Happy Friday Y’all! So I know I’ve been promising exciting stuff coming up, and it feels like it’s taken forever… I also promise that I have good reasoning for being so inconsistent with my posts lately, so here it is- I’ve been working on a little side project and I’m so happy to announce the “soft launch” of J&M Co. Designs! I’ve been working on various different creations for months now, and after lots of practice and learning new techniques I’m excited to finally be able to offer personalized apparel, clothing, glassware, etc under our new “business name”!
Logo courtsey of Alyson Fink Designs!
The name obviously comes from my boys names, Jayce and Marek, “J&M”. Wow, super original, I know… *Que eye roll* but I think it’s cute.
With that being said I’ve been waiting to get our official logo finished up by Alyson Fink Designs, as well as waiting to launch our business Facebook page, and Instagram page. (If anyone is looking for any kind of logo work, or designs in general, I HIGHLY suggest checking out Alyson Fink Designs. You WILL NOT be disappointed). Moving on, there is potential for us to eventually set up an Etsy page, but with us working to get on our feet we figured we would start with these two for now and see how this all goes. With still working a full time job in Human Resources and Accounting, it’s been a juggling game trying to find the best balance and routine.
So on to the good stuff- what does J&M Co. offer? Good, I’m glad you asked!
We offer various different things such as apparel, drink ware, kitchen and bathroom accessories, and home decor. We’ve been busy making baby onesies, t-shirts for both adults and children of all sizes, coasters, personalized wine glasses (both with stems and stemless), custom cups, koozies, etc. The list is ENDLESS. I will include some photos below of some of the things we have been working on lately.
Custom CoastersCustom Traverse City Wine Glasses (Rose Gold)Custom “Bring Home” Baby OnesiesSippy Cups/Snack Cups are the perfect little gift set idea!More Michigan Wine Glasses- I can’t get enough!
So there you have it, just a few of the MANY projects we’ve worked on. If you have any custom requests or inquiries, please feel free to message me on our Facebook page or email me at jandmco.2@gmail.com and I will get back with you! Also feel free to spread the word, we love to be busy. Mostly- I’m just excited that the fun I’ve been having with my crafting has turned into something that others can enjoy as well. I’ll include links to our Instagram page, as well as our Facebook page below. I would love some feedback on suggestions, as well as any kind of constructive criticism.
Hi guys! Ever since I was introduced to Etsy I’ve been slightly in love with the entire site. I’ve also been incredibly envious of anyone who can make such beautiful creations and sell them from a cute little shop online, some of them from the comfort of their own home! I’ve had a lot of experience with Etsy ever since we’ve began our wedding planning since, duh, I’m not making anything homemade.
I’ve ordered everything from our guest book alternative to our cake topper and all of the gifts for my bridesmaids on Etsy from one shop or another. I’m going to start a little series here (can’t promise or foresee how long it’s going to last) with reviews and suggestions of the cutest little shops for any event possible! Weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, home decor, personal items, etc!
First on my hit list: My wedding cake topper.
TA DAHHH!!!
I didn’t want your typical cake topper. I searched for DAYS to find one that struck my fancy. Then I thought about something that would incorporate both of the boys as well and I just COULDN’T FIND ANYTHING. When I thought I found one that would have been a silhouette of the four of us with our last name underneath, I read the reviews and they were terrible. Some people had paid for theirs and hadn’t received it over two months later. Some received them broken and were unable to get another one in time. So, after having only 2 of 5 stars I decided against it.
Let’s be honest here, I wasn’t about to use the “Precious Moments” cake topper that my parents used 26 years ago. It’s heavy, and wouldn’t really compliment the simplicity of our cake. I definitely didn’t want anything gaudy or too large as there are already flower arrangements on the cake.
So I finally decided on this!
Where did I get this from?
alphabetcanvas is the name of the store. I will link them right here!
They were quick, they were polite, and the packaging that the delicate topper came in was between two cardboard pieces wrapped thoroughly in bubble wrap.
Honestly it’s one of my favorite pieces for our wedding, and it was easily the best $18 I’ve spent thus far!
Tune in next week for our next review of the various Etsy shops I’m in love with!
When I began putting together my our wedding registry, I quickly came to the realization that most of the things that couples usually add to a registry were things that we already have. Some of the things could be replaced such as our glassware, dinnerware, and towels, but most of it was still in good condition with no reason for replacement. Let’s be real here, one can only have so many measuring cups and coffee mugs.
So what do you add to your wedding registry when you’re living in an already “established” household? Here’s what we did…
First off, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- Amazon. Amazon was my favorite place to register and I would highly recommend it even over popular stores such as Target. Our Target registry kept showing my guests “unavailable items” without notifying me. Also, when we would go to edit that registry there were half of the items marked as “currently unavailable” which is super inconvenient for our guests. Don’t even get me started on Kohl’s who wouldn’t recognize my address making it impossible for guests to even ship us anything from our registry. That one was deleted shortly after completing it. I was NOT happy with Kohl’s at all. Plus, Amazon has so many Prime items and of course those are shipped right to your house two days after your guests order them. I’m telling you, you can’t beat it.
The actual list:
The best advice that anyone is going to give you is to break up your list by room category. This way you can think of all of the things you need and it’s not in one big jumbled up mess.
Bathroom:
The only things we needed for our bathroom were new bath and hand towels, and a new waste basket. We already had fixtures, decorations, toothbrush holders and soap dispensers that were all still cute and in good condition. Usually you just want to get rid of all of your parents hand-me-down towels at this point.
Bedroom:
Again, we already have a bed. Here is a chance for some upgrades though. Every single one of our pillows was a hand-me-down from our parents or friends. They had been balled up from numerous trips to the washing machine, and years and years of use. We have a king size bed, so we put king size pillows on our registry, and new pillow replacements for both boys and for our future guest room. We also put a replacement bed skirt and duvet cover on the registry. A new set of sheets or two would go great here too if we hadn’t already bought ourselves some with gift cards from Christmas #adulting. Feel free to throw in some decorative pillows for your bed, nothing like those cute newly wed decorations. Nothing feels better than fresh, crisp, new bedding.
Kitchen:
Here comes the more lengthy part of our registry. The majority of our kitchen utensils and equipment are mismatched or hand-me-downs. Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but the older I get the more I would like to have some matching sets for when we have guests over. Our cups and glasses were all various sizes, shapes and colors. Our dishes with multiple chips in them. This was a great opportunity to put on some items that we don’t have yet or some items to upgrade our kitchen:
Awesome Pie Dish, because nobody wants to use the disposable tins forever.
We only have plastic mixing bowls, glass is nicer for microwave use.
My grandma always had pitchers for when guests would come over for dinner. Much nicer than having to fill each glass at the refrigerator or the sink. This also allows me to be able to have lemon infused water on hand! The new glasses were a necessity since our glassware was mismatched beyond belief.
The coolest part of the Amazon registry is that whatever is sold and shipped by Amazon you can get a 20% discount off of whatever is not purchased after the wedding.
This is why we listed some kind of ridiculous things on our registry such as a nice copper platter for $140, and a Canon camera. Yes, they’re expensive. No, we did not actually expect anyone to buy them. But they were both something that we I wanted so why not put them on there and have 20% off of each item after the wedding?
Of course we had to put our kitchen aid mixer on there too, how else were we supposed to successfully produce mass quantities of pizza dough?
I can’t even count on both hands how many times we’ve utilized this bad boy already. These things are definitely worth the price.
Miscellaneous:
Whether you have kids, pets, or just a husband who doesn’t like to take his shoes off, *cough cough Brian* You need a carpet cleaner if you have any carpet in your house. Maybe I’m the only one, but renting a carpet cleaner thoroughly grosses me out. Who wants to honestly “clean” your carpets after several other families with filthy dogs, cats, and kids cleaned theirs? No.
This is from Mommy Dearest, terrifying movie. You should watch.
Also in the miscellaneous section, I put a steamer for clothes. I’ve always dreaded ironing. You need to get a collapsible board, a towel, and it literally turns into a 30 minute gig just to get some wrinkles out of my kids Tommy Hilfiger shorts. However, if you’ve ever used a stand up jiffy steamer, you know that it’s the answer to all of us mother and wives prayers. Easy, much like straightening your hair. Much less maintenance. They run about $200 but are worth every penny in my opinion just from the time savings. I feel like it’s a necessity in any household. I can finally put my iron to bed. Robert Downey Jr’s bed that is…
I definitely don’t look that attractive ironing anything…
Also in the miscellaneous section can include things such as:
Outdoor games, camping gear, deck and patio furniture/decor, car gadgets and tools. After all, this is a wedding for both the husband and wife…
Our registry also had Lowe’s or Home Depot gift cards for that never ending honey-do list for B. Lot’s of home improvement in our future.
So although this doesn’t exactly look like the typical wedding registry, this is what ours looked like as a couple who already owns a home and has most of what we need.
Now that our wedding is just 108 days away I am starting to get into the smaller more intricate details of our big day. One of the things that I thought very little of until a week ago was the guest book. I asked my mom about her guest book, and where it was. She told me it was in the basement, and they’ve gotten it out MAYBE three times since the wedding to prove each other wrong about a guest at their wedding. It’s this horrid white lace covered book with a big white bow (wedding fashion in the early 90’s was less than stellar if you ask me). So I started looking on Pinterest to see different ideas, but that was almost overwhelming how many different suggestions were available. I went to Etsy, typed “guest book alternative” and then my prayers were answered immediately.
I bought this from the Etsy shop The Best Day Ever Store and I could not be more impressed. It’s light, so hanging it will be a breeze. The color is perfect, and it will look so nice with everyone signing it in white marker. I wanted a “guest book” that I could hang up and look at, something to remind me of all of the special people that spent one of the most important days of our lives with us. (Plus it’s in the shape of the most beautiful state in the U.S, of course it’ll be my favorite piece of decor).
Tomorrow I’ll be back with a change in pace on some good new reads I’ve picked up. In case anyone wanted some of that “unsolicited advice” I promised in my first post.
Picking up the Pendricks 