swallowfield

silk dress

i made a pattern yesterday that gave me almost a muscle-memory of clinging to my grandmother's leg as a small child. it reminds me of a silk shirtwaist dress she used to wear with some navy blue high heels - at the pool - when she's visit us in the summer. she wore ::a lot:: of chanel number 5 + long false eyelashes, and had an excellently wacky sense of style that endlessly wowed my sister and me.

i printed it ot in different sizes and am really pleased with how it came together. i am dreaming of framed panels of it or maybe using it as the backround in another jewelry shadowbox.

i had another super-talented friend open an etsy shop this week: check out bobbin studio!!  i have one of her wool circle table runners and i love it so much - i'd love an installation of a whole wall of her circles in my living room. 

happy friday everyone.

rain

sometimes i feel a bit like this little house. how about you?
today i wish it was warm enough to actually have some rain. instead we got more snow...on top of the other snow, and the snow before that. aye.  it makes me cranky.

my little sister started an etsy shop. i am lucky enough to own several pieces of her jewelry + it's lovely.

everyone's doing it - my pal diane from the awesome ferdinand home store just started an etsy shop too. check it out!

 

also, have you seen lines and shapes yet?

not quite what i was planning

i really love the idea of this book: not quite what i was planning - and i love the cover art, too. isn't it great?

i gave it a quick try and here's what i came up with:

_________________

got bogged down in the details.

saw patterns everywhere. loved them all.

seven and eight: my sweet loves.

sea, mountains, sky. always feel home.

__________________

would love some six word comments! :) i feel a new addiction developing.

dreams of spring

this happy little springy collage just landed in my etsy shop. it's been awhile since i made an original just for etsy , but i was in the mood to make some more of these flowers, which are super fun to put together. it's a new size for me, and it was too big for my scanner + difficult to photograph, but i think you can get the idea. it's 4.5x14" on panel.
this morning at the gym meg and i were watching jon stewart on larry king and i was almost crying because he is so freaking funny. it almost made me lament not having cable. i realized it had been a long, long time since i had laughed that hard -  laughing good for what ails a gal. i need to do more of it.   i conked out putting my girl to bed so i slept through the oscars +  missed seeing jon there, but perhaps i will troll around you tube looking for the good bits later. were there good bits?  {{edited to add: stacey + meg both recommended watching this, which is so great, and then their acceptance speech. i love what she says at the end. thanks!!}}

have a nice monday. it is sunny here. i like the sun.

hanging around

i think i sort of disappeared this week - sorry about that. the kids have had school vacation and there were a lot of boggle games that needed to be played inside a giant blanket fort with flashlights. they both dared me to see how long i could go without checking the internet, and we were all pleased with the outcome of that bet. it was nice to have a simple, old fashioned vacation  - lots of reading + swimming + baking projects + wearing pajamas long into the day.  we saw the spiderwick chronicles and all loved it - not recommended if your kids do not like fairly scary stuff, but my kids are thrillseeker-ish so i don't think it phased them too much.
i've been working on some little patterny things over the past day too, and that has been fun. i love teaching myself new tricks on the computer + am eager to learn so much more.
i hope you have a terrific sunday, wherever you are.

quick + easy

in my busy little head i have declared that 2008 will be the year i get organized... which means i will need to involve some sort of system for organizing all of the magazines i've saved because they have articles about organizational systems. ahem.

along those lines there was a cool article in blueprint (sniff, i'll miss you) recently about organizing your jewelry into box frames (i also love the branch** idea, but for a variety of reasons consider it impractical in my own home.) grace at design*sponge made them look respectably easy + lovely to create in one sitting, which suited me fine because i am impatient. (and like grace, i didn't bother painting the frame.)
so one ikea 9x9" shadowbox frame + one piece of excellent vintage shelf paper given to me by meg + ten tiny cup hooks later, i made this:

it is cute and was satisfyingly low-tech and easy. i need a few more to organize all of my jewelry, but this is a start.

{{and once i organize all of those magazines, i'm sure i'll remember all of those other nifty ideas about organizing things, so all of the piles of crap in my house stop spilling everytime someone runs by with a cape on, brandishing a branch handmade weapon. **see above.}}

pattern town

just a drawing today, because i am feeling quiet. see you again soon.

february will be over soon

the rest of valentines day was pretty good yesterday. my girl particpated in a jumprope-athon after school - if you've ever been in a small gym with 75 sweaty, amped-up-on-sugar-because-it's-valentines-day elementary schoolers jumping rope while loud music plays for an hour and a half,  i feel sorry for you. i had to leave for a bit because i was so overwhelmed, but i don't think she noticed - she was too busy loving every minute of it and singing YMCA with her pals. 

i made a station on pandora called i hate february - if you like quiet, sort of depressing but beautiful music, you might like it too.  i go through phases of falling in and out of love with pandora because sometimes i think it starts to play music just to piss me off or see if i'm still listening, but right now i am on an upswing with it since i am pretty much sick of my own music.  if you have a station to share, please leave it in the comments; i'd love that.

here are some recent flickr favorites: i notice more orange than i'd have thought, but i'm digging it.

you can go here to see artist credits.

have a great weekend.

i love you!

happy valentines day, bloggy friends! i am appreciative + grateful that you come here and visit me. thank you.

this is my favorite valentine so far today. it's perfect, don't you think?

these cards were funny + fun to make + extremely heartfelt. my little mr. heart-on-his-sleeve, i suspect you will have a tortured adolescence.

the kids and i downloaded and made these little treat boxes yesterday. fun. (via how about orange.)

i usually hate e-cards, but there are great ones at kate spade and i loved sending them to my kids. via lena corwin, who created one of my favorite cards there.

i am in love with these valentine postcards and this lovely photo.

smootches + hugs and big frilly red hearts to all of you, if that's your bag. if not, disregard + carry on.
love, jen

gocco, gocco everywhere

good morning!  in case you were wondering, we are having a snow day. i think the kids will be in school until july at this rate, but they're happy to be home today.

if you're visiting here for the first time because you came over from house on hill road, a big welcome + hello to you! :)

i got a new tool for my gocco recently and tried it out for the first time yesterday - a stamper. this allows a lot more flexibility in printing on fabric or larger surfaces, and now i am busily dreaming of  making small bits of wallpaper and wrapping paper.

i used the stamper to print on paper and fabric - it was my first time printing on fabric and i had mixed, interesting (and at times frustrating) results. i quickly discovered that fabric soaks up a lot more ink, so i kept remixing and reloading the screen as i went. it created an uneven print, which i liked for the sort of antiqued, worn look.  fun.