Guess What? Christmas is coming a little early this year. . .

This is where it pays to be a blog reader (or at least if you are into these vintage kits)! I have decided to go ahead and offer several of the kits this Sunday night. I have been working to get them done! There will still be a couple of new vintage kits offered on the 1st as usual, but there were ones I had everything in for and was able to whip together. I thought it would be nice to go ahead and get these out to those of you who wanted to decorate with them. These orders will ship right away as they come through. I will post more info on Sunday, but here are some peeks:

Featuring Vintage Wallpaper, glass glitter and a large vintage chandelier crystal!!

Here are the milk caps again, but in red and green this time and a sweet, tiny, vintage mercury glass ornament and holly leaf charm to finish it. You get enough to make two ornaments.

Aren't these the cutest?? You get the Dresden wings, two sets each in white, silver and pink and several vintage embellishments including the great German tinsel trim to make the tree!

This is a Christmas garland much like the Halloween garland, but for the center it features a highly collectible (I have been hoarding them all year!) punched tin candle reflector. The paper is vintage tissue paper- isn't it great!!!

Okay- have a Happy Thanksgiving. Check back here on Sunday for more info!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. . .

I am compiling all of my goodies to share- most of which I have been collecting all year long! I hope to get all of the vintage projects and the Project Kit done early next week so I can post some hints before Thanksgiving. I keep coming up with ideas so I have a feeling this month is going to be packed!! One of the things that will be available is a Vintage Christmas Papercrafting Box. This will be a large gift box (3x the size of the junque boxes) filled with old wrapping paper, vintage Christmas seals and tags, a vintage Christmas postcard and much more. I am still getting everything organized. I have already started listening to XM Holly on XM radio and even started decorating in spots. We will get the tree out this weekend- I always like to have it all done just before Thanksgiving. I will post some pictures when it is all done- I got a great tinsel tree on sale after the holidays last year for downstairs and I can't wait to decorate it!

And. . . I thought I would share a couple of other finds:

I found this great trinket dish the other day (and some more mother of pearl buttons). And. . .

These awesome Puma's (because your shoes should always match your house.

I made a trip to Scarlett's today and grabbed the greatest door (with a mirror insert) that you have ever seen!!!! We didn't have the truck so once I pick it up after Thanksgiving I will snap a photo. We are planning on breaking ground at our property in March so I am already stockpiling a few things I think I can't live without!

Have a great night-

Some quick inspiration. . .

So sorry- we are crazy busy, but I thought I would post a little eye candy until I can get to some December hints!! These are all cork boards I made (thanks for the help Rebecca!) when I re-organized everything. I covered all of them with old feedsacks or linens so the backgrounds were neutral.

When the haunting hour is over. . .

be sure to come by the site at 12:00am central time to take a look at all of the new product!

Here is another peek at the Papercrafting Kit this month:

and the add-on kit which includes two circa 1940 tiny brown buckles and a vintage turquoise hat pin . . .

and the project kit - a house centerpiece that is sure to grab attention. . .

and 3 new vintage kits that can be found under "Limited Edition Kits". They are perfect for getting a jumpstart on Christmas gifts!

This one. . . (see finished project in post below. I wanted to post this so you can see the packaging - so sweet)!

and this one. . .

and finally, this one. . .

I had so much fun with this one. It is a vintage book brooch I made from a 7gypsies hinged brass box and various vintage findings and beads I have collected. The flower on the corner is a combination of 2 pieces and a tiny pearl - I loved how it came out!! This could be pinned to a lampshade trim, worn, or hung as I did on this cool metal hand I found at the flea market.

I will also restock the Vintage Bird Booklace at midnight if you have been wanting to get your hands on one of those!

I'm off to dress my "Man in Black" (Noah) and my "Alien" (Christian) and fix some dinner before the candy hits thier tummies!

What I've been up to. . .

A little sneak peek at the Project Kit for November. A "Thankful" 4 paneled centerpiece using my brand new Star House Chipboard, vintage wallpaper and dictionary pages. I am using mine with a candle enclosed in glass (so the flame does not reach out of the glass- be careful!) but it would also be great around a small vase of flowers.

This is one of the new vintage kits for November- a garland made from old milk caps and vintage jewelry findings. It actually makes a GREAT bracelet as well!! I am addicted to making these- I think everyone in my family will have one to hang on their key hooks (this one is for my little sister).

Isn't this the sweetest?? It is a paperweight I made from an old zinc and porcelain Ball jar lid. You will get a lid, an old grocery store tab from the early 1900's, the tiny beads and an old bingo chip (you just need to find a photo and add some glaze)!!

All are available November 1st!

I am on creative overload at the moment. I went to the Flea Market on Friday and again today. It is the largest of the year and many vendors come from across the country just for this one month. I hope to do a long post about it by the end of the week to show you some of my finds and share some stories. I bought a child's European mannequin that is DIVINE - I paid a pretty penny for it, but it will be cherished (and if you come to CHAW you will get to see it in our booth)!

More a little later this week!

A Lovely Day. . .

with lovely people . . .

lovely couples. . .

lovely children. . .

and of course, lovely food. . .

we had such a fantastic time hosting everyone. It was the PERFECT day. We have a great backyard for living in a development where the houses are on top of each other. We have lots of trees and shade and by 4:00 when we ate it was completely shaded with gorgeous light. We have a fire pit we built into the patio so about 6:30 we lit it up and sat around with friends warming our toes and talking. We had a huge bounce house in Ruth and Rich's yard just next door so the kids were quite entertained. In fact, I found that my boys had put themselves to bed on their own before 9:00 that night!

It is raining here today (a true gift) and I have the music turned up loud, making Santa Fe soup, preparing for an entire day in the studio coming up with next month's vintage kits. I am hoping to do quite a few for November and December for people to pick up as Christmas gifts (I know I will be making a few for family this year)! I am also toying with the idea of a new kit category (or two) that I will keep you posted on.

Have a great Monday!

Class Packs

Edited: These are sold now. Thanks! If you would rather, you can send your e-mail address to jbowlin7@comcast.net if you would like to be on the list for future class packs.

About a year ago I started a newsletter for those interested in hearing about class packs as they might become available. I basically take pieces from past kits and such and coordinate things together in 12's to 20's usually. I then sell these at an overall price below wholesale. If you are interested in receiving these newsletters (usually 4 times a year) just leave a post with your e-mail and I will cut and past them in. In the meantime, I have these 2 kits currently available if anyone is interested for a class. See the photos, content list and price. Send an e-mail to jbowlin7@comcast.net if you would like either. Please state in your e-mail which one. First come first serve. Thanks!!

Mustard Moon # 1 (HS Flower) – for 12 people

- 12 sheets of 6 styles of Mustard Moon Paper
- 12 sheets of Bazzill cardstock
- 12 packs of Heidi Swapp flowers
- 12 packs of Basic Grey rub-ons
- 12 packs of American Crafts Foam Stickers
- 12 “gallery” cards
- 24 Heidi Swapp XL brown brads
- 12 yards of suede ribbon

$169 Retail Value
$84 Wholesale Value
Your Cost: $67 (20% off wholesale)

Mustard Moon #2 – for 14 people

- 14 sheets of Bazzill cardstock
- 14 sheets of 7 styles of Mustard Moon Paper
- 14 packs of American Crafts alpha stickers
- 14 packs of Basic Grey rub-ons
- 14 “Gallery” cards
- 14 Prima “Whispers” flowers (you get several more as they can stick)
- 14 Heidi Swapp XL Brown Brads
- 14 yards of suede May Arts ribbon
- Approx 200 flower sequins

$178 Retail Value
$89 Wholesale Value
Your Cost: $70 (20% off wholesale)

A few quick peeks. . .

Here is one of the papers for the new Brown Transferware Line coming in November's kit (and available for wholesale early November as well). Imagine brown and white paired with turquoise and you have a pretty good idea of what the November kit will look like (it makes my heart skip a beat) . . .

(Okay- so blogger HATES the picture I am trying to upload. I have tried saving it twice and now I am giving up. So, just imagine beautiful embossed leaf sequins in the deepest turquoise you have ever seen laid out on an old ledger - ha)!

And did I mention new chipboard?? Here is a peek at one of my new shapes - we will be using these with vintage wallpaper and other goodies to make gratitude photo cards for the November Project Kit. . .

So I know I am a bad blogger. . . we are preparing for a big party at our house on Saturday for all of the JBS employees and friends. I really, really, want it to be special so I am obsessing a little. These people mean the WORLD to me and I couldn't do what I do without them. I promise to take lots of photos - I really want to introduce everyone to all of you. Plus- you need to see the fabulous "fairytale" pumpkins I have for the table centerpieces (and the button cupcakes my friend Jennifer if making for me)!! Have a great week!!

Wish you were here. . .

actually, I wish I was still here too! We just got back from a week in Destin on Saturday. We had a lovely time as you can see. Ate lots of seafood, surfed many waves and watched the entire 3rd season of The Office (now I am obsessed- we just purchased and started on season 2). It was relaxing but things are busy this time of the month here so we are back at it morning till night!

Here are a couple more photos of my "new" studio I promised:

I have two huge printer's trays now on my new center table and every one of the slots are filled with goodies. It took me hours to get it organized but it is the best thing I ever did. I can see everything plainly and they are filled with all of the things that inspire me. I literally purchased the center table with this idea in mind.

This is another version of a flower frog and an old instrument music clip that I used to display a photo. There is a guy at the flea market that always has these (the music clips) but I have never seen them anywhere else. I saw a similar version of this display in Amy Butler's home book. It is a great idea to use when you want some height.

I will post more photos soon and get a gallery started.

Some previews of the new JBS line coming soon too that will make up most of the November kit!! It is called "Brown Transferware".

Just in case. . .

you had trouble last night finding some of the kits, etc., I believe it is all fixed now. I was out of town and trying to do it with a very poor wireless connection (ended up using my Palm which was a nightmare with that little screen). I believe my programmer has put everything in place this morning and I can tell that inventory is dropping (so I know most of you were not having problems)! Anyhow, very frustrating for me at the moment because I can't see things clearly.

I hope you enjoy the Vintage Kits this month!! There are still this morning several to go around of everything. I upped the Project Kit and Add On kit quantities this month again (and have more of the vintage kits then I did last month). Everyone I know is getting the little booklaces in some form for Christmas!!

More quick peeks. . .

Just a few more looks at the new stuff coming Sunday night. . .

Just one of the 4 spooky ornaments (hung from fabulous black wire hangers) that make up this month's Project Kit, and. . .

the Vintage Halloween Garland (I couldn't get the crepe paper and label image to work on this, so I will have to save them for a future project)! I am in love with this orange glass glitter though and that vintage beaded flower finding. And. . .

this Victorian Calling Card Booklace Kit (with a great tarnished filigree setting just waiting for a small photo or monogram), and. . .


this one too! A Vintage Floral Tobacco Card Booklace Kit. This one is a little smaller and features a coordinating vintage glass pendant and wonderful vintage gold bird charm.

All 3 of the previous kits are very limited in quantity and can be found under Limited Edition Kits. I will try to re-stock the Booklace Kits as I found more materials over time.

And finally. . .

one last peek into the Papercrafting Kit. These new memo "sheers" are brand new from Maya Road!!

Oh. . .almost forgot the Add-On Kit:

See you Sunday night (all go live at midnight, central time)!!!

Finished!!!!

I worked for about 15 hours straight on Saturday (about another 15 on Sunday and Monday) and it is finally remodeled, mopped, cleaned out, and dusted. So clean and neat that I'm afraid to work in there! I took a ton of detail pictures and will post some consistently in the next couple of weeks (and load them to the gallery at the website soon).

Back to reality for now though and the October kits! Here are two hints:

I am so excited about a new dimension to the JBS kits. I have been working for almost two months now with some very interesting and talented ladies who sell their wares on Etsy. I am always looking for ways to bring something unique to the kits and being able to support fellow artists is icing on the cake! Each month I include an Etsy item it will be unique to the kit and handmade by the artist - either a completely custom product, or custom color (as in this case). I will give you the details of the shop when the kit goes live (including the incredible shop of this artist who hand printed each of these "re-made" label sets - hint, hint)!! So. . . this gives you an insight into the color scheme of this month's kit and you get this great label sheet!

And here is a little hint to one of the new Vintage kits coming this month. I am getting ready to go in and put it together now. The Dennison labels are VERY old and were very pricey (I only have one of each). So. . .these will be reproduction photo copies in the kit (I don't think I can work them all in - we shall see). The crepe paper will be the real thing- black and orange, as well as the great vintage flower finding! Can you see the orange German glass glitter too??

Time to play- more hints on Friday!!

P.S. - have you noticed that I am always "so excited"???? Ha!

Happy Tuesday

I'm still knee deep in re-decorating. I have had piles of "finds" in the garage for weeks and I'm finally trying to get things worked into the house piece by piece. Here is a quick shot of my sofa table in my family room. I got these lamps from Scarlet awhile back. I have a thing for architectural pieces so I had to have these lamps. I also picked up the old sign from her - Jared loves this especially since we are obviously Jewish - ha! I look at it all of the time and wonder what type of business Mr. Lowenstein might have had?? The artichokes came from Z Gallery and the vase is an extra large "finger" vase from the 40's I believe. Anyhow, this is how it will stay until I feel the need to change it again! I am still working on my office - slowly but surely.

I will have some teasers of the upcoming kit next week and I hope to have Michelle's gallery up tomorrow. As soon as I get everything from her I will get it loaded.

**Edited** - so sorry! I forget to add the link for Scarlett's website. I have posted about it a couple of times. I am addicted to her store. She owns a marvelous shop in downtown Franklin. She specializes in architectural pieces, old mirrors and ironstone (just the tip of the iceberg)! Here is the site: www.scarlettscales.com

Guest Gallery and Restocks

In case you haven't noticed, the Guest Gallery is still not updated (you will see Michelle Hill's photo, but last September's projects). I will get this updated shortly - we had to make a last minute change and flip flop Oct. and Sept. designers as a kit got held up in customs).

Also, restocked tonight: Double Sided Name/Date Stamp, Bracket Stamp, Butterfly Chipboard, Sun Frame Chipboard, Bling Embellishment Tin and Vintage Bird Book Necklace Kit (just a few more as I found more cards).

Have a great weekend!

Recent Progress. . .

I am slowly (the key word is slowly) making changes to my studio. Moving things in, moving things out and finishing projects that have literally been staring at me for months! This chair is one of those.

I found it at a local antique mall a while back and fell in love with the woodwork (it is of Eastlake style). It was missing the seat and back and the legs appeared to have been cut down. I scooped it up as I knew I could do something cool with it - eventually! My father- in -law made me a new seat out of plywood that I covered with ledger paper. I am still trying to decide on the perfect trim for the edging (I'm leaning towards small mother of pearl buttons). Since it was a little short I thought I could use it as a shelf on this table to hold all of my old books. After much thought on what to do with the back, I decided to make it a cork board. I fell in love with Rebecca's idea (here) and thought it may work well for this. I covered my cork with an old feedsack and started pinning some of my millinery flowers to it (and will continue to fill it in with some of my large buttons as well). I had so much fun I went into the attic and pulled out some of my old frames and made some more (thanks for the help and inspiration Rebecca)!

So. . . as I finish up I will post more photos (I have had to put it on the back burner again to get the gallery stuff done and some other projects). Never enough time in the day. . .

Hope you all had a great weekend!

(Oh- in regards to a few of the comments about the Papercrafting Kits being sold out, they are not in case you haven't figured that out. I believe the site was jammed for the first couple of hours and kicked people off, etc. If you are still having problems just send us a note)!

I forgot one more thing. . .

ALL new JBS products will be available for individual sale tonight as well (how did I forget to mention that)! That includes the brand new Printed Tickets- Punctuation and Frames, New Mini Papers, New Die Cut Alpha Sheets (in Ledger styles too), all colors of the new Tab Stickers and Label Stickers (singles, from roll), all of the new Rub-Ons, etc. etc. Tons!!

Okay, now back to loading pictures. Read on below for all of the previews!!

Okay- here we go. . .

A little hint about this month's Papercrafting Kit:

I love this sweet little rub-on alphabet from American Crafts - it is called "Rue". So very cute and brand spanking new!! Look for some chartreuse to go with this blue and brown color scheme!

And, here is a little peek at the Project Kit:

I had to try my hand at this "Rebecca Sower-esque" flower!! So much fun to make, gently edged in beautiful black glitter (I love the grunge-glam feel it gave to the project - very edgy)! You will have to wait until midnight to see what this is exactly, but it involves a wooden hanger! The tiny glass flower beads are like those once used to make Victorian lampshades

And finally, here is a little peek at the new Kit category from JBS - Vintage Limited Edition Kits.

You will find these under Limited Edition Kits. These kits are in very limited quantities which will vary month to month as I am dealing with almost 100% found materials. For this reason, they are NOT available on membership. Some months (such as this one) there will be more than one kit offered (have to wait till midnight to see the second)! I do have plans to offer the same type of kit more than once however. For example, the Beaded Book Necklace kit above will most likely be available again using different materials (i.e. - vintage Victorian calling cards instead of these Bird trading cards). There is also a possibility that I come across more of something later and offer a certain kit again. That is where blog reading comes in handy!! If I ever find more of something, blog readers are the first to know.

I have so many kits lined up - this is my passion!! It has been so much fun coming up with ideas - I have sticky notes all over this house. I know that I won't have enough of any one thing to meet the demand, but please keep up with the blog and I will try my best to restock!

Please note - you may not see the new pictures on the home page for September tonight (or even this weekend) , BUT everything will indeed be up for sale at midnight. I forgot to send my programmer the home page photos to upload until tonight and I'm not sure if he will see the e-mail. All of the new kits will indeed be there when you click on "shop" so no worries.

(continued below - keep reading!). . .

(this is my tricky way of getting to post more pictures at one time)!

Here is a little preview of another new offering going up for the first time tonight. These are 2" Vintage Embellishment Tins, available in 3 themes for now: Premium Buttons, Hodge Podge and Bling. The Premium Button will consist of the more collectible button types - mother of pearl (several), mother of pearl carved, glass (clear, depression glass or china) and pierced plastic and celluloid. Many of the included buttons will be worth more than $1-$2 on their own. I suppose you have to appreciate and love buttons to understand why a 2" tin is $4.99!

The Bling tin is filled with vintage and antique sequins, vintage tiny dress trim, rhinestone and/or mirror buttons and vintage rhinestones. Each tin will vary in color.

The Hodge Podge tin (Blogger is fighting with me and won't let me post this photo) will have various vintage and antique embellishments such as glass beads, flower findings, and charms. This will constantly vary as my "stash" changes! All Vintage Embellishment Tins are $4.99. These will ultimately replace the Junque Boxes. I love them so, but the labor involved in getting those together was just too high (and I really feel like $9.99 was pushing it to begin with). So. . . we have a few left in limited quantities (under 8 left of each) if you wanted to pick one up for now. You can find these under the JBS Exclusive Products category.

Also check out the Past Kits page. We will be having a sale this month only of more than 30% off most remaining kits in this category (does not apply to the October Kit that was already on sale - only 6 of those kits remain)!

Whew- I think that is everything! I hope to get the newsletter out tonight as well. I have high hopes!!

Everything goes live tonight at 12:00 midnight central time.

(EDITED** I totally forgot! There is one more tin! I was sitting there this afternoon telling my husband I knew I was missing one (and this one is my favorite)! This is the Alpha-Numeric Tin. These are vintage letter tiles- highly collectible if you are into that. I found several boxes over the years and now I am sharing. I also picked up a huge bag filled with the thin metal alphabet and numbers a couple of years ago and they are mixed in. You get approx. 30 pieces per tin- a mix of letters, numbers and punctuation. I had to run and take this with my Ott-Lite - not too bad)!

Previews coming. . .

I promise!! I am still sizing photos, need to take some more in the am, etc. and then I will post everything here!! I meant to get some sneaks out and just had too much going on (there is alot happening this month)! So. . .hold tight! You will see something here by tomorrow evening, before everything goes live at midnight!

A new kit style will be available as well as some new vintage embellishment tins! I am so excited to share!!

Flea Market Treasures

I have been "flea marketing" all weekend. I took Ruth, the fierce negotiator with me yesterday and she got me some good deals (at least until we couldn't take the 100+degree heat anymore). I found more buttons than I have ever had before. It's partly because I have stopped buying big jars and bins of buttons and focus more on the sorted baggies of superior buttons. Most times I spend less money that way than on the big jar that only ends up yielding 20 or so great buttons. Last month I didn't have much luck at all. This month I found several things that got my heart rate up!

All of this has to do with some of the new kits and such I am launching at the site next week. I am desperately trying to get my studio cleaned out and rearranged so I can get back to creating again. I hope to have some hints to share early next week!

Past Kits - Update for Blog Readers!!

It pays to read my blog! Every once and awhile I find things when I do inventory (and just plain clean up!) and you guys are the first to know!

Remember this kit from March?:

I found 4 of them today and put them back up for sale- just now (3:00 central). Just 4 though!

And while I'm at it I thought I would mention that I am running very low on a few of the other kits found under "Past Kits" at the site. Here is the rundown of what I have left:

May Limited Edition Kit- 1

October 2006 PCK - 14

July Add-On - 2

April Project Kit - 6

I thought I would mention this in case you were debating about getting any of these. The October Kit is discounted and has a sort-of "back to school" theme to it!

Next month we will be running a sale on a few of the other Past Kits so look for that.

And. . . we will be debuting a brand new kit that is close to my heart (you will see why)! It will not be available for membership as the quantities will be very limited and will vary month to month. I hope to have a preview for you next week.

Scrap Etc Event - 2008

So have you heard? I'm teaching at the Scrap Etc event again next year (April 17th - 19th) along with Heidi Swapp and a whole list of very talented women (how did I get in this company)?? I am already planning a cool concept for my class! They are almost sold out so if you are interested, find out more here. It is actually in my hometown this time, at the Opryland Hotel.

Now back to Dance, Dance Revolution. It's my turn!