You are my sweetest downfall.

THERE WAS SNOW ON MY CAR THIS MORNING!
Snow.
Beautiful white snow.
*smiles*


Anyway,
Did I ever mention I have a really talented boyfriend?

A boyfriend who I can call and say "babe I would really like home made blocks." and he makes them for me. Or "babe I would really like wooden animal blocks" and he makes them.


I have been asking for a picture of his cute creations and he finally provided me with one.

Are they not so sweet?
He draws the designs up then makes from wood scraps he finds, so they are eco-friendly as well.
He is looking for the perfect thing to stain them with to keep their really natural look.
So proud of him growing into his talents.

(last november by Bethany)


Hope you all find joy today.
xoxoj

Ya, a tunnel from my window to yours.

On my way home from from my meeting yesterday my head is filled with magic, glee, and love.
It was practically overfilling.
I called Greg and started spewing out ideas. Thread allows you to have your own "tag" on your product. So I started sharing my brain with him on everything I might want, just something that really said me.
About 20 minutes later I got an email to my phone,
this is what he made of my ramblings..

Isn't it just darling?
Really, I wish you could have heard the nonsense I was sputtering. I cannot believe he made actual words out of it!
Love you babe.


I just really thought this captured my essence. And was thinking how many people around me really speak to my soul. So I was wondering/wishing/hoping to maybe have a variety of tags.
So if you think its possible to capture me in a tag PLEASE PLEASE make me one:)
OR if you have a photograph, quote, or anything else that may inspire me that you feel fits me I would love to hear from you, send them my way.
You can email me at jessallyn@gmail.com - hopefully in a few days I will have a beautiful inspiration post to share with everyone!


xoj

Heres the scoop:)

Ok Ok. I've been keeping secrets, but I've just been nervous!

But as of today its official..

My little dollies are going to going to go up for sale at Thread!

Now I understand your insides aren't probably going as crazy as mine were, but it honestly feels like steps toward a dream.

Thread, is the sweetest boutique located in the South Wedge of Rochester.

My heart was elated when the owner, Sandy, said she thought my dolls would do well to make 10 bring them in and we'll see how they do. I think I have been smiling ever since.

I also got 4 random, outside christmas orders.

ekkkk!

YAY! It is amazing to feel like you are doing something you love. I feel very blessed.

Sending love to Buddy, who told her about my dolls!

Thank you blog world for letting me share my special news:)

xoxojess

Dont you worry Fridays not that far away.

I love a challenge.

I love the pressure to create something that is quick, creative, and cute.

So obviously I love when my dear friend maria calls me around 7:15 at night and asks me to make a hair bow for her niece's school picture day TOMORROW.

(Oh and we already had plans to meet at 8 that evening for dessert)

I simply looked at the clock and said no problem.

I ran up stairs got my sewing kit and other little essentials.

I can make a bow in minutes by now, but as I looked at it I wondered if it was the wrong color or wrong size or just plain not what she wanted.

So I came up with two totally new headband ideas. Cut out the patterns and got moving. They came out SO great and they are def something I will be working on perfecting an reproducing.

Ria sent me these pictures this morning of little Macey sporting some Green Bird.

Made me smile so much. She looks almost as cute as 'Tia' in the Bird.

I love making things people can enjoy, its very rewarding.

Hope everyone makes this through this wednesday with ease.

xoxo j

She couldn't help but sing.

So over the summer and early fall I was creating things non stop.

Then all of a sudden I let life take me over and gave in to being stagnant.

I let my schedule own my life and found myself far too many times saying,

"I'm too busy".

Too busy? Too busy to do things I love? Too busy to do the things that bring me joy?

Now that is just silly.

I was a little angry with myself, I have big plans.

And I'll tell you one thing, I'm never going to get there from being too busy.

SO, I made a mini goal for myself.

One new thing/creation/craft a week.

And this doesn't just mean drawing up the sketches, or having the idea. It means actually creating a sample, see how it goes so I can see how to improve. These are all things I need to be keeping track of.

So heres my new friend for the week. She is just a prototype so she's a little sloppy. But I think she turned out pretty cute.

I'm hoping to just be giving some of these "samples" away so they don't stock pile in my house. So if you don't mind something being slightly imperfect, let me know. :)

Hope you are all pushing yourselves. Hope you are not forgetting what you dream about, or thinking you'll never get there. Busyness is an excuse that keeps you from your potential.

So slow down and remember we can all get where we wanna be, we just need to be confident enough to try.

I believe in you,

jess

A new friend.

HAPPY 75th Post!

oh my word!

I am back with a quick before bed post when I noticed this will be my 75th post! That's a pretty good blogging milestone:)

I promise for my 100th post I'll be more prepared, we'll have a blogging party.

ANYWHO, I haven't sewn anything in almost a month so I was determined to make a little something tonight. I kept putting it off until about an hour ago and then I made this new little friend.

Pretty cute right? I know he is a little lop-sided but I drew up his pattern in a whole five minutes so bare with me.

I'll try to perfect him more in the next couple days. But for now I can go to sleep feeling accomplished:)

Goodnight lovely blog readers.

Ps. Anyone have a good name for him?

xo jess

sleepy bird.

Yay, Wednesday!

Halfway through this week, thank goodness.

I have been doing 12 hour days again, 6:30am nannying, school, 3-6:30pm nannying.

I'm so drained I feel like I haven't even caught up from sleep from this weekend. So last night I wanted to just come home and do something mindless to relax.

So I made this hat:)

I've been wanting a little scandinavian inspired hat. I think I've fallen in love with the culture from hearing about it all the time from boyfriend and company. I love my Finnish family:)

I'm working on another one right now with different weight yard so I can compare effects of the outcome. I'll let you know:)

How are you feeling this week? Anyone have adventures planned for the weekend?

more soon, xo,

jess

Oh dear soul.

I know I had my shout our yesterday to all my friends who helped with hearts and crafts but I really needed to make an extra special thank you to my dear friend, Joy.

I literally do not know what I would have done without her over the last few weeks. (most likely, I would have lost my mind) She was totally standing next to me through everything and even pretty much dragged me along at some points.

When I tried to drop out of the show because of stress and too full a plate. She gave me hard love.

When I needed company to sit and distract me, we had dinner and tea.

When I was freaking the night before, she hot glued about a million things for me (and has a battle wound to prove it!)

When had sat in the same spot all day long, she took me out in the grass under the full moon and did yoga with me.

When my nerves kicked in the morning of, she showed up with breakfast for all, and coffee, and hugs.

Joy, I just stinking love you.

I had no idea how to repay her so of course, I crafted.First I made her a doll, one that looks just like her:) I was realllllllly happy with the way it turned out, I almost couldn't give her up.

Then while I was at school, I wanted to be inspired, so I started writing out a list of all the reasons I love Joy.. and then it just came to me...

Here are some sneaks..

Gesh! My friends are so inspiring.

I hope you are feeling blessed and inspired today too:)

xoj

Little green bird hits the street.

So, after months of stress, worry, sewing, and obsessing over detail, it finally happened.

This weekend was Hearts and Crafts and let me just tell you...

amazing.

It was such a beautiful opportunity and experience. With some of the most talented people in the 585 making lovely handmades for people to enjoy.

I'm not gonna lie, my table looked rocking. Big thank you to Joy, staying up till 2 AM the night before making finishing touches on stuff and setting up a "mock" table in my living room. She knew I would be way too stressed and nervous in the morning to even think straight.

She was right. Freaking out from the moment my feet hit the pavement outside my car, its intimidating to see everyone else's beautiful stuff and great table layouts. But you just have to be confidant people will appreciate what you have done.

And they did. Whether they bought stuff from me or not, I dont think one person came to my table without smiling or saying something really sweet. It was so uplifting. Just to have interest or to get paid for something you have loved doing ever since you were a child. It was just such a wonderful feeling.

Some personal highlights..

I brought this awesome mirror that I found at a flea market and I loved seeing people put on some of my stuff and fall in love. Some girl asked me if it will be weird to see people walking around Rochester with my stuff on, I said it will be such a compliment.

I didn't want it all to be about making money, I wanted it to be about fun. So I made little mustaches on sticks to give away for free. It was WONDERFUL. People loved them and so many people came by just to get them, so many laughs. It was awesome to look up and down the street and even in Javas, with so many people playing with them and enjoying. So fun.

I had this old phone phone on my table we kept pretending to answer and talk on, and one of my customers walked by and did it too, so funny.

When I sold one of my little girl dolls, the man said "she's going to texas and will be greatly loved", some people just get it.

But one of my very favorite parts was all my friends who came down to support. (Seriously guys, I love you.) And just hearing them say how proud they were of me made my heart so happy. Jonny even brought me some "rock soup" which was perfect for the chilly day:)

It was the perfect first craft show experience. Everyone was so warm and happy. So many warm drinks, laughter, and crafts all day long. I sold SO much stuff, and just had a really magical time.

Big thank you to Lisa Barker for all her hard work to make such a neat thing happen in Rochester.

Thanks again to Joy for snapping a few pictures for me. Wish I would have taken more with everyone but my head was totally not there. haha

Ill try and post some close ups of some of my goodies later. Thanks for following on this adventure with me, totally cant wait until the next one.

Any of my extras I think I'll try to put up on etsy this week. I had amazing business cards Jonny had made me so I know people will be checking in on that:)

Really grateful to everyone who helped with anything, set up, cut stuff out, my sanity, making me actually leave my house for a break, bringing me coffee, business cards, or just for support, love you guys dearly.

all for now,

green bird.