Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you guys! We hope all of you are enjoying the day in whatever way you like. 

Me and Aaron really have a whole bunch to be thankful for this year both in our regular life and artful life. And all of you guys who are our friends...old and new...have been such a big part of the great changes and growth that we've experienced over the past year. We can both honestly say that we cannot remember feeling this positive in a very long time. And for us, we gauge our happiness and positivity by our interactions with the people who matter to us. We really believe in "you get what you give."

We've been trying hard to give more and more of ourselves in the best ways we know how...and as a result we've been showered with friendship, kindness, and opportunity. The whole concept seems so simple...but it's probably even more simple to forget how easy it is. You can lose track of things in the busy day-to-days of life. 

We seriously want to thank you guys for not letting us lose track! We try to put our best selves forward...and in return you guys have given us your best selves. Thanks So Much!!

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...ours is So much better just knowing that you are all a part of it!

xoxo, Jenny & Aaron  

Christmas 2013 Inspired Ideas Magazine is here!

Hey guys! In Jersey its one of those grey drippy days...but for some reason me and Aaron haven't been bothered by it at all. We just got back from doing the last of our shopping for Thanksgiving, and I guess that might be the reason for our good mood. Cooking is kinda our happy place, and we're psyched to do a whole bunch of it. Also, just in general theres a tendency to consider your life in this week of thanks...and there happens to be a whole lot to be thankful for at this moment. 

And on that note...there is something that Aaron and I are both very thankful for. And that is our friendship with Amy Powers. The digital publication that you see above and below is her baby...and what a beautiful baby it is! To me, Inspired Ideas is the hottest holiday ticket in town...and if it were on the printed page I believe that the printer would run out of ink just trying to fulfill the demand for this must have feast for the eyes and creative soul. I mean...it's $3.99!! There's no possible reason to pass it up. 

We are so thrilled to be featured in this edition! There's an excerpt from our book, as well as a great review, and we also contributed a couple of our earliest Christmas memories.

The term "visual feast" doesn't even begin to describe Inspired Ideas. It's so beautiful, but also packed with must see projects, tips, holiday style... 

Amy has a stellar lineup of contributors and everything she does is just magical. I can remember at Silver Bella in 2007, Amy's set up at the vendor fair was just so over the top amazing. One of those glittery vintagey spectacles that you just couldn't take your eyes from. And seriously...her whole world is like that!

So thankful to be part of this great publication...but I swear...I'd tell you to drop everything and get your issue right away even if we had not a stitch of our stuff in there. I promise...you will LOVE Inspired Ideas. 

Ok, just wanted to share this with you all. Me and Aar are about to make some soup and then settle in for a long night of cutting, painting, making, and packing.

xo, Jenny...and Aaron

Incredibly Easy Homemade Citrus Spice Cranberry Relish

Hey friends! Seriously...how is it possible that this Thursday is Thanksgiving already? how? Just mind melting to us how fast time flies when you are doing too many things at once. 

Aaron and I will be cooking 95% of the Thanksgiving meal this year, and we are very excited about it. We love cooking, and since we're always so busy at the holidays we feel like we miss out on some of the traditional experiences...so we think that cooking Thanksgiving dinner will set our feet firmly in the spirit of the holiday.We will be in high gear tomorrow and the next day prepping for all the cooking while packing up orders and cutting out ornaments, etc... How early do you guys start cooking? Growing up, I remember waking up at 8 am on Thanksgiving to the smell of my mom's homemade cranberry sauce. There is nothing like it! My family never used the canned stuff. I can remember one of my little brothers visiting his friends and coming home and telling my mom all about the cranberry sauce he had seen that was "shaped like the inside of the can...and you can cut slices of it!" And then as kids will be til eternity, he begged my mom to buy the canned cranberry sauce! ha! A mom's greatest kitchen efforts will never beat out the lure of novelty.

The fragrance this recipe produces is sweet, and spicy, and bright. This is more of a relish, or compote even. It is incredible on sandwiches, and honestly would work wonderfully baked with brie cheese in pastry! Aaron says he could eat a bowl of it. 

We doubled this recipe, so that we would have plenty to go around and for left overs. It takes less than 30 mins, and there isn't a candle in the world that will make your home smell even half as festive and delicious! 

Here is what you will need:

1 - 12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon orange zest

3/4 cup orange juice

4 teaspoons corn starch

4 teaspoons water

3 heaping tablespoons crushed pineapple (drained)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

In a large pot over medium heat, combine your cranberries, orange juice, sugar, lemon zest, and orange zest. Cook, stirring occasionally. After a time your cranberries will begin to "pop". You might even hear some of them pop open.

 Continue cooking until all are popped, about 10 mins. You'll know when they're all popped just by scooping up a spoonful. The cranberries will not look like berries anymore...just popped open skins. And your whole pot may get all pink and frothy.

Now, in a small bowl combine your cornstarch and water. Then stir with a fork till smooth.

Stir the cornstarch mixture in and lower your heat to a simmer. 

Stir in your pineapple, and spices, And then remove from heat. Let cool to room temp and serve, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

It's that easy! And geez does it smell and taste amazing! Look how bright and cheerful that bowl is. Aaron ate a heaping spoonful right after this pic was taken.

We hope you'll give it a try! It also makes a fantastic gift. Fill up a little ball jar, make some cute tags.

And this is the perfect thing to make if you're not the most confident cook but you'd still like to contribute something to the meal...even if the family has already got their own cranberry sauce...this can be an additional sauce...your little added flavor to the meal. And think about it...its only a condiment...totally pressure free.

Thanks for popping in! We'd love to hear about your favorite holiday recipes! 

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

xo Jenny & Aaron

Our Very First Book Signing

Oh boy, so yesterday we had our very first Book Signing! Just saying that sounds so nuts to me! It was totally exciting, and a dream come true for us. We were part of Barnes & Noble, Discovery Friday. B&N had all sorts of fun things happening in locations all over the  country...author signings, demos, book fairs, promotions. We had initially planned on doing a signing at our local B&N, but our publisher suggested going to Easton PA, which is a larger location, and they were also hosting an event with Moleskine journals that would fit great with the Art Journaling aspect of our book. 

We really had no idea what to expect. We don't have much of a "fan base" in that area of PA...that we know of anyway.  

We showed up about an hour early, which gave us time to grab a quick snack and set up our table.

We brought a bit of our "stuff". We try to always we bring our fave pink bunny, nicknamed Creep, everywhere we go. We also brought some extra pink, some fliers, and a few examples of projects from the book.

And it turned out that bringing the sample projects was a very good idea. People loved picking up the faux mini doughnuts, the necklace and bracelet...and they especially loved checking out our Fauxbulous Cake and flipping through the pages of our book to see exactly how it all came together.

Our favorite part of the signing was getting to meet kids. Tons of mother-daughter duos came right up to the table...and more often than not we'd find out that the daughter is the artist and the mother is the aspiring artist. This little gal flipped open our book and immediately identified with so many of the projects...like you could see the wheels turning in her head as she turned the pages. The Barnes & Noble happened to be located directly next door to Michaels...so we're betting that this little gal and her mom took a quick stop over there right after they got our book! 

We had such a great time meeting everyone and talking to them about what we do. And when they'd get excited about us signing their books it was almost too much flattery for one day! We'd love to get out there for some more signings very soon. This coming week is really busy, with Thanksgiving and all...but we'll surely be out there a bunch in this holiday season.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Barnes & Noble, chatted with us, and picked up a book!

We can't wait to meet more of you guys!

xoxo, Jenny & Aaron

Pink Sparkly High tops, Tuna on remotes, and lots of fun with a super sweet little gal.

Do you see this tiny tableau of cuteness personified?! This is just a glimpse of our day today...our first time baby sitting our niece Olivia. Ha! As if we weren't pink enough over here...then in walks Olivia who was not only wearing pink from head to toe, she also brought along her tiny deck chair, complete with a pink blanket for added comfort, and a pink umbrella...just because! Oh...and make sure to take a good look at the bottom left corner of the photo. Our usually camera shy Carlos was mastering the art of the photo bomb all day long. And why?...well because he is  IN LOVE with Olivia! The little old man was her shadow...and man did it warm our hearts! 

I had Instagrammed and Facebooked this pic this morning. Giving it the title: "The Calm Before the Storm". Aaron made us pancakes, we sat back and relaxed after baby proofing our house. It's normal for us to have x-acto blades laying around, and lots of fragile glass collectibles, etc...so it wasn't a super easy task to get the place ready for a 1 and a half year old. We had lots of friends giving us some words of advice...suggestions on how to occupy her time for a few hours and stuff like that. It was to be our first time having her here alone, so we were nervous that as soon as she was left with us that she would cry cry cry for her daddy. 

It was also a first time for the pups. Our little guy Jack, seen above, happens to get really nervous around little kids. And when he's nervous he growls. So to keep everything calm we set Jack up in his "good boy bed" in the closed studio while we had Olivia here. So prior to Olivia's arrival Jack got some one on one time with Daddy outside in the sunshine. Just look at our two resident Gingers!

Seriously...she walked in and we pretty much couldn't handle the outfit! Notice the Carlos photo bomb once again.

Yes, Carlos gave his sweetie lots of kisses today.

As you can see, before her arrival we wrapped our coffee table top with Kraft paper, and supplied Olivia with a box of crayons to color wherever she pleased! We gave her some roasted sweet potatoes but she mostly fed those to Carlos. But luckily we found a can of uncle Walt's tuna, and one of uncle Walt's hotdog buns, which when cut in quarters made cute little sandwiches. And the sandwich seemed to last HOURS. Like, she perpetually had this little tuna bun in her tiny fist and every so often I'd have to say "wait, where's the sandwich?"...because it would be placed on a shelf, or on the tiny piano, or on top of a speaker...and oh boy, did that tuna spread itself around! There was tuna on my pants, on three different tv remotes, on her toys, on the dog, etc...  

And when she wasn't playing or coloring she really just wanted to sit next to me on the couch and talk. I have to apologize to her mom for her bed head hair. Her mom likes to keep this little beauty in matching flowery headbands and bows...but she tossed it aside very early in the visit and decided to go with a casual look. 

Ok, the sneakers kill me! Perfect! Olivia started looking like she needed a nap, so I slipped the sneaks off so she could get a bit more comfy.

And then, in an instant, she grabbed her two blankies, leaned over to the side, and slept for over an hour. Of course, Carlos cuddled right up along side her and napped as well. And at first, she was actually resting her head right on Carlos like he was a pillow. It was too darn cute. Seriously...they are besties!

Oh gosh...this was our first time babysitting this little gal and when her dad picked her up in the evening we told him "please, feel free to drop her off over here any time at all." 

It was a pleasure and a treat! We've got our first book signing tomorrow and waaaaayyy too much work to do...and tons of preparation. But maybe this little babysitting interruption was exactly what the doctor ordered. A very pleasant distraction.

Since this is our first book signing we really have no idea what to expect. We were just told where to be and when. We decided that we should add some visual embellishments to the event so that it's not just us at a table with a stack of books. So we packed up some of the completed projects from the book, some cake stands, doilies, a pink tablecloth...

We're not expecting any sort of turn out for us...but our signing is in conjunction with some other stuff going on with Moleskine and the theme of the night is Journaling and Art Journaling...so we hope to maybe add something to that experience. Even if we meet one mother-daughter crafting duo and get to talk with them about how fun it is to create mixed media artwork...then the night will be a total success in our eyes. 

Oh, and if you're interested...here is the Where and When of our book signing:

 Barnes & Noble 

Southmont Center, 4445 Southmont Way

Easton, PA 18045

phone: 610-515-0376

Friday, November 22, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Ok, thanks for reading about our awesome day with our adorable niece. Back to work...lots to do!

xoxo, Jenny & Aaron

Roasted Sweet Potato, Red Quinoa, Chimichurri Bowl

We honestly had no idea we'd be blogging this recipe today. Our day started off chilly, and while we were warming up with some coffee we took a look at our huge check list of things to do. Mainly, we're trying to get a bunch of things done before Friday, which is when our first book signing takes place. The signing is about an hour and a half or so away from us...out in Easton, PA. We are super excited to go, though we truly don't expect many folks to actually show up just for us. But we're happy that there are some other fun things planned for that night, which is called Discovery Friday. So even if we just get to meet some crafty peeps who are there for the other stuff and we get to chat about mixed media and art journaling, we know it'll be a great time. 

Lately it has been quite dark by the dinner cooking hours. So dark that it has been pretty impossible to take pics. So this is why we haven't blogged many recipes lately. Well today we opted for an early dinner...which worked as a great break in the day before we start our night shift...and getting to blog the recipe is a real bonus...because oh boy was this a good dinner!

We are such big fans of sweet potato, and we use quinoa often...so as soon as we saw this recipe we knew we just had to try it. And it was crazy good! Quick, simple, flavorful, fresh. It all came together in about 35 mins. We didn't change much from the original recipe, just a few tiny things. We loved it and will be making it again soon. This is a great last minute go-to meal.

You will need:

2-3 medium sweet potatoes (washed, dried, and cubed)

2 tsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup red quinoa rinsed and drained (we used Ancient Harvest brand)

1 avocado sliced or cubed (for topping)

For Chimichurri Sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Cups Italian parsley roughly chopped

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon honey

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees

In a large bowl, toss your cubed sweet potatoes with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Turn them out on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for about 20-25 mins till tender.

While your sweet potatoes roast, prepare your quinoa. For this recipe we used Ancient Harvest brand red quinoa. It cooks up perfectly. You just bring it to a boil, then lower it to a simmer and put a lid on it for 15 minutes. When it gets close to 15 minutes take a peek and move the quinoa with a fork. Make sure it's not sticking to the bottom and also make sure that there isn't any water in the bottom of the pot. If there is any water then it needs a little more time. If it's sticking to the bottom at all then remove it from the heat. Also, when it's ready you'll notice that these little corkscrew rings have separated from the grains of quinoa. It's really simple and once you've done it right one time then it will become second nature.

For your chimichurri sauce, add your parsley, lemon juice, garlic, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, and honey to your food processor. Pulse until roughly chopped. Now warm your olive oil in a small sauce pan. Once it's warm then pour it into the processor and pulse until well combined. 

We served ours in a bowl. Half of the bowl sweet potatoes, half of the bowl quinoa, then top with chopped avocado, and spooned some chimichurri sauce on top. We also drizzled ours with a bit of sriracha. That's it! A deeeelicious, easy, and heathy meal. Perfect for busy days and busy lives.

Enjoy!!

xo, Jenny...and Aaron

Starlet Ornaments now in the shop!

"Clara"

Just wanted to pop in and let you guys know that we added some new ornaments to the shop. They are super Limited Edition! 

Starlet Ornaments  

We first designed these adorable little starlets because we wanted our tree to have a muse. So we hand painted our own pretty gals who could act as spokesmodels for the tree and the entire holiday. Inspired by Golden Age Hollywood starlets, we were imagining their head shots and the classic star upon the dressing room door. And we gave them each some festive glitter adornments in the highlights of their hair. Each little gal is named and you've got three hair colors to choose from so be sure to check through the shop for other options. Very limited edition...but we'll be adding more versions in the following days so be sure to check back. 

Ornaments are paper mache and measure 4 inches wide by 3/8 of an inch thick. Signed & dated.

"Fay"

"Bette"

"Jean"

"Ginger"

"Lana"

"Rita"

All are in the shop, and we hope to add a few more soon!

Oh Oh!! And if you are in the Easton PA area... We will be signing books at Barnes & Noble this Friday!! Hope to see you there!!

xo Jenny & Aaron

Candy colored Christmas crafting...and some tips!

Hey friends! First, I want to welcome any new blog readers that may have found us through our book! Thanks so very much for visiting! We hope you'll stick around!

This weekend was filled with lots of different things...what else is new right? We are always bouncing around from task to task. We filled some orders, prepped for new ones, picked up some supplies at Michaels, and a bunch of other things. I always get a bit nervous on Sundays...almost like I have got to hurry up and cram in as much as I can before the weekend ends. I see the weekend as this time when the pause button gets pressed and I get to run around a do a bunch of stuff while "life" is paused...but as the end of Sunday nears I dread the unpausing. I wish I could say that I get the idea of a lazy Sunday, but I don't. Sunday is my time to catch up and set up for the new week. And I know I'm not the only one. I know you peeps with kiddos don't ever get lazy Sundays...you're preparing the kids for the upcoming school week, finally grocery shopping, getting caught up on laundry. So a whole lot of you guys get what I mean.

Now as far as weekend creative projects go...I was able to afford myself a little time for those. Not much time...but just enough. I started out with those sweet little putz houses you see above. They were sent from a very sweet friend to replace some that we had lost. They were already super cute but the whole plan was to give them a bit of a makeover. I was first inspired when I was painting in the studio the other day. I looked over and saw a couple of the houses peeking out of a box and I thought that they'd look much sweeter if they were in the tones of paint that had on my palette. I'll have to chip away at them to get them done looking...but they already look pretty happy in their new colors!

While we were at Michaels we found some great ornaments. Clear glass balls, paper mach stars, and plain plaster ornaments. Everything as 40% off so we grabbed a few of each.

We had been wanting to give this next idea a try for a while. Just clear glass balls with craft paint dripped inside and shaken to coat the sides. So easy! 

The opacity of the paint behind the shine of the glass is so so pretty! But before you give these a go I have a few tips for you. I painted 4 balls, two pink, and two aqua. I used Americana multi surface satin craft paint, which you can find in the craft paint aisle. Each ball took about 5-8 squirts of paint. When shaking up the ornies to get the paint to coat all of the inside surface you will be surprised by how tired your arm gets. I joked that I should be able to log my ornament shaking as exercise on the My Fitness Pal app! The whole process is a trial and error thing, so it's best to do one ball first so that you can gauge the kind of work you have to look forward to. I would do 3 squirts, and then shake shake shake and tilt...and then add a few more squirts. You may have tiny little areas that seem like they aren't getting any paint... but just keeeep shaking! The spots will fill in! Now here is where I will be honest. I had them all coated on the work table and then moved on to other projects. But before bed I put the caps/hangers back on the ornaments and hung them on our tree. No we do not "really" have our tree up. But the other day when it came in the mail we had to set it up and plug it in...you know..."just to make sure it works." ;)  And since then it has been standing in the middle of the living room, and every now again I'll give an ornament a test run. Before truly decorating for Christmas we have to first paint the walls and get carpeting.  

Ok, so back to the ornaments. I hung them on the tree to see them with the twinkle of the lights, and then went up to bed. So the next morning I walked into the living room the morning with a smile...but the smile soon turned into a gasp. One of the ornaments, most likely the one I painted last, had lost all of the paint from it's sides...not 100%, but at least 30% of the paint had run down the sides and pooled in the bottom of the ornament. I grabbed the ornament to shake the paint back up the sides, but of course by this time the paint had dried. But I was able to squeeze more paint in, shake it up, and cover the blank spots. It looks fine now...but there are a few "swirls" of darker pigment. So what I learned is this...give your balls plenty of time to dry before allowing gravity to pool the paint in the bottom. I suggest laying them back in the pkg they came in to dry, but turn them and flip them randomly throughout the day while they're drying. 

They truly look BEAUTIFUL on the tree! And the sky is the limit with color! Great project to do as a family, with the kids. It's so cool to be able to pick out the exact paint colors you want for your ornaments and for them to come out looking so perfect!

Here are the plaster ornaments I grabbed at Michaels. Aren't they so cute? 

I just painted them in with my "Jenny colors" and added an antiquing wash and some speckling. And then I added some of my favorite black and white bakers twine. I really like how they turned out. They are also hanging on my tree that isn't actually up. ;)

We were so excited to see this pic! Our book is now available at The Ink Pad in NYC. YAY! It's such a fantastic shop! If you haven't been there, you will be amazed at how much perfect crafty stuff they've got crammed into such a tiny space! Stamps galore and tons of paper goods. They also host classes with the very best in the mixed media industry! We are really looking forward to joining The Ink Pad's long list of faculty. We're honored to know these gals and thrilled to have them so close by. They are located at 37 Seventh Avenue, at the corner of 13th Street. A great neighborhood to shop and grab lunch in.

And I just had to share some of these adorable pics of our book out in the world!...There she is...out there among bunnies, babies, puppies, kitties! So fun!!  

Just wanted to pop in and say hi, and share some tips on painting ornaments, since so many folks seemed excited about the idea when I posted on facebook and instagram. I wanted to follow up and let you know that although they are easy, they aren't completely fool proof.

Thanks for visiting! hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

(Walking Dead tonight!! YES!)

xo Jenny...and Aaron says hi!!