Friday Favorites!

Friday! Already? Well we did lose a day there with the holiday. Not that I'm complaining. I'm all for long weekends. But really...Friday already. I'm really gearing up for a crazy weekend. My sis officially moves back to Jersey from Brooklyn...with my help. Well mine and one of my brothers. We'll be renting a car (since My sis drives a 1954 Ford Custom line) and first grabbing boxes at Lowes. Then we're heading into the city for 3 days of packing like lunatics. She has been living here in Jersey with us for the past few months...but still had her fully furnished apartment sitting there. Aaron has had some heavy duty neck and arm pain the past few months and has been seeing the Chiropractor. His arm goes numb from simply painting or using the computer, so it goes without saying that heavy lifting is out of the picture for him. He's staying back in Jersey with all of the pups. 

We'll be packing the place up and on Monday she has a guy that will be driving it all back to Jersey.  It's probably going to be hot...plus it's a 3rd floor walk up. Party!! haha...can you sense my sarcasm? Well...you gotta do what you gotta do. We need to help her close this chapter.  :)

anyways...yes...that will be my entire weekend. How about you guys? Anything fun planned? Tell me! 

Well, just in case you don't have enough fun on your agenda...or if your fun is only fun in the sarcastic sense...then I've got some decidedly fun stuff in my Friday Favorites for ya!

by Rui Pereira and Ryosuke Fukusada

How FUN is this?!! I absolutely love this cake mold and the genius designers behind it. In their words: "playing with your food is now allowed. Serve your favorite pieces of furniture to your friends and kids."

The name is so perfect "Beachfront View Dress". Just makes me sigh and think of being in Wildwood NJ :) After a day at the beach and boardwalk...coming back to our motel room...freshening up...and going out for dinner. LOVE it!

I can always count on IKEA for having happy practical affordable things to make me happy! I adore these vintagey looking floral trays ! Perfect for summer day lunches on the deck, or for the pups water/food dishes...or the bathroom...or studio... :) And the price RULES! 

This perfect little thing was on the etsy homepage last week and I couldn't have been more bummed about being so broke right now. It is the cutest little thing! I'm camper crazy and dream of one day owning one of my own. For now this would cetainly have fit the bill! I'd be happy just dreaming while staring at it on my coffee table...but it just wasn't in my budget. Not that it was a lot...pretty much what you'd expect at an antique shop...50 bux-ish. I was actually surprised that it took a few days to sell. I thought it woulda been gone the second I pinned it on pinterest. Ah well...one day!

I am so so in LOVE with these incredible "utility lamps"  by Deborah Bowness. They are in fact wallpaper art. This collection features all sorts of gorgeous graphics on panels of wallpaper. And that happens to also be a faux clock on the wall. I just plain ol' adore them! 

Ok, happy Friday to you guys. Wish me luck this weekend!

xo, Jenny

Style Crush: Lynn Yaeger

portrait by Dietmar Busse

Blogging, writing, painting...for me these three actions stimulate many of the same synapses. In this instance I'm speaking of the connective spark between one act and the next. Every time I work on a new painting my mind gets crowded with images of what the next painting in the series will be. 

So it was with my first edition of Style Crush, when I profiled Aaron Ruell. I'd been wanting to share my love for his style for a long time, and naturally, in the process of writing his profile my mind was filled with images of my very next Crush who would appear here. And that is none other than one of my ALL TIME favorite peeps! Lynn Yaeger, aka Baby Lynnie. I have been a fan...no scratch that...obsessed with Lynn for well over 15 years. Stretching back to when we had our furniture line...which I have mentioned was highly inspired by fashion, Lynn was always on my radar. I had photos of her all over my giant inspiration wall. I love her antique boudoir porcelain doll like style.

Her cupid's bow lips...the way she gets extra bang out of that same lipstick...using it to dot her adorable cheeks with a bit of "rouge". And her chosen silhouette, to say that I have worn nearly that same silhouette forever might just be an understatement.   

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Lynn Yaeger is a contributing fashion editor to Vogue.com and a contributing writer to Vogue. And for thirty years she was a fashion reporter for The Village Voice. You've probably seen her unforgettable face on tv whenever there's an in depth report from New York's Fashion Week. 

When she writes about or talks about fashion I know exactly what she means. It feels like she's been peeking inside my brain. And it's this synergy that Lynn has with all sorts of creative types that has made her an icon in the field. She can see the "story" in a collection or even a single dress. And for me, in fashion, in painting, it's all about the story. The who, what, where, when and why.

And even though she can be very specific, this doesn't translate to rigidity...actually, it's the complete opposite. A dress or an accessory may speak something very specific to her, but that doesn't mean she thinks it should say the same thing to you. If she was to have one rule of fashion, she'd say "there are no rules."

You just have to adore Baby Lynnie.

xo Jenny  

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Chop on this!

 Street chopper got a hold of me about a year ago and took some pics of me and my bike. I kinda forgot about it till I saw this on the news stand.

 I've wanted to have my work published in a mag since I was a teenager building cars .

You still have time to WIN!

Hey kids!

Just popping in to let you know that you still have some time to enter the giveaway I am co-hosting over at The Nearsighted Owl!  :)  Ends June 3rd!

xo

Rainbow Ruffle Skirt

 

I've been wanting to make Isabella is rainbow skirt for a long time.

I have a true rainbow addiction and, of course, love 

anything ruffled and girly.

So, when my cute friend Kara Noel was throwing a

a rainbow puppy for her little girl, 

it was the perfect push to finally make one.

My original intent was to make two - 

one for Isabella and one for Kara Noel's little girl.

Grand plans, huh?

But things always take 3 times as long and since

I'm a master procrastinator - it's a recipe for things

not turning out quite as grand as I planned :)

So, Isabella got the skirt and Kara Noel's little girl

got the the fun shirt that I made.

I forgot to snap a picture of shirt, 

so I'll have to share that on a different day.

I have to give a big shout out to this post by MADE
for helping "talk" me through the math in making this skirt.

I've made lots of skirts for Isabella, so I knew

pretty much the pattern for the sizing and such,

but it just totally helped to see the math

for the ruffles instead of having to try and figure it out for myself.

I used Dana's technique for putting the tiers of ruffles together.

However, I did make some adjustments to the math 

when I got into the "thick" of it.

Because I had to hem my ruffles (I don't have a serger),

they ended up a little thinner than I planned on.

I wanted the skirt to be 9.5-10" long, 

and I wanted 6 tiers of ruffles for the rainbow,

so made each ruffle piece and each connector piece 2.5" wide.

Because of hemming the ruffle pieces, 

too much of the connector piece was showing for my liking.

So, I cut down each connector piece to 2.25"

and I liked the look of it better.

I also used an overstitch to finish the seams on the

inside to help prevent excessive fraying.

If I had a serger, I'd gladly serge :)

I adore how it turned out.

It's a little piece of ruffly rainbow happiness!

Since I ran out of time to make two shirts and two skirts,
I whipped up this little cutie to pin to Isabella's shirt.

It was just hand cut pieces of rainbow scrap that I backed
with a piece of felt and then topped it off with a cute button.

 And since it was so cute,

I made one into a headband and added it to the gift for Kara Noel's daughter.

I forgot to snap a pic, but luckily Kara Noel obliged :)

 

when all else fails...

Hey guys!

How was your weekend? It was mega hot here on the N.J. Shore. Big floor fans in full effect! We've got the AC going in the bedroom in order to sleep at night, but it just seems way too soon in the season to actually button up all the windows in the house and put the central air on. Though I'm pretty sure that mindset may change very soon. We're all dewy over here, and sweating and painting don't mix. 

One thing the heat will do is mellow you out. The mood this weekend was a bit slow but productive at the same time. Aaron and I spent most of our time working on orders, organizing, and painting. 

Speaking of painting. I had this phrase in my head and just needed to paint it. It's actually something I've fell back on more than a few times. You can ask anyone in my family...there have been moments of uncertainty, or even chaos...and next thing you know, I've got the mixing bowls out. Some might view this response as a little bit nuts. But it works for me. Baking requires a certain amount of zen and the zen is contagious...not to mention the sweet rewards in the end. 

 You can take this phrase to heart or it can just be a whimsical little saying. We're going to be creating a whole series of these and have a few versions in the works now. I couldn't wait to share these two with you. They're in the shop now...so you you can join the mission too! They are 8x10 and come matted and ready to frame.

xo Jenny

TOO Cute Tuesday: Linky Par-Tay #86

I made something this week!

My darling friend (Kara Noel) had a rainbow

puppy party for her little girl and I decided

to make Isabella a ruffled rainbow skirt.

I {LOVE} how it turned out

and I can't wait to share with you how I did it.

Now onto TOO Cute Tuesday!

What did you make this week that is TOO Cute??

Come link up!

Rules:

• Must be made by you.
• Link up to the specific post - not your main blog.
• No Etsy shops or giveaways please :)
• Please post the button or link back here so more people can join in the fun.
• Visit some of the other participants and leave them some LOVE!

TOO Cute Tuesday will be open Tuesday-Saturday.
On Saturday or Monday I'll highlight some of my favorites
and then we'll start over on Tuesday!


<a border="0" href="http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/search/label/Too%20Cute%20Tuesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p12/mormishgirl/Blog/TooCuteTuesdayNEW.jpg" /></a>

This post brought to you by:

I changed the linky party so that the most recently uploaded project will show up as number one. This way everyone gets a chance on top. So, look in the first spot for your project, not at the end. Thanks!!!

Holiday at the beach

This is a video my brother filmed and edited, check it out.

Secret spot

Classic.