Jitney's Journeys Products : Halloween 90th Birthday Surprise Party


My sweet friend, Kandess, asked if we could make some special accents for her grandfather's 90th surprise party. 

Theme : Spook-tacular Halloween 
Location : Gorgeous Barn

As with all of our products, all of the goodies here were custom made and passed by Kandess first to certify perfect satisfaction. 

Not gonna lie... I had a pretty difficult time figuring out which direction I'd like to go when designing these products. The original thought process was chalkboard-inspired but then I thought that maybe I should go a little more grunge or even maybe a little more cute-sie. After hours of that not working out, I decided to try proceed with the chalkboard-look. 

That's when I designed this lovely banner...
and kept pressing forward.

Inspiration, achieved. :)


{happy birthday banner}


{up-close of the birthday banner}


{table goodies}


{menu cards - Kandess did an amazing job coming up with fun names for all of the food and drinks!}


{table numbers via papergravy.com / thegraphicsfairy.com}


{assorted signs to display}


{up-close of rosettes}


{black and orange striped straws via The Charm House}


Kandess and her husband dressed up as a gangster and flapper girl. 
"Ridiculously cute" cannot express how amazing they looked!!


{Daniel & Kandess}


{table set-up - isn't that cake fantastic!?}







For Life Ministries : Shop with a Purpose

Last week, we had the honor of setting up a table at For Life Ministries' annual Shop with a Purpose. For Life Ministries' mission is "to equip, educate and empower the next generation to meet the needs of the many orphaned, widowed and oppressed through various avenues and programs". The ministry aims "to teach and nurture them in the truth of Christ's unconditional love applied in all situations, regardless of gender, color or nationality." The event was held at an absolutely - breathtakingly - gorgeous home. The home is so beautiful, in fact, that they will be a stop on the Huntsville Tour of Homes for Christmas (which is why they already have a few Christmas decorations adorning the home).

The purpose of the event is to bring awareness to local and international orphans, and to offer opportunities for sponsorships for those children. When the event ends, each vendor donates a portion of their proceeds to the ministry as well. To learn more about For Life Ministries, you can visit their website here or their Facebook page here. 

We've been keeping late hours and early mornings to ensure that we had everything in place for our booth this year...


We still didn't finish everything we wanted to have out, but I think we had a pretty good selection for customers to choose from...


{The Todd Nest customizable wooden board}
{1 qt. double-sided glass-etched jar}
{Proverbs 3:3 mixed media}
{monogrammed placemats}
{glass-etched mason jars with chalkboard lids}


{single and quadruple wrap bracelets}


This lovely family is the Long Family. They're in the process of adopting a sweet little child from Ethiopia. When they mentioned that they were thinking about starting to raise support soon, we began brainstorming and praying about ways we could help. Thus, the Journey to Ethiopia Chatter Tiles came into being. We sell them in sets of 4 ($20 each) and each chatter tile has a verse that has been instrumental in their adoption process. Jitney's Journeys will give $10 from each set sold to the Long Family as they continue to follow Christ in obedience and come closer to bringing their child home. 

You can read more about their story here. 

Please email me if you'd like to buy a set of the Ethiopia Chatter Tiles. We can ship them anywhere in the U.S. but we will have to charge a little extra for shipping. The tiles are pretty stinkin' heavy. ;)


{12 x 12 "Hebrews 6:19-20" anchor mixed media art piece}
{our nest chalkboard}
{home sweet home pillow}
{chatter tiles}


{handwritten merry Christmas and gift tags}



{Proverbs 3:3 mixed media art piece}


{12 x 12 "Hebrews 6:19-20" anchor mixed media art piece}


{Proverbs 4:23 mixed media art piece}

Thank you so much to For Life Ministries for allowing us to take part in such an amazing event! They will be hosting a few more Shop with a Purpose events before the year ends. If you'd like to come, email us and we'll give you the details {or you can follow our Facebook page here for updates}.


Todd Nest Happenings : Fall Preview 2013

Things have been splendidly chaotic both inside and outside of the Todd Nest this fall, which may explain why our blog hasn't been completely up-to-date. Here's a little glimpse into the past few weeks:

We welcomed Fall with a new wreath on our front door. The burlap ribbon was from last year's Christmas decorations; the white flower was a piece from our spring wreath; the red / orange leaves were given to us from our sweet neighbors; and the twigs were taken from a freshly clipped bush in our backyard. Cost: zero. That's what I'm talkin' about! 


JD's parents bought us a living room suite as a wedding gift (we asked if we could postpone their wedding gift till we moved into our first home and decided on something we really needed). JD and I have both been beyond blessed with amazing, gracious and loving in-laws!! The night La-Z-Boy delivered it all, we fell asleep in our new recliners. :) We'll give you a more thorough tour of our family room later. 


We picked out bamboo blinds for our giant windows from a sweet friend in Monroe, GA. We'll post more about those after we put them up this weekend when my parents come to town! (I'm sure we'll have A LOT to post about after this weekend - we have planned TONS of exciting things to do around the house.) It was a tough decision but we landed on the blinds to the left. 


My girlfriends and I had a girls' spa weekend to celebrate the accomplishments of Kellie (in the middle). She earned her second Master's degree this summer - i.e. she's awesome and deserved a great escape! These ladies are fantastic and their friendship means the world to me.


Chase, my brother, and his wife, Jackie, got a new puppy and appropriately named him Tag (to go along with Chase's name). He's half min pin, half yorkie. We've been obsessing over every pic Chase and Jackie post on Facebook or send to us via text. I wish they would start a blog exclusively with cute pics of Tag. 


We had a family vacation with JD's side of the family to Branson, Missouri. It was a precious time spent with precious people: Mr. Jim and Mrs. Josie (JD's parents), Uncle Donald and Aunt Sandy (Mr. Jim's brother and his wife), and Brandon and Theresa (JD's sister and her husband). 


Most of our time was spent watching football, exercising (crossfit) and eating. Most places closed at 9 p.m. except this place: Cakes & Cream Dessert Parlor. It was pretty delicious but the atmosphere charmed my boots off. I'm a sucker for 50's music, which is why JD took me out front after dessert and danced the night away with me (actually, it was only one song but it was super romantic). 


We only saw one show while we were there: Joseph. The musical was a pretty on-spot rendition of the story of Joseph but my favorite part of being there was this...


JD asked me to take a photo of him with this statue of Goliath. As I was taking it, a sweet older gentleman pointed over and said to his wife, "Take a photo of me doing like that guy!!!" As soon as JD was out of the pic, the gentleman propped his legs out for battle and put up his dukes with a big smile.

It was awesome. 

------
Since we've been back from Branson, I've been going turbo mode while making products for this year's Shop with a Purpose, an event to benefit For Life Ministries. 

We'll have our traditional burlap products, glass etchings, chatter tiles and some new pieces like these leather bracelets... 


art pieces... 


and the popular leather wrap bracelets.


Hopefully we'll have more time to post again soon!! 






Hawaii : 36 Days of Adventure on Oahu

-- ALOHA --

And we're back from another exhilarating trip to Hawaii!!

When I was a kid (or more like, my whole life), one of my grandest goals was to visit Hawaii. I wanted to swim with the dolphins, go to a luau, make a lei, and learn how to hula dance. Since we moved to Huntsville for JD's job, we have been able to visit Hawaii three times together and experience WAY more than my small wishlist entailed. God has blessed us in such a beautiful way - most of the trip is covered financially since it's a business trip and we are super intentional about saving money throughout the trip so that my plane ticket is covered by what we save. Of course, the greatest blessing has been to share these amazing trips with my sweet husband. In fact, I can't imagine these trips without him. 

This particular adventure was the longest trip we've been on - about 36 days. We stayed at a hotel in Waikiki with a kitchen suite so that we could cook the majority of our meals (i.e. noodles, soy sauce and canned fruit - I was serious when I said we saved aggressively). Our trip consisted of several interesting hikes and beach bumming (for the first time in three years) when JD had days off. We'll give you more details over the next few posts but we wanted to leave you with a few of our favorite photos and places from the trip until then: 


Kailua Beach : Oahu, Hawaii


Waikiki : Oahu, Hawaii


Waikiki Beach : Oahu, Hawaii


Pali Puka Hike : Oahu, Hawaii

And, of course, my favorite photos always end up being of my sweet and handsome husband...


Mokuleia Beach : Oahu, Hawaii


The Jitney's Journeys Studio : Shelves and Storage

Clutter.

That's probably what most people see when they walk into the Jitney's Journeys studio.

But I see inspiration.

I see tools to build with, drawers to fill with vintage goodies, wall space filled with lovely color, and gorgeous packing options to use for wrapping and shipping little creations to my favorite customers. 

When I dreamt the perfect studio, this was it - including those sturdy, wall-length shelves. 


After staining the shelves the same stain we used for the desk and painting the wooden shelf brackets a few coats of the Dover White (Sherwin Williams), it was time to assemble. We drilled the brackets into the studs, placed the shelf on top and secured the shelf to the brackets with a couple of screws each.

In all honesty, it sounds a lot easier than it was; but hey, we're not exactly the handiest couple when it comes to home improvement projects. We are learning though, one project at a time. A few misguided holes in the wall later, the project was complete! 



baskets : vintage gym locker metal baskets
Mama E snagged a nice stack of them for me when I told her about my vision for the studio. 



By the way, I can't get over these two songs right now. They're not new but I've found a fresh love for them lately... 
*Billie Jean (remake by The Civil Wars)
*What If This Storm Ends (Snow Patrol)

What have you been listening to lately?


PS: If I emailed you about receiving a CD, I promise it will be coming your way soon - as in hopefully next week. 

The Jitney's Journeys Studio : DIY 12-foot Desk



Once again, I was inspired by Young House Love when I saw their DIY 13-foot counter. Originally I really wanted to get the Bedford desk collection from Pottery Barn because I knew I could build on to the collection if I needed to and the color / design was just what I had in mind. Then I remembered my mom had a custom built desk in her office using Lowe's kitchen cabinets so I decided to combine snippets of these ideas into one. 

The wall in my studio was only 12 feet, so we settled on a length of 12 feet instead. We ventured down the road to Lowe's where dad picked through the large pile of lumber and pulled out the best looking 12-foot 2" x 10"s he could find. Rather than assembling several pieces of lumber, we simply bought four pieces of lumber at the full 12' length. JD and dad set up two sawhorses in the garage and placed the pieces of lumber on top, ready for me to sand away. After sanding, I stained the backs and sides of the planks using PolyShades Antique Walnut Satin.


We carried the four planks into my office, setting them on top of a couple of scrap lumber pieces and two large pieces of plastic (since I would be staining the top part). They assembled the four planks by drilling three pieces of plywood into the back. Please note that they are totally rockin' the headlamps.


We carefully flipped the super heavy desktop over and I stained 2 coats on the top side.


We bought three unfinished cabinets from Lowe's for the drawers. Though this wasn't as money-savvy as the Young House Love bottom cabinets from the thrift store, they were WAY more money-savvy than the Pottery Barn cabinets (and more practical too). The middle is an unfinished base sink cabinet and the other two are unfinished drawer base cabinets. I sanded them down a little and painted on a few coats of Dover White (Sherwin Williams) in the garage. 

Our neighbors graciously helped us carry the cabinets into my studio as half of us lifted the desktop while the other half placed the cabinets into their rightful position. {Have I mentioned lately how thankful we are for our neighbors?!}

Mom, Elizabeth (neighbor) and I stood in the back of the room, examining this creation we had assembled. 

"Aren't the cabinets a little tall for an actual desk? Normally desks are a little lower to the ground, right?" asked Elizabeth.

"Ooooh yeah. I forgot to mention that we had to custom order the cabinet bases for my office so they would be short enough for a desk size," laughed mom.

"Aww man," was all I could say at the moment as I began sweating profusely. I really thought we messed up.

But in reality, it's perfect. I stand up anyways when I cut materials for sewing or other projects so it's helped to prevent the back pain I felt from bending over using the other desk. In fact, I prefer standing during most of my work. Somehow it gives me a steadier hand. Plus the desk fits perfectly under the windowsill and couldn't be at a better height for decor purposes.

I'm currently on the hunt for an industrial chair (vintage, please!) for the smaller nook of the desk. 


After everything was set up, I lined the drawers in these lovely Laura Ashley Shelf Liners.


Then I drilled holes for the knobs and handles we picked out from Lowe's. I debated between getting the simple knobs from Lowe's or getting some funky ones from Hobby Lobby, but the threading from the knobs at Hobby Lobby stick out pretty far in desk drawers. I was going for looks and practicality with this studio. As clumsy as I am, I'd have scars on my hands from reaching into the drawers with Hobby Lobby knobs. But they sure are precious! 

I digress.

We settled on these knobs from Lowe's. :)


When the desk was finished, we decorated. 



and paid much attention to detail, flow, inspiration and organization. ;)





Voila! 


What do you think? 



The Jitney's Journeys Studio : Overview & Quick Intro

Here is our finished studio!!


It may look super cluttered to most people, but oh, how I love this space!!! This studio has everything I need to be creative, including tons of storage and wall space of inspiration. 

During our house search, we intentionally looked for a room without carpet that I could make into our studio. This house had a guest bedroom - with tile. It's kind of weird that they would have tile in a bedroom and I'm not sure of many people that would be into that kind of thing - but it was a bonus for us! It's super easy to sweep up burlap and glitter; and paint easily scrapes off the tile. 

When we first moved into this house, I placed my collection of bottles on the built-ins. Then my mom came to visit and the collection was the first thing to go. Fortunately, she suggested they would look better on ledge under the giant window in the studio and I can't imagine this place without them. It's almost like a stained-glass window when the sun shines through. She's a genius.

I painted two coats of "jogging path" from Sherwin Williams on the studio walls to replace the standard beige that covers the walls of the rest of the house. It's a soft gray and the name of the color screams success, right? It's almost like saying, "This room is destined for the jogging path to success." Plus, the gray walls brought out the grays in the tile very nicely. I'm super pleased with the turnout.

We built the desk ourselves (we, meaning JD, dad and myself) and I stained, painted and put up all of the shelving while JD was at work. Surprise!


This space has all of my knick-knacks, leather-working tools, mailbox, crafting supplies and paper. You may notice the sign that says, "Hippies Use Backdoor - no exceptions". I found this sign in college and fell in love. I'll admit that I've been called a hippie (or "crunchy") many times in my life, especially recently. JD and I have been riding our bikes everywhere over the past three weeks, including our weekly grocery trip, so it makes sense for people to have that perception of us, but I digress. It's funny and that's what matters. 


This is my shipping, packaging and inspiration station. We placed the antique door chalkboard against this wall to keep track of projects, birthdays, weddings and babies. Each order I receive is assigned to a basket on the shelf. Now I can set an order aside and work on another one, if needed, and I'll still be organized! This is a new one for me. ;) Then we have bags, envelopes, tissue, etc. for shipping and packaging needs. 

Please note the "Safety First" sign and First Aid box hanging on the wall - both finds from Mom, of course. I store all of my small supplies in the First Aid box, and the Safety First sign is just too cool for words. 


Alas, this is what you see when you walk in the doorway: my sewing nook. Isn't it charming? Bonus: I bought the chair from a thrift store for $3, painted it and recovered it. It's not only pretty, but quite comfy!

I will be posting about each section of the studio over the next week or two. Hope you enjoy the tour!

The CD : Jitney Jams Year III

We were a few months late getting them out again this year, but the Jitney's Jams is back and ready to blare through your stereo system.

{If you don't know about our annual album, read about the history behind it here.}


The theme for this year's album is: Wake Up

This may come as a surprise to you but months of thought go into our album - 12 months, to be exact - sometimes even more. {We already have a few songs on the 25-year anniversary playlist. CDs probably won't be around by that year though.} Our goal each year is to methodically plan the songs to flow in certain ways. 

This year's mix was planned in such a way to demonstrate our waking up physically and also spiritually throughout this past year. Each song or a few lyrics from each song have a special meaning behind it. Granted "our meaning" behind a lot of the songs are probably way different from the intentional meanings of the lyrics. For instance, some of the lyrics in the song "Lover of the Light" by Mumford & Sons are parallel to our walks with Christ, as He is the Light, but you'll have the chance to read all about those meanings soon. 

There is purpose in every song that we've added to every album, but this is the first year we'll be sharing those purposes with you. We'll post about the explanations in a blog series so that it's not info overload. The first post will explain songs #1-5, the second post #6-10, and you get the point. 

Hope you enjoy!!

OH! And, of course, this year we will be sending CDs out to a few of our blog readers. If you would like a copy, comment below or on our Facebook page. We'd love for you to jam out with us! 






The Todd Nest : Jitney's Journeys Studio

We have almost completed the arduous but super thrilling task of designing and decorating my studio. Be prepared for when we reveal it. The sight of it may just blow your mind. ;) We have many people to thank for helping us paint, construct, lift and design my dream studio. It's perfectly practical and yet still stunningly charming.

As excited as I am to show you the full tour of the studio, we have decided to only give you a glimpse into the details for this week...


We will be working overtime this weekend to have everything perfectly placed to show y'all photos next week.

In the meantime...