The New Sweat Shop is done!!!!!

Pictures tell all....just need to get that stupid TV out of there and we're done!

1986 reflection of paint

One major change that I need to make this year, is that I HAVE TO GET MY PAINTING STUDIO UP AND GOING BECAUSE I NEED TO PAINT!!!!!!! Sorry to yell....its been too long. Way too long and there is so much deep down in my soul that needs to get out...and sorry folks, sewing and making birdie birds is fine for my happy go lucky side, but I got shit to get out! So tonight I begin my journey back to where painting really started for me. 1986. My first year out of college. I lived home for a short spell ( I had lived all over in B-more during college, but the money ran out and I was jobless. I moved to Howard County to the parental unit where I then found myself working at Kemp Mill Records and driving every night to the corner of Eutaw and Mulberry or Franklin every night). I got a job in town and moved back to mob town.....27th and Howard with Strazz and Sheri. My first night I had to work and Strazz painted my room for me. I had picked out some horrible rose color and a light pink for the ceiling...and he did it while I was at work!! That was one of the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me...I miss you Strazz so much!!! Sorry I'm getting off subject. Just trying to set the mood. In my bright rose color room, I set up my painting studio as well as my bedroom. I created these ankh characters. They were made of cheesecloth, butchers paper and oil paint. They protected us on 27th street. They became my army and my muse. They became family. Strazz had them tattooed on his wrist. Gray March used them as their album cover and they marched me into my first show down at Jules Loft with my cousin Cathi. Here are some of my works from that year. I have thought about these figures numerous times and very much this past year. I guess we will see if they march back into my work when I start again this year.

Christmas has FInally arrived!!!!

My present to myself has finally arrived! The Crosley CR249 BK Keepsake USB Turntable in black ! It looks just like our older record players and sounds pretty good. I don't have a stereo anymore so I needed something that was portable and had its own speaker. I'm blasting it now from downstairs as I work in both sweatshop and office! (Big surprises coming once my huge project is complete!) SO out comes the albums and my Dad's old Dave Brubeck albums get played first of course and now its the Smiths! I forgot what I had. What a great present!!!!

The Blue Moon takes out 2009

So I find it so fitting that we have a blue moon on this last day of 2009. I am so ready for this year to be done! And I mean just done. I think I have felt every extreme of every emotion this year. Good news….that means I’m alive! Bad news…I fear that the sad emotion found more room for me than the up and happy one. I started out 2009 thinking life was so grand. I had this happy marriage, I thought, in this awesome house, in a good job, with a great second business starting to really happen…..and then the husband leaves. I think crap there goes the house and the happiness I thought I had. I cried for a bit and then I had to say FUCK this and got myself in gear. I am so lucky! I have great friends and an amazing family that held me up, help me regain my needed strength to endure this world alone. My jennyjen business did the best ever! And that means a lot in this recession. I made enough to pay my taxes this year and buy myself a $100 turntable that will arrive one of these days so I can listen to my poor albums that have been stored in the coat closet since moving here. I have reestablished old friendships and found a good haircut and have found a new family in my crafty BEST crew. And this morning, I got the best call ever…..if Obama was here I’d kiss him all over..I was granted mortgage modification from freaking Citibank!!!! Cut my interest in half and make my payments include taxes and home insurance, which I had to pay out of hand before. I can’t believe it! Perhaps it’s from that one visit to church on Christmas Eve? Course my happy day has to gets all screwed up with the miscommunications and a horrible text break up with my new mate….perhaps I really fucked it up. But a relationship via text messaging is really not the way to go. And maybe I’m really not ready for a relationship after being dumped in May after thinking my life was happy and settled. Many a heartbreaks have happened this year. Many, and my heart goes out there for your guys who aren’t in the right place at the right time. I’m there with you. So I think it fitting that I spend my new years eve alone…or with Chuck and Lucy my two reliable cats! I find it fitting and even a bit in relief that I get to spend as much time in the tub, listen to as much Sonic Youth, Cat Power and PJ Harvey that I want, drink as much wine and watch what I want tonight. But best of all…gives me that needed time to reflect an attempt to figure out this life and what it means. Here are my new years resolutions: be a better sister, daughter, Aunt, friend and teacher, get a library card and read more, stop watching so much freaking TV, get a hold of my attention span, reflect and get yourself to a healthy mental place so I can be a better mate one day, go back to yoga and ride my bike! I want to be a better person so that I can truly give to this world and contribute more than take. I have been granted this beautiful life to make the most of it. I love you all. Here’s looking at 2010 with an open heart and a positive outlook!

Taking a little Vacation

Hi Blog Readers

Just wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone and to let you know I'm taking a bit of a vacation from posting until 2010....unless I get hugely inspired. I'm planning on making some big transitions in the home and changing rooms again for my sweatshop and I have to begin the dreaded tax ordeal with adding up my expenses and sales ....I really want to start this new decade with a clear and positive head! Gonna try to get a roommate so I can stay in my home without killing my budget. Start my yoga routine up again and spend quality time with friends and family. I love my BEST buddy Juliet's motto for 2010 "zen for 2010!" 2009 had way too many downs with not enough ups, so this needs to change. I'm happy to report the best up of 2009 was that jennyjen42 ended her holiday season a bit more profitable than last year! Thanks so much my Baltimore customers for all of your love and support! And I just bought myself a new Crosby turntable so that I could start out my new decade listening to my albums that have been collecting dust for the past decade. I really liked the Urban Outfitter exclusive version but went for the cheaper black version that I found on amazon for $125 and free shipping! I'll keep you updated once I get it. So happy happy! and best wished for the new year!

Squidfire THis Saturday!

Yes, there's another chance to shop handmade for the holidays in the Baltimore area. The Squidfire Art Mart moves from its original location at the Lyric Theater to a larger arena, the DuBurns Arena on Boston Street in Canton.This event is this Saturday, December 12 from 11 - 6. This new space not only has parking but guarantees more vendors that get to have a 10 ' X 10' space! Look for more mini- boutiques instead of just table top stores! Members from BEST that will be participating in this show include greenstarstudio, dandelion blu, thebrokenplate, sugar paperie, sweetpepita, jennyjen42, Yummy & Company, worndress, jenmenkhaus, Lana Bella, JerseyGirlDesign, CEK Custom Designs, & Tlane.

All Organic Striped Scarf by Sweet Pepita

wavio the Knitimal by greenstarstudio

mini flower brooches by jenmenkhaus

Blue Bird Broken Plate Ring by The Broken Plate

Say Cheese :)

Ready for purchase this weekend! Fresh iron on patches and owl ornaments ready for the taking!

Bazzart Booth

I really like having a 10 foot square space at shows. I had the chance to bring in the tent and put up my walls and make my own little boutique. Can't wait to do the same for Squidfire on the 12th. This weekend is just a table top and some space in front.

Holiday Heap this Saturday!!

Made it through Bazaart! Thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth! I had a great time this weekend and made lots of sales! Now onto Holiday HEap! I think this is one of my most favorite shows to be in! The audience is wonderful! All smiles and happy-go-lucky shoppers! How could you beat that for a day! I'm busy stocking uo my iron on patches and narrative pillows for this week. Will try to post picts this week ! In the meantime, lok though the vendor list and mark your favorites on your shopping list!

What I Want for Christmas

Dear Santa,
It's been a pretty rough year. Yet a very busy and productive year. I've been noticing one major item missing from my daily routine in my sweatshop. How perfect could life be with this beautiful turntable sold at Urban Outfitters! My records have been yelling my name since 2002! They need to be played and I need to hear them. So please, Santa, give me this one wish and I'll forgive you for all the sucky gifts of the past.

My Sweatshop Inspirations

Spent the entire weekend working in my shop with an exception for 3 hours of yard work on Sunday due to the absolutely beautiful sunny mild weather.I wanted to post a pic of my two biggest inspirations...my lucy sitting by the photo of my grandmother who I dedicate my entire jennyjen business to! I love this photo of her working in her garden with her dress and apron on.Such a hard worker and beautiful woman.....I am looking so forward to this holiday craft season which starts this weekend! Please visit the cut the craft facebook page to see all of the vendors. Looks like its gonna be a good one and jennyjen scored a front booth close tot he front door! I get to spend another Philly outing next to zooguu. Another Jen I should mention . We were neighbors at the Philly Squidfire show last month. I'm looking forward to spending more time with these guys! Speaking of Squidfire..look what these guys came up with for advertising for their show this year! How awesome! Looking forward to playing a little indoor soccer while selling some wares at the DuBurns Center in Canton.

Bazzart

Make your plans today if you are in the Baltimore area during Thanksgiving weekend! At the American Visionary Museum for an evening and one day event. You can Beat the crowds and come that Friday night for an opportunity to get the first shot at the original creations by 50 regional artists and craftspeople prior to the Saturday Bazaart extravaganza. Spend a relaxing evening strolling among Bazaart artisans and their wares while nibbling light fare and enjoying a special beverage. Location: American Visionary Art Museum, Jim Rouse Visionary Center, 3rd Floor. Admission to Preview Party & Sale: $20 at the door.

Saturday • November 28 • 10AM-5PM • FREE ENTRY: BAZAART: Artful Holiday Shopping
American Visionary Art Museum's Annual Holiday Marketplace of original creations by 50 regional artists and craftspeople. Painting, sculpture, paper crafts, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, mixed media, and other work that simply defies categorization! FREE ENTRY. Location: American Visionary Art Museum, Jim Rouse Visionary Center 3rd Floor. Note: Bazaart shoppers are welcome to tour the entire Jim Rouse Visionary Center for Free! Ongoing exhibitions include the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre automata, Baltimore Screen Painters, Emily Duffy's Bra Ball and more.

Jennyjen will be there along with some of her BEST buddies : greenstarstudio & tigerlillyshop

get ready set go

My schedule has been a crazy one. All I can think about is four weekends in a row of holiday shows! And the first two are two day shows each! So I'm busy making and making and making and actually coming up with new designs on the way. I get bored pretty easy (that high school attention span condition). So I'm sorry I'm not posting as much as I should...but here are some new bags that will be making their way to Philly next weekend!

today's memory: Ultravox

Memory of the day...been checking out on the way back machine lately and finding more memories. Today's goes well with the polyrock video. I remember watching this video for the first ime at The Marble bar during one of there video viewing nights.

More Birds on the Wire pillows

All a part of my urban bird pillows series. I've been drawing with my sewing machine! I'm really liking the newer telephone pole designs. Transmitters, wires and all!

Tea Cozies! New frmo JJ42

I love making tea in my little green tea pot. It makes my day when I'm not in a good mood and it delights my sore throat when its begins to get scratchy. Problem is the tea gets cold before I can finished off the entire pot. Problem solved..tea cozies. I made one for me and had such a great time I had to make more. I love the prospects of the birdies with the tea pot and tea cup and had a great time making the tea bag. Looks like a great holiday present for that tea lover we all know!

Finished my Holiday Card for '09

After much thought and design options, here is what I came up with for this year's holiday card design. The photo was taken last winter by Patrick for our BEST etsy feature. The back simply has my craft show season's calendar. Email me if you would like to receive one through snail mail with your name and address.

Monday tunes

remember Trees Lounge? when was this? I use to have the soundtrack and this was my favorite song from it...and you can't get it on itunes....so here it is...happy monday

and now for something a bit more interesting....

Lawrence Welk Meets Velvet Underground

Found Mixed Tape

This weekend has been very productive in terms of me making my space...my space. I made the living room brighter by hanging some Japanese lantern lights that I had from my previous loft living, took off the dark curtain from the front door to let in the southern light, hanged Elsy in the space that opened up by the book case that left this week, put my space light in the dinning room for more light and hanged my kitschy onion and corn hangers in the kitchen..and then today's project...finding more storage space for my sweatshop. Voila...shelving from the basement became cleaned and back board painted and more space for fabric and materials....as well, the organization job from hell....finding the cases for the Cd's so that I could give someone his music back. This seems to be a very traditional and important part of the divorce....never leave your music behind. In organizing the shelving system in the basement to bring one up to the sweatshop, I discovered the crate, box and bag of CD cases. Some had some Cd's I completely forgot about. Most were empty, but some were luckily not. I found this great CD that I made for Patrick when we were first wooing each other. I called it my dark one and I made this awesome case cover. I found it to hit the mood for me by the end of the day. My favorite song, (one which Patrick didn't really appreciate)was one that Milly and I would love to listen to in the dark on those dark days: Velvet Underground's "The Gift". I think it so appropriate for the Baltimore humor.
Here's the song list I wanted to share..I think its a great studio mixed tape:
Jane's Addiction : I Would for You
My Time
Velvet Underground: The Gift
Lady Godiva's Operation
Husker Du : Diane
Minor Threat: Salad Days
Good Guys (Don't Always Wear White)
Stumped
Cashing In
Massive Attack : Karma Coma
Three
Bauhaus: Bella Lugosi's Dead
Sonic Youth: Tunic
Bauhaus: Waiting for the Man
Nico: I'll Keep Mine
Fugazi: Long Division