Merry Merry!!

Hello Friends!! Hope you had the merriest Christmas ever!! Our day was filled with great food, happy decorations, the people we love, amazing gifts, and lots of fun!! I hope to catch up with you all later tonight. Today is a day of organizing, working, and an ice hockey game of Walter's!

 

I promise some fun holiday photos, and a recap of our day!

 

I cannot wait to see all of your photos and to hear all about your fun!!

 

Have a Great day everyone!! Merry Merry!

xoxo Jenny

Pretty papers, pretty ribbons, Pretty tags!

 

 

My oh my!! We are down to the wire huh? Everyone ready? Relaxing? Sipping cocoa, and singing along to their favorite carols?

 

We are busy wrapping away, and putting the final touches on family gifts! Aaron ran out today to pick up some boxes, and more tissue, and returned with tales of short sleeved shoppers! Oh it stinks!! Too too warm! Yesterday was full of yucky rain! Will NJ get any snow this year? My goodness!

 

 

Above is a tiny view of my gift wrapping table. This year's color palette is so much fun! The addition of the gold and turquoise is so sweet! And this black and white flocked paper from Target knocks my socks off!! Do you see these darling tags? All are 100% handmade..and totally unique...no two are exactly the same! They were all custom done by a sweet sweet gal that I found on Etsy ..named Amy Elise! She was so excited to hear about my color palette and theme.....and boy does she work fast! Lots of glitter, candy colored ribbons, tiny gold trees, and turquoise snowflakes, gingerbread men, vintage sheet music and much more! She is just getting her home studio set up..and is more than willing to take on custom orders for all occasions! Give her a shout...tell her Jenny sent ya! : )

 

Tommorow night we will be going out to dinner with Aaron's family. It is something we have been doing since we started dating! It is a great time. This year we are going to Ruby Palace. It is a total "throw back" Chinese restaurant. Rich burgundy colored interior, waiters in classic black and white uniforms.....with hairdo's out of the 50's!! Pomade and all!! Reminds me of  episodes of Charlie Chan!! (One of my all time favorite shows to watch!!...check on Netflix!) After dinner we go back to Aaron's parents house, and hang out for a while. Tradition is that the "kids" open one gift on Christmas eve.....pjs and a magazine!! Pretty fun huh? Barb and Skip always pick some really unique mags! I suppose we are hard to buy for when it comes to mags....we are as Aaron calls us "magazine heads".

Later in the evening we go over to my parents house to visit for a while..hang with the brothers...and my sister stops over as well. We usually stuff ourselves with all kinds of finger foods and sweets.

Christmas day is split between the two families..much like our Thanksgiving. The only difference is, we eat dinner at Barbs!

We are looking forward to baby Adams's first Holiday! He is only 6 months old....but I am sure it will be really really fun to see how he reacts to everything!

 

Both Aaron and I wish all of our friends, old and new a very very happy , healthy, FUN Holiday!!

 

Thank you so much to all of you for all of your kindness!! It means more than you know!!

 

Merry Christmas!

xoxo Jenny

Happy Holidays!

Yes indeed...it is 2:00 am!! And I just finished my little craft of the evening! My Happy Holidays garland! I shrunk the letters, and printed them out...made copies at staples...cut out each circle, mod podged them to poster board, painted the scallop rims, cut them out again, and glittered the scalloped edges and hung each one from an ornament hanger from some silver rick rack! Easy squeezy..and doesn't it look so fun? Here is a link to Jenny's freebie letters! I plan on making garlands for every single holiday...and Everyday!! Happy Garland making!!

Goodnight friends!

xoxo Jenny

Lovely mail!!!

  Hello my dears!! I am finally back...and truly feeling like myself! The coughing and sneezing are over...and the holiday is in full swing!! We are putting the finishing touches on a handful of family gifts, and working on some new orders.

 

In all honesty the apt. is a disaster area! One could argue that it resembles Santa's workshop..or a bakery I guess. Our tree is up...and quite fun I might add! The addition of turquoise and gold truly add a brand new level of fun! I promise pics very soon! We will be doing some shopping tomorrow for my brothers, and then it is home to clean up and relax a bit! Even if that means some more crafting. It will be personal crafting..and gifts!

 

Tonight I am working on a fun lil' garland using some fabulous carnival looking letters that I had printed out back in October, from the talented, and generous Jenny over at allsorts. I shrunk them down a bit and decided to glitter the scallop edging. I will post pics as soon as it is hung! (hopefully tomorrow)

 

I must must must share with you, all of these amazing, fabulous, and sweet sweet creations and gifts that have shown up in the mail over the past few weeks!

 

First, is one of the mostincredible creations ever!! A mixed media collage style winter cottage by the AMAZING Cheryl Kuhn! I cannot even begin to tell you how super duper talented and creative she is! And what a sweetheart!! I am so so thrilled to finally own one of her highly sought after pieces!! I hope to add a new piece each season! (I missed out this fall...boo hoo) Her pieces go very very very fast....so if you are in love with what you see...be sure to check in on her Folk Of Art page on the first of every month!! She is mind blowing!!

 

Second photo is of the sweetest sweetest note, and gifties from my blogland friend 

Pam! She had just celebrated her 100th post...and was sweet enough to host a little give-away! I was so so excited to hear that I was one of the names pulled from the basket by "her staff"!! How darling is this tiny German glass glitter Wendy Addison star ornament? It is so so cute!! I pretty much skipped from room to room holding it for the first 20 mins after opening it! and I am just loving this lovely and classically sweet roses hankie!! I just think of Pam the second I glance at it!! Thank you so so much Pam!! Love them to bits!!

 

Third, is the spectacular creation I received by the fabulous 

Danielle Muller in the "Winter Wishes" swap which she also hosted! I am just loving it to bits!! The colors are just perfection! The perfect balance of candy, sepia, and glitter! We will have it on display all year round!! I love it!! Thank you so so much Danielle!! And thank you so so much for hosting such a cool swap!

 

And last but certainly not least...are some of the sweetest little ATC collages ever! They are from Ms.Chrisy over at artista di carta. Aren't they just so darn sweet! I had asked if she could work with my color palette...and oh boy was I thrilled to bits with what she whipped up! Christine is always busy creating! Her eBay store always has some whimsical creations and loads of amazing vintage photos!! Be sure to have a peek!! I plan on adding to my collection very soon! I cannot wait to see what she will be doing for Valentine's day!!

 

I am just blown away by the creativity and generosity of my blogland friends/fellow artists! I still have a bunch more to photograph and share with you! The mailman has been very very good to me! My goodness!! Stay tuned...I promise I am back for good!!

 

Thank you so much everyone!!

Hope you are enjoying the season!!

xoxo Jenny

 

Sweet & Talented friends!!

 

Hello! Hello! Hello! I know, I know...it has been far too long! On top of our daily order filling and holiday rush, I have been non stop coughing! One of those pointless hacking coughs, that seem to go and go for up to 8 minutes or so! The worst!! Even my abdomen hurts from being pulled with each cough! And I doubt it counts as an ab work out!

 

We found a tree!!! Yep! Sears of all places! Can you believe it? Perfect size, shape, and not iridescent!! Yay!! We love it! It is pre-lit, so the lighting is perfecto! (Yes I know you are thinking..umm Miss Jenny..won't you be searching for a new tree in a year or so...) I love this tree...so we will cross that bridge when we come to it! : )

 

This is the first Christmas in 8 years without our pink walls!! Everything looks so so different! In a good way! I had a little anxiety trying to make things work at first...but after playing around with some favorite things (old and new)...I think I have found a balance that feels right! It is lighter, and cozier. Maybe a bit less cartooney. Softer.

Many of the darker pink decorations stayed in their boxes. They seemed a bit heavy this year. The addition of turquoise/aqua and gold is super cheerful! There is a "Sis boom" feel to some of our vignettes...and I love that!

I promise more pics of our tree and things over the next few days. For now I leave you with these super super sweet creations above! The top three are some of the most darling creations to date, by my dear friend Laurie  Duncan of Happy as a Lark Designs! I have been collecting Laurie's work for a few years now! She truly dazzles me each season!! Such talent and creativity!! Laurie has now added collages to her offerings! The best part of all, is her usage of vintage family photos in her art!! I am just so thrilled to have these sweet pieces on our tree this year!! Love them!! Thank you so so much Laurie!! You are so fabulous! : )

 

These last two photos are the incredible work of Tracie Lyn Huskamp!! I am just blown away by the attention to detail! I had the honor of swapping with Tracie, what a sweetheart!! My goodness!!
Such incredible style!! She even solders!! Do you see this lovely oval piece? Vintage wallpaper!! Oh it is even better in person!! I love Tracie's work to bits!! Thank you so so much Tracie!! We adore our new ornaments!!

Tracie included a group of the most dazzling hand crafted tags for Aaron too!! You should have seen his face!! He was sooo excited when he saw a perfectly wrapped package with a tiny tag with his name on it!! (I will be sure to take pics of them!)

 

Tomorrow is my sister Melissa's 28th bday! We will be spending the day/evening in NYC!! Should be tons of fun!! I will be sure to take lots of pics and tell you all about it!!

 

I hope you all are enjoying the season!! I hope to catch up with all of you tonight and over the next few days!! Best Wishes!!

xoxo Jenny

Christmas Break

We left Ft Myers Wednesday for two weeks to fly back to Michigan for the Christmas Holidays. We hope to see as many friends and family as we can then back to the warmer climates. We have bought ourselves a present for Christmas that should be fun. Will tell you all about our new 19' Mako Center Console fishing machine (boat) when its delivered on the 30th.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all

Hank & Marge

Winter Wishes!

Today was spent organizing and adding the finishing touches to many many things. One of them being my piece for the "Winter Wishes" swap. (hosted by the sweet Danielle) It is a 4" x 4" Art Squared wooden plaque. It will be on it's merry way tomorrow morning to a gal named Vicci! I hope she likes it! It isn't your traditional color palette. If you are having a bit of deja vu...yes indeed...you are correct!..it is in fact one of the paintings from our new "Winter Wonderland" star ornaments! I thought it would look sweet on a little plaque! Glittered of course! And the sweet lettering is a hand painted font by the fab Aaron (king of hand painted fonts!) He painted them all ..printed them and shrunk them down tiny for me! What a doll! So in fact...this piece is from us both!

 

Thanks so much for all of the emails about Sis Boom!! Yes ..it truly was as fab as it looks! Actually, even more fab! If you are anywhere near Conn. You must take the trip next year!

 

I have lots and lots of photos to take of so many amazing goodies, and  gifts galore! I hope to get them all up here for for you...tomorrow!

See you then!

xoxo Jenny

 

Be Inspired!!

(Photos by Amy Powers of Inspire Company)

 

I just wanted to share some super fun news...

 

The sweeter than candy Amy of Inspire Company is now offering our holiday house ornaments, and cupcake ornaments on her site ! She did a fabulous job of styling and photographing them! As always! (Thank you bunches Amy!)

We are so honored to be a part of her holiday offerings!! We hope they are well received!

 

I also wanted to tell all of you darling visitors how much I truly truly appreciate your sweet comments and emails! I know AOL is such a hassle when it comes to commenting. Thank you for going through all of that trouble! It means the world to me! If you would be so kind as to add your blog link or email address, so that I can reply that would be fabulous!! I have been unable to get in touch with some of you! Don't think I haven't tried!

 

XOXO Jenny

Sis Boom!

What a fabulous way to end the most insane work week ever.....the SIS BOOM event!!

I cannot even begin to explain to you all, just how incredible 

Jennifer and her glittery wonderland are! She is truly Amazing!! She fills her gorgeous home with the most fabulous candy colored, vintagey, glittery, sweet, happy, lovely, holiday bits you have ever seen! Christmas trees in every corner...(sometimes 3 in one room) hung with the most magical handmade treasures! Her famous ornament wreaths, glittery beaded trees, vintage holiday tablecloth pillows. My face ached from all of the smiling I was doing!!!

We were just delighted see Jennifer and to be able to shop for such unique and dazzling bits to display this holiday!

 

We are so excited about our Sis Boom stockings! Mine is a sweet pink ticking..Aaron's is turquoise. (I promise pics as soon as they are hung). Ohhh and we had to have one of Jennifer's new flag banners! (actually it is a bday gift for my sister Melissa!) It is truly the sweetest!!I think she will love it!! As soon as we have all of our holiday decorations up..I promise pics of  our Sis Boom goodies!

 

Now...I have to tell you about the most awesome Bonus to the day....As we were standing in the kitchen..(the checkout table)...two cute gals come walking in and begin to sign the guest book...We hear them mention that they came all the way from Long Island...and at that second I glanced over and instantly blurted out " Oh my gosh...Vintage Dragonfly!....it was so so funny! 

Danielle Muller and her fab mom!  And we were just talking about "blogland" as they entered!

I know many of you have had the fun of meeting up for things like Silver Bella...or just a day trip....so you know what I am saying..when I tell you it is just SO COOL! And this was such a surprise!

We usually make it to the event the first day...but due to lots of work, we had to make it the second day...and now both Aaron and I agree...it was to run into Danielle!

It really was so great! We had a GREAT day! Thank you Jennifer! Love you to bits! So so great to see you! (The kids look Awesome!)

 

Ok..so how about them photos up there? And trust me...there was so so much more!! It was so hard to zoom in on every tiny bit of eye candy! Every square inch of each room had gobs and gobs of glittery goodness! Magical! The holidays have officially begun! Thanks Sis Boom!!

 

I hope you all are having lots of holiday fun! I promise some pics soon!

Enjoy your weekend!!

xoxo Jenny

Coach Improvements

While at the Monaco plant we met a variety of folks that spend substantially more time in their coaches than we do and while sitting around waiting for the service work to be done lots good things are discussed. One was tire wear which we were particularly interested in because of the blowout we had had earlier this year. We met a former Goodyear employee who told us a lot about the development of the new G670 tire they make for coaches that we had purchased after our problems. It was quite reassuring! One thing we were told was that when parked for any length of time we should indeed protect the tires from UV rays as much as possible. This past week we took that advice and also decided to get the screen shade for the front windshield which also provides some degree of privacy. Our friends the Armstrong's highly recommended them and now that we have them they have proven to be quite nice and with the tire protectors we are just more comfortable than ever.

Installation was a snap...we called RV Sunshade (Gordon Brown 877-422-5679) who came out the next day and set up his van with sewing machine and other equipment and proceeded to measure our coach and make on the spot the protective screening on site.Cutting and sewing

Finished Product in place.

We were very pleased with the end result and Gordon Brown is quite the gentleman. If your interested check out his web site. www.rvsunshadeco.com

Exploring area

We had decided that once landed in Ft Myers we would take a good look around at all the available campgrounds in this area with the idea in mind that maybe one of these winters would be spent here in this area rather than the Keys. First thing we noticed was this campground right on Ft Myers Beach that had beach access and interesting neighbors.....
Marge vetoed that idea right away and frankly it was very congested as well as in the same price category as the Keys. We also spent some time on Pine Island where our friends from Missouri have spent time but the best of the campgrounds there is now permanently closed and the rest are just OK. We finally decided that (for the money) we are in the best of the campgrounds for water access and people here have been very friendly. There are also some very nice high end places and the best of those is the River Bend Motorcoach Resort and it has water access, but again for the money, it is on the same level as the Keys ....I'll take the Keys. I don't mean to harp on the cost but due to the tremendous demand for land in the Keys things have gone from what was $17.00/nite to $110.00/nite for a campsite. Long term rentals reduce the cost but even that has become quite high in cost. I guess I really can't complain too much....we are warm and enjoying the sunshine when others are braving the cold of the North.

Winter Wonderland ornaments!

  Hello Everyone! Taking a tiny break from days and days of filling holiday orders!. At this point I feel as if we should be adding our local post office staff to our holiday gift list! We spend more time with them than with any of our friends and family! I know many of you can relate this time of year!

 

We have been dying to make some LARGE ornaments for the holiday, so we took most of yesterday to create! As many of you know...we absolutely adore vintage holiday houses!....from the cardboard cuties, to the sweet imagery of vintage Christmas cards and gift wrap! We cannot get enough!

We are quite happy with how they turned out! They are quite large! I am loving that! We tried to capture the little winter wonderlands of pastel colored cottages and pine trees blanketed with billowy snow, and faint curls of smoke rising from chimneys in these little paintings. They measures 11" point to point and are made of thin wood, painted the perfect vintagey  pink, and aqua! They are lightweight enough to hang from a chandelier over your family table, or from a cupboard door!

I may tuck one in our tree! (no...we did not find one yet!...boo hoo...still looking! )

 

These sweet stars are now available in our  

eBay store! For anyone interested!

 

I have lots more to show you...including some fabulous mail from this week!! I hope to be back later tonight with some more eye candy! We are cramming to ship a bunch out tomorrow. So it may be a late night!

 

I am loving all of your holidays pics....especially those lovely trees! Keep posting!

 

oooh...almost forgot!

Today Miss Posie herself, Alicia will be updating her website !! So get ready for all kinds of goodies! I cannot wait!!

 

Hope you all are off to a great week! Best Wishes! Happy Holiday Decorating!

xoxo Jenny

Disneyworld with Mickey and the Gang

Friday, November 24th

We arrived today for a four day three night visit to Fort Wilderness at Disneyworld in Orlando Florida. After leaving Beverly Hills, Florida we traveled to Wekiva Falls and the campground from Hell!! After registering at a place called Wekiva Springs RV Park for what we thought would be a couple of days stay we found a campground that has just deteriorated to a pig sty. Really!! So bad that we asked for our money back which they gave without to much commotion and we left for the Orlando area. We were fortunate enough to find a nice quiet campground in the middle of an old orange grove....Hence the name Orange Grove Campground which we would highly recommend. Clean, quiet and reputable! We spent a few days there with the only visitors being a few Sandhill Cranes begging for food.Monday November 27th - Happy Birthday Ben!

Today, we arrived bright and early at Disneyworld......Marge is excited!!!! Did I say Marge was excited!!! I swear she was as bad if not worse than the kids we saw running around trying to do everything at once. I earned points this trip!

We checked in at Fort Wilderness which is the campground owned and operated by Disney that has somewhere between 1200 and 1500 campsites. It has been voted the best campground in the United States by a number of different camping groups and I do have to agree. Campfires with marshmellow roasts, sing-alongs around a campfire and Disney figures wandering through the campground waving at all the kids.

Our first adventure was the shopping district at mainstreet Disney where we saw all kinds of Christmas stuff and some really neat things like the Lego dragon.

I at first thought it was just another character they had built, but it was built of all Lego parts. Marge found a few items for the coming Holidays and we went back to the campground to be rested for tomorrow....her words. Little did I know!

Tuesday - November 28th

We had a grand time (tiring) spending the day seeing the different countries and their displays with the General Motors Test Track ride and even the Living Earth with its unique displays of what the future could bring relative to farming crops to fish on display. We did take a break mid day and then back to the park for more. We even stayed late to see their "Illuminations" show which has to be the absolute best fireworks show I have ever seen!! Bar none! It really was a fun day and its so neat to see the little ones going home at night asleep on their parents shoulders. We do miss the grandkids.

Wednesday - November 29th

We set off for the Animal Kingdom with the idea of seeing as much as we could then heading back to the Magic Kingdom for a parade. The display of the animals was as fantastic as anything we have ever seen for captive animals. We were fortunate enough to have participated in photo safari to Kenya Africa some years ago and this display is as close to that experience we have seen. We were particularly taken with the Gorilla display, there was even one young female that like to play with earth worms and would put them on her head. If you look close you can see one on her head in the picture below.
I was also able to ride a train well actually two...the one in the African exhibit which was really diesel powered and only made to look real....but the second was a real steam engine that circles the Magic Kingdom.


Marge and I also met Buzz Lightyear and rode on his ride and adventure shooting at Zork! It was really quite fun and I know my grandkids would be envious to have been able to help Buzz fight the evil Zork like Marge and I did....I am a first level space cadet now and Marge is still a scout in training.

Friday - December 1

We are now settled in Fort Myers Florida at the Upriver Campground RV Resort on the Coloosahatchee River and will be here till we fly home for the Christmas Holidays. Check our location above.

Added note: Sorry about the Font changes and size changes...Blogger the host is undergoing some changes and this is the beta that does not have all the kinks worked out yet.