We Bought a Fixer - Kitchen Complete!

Well hi. How are you? 

 It's finally time to show off our new kitchen. Yahoo! 

When we bought this house, we knew we'd have to gut this kitchen. 

It was awkwardly crammed into the corner of a really large living/dining space.

And why was that island so damn close in?

So as you recall, we took down this half wall.........

......and closed in this window. 

Behold....The Kitchen! 

The backsplash is a mix of colored glass and marble. 

We love how it ties everything together and adds some texture to the space. 

We love the butcher block island and sit here for most meals. 

Our American Range is a thing of beauty and is awesome to cook on.

So happy to have a gas range again!   

 

Our Home Depot pendant lights have a nice industrial look, capped off by swanky Edison bulbs.

Not very efficient but they are oh so pretty. 

There's not a thing we'd change about this space.

We feel so lucky to have been able to create the kitchen of our dreams!

To see/read more about our home renovation go here.

Until next week! Ta-Ta.

  

I've been busy!

Well hi! How are you?

I was home alone this weekend (Matt went up north to see his son) and went on art and design spree. First project of the weekend: jenniferjohansson.com!

I bought the jenniferjohansson.com domain a while back and finally decided to do something with it when I came across an easy to use artist website builder.  Schmolio.com was created by the husband of an artist/Rockford friend of mine, Amy Sacksteder.  Mark helped Amy create her site and then decided to help others create sleek, easy to navigate artist portfolio sites.

In just a few hours, I had uploaded 5 albums worth of images, posted my resume and artist statement, and added some contact info. Schmolio even walked me through the steps of pointing my domain name to this site. The whole process was quite easy and I'm really happy with the way it looks!

After getting jenniferjohansson.com up and running I turned my attention to my blog. If you are reading this post, hopefully you've noticed the changes. I was tired cluttered look of the sidebar, with all the little links to my other social media accounts. (I should have taken a screen shot of it, shoot!) After doing some research on some of my favorite artful blogs, seeing how others handled links, I decided to make my own "buttons".

I scanned in some of my signature papers (brown craft and vintage ledger) and went to town in Photoshop.  I got to put some of my new Photoshop/Illustrator skills to use that I've picked up at my new job. Yes, I got a new part time job, working in the art department at a local graphic design/trade show display company. (I love it!) Every day I work, I pick up a new little trick or a greater understanding of these amazing/challenging programs.

Anyways, back to my buttons. Aren't they cute? I was so happy with the way they turned out that I decided to create a new blog banner and bio in the same theme. I'm even considering new business cards and labels with this theme. Yahoo for good design!

I need to get moving on my next Tinker piece, so I'll say adieu for now. Do tell me what you think of my new portfolio site and blog update.

Ta-ta!

I am a Design Nerd, and Proud of It!

 

Hello Friends! You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet for me on the art front.  Instead of focusing on new work,  I've been spending my art time on branding and design.

I've got 2, and possibly 3 holiday shows on the horizon and I've been spiffing up all my packaging for these events. As I tell my students, a good package can sell a product and I've been trying to create some cohesion in the way I present myself and my work. 

All of my card sets are now the same standard size and have a little enclosure that shows what's inside. I'm using the same set of fonts on each package and include this little logo on the back of each card.

My card-making has become much more professional over the years. I used to purchase pre-made card backs from the craft store and mount Kinko's colored copies of my work on the front. Now, all of my cards are printed with archival inks on matte paper using my prized Epson printer.  I'm proud of how far I've come and hope to keep growing in my design skills. 

So fellow artsy ones, I have some questions for you. How much of your time do you spend on packaging and design? Did you come up with your "look" on your own, or did you have professional help? I'd love to hear from you.

Have a great week pals. Be sure to check out some of my new card sets available on etsy.

Next up on the blog agenda: Wedding design.