Blogging. We're going to do it more.

Hello friends!

This is Jonathan writing. Around the house, Anna and I are often finishing projects and doing things and we'll say, "We should blog about that." So here goes!

We've blogged about moving and some changes happening with J&A Designs, but I have not taken the time to update about what I'm doing. Earlier this semester, we made the decision that we did not want to continue to live in the dorm at MC (where I was serving as a Resident Director), so after several months of trying to figure it all out and decide what I would be doing, I finally decided I would work for Anna's dad at his law firm in Clinton. I finished my job at MC earlier this month and a week later started working at the law firm. I think that leaving MC has been a good thing for me. It's almost as if I've graduated from MC a second time! But after a year of living in Chrestman Hall with the freshman guys, it was time.

So... the law firm. Anna works there too, so it's a family affair! It has been interesting getting in the car in the morning and going to work together, but since our ultimate goal is to someday own a full time business together anyway, it's good practice for the future. But, we are doing different things at the office and our offices are at opposite ends of the building.

On the home front, we're settling in to our new place by working on DIY projects around the house (some of which we will share later) and of course, spending a good portion of our evenings making frames :)

One of my favorite rooms in our new place is the office. Although we're now living in a 3 bedroom house, 2 of those bedrooms (plus the garage!) are largely devoted to J&A Designs- one of which being the room where Anna does all the painting and where we keep all the craft supplies and the other one being the office where I package frames ready to be shipped, keep up with our finances, work on our website, etc. etc. [J&A Designs often spills in to every other room in the house too :)*]

There are many things I love about this office... so I'm just going to give you the tour.

One great thing about this room- it's right off the living/dining room and it has a window/opening so it almost feels like part of the room. This means I can work in the office without feeling like I'm far away. The rest of what I love about the office is the furniture we've put in it. Anna and I have developed an interest in used and antique furniture. We've furnished a lot of our house with pieces that are having a 2nd (or maybe 3rd or 4th) life in our first [real] home. Personally, I never really thought Anna would get in to hunting for stuff like this, but we both love it! As we show you other rooms in the house, you'll see there's items like this in every room! So anyways, back to the office...

Used piece #1: my desk! This is one of my favorite things in the house. I love it because it's retro and because it's BIG- meaning it has lots of workspace on top. We purchased this desk off Craigslist and the owner said it had come out of her husband's father's old office (or something like that)! Above the desk are some great prints which I will blog about later! My desk chair (used piece #2) was purchased at Forget Me Nots in Brandon. Anna blogged about this store before (read that post here) and we've gotten a few more things even since that post!

And to hold the printers and supplies next to the desk? Used piece #3, an old metal cart from one of our favorite antique stores, When Pigs Fly, in Old Towne Clinton. It's the perfect size for that giant printer on top which I bought from my printer collecting friend, Robert Gatewood.

And opposite the desk on the other side of the room is a bookshelf we bought on our special, out-of-the-way trip to Ikea in Atlanta! We had some cheap bookshelves in our first and second apartments, but decided to ditch those and get this bookshelf which is also great for storage. Although we had to downsize on our books (I know- it doesn't look like we did, but we really did!) it holds everything pretty well! We bought some other cool stuff at Ikea too- but more on that later!

So... there's my office, my favorite room in our house! I spend a lot of time there, so I'm glad I like it that much. Anna has let me make it my own not caring too much how I arranged and decorated it. Speaking of, see the clock above the bookshelf? I will give someone a dollar if they recognize it and know where it came from (comment below)!

Next time, we'll try and give you a look in to some of our DIY projects, or maybe even another room in the house!

*Anna posted here about our gallery wall, and it's almost finished! We'll be blogging about it very soon!

New Website. New Storefront. It's here!

If you're reading this, you've probably clicked on to our new website. This is something we have been thinking about and working on for quite a while now! Jandadesigns.net has been completely revamped, and now you can easily view pictures of each type of frame we make, read important information like our Shop Policies and click straight through to the online store front we will be using from now on!

You probably didn't know that we have been using Etsy for a while in addition to our old online storefront. But we've decided it would be easier to use one storefront and put all of our energy in to making it the best it can be! So... you may have some questions about what buying frames from us is going to be like from now on...

First, what is Etsy?

Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade and vintage items as well as arts and crafts supplies. Basically, for J&A Designs, it's a website that provides an online storefront for you (the customer) to purchase our frames!


What if I want a special order?


We will still be doing special orders! Just email anna@jandadesigns.net if you want to place a special order. When it's time for you to pay for your order, we will send you a link and instructions on how to pay on Etsy.


What about sales- will you still be doing sales?


Yes! We will still be offering discounts and having sales. Check the banner at the top of our Etsy Shop for discount codes and special offers. Like always, we will announce sales and special offers on our Facebook Page. 


If I'm from the Jackson, MS area and I want to pick up my order, can I still do that to avoid shipping costs?


Yes! You can either:
1. Pay for the item in our Etsy Shop as is, and we will refund you the shipping amount via PayPal or
2. Contact us first by emailing anna@jandadesigns.net and we will set up a Reserved Listing for you that does not include shipping costs.


If you have any more questions, check our FAQ page and our Shop Policies page.


So... to celebrate the launch of our brand new website, we're having a sale! Use discount code "NEWSITE20" and get 20% off your purchase! Sale is through midnight on Friday, June 24, 2011. If you see a certain frame you would like, but are interested in different colors, email us! We'll honor the discount!


We hope you enjoy our new website! But we really hope you decide to take advantage of our sale!

The Past Couple Months

So... as we've already said, we've had a lot going in the last couple of months- but we've done some fun stuff too! In April, Jonathan's Aunt Judy came to visit us! We took a day trip to Memphis, where we visited Graceland, Mud Island, the Peabody Hotel and Rendezvous BBQ. For some reason, we forgot our good camera and didn't get any pictures in Memphis, but later in the week we went to New Orleans for the weekend and got some good pictures. Aunt Judy had never been to Memphis or New Orleans, so we showed her around and also saw some things we hadn't gotten to do before.

The cathedral at night.

The river boat at night.

Cafe Du Monde which is always our favorite place to go in New Orleans. Aunt Judy loved beignets!

While we were in the French corner, there was a traditional New Orleans wedding coming down the street with a band!

We got a picture of these: the ugliest bridesmaids' dresses ever!

In the Garden district in front of one of the many beautiful houses.

Archie Manning's house!

Between Aunt Judy's trip to Mississippi and May 12th, all of our free time was spent getting frames ready for the Canton Flea Market. We had what felt like thousands of frames made (it was something around 200 frames) and we got to experience being a vendor at the flea market. We're still considering if we'll be going back in the fall! Below is a picture of our booth at Canton.

After the students moved out of the dorm at the beginning of May and after the Canton Flea Market, we planned a trip to Disney World to celebrate our first anniversary, as well as making it through the Canton Flea Market! We were very thankful to be able to take a vacation like this! During our one year of marriage, we've learned that traveling is something we love and we try to make trips a priority! Last fall we got to go to New York City and later this summer we'll most likely be traveling to Ohio to see Jonathan's family as well as heading to the beach with my family! Here are some pictures from Disney World:

For anyone that's been to Disney World, you've probably seen Disney Pins for sale all over the place, but our Patrick (our very good friend that works at Disney World) explained pin trading to us. So, we got some pins while we were in Disney.

We wore anniversary buttons while we were there and all of the cast members (Disney employees) would tell us Happy Anniversary when they saw us! They have buttons for all kinds of occasions you might be at Disney for (honeymoon, engagement, birthdays, familiy reunions, etc.)

Jonathan's favorite character: Pluto!

Patrick and I on the safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Us in front of Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

They do this awesome show before the fireworks at Disney world where they project video on to every inch of the castle!

Our favorite park: Magic Kingdom.

So... that's been the past couple of months! As we've said in previous posts, we've just finished up moving, and we are working on getting our house in order and decorating. More posts on that later!

We're workin' on the site!

Hello all!

We have had a busy couple of months! Between the Canton Flea Market, finishing up my time as a Resident Director and moving to a new house, it has been a crazy end to our first year of marriage. During these couple busy months, I (Jonathan) have neglected our J&A Designs website, therefore we are taking some time to do some updating, change some things and get it ready to be bigger and better than before!

So, here's how you can keep up with us while our website is on hiatus:
- Check out our Facebook Page. We update it with pictures and information on a daily basis. And as you probably know, we like to do fun giveaways on our Facebook Page!
- Return here soon! Keep up with us by coming back to this blog!
- Contact us by emailing anna@jandadesigns.net if you need a frame- whether it be something we have in our inventory, or a special order you have in mind!

Speaking of special orders...
We want them! We want to make a frame (or even frames) for you!
Something unique made with your color choices to put in your home? We're good at that!
Wedding gift? Yep, we can do that.
Baby shower gift? Of course!
Shower host/hostess gifts? Yep, we do those.
Bridesmaids / wedding party gifts? Yes!
Birthday presents? Yes, those too.
Any other occasion that requires a super cool, fun and unique gift? Why, of course!

So, email anna@jandadesigns.net so we can get started on your special order today!

J&A Designs In Our Home

Hi!
 It's been a while, and many things have happened since I last blogged a couple of months ago. But I'll save all of that for another blog post- or several!
One of the most important and exciting things that we have done in the past couple months is move AGAIN. We have now moved 4 times in the year we have been married. I think it's probably a record & one we don't plan to add to anytime soon. As most of you know, Jonathan spent the last year as a Resident Director at MC, so we lived in school apartments & the freshman boys dorm. When we started our business, we had NO idea how quickly we would outgrow the space we had. Not to mention the fact that we had no outdoor space that was just ours.
So for at least the next year, probably two, this is our home. A cute little townhouse in Clinton!

I said all of that to talk about something we have wanted to do since we started our business, and we are finally taking the time to do it! Surprisingly, all this time we have been making frames we've never made one for our own home! But that's about to change! We are planning on filling a huge, blank, white wall we have in our living/dining area with a collage of frames. Here is our big blank wall we can't wait to fill with fun frames:

This is inspiration for what we plan to do in our house, but of course with our own frames:

We have already started mapping out what we want it to look like and I cannot wait to blog and reveal the finished look - hopefully in just a few weeks! When we finish ours, we will be glad to come do it at your house next ;)