I'm busy... see!

Almost everyday I tell you how busy I am.. But no pictures to back it up. I've been cutting, ironing, sewing, packing, cutting ironing, sewing, packing... it's an ongoing process.
Well today I finished up all the wristlets for the Renegade Craft Fair!! There are so many and all the yummy colors we just asking for a photograph. I lined up a few of my favorites for some eye candy.I have a ton of wallets, a few more Betties, and probably a couple of these is the works... but I've already decided that Renegade is going to ROCK!! I hope that I get to meet some of you there :D

xoxo,
Jennalou

Birthday Whip Up

Tomorrow is the beginning of 'Birthday Season' (the first of my friends from high school turns 20)!!! I wasn't really planning on making anything because it's been a couple years since we all formally exchanged gifts... but I've been in the giving mood so I whipped up the tote. I think it's just her style and hopefully will be perfect for her college class stuff.

I have to say thanks for listening to my little melt down on Friday. It was not a good week and I should have just kept that to myself... but the good news is that I had a wonderful weekend and am coming back this week with a fresh mind, fixed computer, and happy heart!!

xoxo,
Jennalou

Calling it a Week!

I'm done... give up... this week is over and I can't be more happy to call it quits for the week.

I ended up clearing all the data from my computer cause it was on a major fritz.... by doing so I lost all of my programs (excell, adobe photoshop, ect) and I thought I had the back ups around here, but after spending two day frantically searching I turned nothing worth wile up. As those of you who have gone through this know it's quite stress full. All of my records from my sales and expensis for the year will have to be reentered into my computer (a two or three day job) and there is just so much catching up to do. I could probably bicker on about this all day... but I will spare you.

The good news for the week though is that today was the title transfer for the house so we are now officially home owners!! We don't move in till the 4th... but I'll be staying behind until after the Renegade Fair so I can work work work.

I'm signing off for the weekend! Tomorrow is Summerfest in Mankato and I'm going to photograph some of the etsy girls and their booths and then we'll be off to a barbecue!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend... you deserve it!
Jennalou

Etsy Find: Robot Love

oh oh oh... it's another installment of "etsy finds"... YEY!! That means more wonderful things for me from etsy :D

I had been eying these robots up for a LONG time before I finally gave in to my need for robot love, but I couldn't be more in love with my new friend!! If my dog Zoey wasn't so fond of him, he would have a soft place in my bed next to me... but for now he has to stay on the shelf when not giving hugs for fear that Zoey will eat his button eyes.

Every time I look at him I give a little sigh... cause he is so darn cute... and then begin to wonder what's playing behind those headphones. Oldies? Rock? Folk? Jazz? It's hard to tell... but he must be having a great time.

Check out Shuusei's shop for robots in different colors/sizes and even request a custom bot.

I'm still suffering from lack of photoshop.... (aka my computer hates me) so no edited photos :(

Take care all,
Jennalou

Crafts For China Donation

I've been having a really lousy day today. My computer is freaking out on me and I can't open Adobe Photoshop so I can't share any of the pictures of what I've been doing this week with you :(

Luckily I did have a few on "reserve" so until things are fixed I'll still have some pretty things to show you :D

Here is my donation to the crafts for china fund raiser... if you haven't heard about it yet check out this post to get involved! When I saw this amazing flannel at the fabric store I couldn't resist so I paired it with some red micro-fleece to make a soft and warm blanket just perfect for your little snuggle bug.

Take care all... I'm back off to my grumpy little Monday.
xoxo,
Jennalou

Memoirs

I just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I have to say that I was stubborn to pick it up after hearing bad reviews of the movie.... but it just interested me too much and after seeing it for free on this swap site I couldn't resist.

I'm just in love with Golden's style of writing... the constant metaphors were so eloquently placed sometimes I had to stop reading so my imagination could just drift off into the thought.

It's not very often that I'll read a book twice, but I can assure you that this one will be read many times over. I think it may have grabbed the coveted place of my favorite novel. If you've been looking for a good read I can promise you this is it! I think I'll rent the movie one of these nights which I'm sure will sadly disappoint me after reading this amazing book... but I just have to see how they portray it.

** A picture of things to come :D

xoxo,
Jennalou

*** Has anyone out there both read the book and seen the movie?? I'm not sure I want to see the movie if it's going to ruin the book for me :(

New Wallets

I decided that although I should be working on saving everything I make for Renegade.... I wanted to share some of the new goodies with you. So I made up these new wallets and started adding them to the shop, but they will be the last new items until after mid-September :(

I'm squeaking by with a really quick post today... I've been having a slow day and need to get back to work.

Talk to you soon,
Jennalou

Crafting for a Cause

Today I wanted to share with you all a fundraiser that I was asked to be a part of and you can join too! It's called Craft For China! Here is an excerpt from the website:

Craft for China is a fundraiser for orphans in China. Artists, crafters, and other volunteers have donated their time and products to be auctioned on eBay. 100% of the proceeds will go to Love Without Boundaries, a nonprofit organization that helps Chinese orphans get medical, nutritional, foster care and educational help. The money raised will go towards sponsoring a child, or children depending on how much money is raised. After the money has been given we will post any updates we get about the child so you can see how your time and money impacted a child's life.

I actually know a lady who went through Love Without Boundaries when she adopted her son and she told me very good things about them. They are totally non-profit... even the people who go with to help pay their own way.

If you've been looking for a great cause to help out I suggest going to the website to learn more and get crafting.

xoxo,
Jennalou

Sew, Mama, Sew

Check it out yall..... (giggles cause I got to use the word yall)

My Almond Birds Patchwork bag was featured over at the Sew, Mama, Sew blog!!

Cool!! I'm very excited about this :D Oh and *HELLO* to everyone who has wondered over from Sew, Mama, Sew!! Thanks for taking the time to come check out my little slice of blogland.

Well I really must run... I've been working my butt off to restock everything in the shop and I'm about 1/2 done.

Talk to you all soon,
Jennalou

The Quilt

It's done... it's done!! Well actually it's been done for a while now, but I was waiting for the perfect day to photograph it. It took me quite a while to finish, but so many things kept getting in the way... too many orders, too little time. But I couldn't be more happy with the results. It's nice and light and perfect for summery love and will go just perfect with my new love of country cottage interiors. I ended up taking two weeks to work up the nerve to do the binding. It wasn't my first time working with binding, but I've definitely never bound a quilt before so I was super nervous about just how to do it. I finally used this tutorial to learn and I gotta say it was a breeze. I did end up cheating and used my machine to stitch on the back.... at first I was doing it by hand, but I got WAY too impatient so I took it to the machine. I'm not super please about how that came out, but it's just a quilt and will get tons and tons of use, so I'm not too worried. At least I know I CAN do it if I WANT to.

I already have the fabric cut for my next quilt which will be a smaller lap quilt.... and I have all intentions of binding it the proper way this time.

happy crafting,
Jennalou

New is Blue

I was inspired today to switch up my blog a bit. Life can be so much fun with just a bit of color!! If you're reading from bloglines, or google reader, or whatever have you come check it out :D

xoxo,
Jenna Lou

Etsy Find

You know when you find something so good, so yummy, so special you just want to hord it all for yourself? Well... I found my new art infatuation.

I read a great many blogs and one day stumbled into this one. The little pirates were my first love, but when this print was posted I just about rolled over and died it's so adorable!! It's really just a perfect print so I ordered immediately. It showed up in my mail box on Saturday and I couldn't be more in love with this little gem. Jessilynn prints on this really great canvas paper which is new to me... but really stunning. The texture really takes the cake.

I wish I could take a photo of it in it's frame on my wall... but I'm waiting to hang it until we move into the new place :D.... less than a month from now.

xoxo,
Jenna Lou

ps- I think that this new "etsy find" thing will be a new tradition for me... after all I do spend quite a bit of my time and money searching for the best etsy items... so why not share. And it does feel so wonderful to know that my money is going to other dedicated artisans rather than large, meaningless corporations!!

Introduction

I would like to introduce to you all the Betty Bag. You can see more details here and here. She already in the shop.

I'm planning to do a couple more of these to take to Renegade, but in the mean time I'll also be taking custom orders on her so people can have the fabric combination of their choice.

Thanks for looking ;D Sorry for the super short post... I should have more to share with you this weekend!

Happy Friday.
xoxo,
Jenna Lou

Inspired

First I have to say THANKS to everyone who left comments both here and on flickr. I wasn't expecting such a huge response, but it was so much fun to read all the comments!! I'm so glad I was able to inspire others to make something they love!!This week I want to get tons of sewing done and so far I've started off with some new wristlets in the shop. There will be many more to come of these little darlings and like always I'll be accepting custom orders on them so you can have the fabric of your choice. (just send me a convo or email and I'd be happy to set up a listing)

I experimented with a couple of these photos not having pure "edited out" white backgrounds. It's so time consuming for me to edit them all out... but I can't decide if I like it enough to keep it or not. Votes??

I also designed a brand new bag this week and I'm so excited to share her with you... but that'll be later :D (sorry to be such a tease). She called Betty and she is my favorite design to this day.


xoxo,
Jennalou