Hey guys, remember when...?

Hey, remember when I told you that I'd applied for Patchwork and I was really nervous about it? I got the notification - I GOT IN!!! Hooray!!!

I'm as excited as this little girl is about her book!

So now I'm making things like crazy, because the show is one month away. Oh Emm Gee.

Long Beach - May 25 - Marine Stadium - Appian Way @ Bayshore - 11a-5p

For those not in the know, #PatchworkShow is a twice-a-year juried craft show / festival that showcases local artists, artisans, food gurus, and all sorts of other wonderful things. You name it, it's probably there: jewelry (LOTS of jewelry), clothing, guitar straps, handmade soaps, food trucks, music, tiny terrariums, ephemera, art, bicycle vallets...the list goes on and on. Right now they have 3 locations every spring and winter, and I'll be showing this year at Long Beach. So excited and nervous!

Tiny Lace Earrings

So, what's involved? Well, I need to come up with enough jewelry to fill a booth space, and then I need to design a booth, which means my brain is working overtime and many an evening has been spent on Pinterest searching for booth ideas. (Which are plentiful and all make my head spin with how awesome they are.) I'm also spending a fair amount of time worrying that I'm not cool enough to do this, and all these BuzzFeed surveys that keep popping up in my news feed on Facebook are not helping - apparently I am so far from being a hipster that I don't even know what the word means, and also my true age is supposedly 41.

A very depressing movie, even more so now that BuzzFeed tells me that I skipped my 30's completely.

But in all seriousness, I'm really excited and I really hope that this ends up being a good thing. If nothing else, it will force my shy little self to get out of her shell a bit and grab some confidence!

So don't forget! May 25th (it's a Sunday!) from 11a - 5p at the Long Beach Marine Stadium, Appian Way at Bayshore (don't ask me anything more specific, when an acquaintance asked me where it was the other day all I could come up with was "Long Beach...near some water..."). Stop by and say hi!

Cannoli: Yay or Nay?

Just past San Onofre

Sometimes, it's just nice to get away, even if it's only for an evening. We're lucky in southern California - we've got just about everything you could imagine within a couple of hours' drive. So Saturday after work, James picked me up and we drove down to San Diego to spend the remainder of the weekend in Little Italy and exploring Balboa Park.

Little Italy

We strolled down India Street in search of a restaurant, and oh my goodness, were we ever spoiled for choice. It was almost like it didn't matter where we chose to eat, because wherever we ended up would be fabulous! We chose La Villa and weren't disappointed. Wine. Rustic, handmade pasta. Chocolate mousse dessert with salted hazelnuts and praline. YUM. Afterwards, we had coffee at Caffe Italia (and I had a cannoli - yep, two desserts).

So, I have a question...what am I missing with cannoli? Am I just having really bad ones? Because every one that I've eaten tastes stale and slightly...odd. I keep ordering them because I want to believe that there are better ones out there, but maybe I'm wrong?

There was a man who squatted near her foot and took a photo looking up her dress. Total photobomb.

Sunday was spent walking from our hotel in Little Italy to the waterfront to see The Star of India and the USS Midway (we also saw a dolphin playing in the water!), and then walking to Balboa Park to the Air and Space Museum. I had two desserts and a giant breakfast with a mimosa to work off, after all!

Rigging

Balboa Park

Succulents

Organ

Sunken Garden

Flower-filled Fountain

Doorway

Spring Flowers

Probably the best part of the weekend for James. I made him pose with this Spitfire, since he's built multiple models of them since Christmas.

All in all, we spent about 7 hours walking. My feet may fall off.

Procrastinate with me

Ooohhh I feel boring and uninspired this morning. Plus instead of working on my ever-present to-do list I'm procrastinating by looking at home interiors on blogs and Pinterest and wishing that I had hardwood floors and bright white walls. (Alas, my rental agreement won't let me...)

So, here are some photos of the last couple of weeks:

LACMA

Rose Bowl Flea Market

Irvine Park

New Shoes

Hot Hot Hot

Just for the heck of it, this (above) is what James and I look like to snakes. Apparently my knees are super-hot.

Catching Up

Eleanor, a friend from my first year in England, and her son, Eden, came to stay in March. It was an absolutely lovely visit, and I'm sad that they've gone home now. Here's a small taste of what we did...

Exploring at The Gamble House in Pasadena

Selfies at The Getty

Intense Concentration from Captain Cutie

Peacocks in Irvine Park

Late afternoon sun in Irvine Park

Plus, we had a mini photo shoot at the local farmer's market...

Modeling Chaps necklace

And then I applied to be a vendor at Patchwork Show!!! This is the first time I've ever applied to a craft show, so I'm really nervous that I missed something or that the jurors won't like my work, but...I did it anyway! I'll never know if I don't try, right?  I find out in 2 weeks...

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Let's catch up and talk about Sweetpea Studios ...

There have been some changes in how I'm working, as well as a whole bunch of new ideas that are being brought forth - I'm so excited I can barely think straight! (What I'm really meant to be doing is getting our apartment ready for a visit from a good friend and her newly walking baby. Bear in mind that we are two people who don't have children and really don't have any friends that live in the same country with children and therefore very little experience with this sort of thing. But we love Eleanor, and we love Eden, and we're thrilled she's coming to stay!)

Necklace Packaging

Earring Packaging

Ready to give as a gift!

I've re-done some of my packaging and also the packaging photos. The old photos had to go. Blech. Now comes the task of updating all of my nearly 100 Etsy listings. What a process!

Heart Shaped Flower Vines adjustable ring - acrylic on origami paper

Petite Amour collage necklace

There are new products, too! New necklaces and rings that feature miniature acrylic paintings and paper collages. What I love about doing the paintings is that I don't feel like I have to be a stellar painter - the images always look like what they're supposed to be, which amazes me every time I do one.

Included in the new products is a line of customizable heirloom jewelry - they're only just starting to appear in Sweetpea Studios, so we'll talk more about that later. They're already at Chemers Gallery, with pictures and information to follow. So stay tuned!

And, just like wearing the same hairstyle year after year, sometimes a girl just has to change things up with a re-vamp.

Remember this Etsy banner?

Now it looks like this:

It looks a little more consistent with this blog and the direction I'm going in. I was sad to take down my old banner, though, because the sweet pea drawing was one that James did at my request. (Plus it took me ages on Photoshop to get it the way I wanted...) But...change is good.

Another project I've been working on is a jewelry collaboration with ceramic artist, Lisa Mertins. She creates whimsical pendants made out of porcelain, and I create some of those acrylic paintings I mentioned. Together we make up Lisa & Jenn - you can find our jewelry at Chemers Gallery in Tustin. Here's a small sampling:

Available at Chemers Gallery

Also available at Chemers Gallery

Lisa is a lovely person who is just so creative. She's always coming up with funky ceramic vessels and birdhouses, and oh yeah, she does printmaking and also illustrates children's books - so stinkin' talented!

hello.sweetpea.jenn@gmail.com

And the mailing list! I'm offering a mailing list!! (If you'd like to sign up, please email me at hello.sweetpea.jenn@gmail.com with the subject / message "I'm in!") I'd like to send out a monthly email with shop updates, new products, and a suggestion or two of an art exhibition or museum to visit. Unless it's something super-douper important/exciting, I won't deviate from the once-a-month email In fact, it will probably end up being less than monthly, because, you know, life. So come on, let's keep in touch! 

So, what do you think? Don't be shy - come find me on Etsy, Facebook, or email and share let's be friends!

The Old West

Ever since a dinner we had with friends a few months ago during which the "101 in 1001" project was first discussed, James and I have been slooooowly working on lists of 101 things to do in 1001 days. (Since there are 2 of us, does that mean that collectively our lists are 202 in 2002?) I'll take a break from it for several weeks, and then inspiration will hit and I'll jot down a handful of things I'd like to do only to find upon revision of my entire list that I've already written those handful of things down. So far my list consists of things I've never done like "sew a dress" or "watch "The Goonies" (I know, I know, I've heard it before). I think James's list is mostly to do with things he sees on Huell Howser.

We had dinner with those same friends last week, and maybe because of that we decided to dig out the lists to find something to do on the following Sunday. We chose something from James's list, and drove to Agoura Hills to see the Paramount Ranch, a purpose built "movie ranch" in the Santa Monica mountains. The area has been used for filming movies and television shows starting in the late 1920's, and the "western town" is surrounded by hills and trails used to create movie locations from Africa to China. There's even an old racetrack that winds through the grasslands, closed after 18 months and 3 fatal crashes.

The Old West

Strange Facade

Horses!

Medea Creek

More of Medea Creek

The western town was a little smaller than we expected, and there were more trails than we expected, so we weren't really prepared for treks through the woods. I expect we'll go back, this time with backpacks, water and sunblock and explore the trails that surround the "town." I'd love to see Hacienda Trails, Witches' Wood, and explore more of the old racetrack. I'd also love to go on horseback, like some of the visitors were doing that day. Guess that will be going on my 101 in 1001 list!

What do cats have to worry about, anyway?

While the rest of the country is freezing it's butts off, I'm sorry to report that California has been lovely...

Sunny Day

Sunny California

James and I had a few days off together around New Year's (New Year's?? That's sooo long ago!!), and we treated ourselves to brunch at the Brownstone Cafe in Fullerton, a real rarity these days. Our joys are simple: a brunch together, seeing a movie in the theater, shoe shopping...okay, that one is really my joy, but James was a trooper and went with me and told me that the new heels I was looking at were nice with the jeans I had on.

New Blue Shoes

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

We went to see a late screening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and we loved it. LOVED. There were maybe 5 other people in this giant theater with leatherette seats, so these vast Icelandic and Himalayan landscapes were just right there, front and center and so personal. The music was fantastic (James downloaded the soundtrack immediately upon returning home), the photography was beautiful - to us, everything about it seemed right.

Cal, asleep on my lap for an hour

We've also spent quite a bit of time at my parent's house the last couple of weeks. My mom was having surgery and was going to be in the hospital for a few days, and my grandmother has been staying with my parents since her husband passed away in November. She's not very steady on her feet anymore and just needs a bit of help with things, so James and I stayed nearby. An extra bonus was having two cats around!

Max - just look at this face!

Cal and Max are taking all the extra bodies and extra equipment in their stride - they're cats, what do they have to worry about, after all?

Max and Cal

When I've been home, I've been busy on new jewelry designs. I'm making samples to keep at the gallery, plus putting together necklaces that are a collaboration between me and Lisa Mertins, a lovely ceramic artist. Pictures coming soon...