New Years Sale!

Who doesn't love a good sale? Especially as sweet smelling as this!

Shop from our Etsy or Artfire shops and receive 20% off your purchase for the entire month. No need for a coupon code at Artfire folks..... Etsy customers use coupon code: SMA2011

shop handmade - shop local

My personal mantra this year is, "it's going to be a handmade Christmas". But if you're one of the many who simply doesn't get crafty with it, or maybe you just don't have the time to try your hand at knitting a scarf or booties, then why not consider giving the gift of handmade, or local, or both? I bet your neighbors will thank you.

We've been busy at the Sweet Mojo workshop shipping and making more product for shows, (and yes, folks are doing their Christmas shopping with us).... It's been fun, and we love the repeat business that we've been lucky to have!

I'm showing off our Body Oil, as everyone I know is complaining about dry skin since the weather has changed. I love this Body Oil, my friends love this Body Oil and customers want more. It leaves a light satiny sheen, but if you like that heavy-crisco-like-look, well, then I'm happy to report that this stuff isn't for you! We've got it in about 5 of our current scents, but would be glad to whip you up some in your favorite Sweet Mojo scent!

We've got a great deal going on our Sugar Scrub Sampler 15 Pack. Over the summer we thought it would be a great idea for wedding/shower gifts and envisioned boxes of them appearing like sprinkles of candy at garden & spa parties. Now that Christmas is here, we realize the potential they have for being great stocking stuffers and basket fillers or the perfect gift for teachers and friends at the office.

We are excited to announce that I am hosting another Artisans' Trunk Show at the Higher Grounds in Hallowell, Maine. The last one was too much fun, filled with friends, music, art and mimosas. What better way is there to shop for the holidays really?

Regardless of where you live, consider hitting a local craft show, or taking a little time to get on great sites like Etsy and Artfire, I bet you'll be surprised at the talent out there!

xoxo Jes

Work mixed with a little fun......

This past week, my friend Hope Wallace of Paper Relics came to Maine for the week to help Jolene and I design our website for Sweet Mojo Apothecary. We worked for the first 3 days on the site, then managed to squeeze in a little fun at the end of the week.

Sweet Mojo's site will be ready soon, and we are so excited that our customers will be able to purchase our handcrafted bath & body products directly from our site! If you'd like to hear more about it, just sign up for our newsletter in the right hand column of Sweet Mojo's Blog.

Thursday we spent the day exploring Belfast & Camden, Maine. It was the first time in a while that I had been able to take photos just for fun! On Friday we dug for old bottles in the woods behind my house. Hope got a lot of photos that day, and plans on writing a blog post about it, so keep watching her blog if you'd like to see our little adventure in the woods!

All of the photos I took that day were in Camden Maine.

I can always depend on Hope to get good photos no matter where we may be together!
She took all of the photos below.

Abby luvs Hope!

She even did our chalk boards at The Higher Grounds in Hallowell!

Hope likes feet! (you had to be there)

I didn't even know she was taking this!

It was a whirlwhind of a week, but let me tell you, we aren't afraid of a little fun!

If you're into "liking" good stuff on Facebook, why not "like" Paper Relics? Just go here!

hey... guess what?

So we are having a little contest over at Sweet Mojo... woncha flit by and play along?

Groovin' on a sunny afternoon....

We are psyched to announce that Junque Revival, Vintage Jewelry & Sweet Mojo Apothecary will be set up for the entire day at the Portland Music and Arts Festival this Saturday on Free Street. Presented and sponsored by WCLZ, The Dogfish and a plethora of other Maine businesses, this all day music event will have an eclectic mix of bands along with some fabulous Maine artists & vendors.

Our tent will have oodles and oodles of cool costume jewelry by Nancy (my Mom) from Vintage Jewelry. I plan on bringing the Junque Revival copper tree loaded up with jewels, and of course Jolene and myself will have of our entire line of products from Sweet Mojo plus new products that you wont find online.

Check out the website to get all the info... and we hope to see you there!

shop and rock people!

new scent & trunk show...............

Under The Sun is our new uplifting scent, designed to kick those blues and put a spring into your step!

We'll be selling our divine products at Chase Farm Bakeries Trunk Show in Augusta, Maine this coming Saturday.
Find out about the new scent and the trunk show over at Sweet Mojo's blog.

only two weeks away!

We are getting close to the sale at my house, and I am just a wee bit excited!

We have artists bringing pottery, jewelry, art, tie-dyes, photography and so much more.

My Mom is coming with vintage buttons and costume jewelry and there will be lots of tag sale tables set up. I will also have some vintage wares at very reasonable prices.

Of course SWEET MOJO will be set up in the sunroom, so it's a perfect time to smell all of our scents!

I wish some of my bloggy friends lived closer, I know we'd have a ball!

Sweet Mojo's got a blog! We have so many fun stories from the workshop, we decided it was time to get blogging! We will also be running contests, filling you in on new experiments & more.

Wont you flit by for a visit? Just click here!

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Big Daddy and I took our annual trip to Jonesport, Maine, and spent a long weekend on his Dad's boat. As always, there was A LOT of socializing with the Beal's Island crew, picnik cruises, dancing on the deck & The Lobster Boat races.

You just can't beat these accomodations!

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Today's my first day back in the workshop and we've made four batches of our Soothing Salt Soaks. We are also experimenting with an all-over body oil spray, that is looking to be FABULOUS! Every day on my vacation was filled with sun-sun-sun, and once we got back to the boat I'd spray the body oil on my sun-drenched skin, and (if I may so myself) my skin looked (and smelled) wonderful. We'll keep you posted on the progress ;)

fabulous!

Did someone say FREE SHIPPING?

We are offering FREE SHIPPING on anything in the shop at Artfire! Now thru July 10th

Enter coupon code FREE SHIPPING at checkout.

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and if we don't see you, please have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

xox

Jes & Jolene

to the market we go!

In an effort to spread the Sweet Mojo word, Jolene and I decided to set up at some local markets and craft shows this summer. So we set up at the Montsweag Flea Market on Rt. 1 in Woolwich Maine. Though it was slow due to an unstable weather forecast, we were happy with the sales that we made and the folks we met. We think we may have some new customers addicted to our sumptuous products as well!

We are both in the process of getting ready for our vacation, and once we're back, we definetly plan on heading to Montsweag again....

We'll announce the next time we plan on setting up, and if you are a local, we hope you'll swing by and say hello!

Jes & Jolene

xoxox

art in the country....

I still have to add the address and directions to the bottom.... but we will be putting these posters up EVERYPLACE we can think of!

The holiday weekend proved to be a non-stop whirlwind of activities... we had quite an impromptu crowd Friday night, and i managed to throw together ribs on the grill, coleslaw & roasted sweet potatoes. We stayed up into wee hours of the night by the campfire chatting & socializing.

Saturday morning Big D. and I roused ourselves up early enough to play outside and we finished our stone walkway. A proccess that has taken us about three summers, this little part in the front was the last bit to be done.

Sunday We took the boat out of Wiscasset, Maine & headed to Robinhood, where we stopped and had lunch at The Osprey. Here's Miss Jolene, my Sweet Mojo partner. It is tradition that her and Mikey get the first boatride of the season. (fellow fishermen not included)

Lots of gorgeous views, and these canadian geese did not seem to be bothered by our appearance, and posed appropriately.......
I also managed to squeeze in a trade with one of my favorite crafters, Kirsten of Anabel Fuzz.
Since Jolene and I are going to be hitting some summer markets with our products, I had to think about style, comfort & a little organization. She'll custom design your vendor apron for you!! And I love her retro fabrics!

I have to share with you my new summer scent that I have been wearing every day from Sweet Mojo...... it's called Sunbeam. I have managed to turn several of our customers here in the area into Sunbeam addicts! Including my best friend Brodie who has been coming to the workshop on Fridays to help us. I love a girl who works for product! It was funny, because I was into our floral-garden-like scents this early spring (Butterfly Girl, Fairy Lore & Happy Wings to name a few) as I think I must've been craving my perennial gardens. Once summer hit, I switched to Sunbeam. I'm totally loving that I've got all of these sweet-smelling options at my fingertips these days!

It is a mix of Sweet Orange, Neroli & Vetiver. It is so fresh and summery, and best of all, I have been told I smell good from strangers at the grocery store!! It makes me think of sunshine & blossoms.....

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We have a family gathering down the road this afternoon, so I am up early to get groceries. There is a church down the road from me that always has THE BEST lawn sale, so I'm strategizing to be one of the first in line when the doors open!
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What did you do for your holiday weekend?? Leave us your link in the comments if you posted... we'd love to see!

a few of my favorite things

SHOP HANDMADE

SHOP MAINE!

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1. Vintage Junque
2. Worthy Goods
3. Shell Scapes
4. Littleput Land
5. Clay Patty
6. Willow and Me
7. Sweet Mojo Apothecary
8. Treasure Scents
   

thoughts from the studio

Over the past couple of months I have has some interesting emails asking all sorts of questions. Mainly asked, if I would be making any more jewelry, if I'd be doing any more how-to articles, and why the switch?

I felt like my answers fell short, and I guess I was having a hard time really explaining it myself. We set up a shop on Artfire yesterday, and there you have a blog to play around with. Well what started as a little intro to our business ended up being our (my) story. It kind of all came pouring out, and I thought maybe I should copy it over to here.

I've embarked on a new whacky ride.... and I can only compare it to driving for the first time out west, we'll say on a long road in the desert with nothing but a back-pack and a few sandwiches in your car, and you can forget that cell phone folks. Really who needs to know where you're going, when you're not sure yourself, you just know you'll get there and it'll be great.

So far it has been great. Here's the story in short....

I've always had a love for making just about anything and everything, and one of those things happens to be bath products. You know, that at-home-you-better-use-it-tonight-or-it-will-go-bad-olive oil-and-sugar-scrub-stuff. But seriously, we've had some pretty fun spa nights with our homemade goops & there was a time I was becoming addicted to homemade products I could find on Etsy. Last year my favorite bath & beauty Etsy seller mailed and said she was closing her shop. Well, we went into panick mode as A) we were addicted to her sugar scrub like some might be to to their morning coffee, and B) I was planning to shop with her for Christmas gifts and hadn't given any thought to what else I could actually buy the folks on my shopping list. huh.

After digging around in the attic for some old B & B recipes, I set to work on making what I thought in my mind would be fabulously luxurious products that would have my fans (sisters, mothers and grammys mostly) weeping at my feet for more. Well I wont get into the details, but basically those first products I made weren't even allowed to see the light of day.... there would be no weeping at anyone's feet!

But I will throw that comparison out there again. I had basically fueled up the car, rolled up the sleeping bag and was heading to the corner store for a map.

And there began the journey.

I was addicted to every recipe I could find and alter. I needed to know what "emulsified" meant and what was really "all natural" and what was not. I needed to know what a "top note" smelled like, and what "evaporation" meant. My kitchen table and countertops were no longer fit for eating. I just HAD to do this.

Soon Christmas was around the corner and I threw several parties, inviting some of my best gal pals to swing by, eat, drink, be merry and make B & B Christmas gifts using my own newly revised & not so goopy recipes.

And wow. make gifts we did.
And though my sisters weren't on their knees kissing my feet and weeping with gratitude, they did ask for more, and more and more..... that's right.

Once the holidays were over and I had plenty of time to get over myself, my long-time girlfriend Jolene called me sounding very grave and serious. All she could think about was the fun we had making those scrubs! (well I had been thinking this too, and was actually wondering if any one I knew had a birthday coming up just so I could make more sugar scrub.) She had a serious proposal for me.

Now please know, Jolene has been involved in many of my artistic endevors over the past 15 years, so we knew we worked well together, and always said things like maybe one day we'd have a biz together. I remember her telling me years ago (she was sitting on my lawn in front of the barn, sanding a piece of furniture that I was going to paint & she was covered in dust from head to toe.) ANYHOO... I remember her saying, "Jessie I would invest in any business you were involved in". Well I thought that was the nicest compliment, and really only remembered it now, about 7 years later. And here we are.

Jolene's investment was not just her book-keeping skills, and cold hard cash, but the use of a wonderful apartment turned studio that she and her man were not renting out..... her feeling was, why let it just sit there? So we set up shop in our adorable above-the-garage-apartment, and for the past four months we have been playing with all of those first recipes I created until we felt (and all of our testers felt) that the product was just right. We have blended our own scents and waved them under eachother's noses blurting out words that made us think of the scent. We've incorporated Sweet Mojo, we have designed over 90 labels and have taken hundreds of photos. We've set up shop on Etsy and Artfire. We have been busy and happy and proud. We love our stuff, we love our labels and I think we actually like ourselves a little more.

Chances, I've always believed in taking chances.

SO.... friends.... I hope that maybe this all makes a little more sense. I also hope that you will still feel free to write me any questions you have about previous jewelry articles. And YES I will pick up those jewelry pliers again some day, and though it will probably be for fun and "just because", I can guarantee it will be more inspired then ever.

peace out! Jes

a life filled with lavender & rose

Just a little of what we've been up to!

We are up and running at our Etsy shop Sweet Mojo Apothecary

We hope you'll flit by for a visit!

We are going to be ready to launch Sweet Mojo Apothecary in about two weeks and I'm getting just a tiny bit excited!

I've been working on the labels and just finished a batch of Perfume Oil labels. I used a snippet from an original piece of art that I created for all of the sweet Mojo labels, but the Perfume Oils have a wee-fairy on the back. "Butterfly Girl" is one of my favorite scents, though honestly I love them all, or we wouldn't have created them!

I am no graphic artist, and it's been a challenge, but I really wanted the feel of "art-on-a-jar".

We have bottled up the perfume oils in little .35 oz. roll-on bottles, hoping this alcohol-free perfume would be perfect to tuck into a pocketbook, backpack or pocket so some savvy chic could touch up throughout the day.

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she's having a contest!

This contest is being held for YOU special folks who are attempting my project in the Spring 2010 Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine. The article is called, "A Little Goes A Long Way" and it starts on page 6. Here's the skinny....

1. Pick up the Spring 2010 issue, and use the article as your muse. The only requirement is that you incorporate a decoupaged crystal into your design.
2. You can create any type of jewelry... necklace, earrings, bracelet, brooch, etc. Once you have finished your piece, take photos and write a short paragraph about your jewel. You can write a little about your technique, inspiration, or anything you feel like.
3. send 2-3 different photos of your creation, along with your paragraph, your blog or website info., you first, last name & state to berryandco87@hotmail.com If you don't have a blog or website.... that's OK too!
4. All entries must be sent to the above email by Friday, April 30th
5. This contest will be a drawing. All names will go into a hat and three names will be pulled out one by one.
6. By entering this contest you are giving me permission to show your jewelry photos and to publish your paragraph, name & state here on Junque Revival. You are also giving me permission to touch-up your photos as I see fit. I can't guarantee that I will be able to show off all of your entries, but I WILL MAKE BY BEST EFFORTS to get everyone on here!
7. I will draw the names on Monday, May 3rd and I'll post the winners here on this blog, and email the winners as well.

Would you like a chance to have your name entered into the drawing a second time? Just post about this contest on your blog or website, let me know you've done so and your name goes into the hat a second time!

NOW FOR THE PRIZES!

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The first name that will be drawn will win:
5 FREE COLLAGE SHEETS OF YOUR CHOICE FROM PIDDIX

http://www.piddix.etsy.com/ & http://www.instantcollagesheets.com/
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The second name that will be drawn will win:

A FABULOUS COLLECTION OF BATH & BODY PRODUCTS FROM MY NEW COMPANY, "SWEET MOJO APOTHECARY"
You'll get:

(1) 8 oz. jar of Divine Sugar Scrub
(1) 8 oz. jar of Soothing Salt Soak
(1) 1 oz. jar of Hot Oil Hair Therapy

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The third name that will be drawn will win:

A SIGNED COPY OF BELLE ARMOIRE JEWELRY MAGAZINE AND THIS NECKLACE FEATURED IN THE ARTICLE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing your lovely designs!

xoxox ~Jes

sharing the new biz.....

For those of you that are swinging by to check on the contest details, I have worked out the prizes and will do an official contest post over the weekend. Because one of the prizes is going to be products from our new company.... I thought I'd finally let you all in on our new adventure!

I have been trying to share my time between our new work-shop and here at home on the computer designing the labels. The label work has been extremely time consuming, but we found that by designing them ourselves, we captured exactly who we are and what we are all about.

So, welcome to Sweet Mojo Apothecary..... We will be launching our products in a couple of weeks! We are going to start off selling on Etsy, and I am also working on our own website. So please swing by and heart us, and we'll be sure to heart you back:) We also plan on selling wholesale to some exclusive Maine shops.

Here are just a few of the products we'll be offering:

For the past 2 1/2 months we have been working on scents and perfecting our products. We will have a plethora of scents that have been blended with each product, so our customers can layer the scents. We will also have massage oils, blended perfume oils and a "Super" Sugar Scrub that contains flax seed. The Salt Soak & Sugar Scrubs will also be sold in 1 & 2 oz. sample jars. We'll add more products down the line.

We are very lucky to know so many women who love this kind of product, as we have a hearty bunch of gals that have been our testers. We carefully took all of their suggestions into consideration and played with the recipes until they felt just right. I think the funnest part for us, and for the testers were the scents (and we are going to have a lot of them!) We love the way the scents smell slightly different on each individual's skin.... and we figure that has got to be each person's individual MOJO!

How does a full-time artsist and her book-keeping friend turn into bath & body product makers? hmmmm.... I think I'll save that story for another post.

So please check back this weekend if you want to participate in the contest. I have a couple of other prizes up my sleeve, and I will fill you in on the contest deadline, etc....