant to do exactly that – spread the love – one little doodle at a time.These doodles definitely take me back to one of favorite design styles of 60's saturday cartoons and kids decor!

GetReadySetGo

UPCYCLED Cherry Red VINTAGE Train Case with HAND DRAWN Black ZWZZY scissorhands man in my dreams

GetREADYsetGO....is my discovery etsy shop of the day. ...is luggage for the unique & the geek! Making vintage luggage hot! Looking for a cool to travel or to have some new luggage for some mad props around the house. I'm really diggin the Amelia Earhart Red case!Here's hoping for a good tax return for making new travel plans!

UPCYCLED Dark Brown VINTAGE Carry On Messenger Bag with White Tree

UPCYCLED Green Small VINTAGE Suitcase with Black Forest of Trees Leaves Vines and skeleton key

UPCYCLED Aqua Blue VINTAGE Suitcase Set with Black Bird Crow Forest of Trees and Skeleton Key

Darling Clementine..getting closer to my bib!

I have posted this picture, way back, of my cousin cathi and I at Christmas, I believe under my Aunt Anna's Xmas tree, and I am obsessed with the bib that I have on. When I think about happy times, and I had many happy times as a kid, I think of an aesthetic of products that (we're talking mid to late 60's, early 70's) completely represent that happiness to me.

IN my browsing of sites this evening, I found a shop, darling Clementine that comes very close to this aesthetic that I have learned to love since being a kid. I love these canvas bags as well as the camping card set. The card set Marionette comes closest to the lion on my bib and the monkey's on the box next to me. I still haven't figured out what that is. Anyone know, please let me know.
Out of Oslo, Ingrid Reithaug & Tonje Holand are the illustrators and designers of these wonderful products that bring a fun sense of spirit and nostalgia to the table. Visit their etsy shop here and their web site here.

Updated SHop!

Come Shop ! Come visit my newly updated shop with new items and a spruced up holiday banner! Shop from the comfort of your own home! Local and don't want to pay for shipping! Order on line and convo me that you want to pick up your purchase at Double Dutch this Sunday and I'll refund your shipping costs. Guaranteed 2-3 day shipping for those of you who are late shoppers! So, come check it out. 2 more days for donations to the Maryland's Food Bank! 10% of your order will be donated!