We are starting the New Year off with a BANG . . .

This month's Papercrafting Kit has a wonderful neutral base and includes one of my favorite exclusive Mercantile papers ever - this reverse black version of our JBS wallpaper damask that both girls used below! The Add-On Kit also has some wonderful additions, including a great extra large vintage brass finding frame that you won't be able to live without.

layout by Jill Sprott

layout by Keisha Campbell

I enjoyed creating this month's Project Kit so much! This sweet display piece is a replica of a great hall wall complete with chandelier (that by the way uses wonderful vintage flatback crystal ovals for the candles). With added personal photos it would make a great gift (but I include a reproduction photo card of these sweet baby twins for you to use)!

We are also introducing a Vintage Paper Pack this month, to keep in stock continually. Each packet will always include vintage ledger paper (blank and written), music paper, book paper and dictionary paper.

Also look for new Ranger tools and a restock on Junque Boxes.

Happy New Year to you all!

The Perfect Vintage. . .

Malted Milk my friends - it is the perfect vintage!

Every once in a while I produce a line for JBS that has a white, not vintage base (such as the Red Music Note paper above from the Trendy line). However. . .if you use my Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Malted Milk Dye Ink pad with a Blending Tool sparingly over the paper, it quickly turns to "Jenni Bowlin" vintage and will match anything else in our line. Works on paper, Journaling Cards, Chipboard Buttons - I have done it a million times already!

This is one color you can't live without. I'm sure by the end of the year I will give you a reason why you can't live without any of the my Ranger colors, but I really, really think this is a staple!

Petticoat Junction

I am very honored to have been asked by the lovely caretakers of Petticoat Junction to host a full day of classes this July at their beautiful 1892 Farmhouse in Normandy, TN (about an hour outside of Nashville). Could there be a better fit for me you think?

On Saturday July 9th I will teaching 3 classes (to be announced soon). The event itself runs Friday through Monday morning and I must say - it is truly a GREAT deal! Your food, classes and stay are all included for a very fair price.

Check out their website here for more information and reservations.

The event is limited to only 15 people so you may want to think fast.

Hope to see you there!!

A very Merry Christmas to you all. . .

and a Happy New Year!

I wonder who these are for. . .

. . .because there was still just one room in my house that didn't have a feedsack pillow in it (well, not counting the kitchen and the dining room and of course the bathrooms)!

Aunt Sue was at the Bowlin homeplace a while back and noticed these there. They belonged to Grandma Bowlin and were just about the cleanest sacks I have ever seen. They also had the neatest graphics I had ever seen, with just a bit of yellow - perfect for our bedroom. My Mother-In-Law sewed them into pillows for me (as she has done so many times before).

I suppose I owe you guys a picture of them on my bed, eh??

On my Christmas Wish List. . .

Of course the above are all from my "happy" place here. . .

And I love this London Jack bag from here. . .

My kids are already counting down the minutes. We are juggling trying to finish up lots of work responsibilities with two big trade shows coming in Jan. while trying to enjoy the season (like everybody, right)? We did manage to get to the movie theatre to see True Grit today (which was very entertaining by the way). Hoping to actually wrap some packages tomorrow!

My new little muse. . .

She has been sitting next to my lamp on my desk for days, taunting me to go down to my studio. I found her when going through some flea market finds and couldn't help but smile.

She sure looks like she was up to something, don't ya think??

There's nothing like. . .

a clean slate.

Now I have no excuse not to get in there and play tomorrow!

In love with signs. . .

I'm not sure why, but I have always been attracted to old signs. I've never been much into traditional artwork and prints so I guess I had to get creative with what to put on my walls. I think in part, owning my own business myself seems to bring a certain respect for those who have done the same, stuck it out in hard times, and worked night and day to see something they believed in come to life.

I like to imagine that Julius Lowenstein was a bookkeeper who worked night and day on a "Mr. Scrooge" sized ledger - (and yes, I have one of those!)

Snowed In. . .

and in TN that means we got about 1" of snow (it's true, really). The kids are out of school again tomorrow.

It also means that Sunday I made a Chicken Pot Pie from scratch - the best I have ever had if I do say so myself (thank you Pioneer Woman) and. . .

I made this (a sweet, sweet, sweet Project Kit for next month. The girls just may have a heart attack -I'm actually ahead of schedule)!

Happy Monday!

My new favorite technique. . .

I have loved playing with my new Ranger Inks and Paints and in particular have been experimenting with my Rub-Ons and the ink. You may have heard that scotch tape can pull up a Rub-On (comes in handy if you get a stray piece in the wrong place)! So. . .

I applied a section of my Butterfly Book Page Rub-On Single onto cardstock. . .

I then used a blending tool and my Stick Candy Ink Pad to add some ink over it. Of course the Rub-On acts as a mask against the ink so when I applied scotch tape to random areas of the Rub-On, this is what I got. . .

Now I just need to apply it to my next class/project. Hoping to find time to play in my studio tomorrow! Here's to a weekend of you doing the same!

I'm coming to see the Queen!

It seems to have become a Christmas tradition to come and visit the "Queen" (aka Patti) when I come home to Maryland for Christmas! I will be teaching this Old Book Journal class on Tuesday December 28th from 6:00 - 8:30p.m. at the Queens Ink in Savage, MD.

Hope to see you there!

Simple Red and Green. . .

You might be surprised to know that I decorate with traditional red and green each year (as opposed to white, silver, etc.). I guess I am just a traditionalist in that way. Besides, I prefer vintage decorations and most of them to be found come in only the traditional colors.

Jared and I found this sleigh at a show in November. I had hoped that it would fit on the spool cabinet and it did so perfectly! The Santa is Styrofoam and I found him at an estate sale I just happened upon one day this summer. The poinsettia flowers are vintage too.

I found the Santa and sleigh at TJMaxx Homegoods 2 years ago and it fit perfectly in front of my plant boxes.

I buy bags of the cinnamon pine cones at JoAnn's and put them all over the house.

I don't like to do a lot of taking down of what I already have so I try to mingle things in where they will fit instead. Here these tiny vintage glitter houses fit perfectly in my little box with the things I already had there.

I never did figure out what I wanted to do for stockings so I instead hung my vintage store Santa on the mantel, as if he has just climbed down the chimney! He hangs from an old metal iron (the perfect stocking holder by the way)!

Added the jingle bells, pine cones, red books and vintage boot to this display in my dining room.

And a few whimsical items were added here and there in my studio!

We added some big red bows to our front porch with some garlands, but other than that (and of course our tree) I think I am done. How about you? Are your halls "decked" yet?

The winner of the class kit giveaway is Sarah Parks! Sarah- email us through the contact link at Mercantile with your addy and we will get the kit out to you! Thanks for playing everyone!

(Read till the end of the post to find out about a fun giveaway and a special offering on the site in limited quantities)!

And fun was had by all. . .

Vintagefest was a blast, as shown here above by my wonderful crew.

The party at our home Friday night was something we had not done in the past but really enjoyed. Melissa made some great food and we completed a sweet silver star ornament (which of course I forgot to take a photo of) to top the night off. Below is a photo of the group (a bit blurry, but at least I took one)!

Notice Noah's red knees - he cleaned up the spraying mat after each set of girls sprayed their aprons (using my new Ranger reinkers mixed with water). . .

I think this is Louise - busy creating her 12 Days of Christmas collage. . .

Cheryl and Traci busy creating (look Tim - we got our fingers dirty)!. . .

Terena - queen of the checkout. . .

and some offerings found in the store on Saturday. . .

This was truly a great group of women and we all enjoyed getting to know them.

From beginning to end we had a wonderful time and are already looking forward to the next event (look for more information early next year)!

I decided to offer just a few of the 12 Days of Christmas Panel Class Kits on the site. They are up now under Limited Edition Kits in the Monthly Kit Section. At this moment, only blog readers know about it! If you have ordered something else since the first of the month and want to add this to your order, just place the order and we will refund you for the extra shipping. These will ship on the 8th with everything else from the first.

We also added some Donna Downey blank aprons and restocked the Tiny Vintage Leather Books in Green.

And. . .leave a post here between now and tomorrow at 8:00pm central and I will randomly choose one winner to send one of these kits!

Check back tomorrow for some photos of my recent Christmas decorating!!

Come shop with us!!

This Saturday, December 4th

at the Lebanon, TN Hampton Inn (exit 236, South Hartman Drive off of Interstate 40)

from 9:00a.m. - 9:00p.m.

We will have deep discounted leftover kit pieces and papers, all JBS products, and lots, and lots and lots of vintage bits, baubles and good art junk!!

Every purchase gets entered to win 1 of our 4 door prizes (you do not have to be present to win).

Hope to see you there!!

Thanksgiving Traditions. . .

You might say it's a parade, a tender turkey or some pumpkin pie but I say it's roller skating!

I think we just may have started a new tradition this year.

After our bellies were full we loaded up all of the kids (9 of them!) and headed to the local skating rink.

We were the only ones there.

The kids had a blast.

The adults burnt off a few calories.

I got a few pictures. Bad lighting and out of focus but still cherished.

I'm ready to do it again next year!