... and the other one is giving a high five /  by jen geigley

So yeah, where have I been? I've been told it's been too long since I've updated but life is busy, ya know?

Well, Emma rocked her Bat Mitzvah (her mama's exact words.) So proud of that girl. (And she looked too cute in her Converse. They're sequined like Avril Lavigne's.)




I applied for the design team at Memory Bound. They announce the winners on April 30, so wish me luck. I know they got an overwhelming response, so the competition's fierce.

And I finished up my "inspire me" mini from Kristina's class. If you weren't able to take her class in person, she sells kits on her etsy store, so go out and get one - you won't be sorry you did. I'm still messing with the "my loves" mini and it's turning out to be killer.















And speaking of Kristi, my Dare comes out this Friday! She asked me to be a guest designer for The Dares and so I sent all the girls some Etsy love from my shop and they're gonna rock a page this week. I'll share photos of what I did soon. This is too exciting for me, seriously.

April Red Velvet kit! /  by jen geigley


The April Red Velvet Kit ("Lucky") was up this morning, and it's already sold out on Etsy. (Ummm, hello, it's not even noon yet?)

Check out the photo (by Red Velvet Art) ... so much good stuff I can't even stand it. Some of my Etsy tags are included in this set (along with a little wood grain alpha, a little ledger paper, a little BamPop) ... can you say 'Lucky girl?' 'Cause I am.

so much... /  by jen geigley

Things have seemed so hectic lately that it's nice to slow down. Craft Saturday went really well and was a lot of fun - Erin and I would definitely like to do it again. Here are some shots from that day... although the best part of the whole thing might have been our dinner at the Royal Mile afterwards. We were starving by the end of the day and a cheeseburger never tasted so good.


I've been working on rock placecards for my niece's Bat Mitzvah in Chicago next month. I love seeing them all piled up together. We're excited for our trip to visit the Chicago 'burbs soon.


And Lotus has been donning pigtails this past week for the first time. I feel like her hair is always in her eyes, and she looks so cute with her hair back from her face. Even though they're not the tidiest pigtails. I haven't perfected my hairstyling techniques yet, and I have to be fast to get those tiny rubber bands in before she figures out what I'm doing.


I woke up one morning a couple of weeks ago and saw the Paul Frank monkey taking a ride in Lotus' Playskool airplane with Hello Kitty and the Little People pilot - which is all Bo's doing (leftover from playtime the night before.) It made me smile - he's a really good dad and he's imaginative and silly in a way that I admire. I get caught up in enforcing her naptimes and monitoring her food intake (although I admit that I am good at making up funny songs to sing)... but this is just a reminder that sometimes I need to slow down and not take things too seriously.


I got some very sad news from a friend today and my heart goes out to her. It's so sudden... I emailed her to wish her a happy 30th b-day today, and she told me what happened. Life is fragile (and turns on you when you least expect it) and you've got to be grateful every day for the people in your life and the little things you take for granted. She's strong and I know she'll be okay, and I hope I can be a good friend to her through this even though I can't find the right words to say right now. I wish that I could provide just the right amount of comfort or do the perfect thing that would help her. Just 'being there' for her doesn't seem like enough.

tiny ice pellets, sippy cup boot camp and packages... /  by jen geigley

Today it has been snowing tiny ice pellets, which is just depressing. This morning, it was almost like tiny hail, but now it's kind of snow pellets. It needs to stop. Thank God we're going to California soon.

Today is day two of Lotus' sippy-cup boot camp. I finally realized that if I stop giving her bottles, she'll eventually get the hang of this cup business. And it's working... not that she hasn't put up a fight now and then.

She's such a sweetie and it's so awesome to hear the words she's been starting to say... "pretty," "dude," "mama" (finally - and she doesn't say it often, only if she's in distress.) And "bah" which means "bye," which comes out sounding almost like she's from the South.

And in other fun news, I finally packaged up some goodies to send out to The Dares girls. Which is so exciting. Kristina asked me to be a guest designer in April and to come up with a dare! Which is too rad for words. So I sent them all some Etsy love from my shop, which they'll use on their page for the Dare that week.

Stoked.



And more of my Etsy stuff will be included in the April Red Velvet kit, which comes out soon. Check it!

2 more dares /  by jen geigley

Last week I scrapped dare 85 and 86... This one is about me jumping around and dancing when I'm home and no one's looking (except for L, but she understands and can't be embarassed by me yet.)


And this one is about my useless never-ending knowledge about music. We used to play 'name that tune' using sound clips from Amazon.com or iTunes at my old job, and I was a force to be reckoned with. I'll admit, like everyone, I have my weaker categories, but I would win with random old stuff. Ummmm, "Hippie Chick" by SoHo? Yes.


Gotta get to work now on my stuff for Craft Saturday, which is tomorrow. Erin and I are totally testing the waters with this show, and we're hoping there's a good turnout. I'm sure this first run will be a learning experience, but no matter what, I'm looking forward to a fun day hanging out with her. We really can't have a bad time as long as we're in it together. We've been through job hell together, taking photos of badly-dressed crazies at the state fair in the rain, and five strip clubs in one night (ahem, it was for a news story.) Now if I could just find that photo of us with the scary dude with the wolf hat, complete with legs and paws (or whatever the hell it was), it would go here.

craft saturday!!! /  by jen geigley


Don't forget! Craft Saturday is next Saturday, March 22nd! Here's a sneak peek at what I'll be selling at the booth I'm sharing with my friend Erin. I'll be selling t-shirts for kids and babies - some with custom words/phrases and birthday shirts with numbers on them. I'll also be selling small canvases with bird art on them (see this post for a photo of what I'm talking about.)

Erin's stuff rocks by the way - she makes stuff out of vinyl record albums and album covers - cuff bracelets, coasters, clocks, magazine bowls, notebooks, etc. - you must check it out!

Come out and support local Iowa artists and check out their handmade goods. There will be pottery, apparel of all sorts, art, jewelry, handspun yarn and hand-sewn goodies galore. Hope to see you there!

yo. /  by jen geigley


I've been busy prepping for Craft Saturday on March 22nd. (Have you heard enough about this from me yet?) It's from noon - 5 p.m. at the Fourth Street Theatre and Vaudeville Mews downtown. The other vendors look really fun - lots of hand-sewn stuff that I can't wait to check out. And of course I will be sharing a booth with my talented friend, Erin, who has been making all kinds of cool stuff. I have about 20 shirts ready to go, and 5 more will be hopefully ready next week, so I'm crossing my fingers that will be enough. And I'll have the birds... come and see us.

Last night I did dare 84. (It's all about LEAP. Leap Year, leaping, taking a leap... whatever.) This was a quickie and I'm so loving the yellow. Especially with all the snow and dreariness lurking about every damn day.