Jenna Lou Loves You

Getting There

It's getting there!! And I couldn't be more thrilled. Draft is done. Testers are testing. And I'm aiming for a launch date of end of February.

Happy Monday everyone!! Tonight is yoga class for me :D
xo,
Jennalou

Back to the mat

On Monday I started an Introductory To Hatha Yoga class at our local yoga studio. I used to be really into yoga and would practice at home 3 to 4 times a week when I was in high school, but somewhere along the line I lost track of it and as we moved from place to place never found a studio to motivate me or the time to do it at home.

As part of my New Years resolution I'm going back to the mat and I'm starting fresh, from the beginning. I've never been much of a runner or a weight lifter, but yoga is totally my cup of tea. I love the control you gain, the strength you find in your own body, and the relaxation and peace. And this time around I really want to learn about it... not just do it. I want to learn why a pose has it's name and how it helps my body.

AND... to treat myself and my new yoga practice I made a mat bag. The first one I made was a little short. It totally still works, but because I'm a bit of a perfectionist I made a second one with a longer body so the drawstring can close properly and a longer strap so I can more comfortably tote it from home to studio messenger bag style. AND I just LOVE them!! I want to wear my yoga mat all over town to show off the bag. I know that sounds absurd, but I really do. Would it be weird to wear it to the market?? what about the mall??

Well at least I can wear it to the studio!! You can see more photos of the bags here.

Namaste

Red Velvet

My issue of Martha Stewart Living showed up on Friday. It's all about the upcoming V-day. Pink, red, lavender, butter cream, chocolate. It was written all over. So to calm my urgent desires for sweets I baked a red velvet cake and slathered it in the traditional cream cheese frosting. I have to admit that the cake came from a box, so while it's definitly delicious, it's not as good as homemade would have been. My pictures look dark because it was late, but I can assure you that it is indeed a yummy red velvety color.

I spent most of my weekend... wait... make that all of my weekend cleaning, painting, washing laundry, and sleeping. Yep.. that's about it. Our house had gotten to the point where my skin started to crawl so I cleaned EVERYTHING. I even went so far as to empty the entire refrigerator to wipe down the shelves and walls. What can I say... it just had to be done.

We also started redoing one of the extra bedrooms upstairs. Some day that room will be my office, but because of reasons hard to explain it will be an office/den for John... for now. It's coming together pretty quick, but we still have a few key pieces of furniture to move up there and then I'll show you :D

Happy Monday Everyone!
xoxo,
Jennalou

Fresh Sale

I just made up a bunch of new items and thanks to my super light box it was a breeze to photograph them all for the shop. In honer of my new toy... and these lovely new wristlets I'm having a "Fresh Sale". When you checkout just use the code "Fresh" in the message to sellers box and I will send you a revised invoice within 24 hours of purchase. The only exceptions are Custom and Design Your Own orders. This will be good until 2.1.08.

xoxo,
Jennalou

Did you see it?

Did you see it yet???? I'm so thrilled our girl has done it again!!!! GO LOOK!!

WARNING: THIS POST MAY CAUSE JAW DROPPING AND BANK ACCOUNT EMPTYING FOR ALL YE FABRICAHOLICS OUT THERE.

YEY.... I'm so excited :D
xoxo,
Jennalou

Fabric Update

Just a little news pertaining to shop business. I just updated my fabric database so there are LOTS more to choose from for custom orders. Over 150 to choose from in fact!! Whoa... can you say fabricaholic?

xo- Jennalou

2nd try

So I may have been a little overzealous with my photo box last night. After my initial post I played around with my camera settings a bit more and got even better results. I think that there is still room for improvement, but considering the somewhat low quality of my camera this may be as good as it gets until I upgrade.

Anyways I couldn't be more tickled with the results!!

xoxo,
Jennalou

Lightening up

As part of my resolution to become a better photographer in 2008 I went out on a journey today to get all the supplies for a DIY light box. This was not actually my first attempt at building one... my first attempt will remain unmentionable... It was a disaster!

This time I did a bit of research first. I looked at examples and browsed many of the tutorials available online. Remembering my past experience and what I thought were the weak points of my previous light box building, I choose this tutorial. It's so straight forward and EASY PEASY. I literally finished this in 1/2 hour or less. It was simple and really effective. While I was out gathering I stopped to get a tripod for balance because I tend to get shaky camera hands.

The most important part to remember when doing this is to use the daylight bulbs and adjust the white balance settings on your camera so it picks up the right white.

I'm so excited to FINALLY have a working light box. I did a little photoshop work to my photos, but nothing compared with what I was doing sans light box. Now that I have this ready to go it'll make photographing all the items waiting to get in the shop easier, quicker, and much more enjoyable.

If you've been wanting to improve your item shots I strongly suggest trying this out!
Happy Wednesday Everyone!!
xoxo,
Jennalou

In 2008

Can you believe it? It's hard to believe that 2007 was here and gone. In the blink of an eye. Thanks for such a great year!

So in the past I've never been huge on resolutions, but I think I'm going to give it a try this year. I am, after all, a 'list-maker'. Nothing motivates me more than a big list of things to get done, so this should be a positive thing!

So here goes. In 2008....

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I would like to expand my knowledge of knitting. I just learned to knit my first pair of mittens (thanks grandma) and now I'm itching to know much more. To help me along the way I signed up for a couple classes at my local yarn shop. I'm going to start by learning cables and then I'll be knitting my very first sweater!

I also would LOVE to step up my camera skills. I take TONS of pictures for the shop and blog, but I know little to nothing about how my camera actually works.

I think it's becoming clearer and clearer to all of us that we need to watch our lifestyles and try our best to live a healthier and greener life. We've been pretty good around here about recycling and conserving energy, but I know that there is SO much more we could do. So no better time to start than the present.

I would like to read at least 12 fiction books this year. Sounds a little lame, but I've been so busy with the business and life that I don't find time for this anymore and I would like that to change. So one book a month is a reasonable goal for me.

And lastly I would like to publish at least 2 more patterns this year. Hopefully a few more than that, but we'll keep it realistic.
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Ok... sorry if that was a bore. I just had to get it out there, all official and everything. Thanks again for such a great year in 2007!! I've read and dearly appreciate every comment left here and can't thank you enough for reading! It's been so much fun to meet many of you via blogland and I hope that 2008 is just as wonderful!!

xoxo,
Jennalou