The custom FINGERPRINT necklaces are quickly becoming a fan favorite.  Each one is so sweet and shows the personality of each child... I mean, no two are alike.  How cool and special are they.  I wanted to capture a couple of cuties in the process so I reached out to two people I knew wanted to get their little nuggets' fingerprints captured. 

First I contacted my friend Gray Benko.  I knew she wanted a slightly more delicate version of the traditional fingerprints I had done before.  Although, she deferred to me in the end for the perfect size, I decided to try to modify hers some to make them as thin and little as possible without losing any of the special quality.  I am BURSTING to see what Gray thinks of them.  They are so cute and her precious kiddos, Farris and Charlie are such characters and Gray incredibly lovely and an awesome mom.

The second person I wanted to send a test kit to was Marina Squerciati from Chicago PD. She had contacted us about a fingerprint necklace for her little girl.  Marina is such a beauty and so kind and her daughter is little, so we thought it was a perfect test client.  Her fingerprints turned out so cute and Marina sent some precious videos and pics of them capturing it with out kit.

Each kit comes with easy instructions for capturing each child's fingerprint.  The imprints don't have to be perfect.  That is often what makes them so special.  A couple of times one has looked nothing like the other it is paired with, and I have asked the parents if they want me to alter them to make the necklace more uniform.  It is typically indicative of the child's personality and they want to leave it just as it is... which I love.   These necklaces are so much fun, and getting them to clients makes me super happy.

Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day!

xx Jane

Our bedroom has never been a place that I have focused on in our home, but recently I have been craving a comfy bedroom set up. I heard that Celadon had these new linen and quilted bedding lines.  When I went to check them out, I fell in love with the linen duvet and shams.  They just make the bed so lush and comfy.  The linen is 100% stonewashed linen and is not only washable, but they get better and better with each wash.  I decided to mix the two lines, and do a Celadon signature quilt. I chose a hand stitched cotton for the spread. It's the perfect medium weight.  Since hubby and I prefer different sleeping temps, I can pull up the linen duvet to protect me from his arctic temps. I am so happy we mixed the collections and look forward to jumping in bed these days.

I recently bought this incredible painting by Raven Roxanne.  Although I really had no place to hang it in my home or my studio, I knew I had to have it.  I brought it home, knowing that I didn't have the perfect space for it on my walls.  I loved looking at it so I had it in my bedroom to enjoy while I found a spot for it.  One day, I propped it up on my bedside table and BOOM!  Despite the fact that it was a tight fit in the small space with the slanted ceiling, I loved it, so there it went.

 To create a bit of balance on the other side of the bed, I hung my two Britt VanDeussen watercolor portraits of Wade and Pope.  I could not be happier with the way these two pieces turned out.  Britt is insanely talented, and has an incredibly unique style.  One of my favorites of her work is this painting of her daughter with a black eye.  She does amazing things with pattern and color.

While I am talking about my favorite things, I cannot get enough of this MIRTH dress... and really anything and everything they do.  They are such cute girls, making beautiful dresses, caftans, etc.  Check them out!

Bedside art + books make the perfect combo.  This little watercolor by WAY WAY ALLEN is one of my faves. She sells her work at Celadon special events from time to time as well.

The room has a funky slanted roof and skylights, a step up and some other slightly odd details, that I have grown to love, but originally made getting a vision about how to make the space work a little more of a challenge. These rattan chairs, rug and pillows from Celadon updated this awkward space between our closet and our bedroom, creating a lovely little sitting area.

xx Jane

We have finally gotten our little Sullivans Island spot in a place that I wanted to share it with you all in a short blog series.  My house is always a work in progress, so it's not perfect, but I love it so.  While some people like to decorate their homes top to bottom at once, I like to gather things over time.  I collect pieces that I love, so that the space looks like me, is functional and comfortable for my family.

Lately, I have been overcome with a desire to simplify my life.  This last move was a bear!  The process made it clear to me that we had accumulated too much junk in our home before.  It was startling to see how much we had that we didn't need or want, and we simply didn't have space for it in our new island spot. In our new little home on Sullivans, I wanted to be more deliberate in making some decisions and transforming our house into a home.

Our Celadon sectional from several years back had seen better days.  Lots of spills and little kiddos with sticky fingers on the sofa had left it looking a little worn.  Not only that, but the sofa never fit our space properly.  We bought it eyeballing the space and without consulting anyone, which is typically how we roll.   

When it came time to find the sofa for our new home, I wanted it to be just right.  I wanted it to hold our whole family comfortably, to be beautiful AND to have some seriously stain resistant fabric for the aforementioned sticky fingers. Why do my children use their shirts, sofa, anything other than the napkin in front of them to wipe their hands??

I love Celadon Home in Mount Pleasant, so that was the first place I thought of for my search.  I was matched with a design consultant, Sue Harris who was such a help in the process.   She came in our home, took pics of the space and we discussed what I had in mind as well as our family needs.  I showed her some sofas that I liked and together we were able to pick the perfect sectional for our family for our little living room.  After settling on a Robin Bruce sectional, we discussed fabrics.  I wanted something light and bright and STAIN RESISTANT.  I was thrilled to hear about CRYPTON to keep my little sticky people from turning our new centerpiece into a mess.  When the sofa arrived, I immediately noticed the difference between the scale of it and our previous sectional and I recognized how off we had been.  We added some beautiful pillows and voila. Hallelujah!  At long last, we have the perfect sofa for our space.  THANK YOU CELADON&SUE!!!!

Celadon has an Upholstery Sale twice a year and it just so happen that it starts tomorrow for the month of September!!  It is the only time of year that they offer 20% off both in-stock & special order upholstered furniture.  The Special Order part is what really sweetens this deal.  Happy Shopping!

These rattan chairs made even better with these new Celadon pillows. Love our Sarah Boyts Yoder works hanging in acrylic frames by Simply Framed in the kitchen.

We added a few new items to our Celadon shelf from more than 10 years ago, throws on our ladder, and plants in baskets from Indonesia.  New pillows add a hint of color and texture to the neutral sofa.

   

I had these open shelves built to make this wall more functional.  I mixed in some of my old faves with some new kitchen items from Celadon.  I also love all of Celadon's greenery and planting options - baskets, pots, vases, etc.

These chairs I bought at the 72nd street flea market in NYC when we were living in a 5th floor walk up with zero space for any extra chairs.  My hubby really questioned my judgement when I insisted that we had to have them and then made him help me schlep them to the apt only to find 4 little spots around to leave them until we go to a home where we had a dining room table.  11 years later, they are our every day dinner chairs and I am so happy that I went with my gut and got them.  Paired with my grandparents old heart pine table, they are perfect and make me super happy.

xx Jane

Thank you for capturing our home in its best light, Lindsey Shorter!

Well, here we are at the end of this little journey.  I thought I should wrap up this series up by saying, THANK YOU x 1000 for reading, for your sweet comments, and for your kind words.  I am in no way a beauty or health or fitness or any kind of blogger, but it has been fun to share my little successes and finds with you. I hope that I have made this milestone feel a little less "over the hill" and more climbing to the top.  ha!

In summary:  I feel great.  I am truly happy.  I am beyond thankful for where I stand today.

Because I think it's important to hear truth with all of the beautiful images and hyper positive attitudes we see on social media, I would feel unreal if I weren't honest.  Of course everything isn't always perfect.  Midway through this blog series I had an MRI which showed that my brain cavity, which is already enlarged and has a lot more fluid than normal, showed increase fluid.  Since I am not having extreme headaches, my surgeon suggested that we continue to monitor it closely. If I were to have bad headaches or any other symptoms of the pressure, he would suggest having surgery to have a permanent shunt put in my brain to drain the fluid and relieve pressure.  The fluid has been increasing gradually over time, which is not good, but without symptoms there is not much to do but watch and wait.  I always think, when I go into an appointment, that with all of my exercising and eating well and not using toxins, that they will let me know that it has not increased or even better that it has decreased.  This was not the case.  It was the first time my overly cool as a cucumber doctor has ever seemed concerned.

Of course this was a gut buster when I am in the middle of talking about how amazing I feel.  I wanted to quit writing the series, feeling a little bit fake for claiming all was so great,  when in reality I was terrified of having another brain surgery.  It's not a terrible surgery.   But, any surgery into your brain has risks, or they would be doing it right now as a precaution.

As the days went on, the anxiety about it subsided and I realized that the scan cannot determine how I feel.  Only I know how I feel and I can't live in a state of fear and anxiety.  I do feel great!!  Besides letting Tyler know if I have headaches, so he can monitor them, all is as well as it ever could be.  I am hoping the fluid in the cavity doesn't continue to increase... or that it goes down.  The do-er in me wants to eat better and workout harder and do whatever I can to make the fluid decrease, but this is a situation that I cannot control.  There is nothing I can do to fix it, so I will ride this out and do my darndest to let go.

I am one lucky lady to have an amazing, super handsome, husband by my side; two precious, strong willed children; supportive parents and extended family; to have had my own business for 17 years; to be back in a city that I adore and gives me life.  I have no complaints.  All days are not without worries, but they are fewer and farther between.  I can't ask more than that considering where I was 5 years ago.

xx jane