Jennifer

Photo Adventures with Amy

12/16/2014 by Jennifer 1 Comment

Amy and I have been going on photo adventures since we were 13 or 14. A few years ago when I upgraded to a Canon 7D, we immediately went out and took a trillion photos in front of some beautiful mint colored auto shops. The last time I visited home, we got together for an impromptu photo sesh at the same mint walls that we love so dearly.

Amy was sweet to take some pictures of me for The Blog Market too! Our friend Katie also joined us for a quick headshot for the bio page.

So much fun! I’ve stopped taking photos “professionally” for weddings and what not, which has given me so much freedom to just learn and experiment with my camera sans all the pressure. I kind of feel the same way about this blog. I used to stress out about getting everything posted on time or feel guilty when I skipped a day (or week) or blogging. But I’m turning Earl Grey into a place to post…whenever I want. No pressure. The Blog Market has taken over as my main blogging priority, but I’m trying to go into it with less stress and “blog guilt” as they call it.

On another note, can you believe Christmas is next week? What the heck? Not even ready.

The Blog Market is Here!

12/08/2014 by Jennifer Leave a Comment

It’s finally here! I’m so excited to begin this new blogging adventure over at The Blog Market.

Just so you know, I’m not leaving Earl Grey behind just yet. I took a short break, but there are still many crafty, colorful posts to come. Thanks for sticking around. :)

Click here to follow The Blog Market on Bloglovin’. Hope you enjoy it!

A Work in Progress

11/26/2014 by Jennifer 4 Comments

Have you ever gotten to the very end of a project or assignment and felt like you wanted to re-do all of it? For the past several weeks, I’ve been working on The Blog Market (shared it in this post!) and I planned to have it finished by this week. By the end of last week, I realized I wasn’t completely feeling the design. Instead of pulling all nighters, I decided to give myself a break and extend my deadline. Many people say you shouldn’t wait until something is perfect to share it, but I’m being stubborn. :)

Also, fun news! My friends Angela (of If Found, Make) and Katie will be contributing on The Blog Market! They have some brilliant posts and design goodies prepared and I’m so thankful to be working with them on this project. I can’t wait for you all to see everything.

In the mean time, I hope you are staying inspired and doing what you love. Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Schoolhouse Electric Holiday Launch

11/14/2014 by Jennifer 3 Comments

I can’t believe I’m already posting something about Christmas. Is this allowed? Oh man. Usually I am not such a festive person, but some things are too good to ignore (especially when I stare at them all day at work). A couple weeks ago, Schoolhouse Electric launched its holiday product line. These are some of my faves:

(top, left to right)

1. SECO Milk & Cookies Set
2. Snow Day DIY Kit – Throw
3. Slouchy Stripe Alpaca Hat
4. Coal Soap
5. SECO Shiny Glass Ball Ornament Set
6. Find Joy Ornament
7. The Year in Stitches Calendar Card Set
8. Classic Wood Sled
9. SECO Stockings

I’m particularly in love with #2. THAT YARN. Before the launch date, we spent many hours stringing lights, wrapping gifts, etc. This is what the store looks like right now:

See? It’s hard to be Grinchy about something so nice. :)

Have you been doing anything Christmas-like or are you waiting until the day after Thanksgiving? I hear that’s the normal thing to do.

Coming Soon: The Blog Market

11/13/2014 by Jennifer 10 Comments

Hello friends! I’m really excited to share the details of a project I’ve been working on for the past several months! It’s a blog/shop/community called The Blog Market.

For a long time, I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate more blog design tutorials into Earl Grey. While I posted a few here and there on this blog, it just felt a little too crowded. So I decided the best thing to do was to create a separate website solely focused on providing resources for bloggers and creative peeps. The Blog Market will include many HTML/CSS tutorials (starting from scratch), some Photoshop and Illustrator tips, inspiration for productive living, and design goodies.

Another neat part of the new website is that I hope to plant some seeds of community via forums! I don’t know about you, but I think running a one woman blog can get a little lonely. I’ve been dreaming of creating some blog forums since my Earl Grey redesign earlier this year. It didn’t feel right for this space, but it feels so right for the new space. The forums will provide a way for us to ask business and design-y questions and of course, make friends and network.

So where is Earl Grey going? For now, it will stay where it is. It’s nice to have a space for DIYs, personal blog posts, and roundups. But my energy will definitely be more focused on The Blog Market (as it has been for a while now). I’m not sure that the whole “running two blogs” thing will be for me, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes!

The Blog Market will be up and running on Monday, Nov 24th. I’ll share more details over the next week! Hope you enjoy what’s to come. :)

David Hill Winery

11/04/2014 by Jennifer 2 Comments

About a week ago, I went wine tasting with my friends Sara and Emily at the most beautiful winery I’ve ever seen! We found David Hill Winery via Google and didn’t expect it to look exactly like the photos online…but it did. Being surrounded by that many vibrant autumn-colored trees was a dream!

It looks like a painting, right?! Also, as soon as we drove up to the property we were greeted by two of the sweetest little dogs. If you know how much puppy fever I have these days, you can imagine how much I was losing my mind.

Still can’t believe this place was real.

How’s November going for you so far? Any fun fall happenings?