New Potholders!!!

Check out my new jennyjen birdy bird products for this summer!!! Potholders! A great way to brighten up your kitchen as well as make you smile as you pull out that apple pie out of your oven! Double and single thicknesses. yes, I'm experimenting with price and options here....patchwork backgrounds with a felt applique birdy bird. Machine washable! Come see them at Pile of Craft tomorrow before I put them in my shop!

And so the house goes.....

My House knows I'm going
I'm out
and not in a great way
a short sale
a newer way of not just giving up
not all at once
a hint, pre-sequel of foreclosure

it knows
the roof begins to leak
the oven smokes
the washer stops circulating

the trees begin to look dead around me
the flowers come up everywhere but in their allotted spaces

it is cleaned up and clutter free
we pretend we are a show house
maybe even featured in a magazine
that is what I tell it
as well as the cats

we wait for our audience
but no one has come yet

it is a dead market
and we have a red check by our name

but we will wait
and clean every dish
every morning
shine and polish every surface before we leave in the morning
awaiting our spotlight

Two More Wall HAngings!!

Two more....and to mark off February..I'm going to be listing these in my shop later today! So stay tuned!

Nothing like a SNow DAy in the SweatSHop

YEAh!!!! A day off to shovel some snow and get caught up on some household chores and a little work in the sweatshop. I'm really liking these wall hangings. Here is one more. Now I'm off to get myself snowed in (for round two) with my English lad and a bottle of Sofia Coppola ! Here's the latest of my wall hangings.

Water Tower Wall Hanging

Wall Hanging #2.....

Wall Hangings....what's new in the sweatshop!

I have really enjoyed this sketchbook project and getting myself to draw more. Everyday, if I can. And I have really enjoyed drawing with my sewing machine. So.....new this year...wall hangings....where I can concentrate on the drawing aspect and not have to get all stressed out over the construction of the hand bag or the pillow. My first one is here.....Crow Season.

it gets put in the mail tomorrow!

I'm done!!!1 All whatever pages of my sketchbook ...sent to Brooklyn. I'm thinking this was a great way to get my artistic guns going! So Glad I did it. Will do it again!!! Here are some more shots....from jackets, blankets and sheets!

The Sketchbook project

Some times we really need a creative push. The challenge of making new work that grows and shows progress as you create your line becomes a creative endeavor every year. As an art student, I had a love hate relationship with the assignments given to me by my various art professors. The hate occurred when I couldn't come up with a creative, enjoyable solution to the problem at hand. The love was accomplishing and completing the task as well as finding the many creative and artistic solutions. I decided I needed some sort of assignment to work on, to get my creative juices flowing. I found this incredible project called the Sketchbook Project. Created by the Art House Co-op out of Brooklyn New York. The Sketchbook project is open to anyone willing to take on the task and willing to pay a meager $20. The task is to fill up a moleskin sketchbook that follows a particular theme. The themes are all very creative. Some a bit challenging. I decided to let the computer pick my theme for me (you can pick a theme from the list, or have the computer gods select one for you). My theme is Jackets, blankets and sheets. I am down to my last week before I send it off. It then goes on a tour across the nation and gets catalogued and a permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library. Check out their site here for more info, other art house co-op projects as well as many of the sketchbook entries! Images are from BEST members : Tricia Lane's sketchbook Science Projects Gone Wrong , Jennifer McBrien's sketchbook: Jackets, Blankets and Sheets and Megan Van Wagoner's sketchbook : "...you'd be home by now"

Migration Installation

saw this at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh and fell in love

Are you a fan????

Are you a fan of my jennyjen42 fan page on facebook? I started to list discount codes for 15% off on my fan page, for any product in my shop . I'll be listing new items as soon as my battery charges up on my camera. New listing as I can wing it, all week! Toaster covers and backpacks included!

Coming up next...Holiday Heap!!!!

Boy oh Boy was Bazzart a HUGE success for me! Best holiday show yet for jennyjen history! So I'm sorry I haven't posted but the sweatshop is a mad house! Still haven;t gotten Lucy-fur to use those claws for good instead of horrid clawing....but anyway...if you missed it...I sold out of toaster covers in the first two hours...so I now have more! Working on more pillows and tea cozies too! ANd if you miss holiday heap the next day is MErry mArt!!!! and then..Im done. the shop will be reloaded with special deals.....so herer the details for Holiday HEap here.

In Memory of Sitting at the Kiddie Table!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!1 I had to post this pic of my siblings, cousins and I at our Grandparents house...way back when. In memory of sitting at the kiddie table! Thanks for all the good laughs and times!

Hmmm....keeping that coffee hot...the birdy bird way!

OK...so what else can I make a cozy for..I'm going cozy crazy! But we all know if you don't drink your French Press coffee fast enough...IT'S GOING TO GET COLD!!! So here perhaps is a very cute and simple solution! These french press cozies fit the IKEA french press perfectly (you can get one for a perfect gift for only $9.99 at your nearest IKEA. These cozies are secure around your french press through the genius of elastic and two buttons. Should fit on any french press around! They will be for sale first at Bazzart, that will be this Friday night (preview party) and then all day Saturday...details here. Again, if you have to have one now before the show, cant make it to the show and can't wait for me to list it in my shop...email me!

The Owlies are Back!!!

Back this year for the Holidays...Owlie ornaments!!! I will be posting items in my shop after my three big holiday shows. I love the group shot..reminds me of the space toys in the claw game from toy story! If you wish to purchase before Dec. 5th. email me! jennyjen42@gmail.com.

New Birdy Bird Wallets

Another new product for this holiday season! No change wallets. Perfect for your cash and creadit cards!! Thin and small enough to carry in your pant pockets!

This isn't your grandma's toaster cover...more newness comin' up

Remember those days when every appliance in the kitchen had a matching cover? Grandma did...maybe even yo mamma does. So, here I go down memory lane again and created a new toaster cover design. Here's my first one. More to come and will be on sale for the holiday shows mentioned in the last post. Perhaps the kitchen aid mixer cover will be next!

New in the Sweatshop!!!

Backpacks!!!!!I heard your requests and I think I found a great solution for the needed backpack. Perfect for your short trips!!! Even more perfect for your half pints to grow into! Made of heavy duty canvas, cotton straps and felt applique birdy bird scenes! They will be sold at my holiday shows that include Bazzart (at AVAM,November 26 and 27), Holiday Heap , (Dec. 4,at St. Johns Church) and at the Merry Mart(Dec. 5, At Creative Alliance).

OMG...I am still alive and kicking ...promise!

OMG its November and I haven't posted anything in the last two months!!!!! Just a huge sign that this school year has completely taken over my life! Yeah, this really needs to get a grip on what it is that I do and am! New Principal in town and a course I haven't taught for a while, and huge class sizes are really starting to get to me! I promise I am making in my sweatshop, just don't have the time or energy to post anything about it. I will make a promise right now, to make this change in the immediate future! Especially since I just found out what a huge impact I have on the economic status of our fair city. Check out this video from Baltimore ignite...you may see a familiar group in her pics. OK...I promise to post new product pics and this holiday show schedule as it currently stands!