The Color Of..

Via the Swiss Miss blog, I found this fantastic site: The Color Of... type in anything that takes your fancy and it generates a beautifully minimal artistic palette of "the color of" it.

I love how this challenges our preconceptions about color. I typed in some words expecting it to generate particular colors but the results were not always what I expected. Go over and check this site out, it is just FUN!

Here are a few of my Color Palettes:

Sparkles

What is it about glitter that just makes everything look so pretty? You just have to love sparkles, they are always festive! Found In The Art Cupboard....

The Adventure Begins

Please join Goose Girl & Foxy in celebrating the opening of their new blog space. The adventure begins today....

(You will find a blog button located on the sidebar to direct you there, or click on the image above!)

Danny Brito

Danny Brito is an artist I discovered ages ago, through Danielle Thompson's blog. He is someone whose work I have come to appreciate it. Especially his curly whirly whipped ice-cream beehived hairdo clad women!

This is a little video he made on making a handmade book and I liked his process, so I thought I would share it with you, I can't wait to try making one of my own on my little dollhouse sized machine! Enjoy:


Mini-book from danny brito on Vimeo.

(All images and video copyright Danny Brito)

Inspiration Daily

Creature Comforts is a blog I look forward to reading daily! Some of my favourite posts are her "Inspiration Daily" images and they really do always seem to inspire me! I hope they inspire you too!

Gigi & Foxy

COMING SOON....

Groundhog Day

Yesterday was just like Groundhog Day the movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, Bill Murray stars as a news reporter sent to cover the events of Groundhog Day and watch with everyone else if the groundhog sees his shadow or not. Through a series of events he keeps living the same day over and over and over again as he is given the chance to figure out what he really wants and make that day and his life "right".

With all the problems blogger has had over the past 48 hours, it has felt like Groundhog Day. I have had things that I have read in Google Reader that I looked at on Wednesday, that suddenly disappeared, only to show up again late last night, in twos or threes.  I seem to be seeing the same things over and over again. I myself, have had posts disappear and then reappear, but the comments have vanished and for that I am sorry.

The lovely Miss Holly left a comment on my Thursday post, which suddenly reappeared again, but will not let me repost her comment. All of you are always so kind to write to me, so I am posting her comment here:

Yea! I love #11!!!! I love being nice to people.....it gives me great pleasure...

Thank you as always for your comments. Since, I am not sure that this will even work today, I will not write more, I am going out to enjoy the sunshine with Mr. Michie and run a few errands!

I hope all of you have a lovely weekend! ❤ Jennifer

2 Year Blogaversary

I'm growing up! I have now been blogging for two whole years today! I never thought that when I wrote my very first post, that I would meet such kind, artistic, generous women (and men) who follow me, read me and support me.

I truly appreciate all of you and I want to personally Thank You for taking the time to read me and to write me. I look forward to this next blogging year to come and I hope you continue to stay with me, I have so much more to say and do and see...

Here is just a sampler of some of my favorite posts over this past blogging year:

Summertime in the South
Mile High Banana Cream Pie
My Fox
A Tuesday Date
Pumpkin Hunting
Goose Girl & Foxy
Goose Girl & Foxy's London Day Out
The Force is Strong

(Image created by J. Michie)

Eggstraordinary

A small Easter Round-Up, as we move closer and closer to the Easter Bunny coming. Here are 3 "eggstraordinary" ideas from 3  places I like to visit! Enjoy!

1) Abby Try Again, has created a carton of confetti filled eggs to brighten up any Easter party:

2)The gang at PoppyTalk have constructed painted eggs with a hidden message inside:

3)Molly at The Purl Bee has designed 3 different Spring time coloured bags, to hold all the eggs and surprises you find at the Easter Egg Hunt:

(All images are copyrighted to their respective Blog, Easter banner created by J. Michie)

Thank You

Thank you all for your lovely comments and warm wishes to me over Christmas and the New Year.

I hope that you all enjoyed the holidays and created many happy memories to treasure in years to come! Your comments mean the world to me!

Warm wishes for a very happy New Year!

Are You Watching?

Have you been over to In the Art Cupboard lately? I have just finished my first month of posting all the Art Cupboard treasures I am finding and there is so much more to come, so please tune in...

Come on over and visit me at my 365 Day Blog!

Oh My Word!

Last week, in all the craziness that it was and became, in the five minutes peace I had, I went to a blog I love, Oh My Word, by the very wonderful and kind Evelyn. We talk to each other on Twitter and she has the hootiest husband, who along side his brother has turned an old ambulance into a Ohio State University tailgating machine, which I just love.

In all that was happening last week between work and home, I went to read this very lovely blog and Oh My Word, you will never guess what happened? I looked over to her "fabulousness" column and there amongst other women I admire, sat my little button.

I could not believe it! Surrounded by other great bloggers, Jenny Wren's was there in the "fabulousness" column, well Evelyn, I thank you; you more than made my day, you made my week and I think you are pretty fabulousness too!

If you don't already read Oh My Word, please make sure you take a look, take my word, it is a blog worth reading!

Come In...

Knock, Knock, Knock! Come in, the Cupboard door is now OPEN!

The Art of Simplicity

I have gone through so many changes with my new blog, In the Art Cupboard. I had so many different ideas of how I wanted it to look. It would be cleaner, simpler, not all the girly flowery things that exist here on Jenny Wren's.

I mocked-up a "board", trying a background that looked like a cork board with my designs pinned on it and lived with that for awhile, although something about it never felt right. I tried a stretched canvas background, a solid color in a variety of hues. Like Goldilocks, I just new they were not the right fit.

And, then it hit me! I was trying too hard, too hard to make it look like something it wasn't, this is a blog about simplicity, about finding one thing a day you want to photograph and putting it up for the world to see and so, the site itself, should be just that. I lost my way for a little bit, but I found it again, simplicity is key.

Into The Cupboard

I ventured into the cupboard yesterday and began to get the lay of the land. I wanted to straighten some things up, clean some things out and just get a general idea of where everything is supposed to be!

In the process I brought along my camera with me to start to get a feel for how I want to shoot things: in a collage, by item, a mixture of the two? Do they look best on my work table? My desk? With a fabric background?

So, I played around a little, grabbed a few things and started to shoot. I had so much fun, cleaning and discovering some of the items in there, like an original box of violin strings from what looks like the 50's or 60's, there is a handwritten note on the side stating they are 20p each.  I also found an original handheld camera from the 1960's with the original receipt of purchase and Japanese instruction manual still intact.

These are just a few images from yesterday. Some, might be used in my new blog, others not, but I wanted to get a feel for things and how they would best work and be photographed. I can't wait for school to start!

Visit my new blog I will be beginning my 365 day project soon...

(Tape & Tag in image are Pugly Pixel Freebies)

In the Art Cupboard

You might have noticed recently that I have a new button in my sidebar. It is a link to my new blog. I have decided to take on a 365 day project in conjunction with my new job and if all goes well, I would like to continue taking photographs of a chosen theme for a set amount of time. Sometimes a picture really can say a 1,000 words!

I still have some tweaks to make and cleaning up to do, but the bones are there and the structure is slowly being defined. My new job is a position within a school Art Deparment and my office is literally "In the Art Cupboard".

It is filled with the most delicious items vintage and new, that are used to set up still lifes or for use in the students personal work. There are tons of old car parts, lanterns, ancient suitcases, doll parts, vintage bottles, old-fashioned typewriters, just to name a few things that are contained within those walls.

I shall begin, with what I hope to be an ongoing project by photographing the items hidden within my cupboard for 365 days. I hope you join me on my journey as I begin to discover what exactly is "In the Art Cupboard"!

New Blog Header

I have put a new blog header up. After a year with the same one, I was itching for something different to be up there! I have been playing around with this new design for a few weeks and I think I have finally tweaked it (with a bit of help from my adorable red-head)!

So I have gone from this:

to this:

 

I LOVE it! Especially the gnome.... 

I have also created a new button:

you'll find it further down on my sidebar under everyone I love, so grab it and spread the ♥!

1 Year Blogaversary

Today is my One Year Blogaversary! So put on your party hats! I can't believe that a year has passed so quickly! I started this blog as a way to keep my creative juices flowing, to write about all the crazy things that flow in and out of my head and to work harder on my goals of getting my children's books published and start my Etsy shop.

I never thought when I wrote my very first post that I would would meet so many wonderful people over the year and I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting, I never dreamed that I would have followers, readers and commentators, I thought only a few people would find me here and there, and that was ok, I created this Blog for me, and I have enjoyed every minute of it!

I wish we could all be together, I would have a party, a tea party of course since I live in jolly ole' England. But, we might have to serve some iced sweet tea as well, I have not forgotten my Southern roots! If I was having a party I would serve this cake:

It just made me smile, and it looks perfect for a fun garden party. It also made me think of Burl Ives' Lollipop Tree song, I had this record when I was little and my sister and I would dance around to this song. Oh if only there could be a real lollipop tree, I would quite enjoy that!

Keep reading, I have so much more to come, so much more to write and share, so much is happening at the moment, I am on the rollercoaster of life and not the merry-go-round and I am prepared to be surprised!

(vintage party children copyright The Baby Gardner)
* Obviously tea parties are floating around my head at the moment, since I wanted to have one on Monday as well...
**The actual Martha Stewart Lollipop Cake is a carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting, but I love the recipe for the Ruffle Tower Cake so I chose to use that one instead; you can find both on her site.
***Happy Cinco de Mayo

B.I.

B.I. or, "Before the Internet".  Our internet has been affected this past week due to a flood in the Paddington area.  I got on-line Wednesday evening to work on a post for Thursday and no internet, so after much button pushing, hemming & hawing, praying and stamping my feet I realized it was all to no avail.


So we have been living a life of "Before Internet", we have become Fred & Wilma without the giant pearl necklace and water buffalo hat! It has been quite amusing. You don't realize how much you rely on it, or at least I do, when I need to convert a recipe or research an idea that has popped into my head! But, we are back on-line and going strong!

To Debs, I don't know who you are, but thank you for your two comments, I loved your foxy information and hearing about "Sausage" and thank you as well for sharing the Blog info with me. I have two things I have been dying to post (sad I know) and I want to get caught up reading all of my pals because I have missed what you have to say! So I am going to do that right now, hang tight, there is more too come!

100th Post!

I can't believe it! Today I am writing my 100th post! We have done a little work in the flowerpots this morning, cutting back and sweeping things up.

We had to make a milk run this a.m. and my grocery store surprise was 3 brightly colored primroses.  So they are now happily nestled into their new homes and will bring a smile to my face every time I come into our cottage door.

I still can't get rid of the last remnants of Christmas.  With the weather still being so icy here, my Christmas wreath is still living merrily on my front door. So, off came the bow I had made for it and on went a heart hung in the middle for Valentine's Day.  I am going to keep enjoying this little wintry wreath as long as I can.

I am still hard at work on crafting my little bears, a personalized pink colored bear has been added on to my order.  So, that will be my last bear to complete, along with 3 little bunnies that need to be stuffed.

They have just had their fluffy little tails sewn on and are more than ready to be filled with marshmallowy fluff and be sewn up, so they can hop on into their wee traveling box to be posted on their way to RosaBlue.

(Image of the Cake Invitation & Sweets from the BabyGardener, embellished by Jennifer Michie)