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Monday, March 26, 2012

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME!

It's been a long time coming......well not really Ive only been open 2 weeks.  But I have so many ideas in my head and so many pieces in my garage waiting for their turn at the shop.

Here are the latest changes from this Sunday....

Spring has sprung this bench to the front of the store.  Added some handmade linen pillows by Lucky 7, hand painted tea towel by Erin Go Paint and lovely apron by Shabby Cowgirl.


Here is a new display inspired by these gorgeous leggy girls I picked up in PA on Sunday morning. This table is all about pampering yourself, beauty products, hand dyed scarves, gorgeous rings, by Cowgirl in the Sand. Mix in some Lucky 7 Design vintage crates, burlap bags and old chair and you got a pretty cool spot.


Handmade Lucky 7 screen with our new girl 'Raven'...she is wearing my Mama J Jewels line of cameos.


Vintage wood chair by the event board...pretty wreath by ShenanAgains and some cool eco-friendly magnets from Whimsy & Wire


Antique theatre chairs used for vintage prop rentals...and some chalkboards.

Lucky 7 Design handpainted clock table,  some vintage inspired necklaces from Whimsy & Wire along with another amazing wreath by ShenanAgains.


I redesigned this necklace display, it had a cracked mirror but all is good.  It's now home to vintage necklaces from Whimsy & Wire.


This wood panel wall is home to amazing recycled art by American Angel Art for Sunshine Soap Company.  Also the vintage metal cart holding some blazing hot sauce by Cowgirl in the Sand.  Lucky 7 Design vintage piano rolls, Ball wire jars and Coca Cola tray w/ bottles.


Vintage turquoise dresser by Lucky 7 Design accessorized with some L7D vintage crates, paper art, hand made pie tin displays and Mama J necklace.   Jewelry is all by Cowgirl in the Sand.


My newly organized cash wrap area thanks to a cool shop called Marafiki who no longer needed this piece... I surround myself in this area with gifts from fellow artists/friends and the wall with the vintage fabric is my family wall...that fabric was my Nonna' bed linen...you placed it over your pillows.  It says Amore Mio.  
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The hutch has gone graphite and it is now Culinary Central....amazing spices, salsa mixes and hot cocoa mixes by Cowgirl in the Sand.  Burlap typography hanging is from Pinky Brown, Vintage beverage crate, old culinary tools and accessories by Lucky 7 Design.


Vintage wood wagon from Lucky 7 Design will hold new line of burlap storage bags as well as new market bags.




ALL ITEMS ARE FOR SALE, IF YOU ARE INTERESTING....I DO SHIP FROM THE SHOP....just email me or comment here and I will respond.


-MJ


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

SPRING IS AT THE SHOP...


Well 1st day of Spring brought alot of changes around the shop.

New Spring Window


















HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE !!!!



- MJ






Wednesday, March 14, 2012

MY BUGGY AND ME....

Time is a crazy thing....sometimes you feel like the day can't end soon enough and then there are days like today when you wonder where the time went.

2 years ago we were blessed with a gift...

My little babygirl Kemorah Sky (a.k.a Buggy/ a.k.a Baby Taz) turns 2 today....I can't even believe it!  She has grown so much from that 9 lb. 11 oz baby I was literally dying to hold in my arms.  No seriously don't believe what they say about the more you have the easier childbirth (SUCH A LIE....lol)

Here is a bit of photo history timeline of Kemorah's 2 years...



Newborn w/ her fractured shoulder in a sling

Daddy about to give Bug her 1st full bath a 3 wks old...that child was huge from the beginning

Chillaxin

3 months old laughing with her big sis

Buggy Bug at 6mos

Learning the walker

Christmas 2010

OMG...her 1st teeth comin in very strange

Her 1st bday cake

A young activist...supporter her sister on Autism Walk Day..even rockin a team tee

Her 1st haircut in 2011 (omg that hair)

Her 1st trip to Chuck E. Cheese Summer 2011

Sept 2011

Christmas parade 2011

Christmas #2....my mother gave her a bag that was almost bigger than her!


The other day marking her potty dance celebration


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NOW 2 YEAR OLD BUGGY!!!


WE LOVE YOU!!!!



Monday, March 12, 2012

JOIN THE PARADE.......

One of the benefits of opening my shop on Main Street is that we have the best parades and I now have a front row seat.   Yesterday was my town of Woodbridge, New Jersey's Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade....it is a big deal in our town.  People come from all over to sit on Main Street and watch the parade...to see all the fun groups, organizations, dance schools, local officials and service units along with our local high school bands marching in the parade.  Our Mayor just so happens to be Irish so how could we do it anything but BIG!!!

My window was all dressed in GREEN for the event and (cough, cough) I am a Eco-Friendly boutique so what other was there to go that GREEN.  Did I mention my grandfather is an Irishman...from Dublin.  So today I honored him and the Loughney name and wore my green and shamrocks.

My neighbor at the skate shop and I had the table and a sofa outside and our stores were packed our front with parade goers, our families, children and friends.   Awesome crowd.

I have to say I got some great compliments and some wonderful feedback.  I was told "it's about time", "just what we need"  "how refreshing", "how awesome", "how creative and beautiful" my shop was and that made me feel great.  I think I will be well received once we get our name out a bit more and people know that I am there on Main Street now.

Here are a few pics from the days events.........Happy St. Patrick's Day to ya!  (early but still it was on this day)

My GREEN Irish window display


I even had a little leprechaun in my window too


Parade goers and people entering our little shop raffle


My husband, me and the coolest Marine...he might be cooler than the drill Sgt. from Full Metal Jacket!


I was glowing from excitement of being a business owner on Main Street

My little Irish display for the parade goers, cool stuff and snacks.  


-MJ


Sunday, March 11, 2012

COME ON IN..........TO THE SHOP!

I am humbled, grateful and beyond excited to share these photos with you tonight.   On Friday I opened the doors to my brick & mortar shop in my hometown of Woodbridge, New Jersey.

I have always dreamed of having my own store....I started working in retail when I was 16 and was a sales clerk, window displays, sr. visual merchandiser, assistant manager and then manager.   But I always had dreams of being the boss, the owner to share my passion of what I love with others through my eyes.

I found my soul mate years ago...my husband Brian and he has supported and given me the strength to travel this rough road and make it through.  It was amazing to turn the key to the door and walk in and look at my space.  I was so happy to have him next to me at Grand Opening and just see his smile and for him to say how proud he was of me.


I chose my opening to be on the 9th of March which for some is odd because its not the beginning of the month.  But it's my dad's birthday and as you all know he passed away from cancer less than 3 months ago.  He knew what I was planning and I feel that he has been looking over me this whole time.  So this is my thank you to him for giving my mother Maria, and I a good life and accepting and loving me as his daughter.  Also for adopting my niece and giving her an awesome life too.  Love my pops and my family!!! 

To have friends that are truly there for me and support my love and my dream....my great friend Liza who came and helped me set up after work till past midnight and her daughter Alicia too..who is my daughter's childhood bff....you really can't express sometimes how much that means to you.

My sister Jennifer who also came to help set up and also bring her talents to my shop.  She is such a talented artist and my dream was to have a shop with her and in someone it has happened.   She is a vendor in my shop and that works just the same for me.  I want to share beautiful art with people and now I am.....



I also have to say that I have met some amazing women through FB, my blog and Etsy and I am so grateful that some of my closest FRIENDS (that is what I consider them) have decided to take this journey with me.  I have the most amazing team of rockstars in my shop.  I don't want to call them vendors, they are talented artists that I admired their work and wanted to share them with New Jersey and they graciously agreed.  So to Barbara, Paulette, Angela, Elise, Leighann, Kellie, Carri, Erin, Virginia, Jenn, Paula, Kristi thank you all so much for having faith in me.

You all know I have 5 children and just suffered the loss of a baby through this process...I am secure knowing this was all in God's plan...and that he is guiding me.    My children may not have understood sometimes why Mama has the dining room table filled with fabric and game pieces and just tons of junk.   Or why when I send them to bed at 8:30 p.m.  that I jump on the laptop at 9 p.m. and stay up sometimes till 2-3 a.m.    Well I think they now realize what it is all about.   Their Mama is now a business owner, we own a shop!!!

Thank you to my oldest daughter Gabriella who helped the whole process and even recruited her boyfriend Anthony to help too.  To my 2nd oldest...my son Alexander who has had some trouble with this process.  He is a mama's boy and misses me and is worried about me not being home when he arrives from school.  My 3rd oldest is Adelina, she is my girly girl loves all my jewelry and couldn't wait till the shop opened.  My sweet  5 yr old Samayah who tells everyone that she wants to be a decorator like Mama....she drew countless pictures for my shop.   And to my baby Kemorah who turns 2 this week and doesn't know what I have accomplished but I hope she will be proud someday.

I know most people wouldn't think of their landlord, but I think that Carlo who owns the building that the shop is in was put in my path for a reason.  All the searching for places....and he received my number from another businesswoman on Main Street and I am grateful to her as well.    He is a great guy, a family man, who is a business man and understands how it is to start a business.  He has been so supportive and helpful and that is not common.  I am grateful to him, his family and for his awesome contractor Tom who helped me get things going too.  This is what the shop looked like when we started this transition




So with all my thank you's said and all my grateful love I now want you to.......Come On In.....to 


Lucky 7 Design   
 Eco Friendly Home Interiors & Gifts
located in Woodbridge, New Jersey


The window for Grand Opening...St Patrick's parade weekend in town

Vintage magazine table turned chalkboard sign in table

A look from the front door...I did an eco-friendly tablescape...grass, cardboard, flowers.


My redone furniture pieces displayed and sprinkled with treasures


A beautiful floral arrangement from my neighbor who is an amazing floral designer.  That was my Welcome gift...thank you Olivia!~



My little coastal section w/ a shabby cowgirl apron on display

My bath area..w/ vintage dry sink and some handmade soaps and vintage bath & wash items


My Mama J Jewels line displayed on some of my furniture pieces


Some more shabby aprons and other fab accessories on top of my dirty denim bench



The hutch I refinished and some birds, nests and eggs added in for fun.


More of the Robins Egg Blue area..an antique playpen mounted to the wall to display pillows.  My CeCe Caldwells Paints display in the shop to shop my guests/clients what paint I use to refinish the furniture.  Green paint for my eco-friendly shop.


My vintage prop rental section, which has already changed some things added due to sales.  Sometimes a rental turns to a purchase. 


The geek area....I have taken away the typewriter and added a pc monitor.



Girly princess vanity area....beautiful artwork, pretty accessories and my refinished furniture pieces.


My sister Jenn and my niece J in front of her artwork, her handmade fabric custom dolls.

The bath, body and culinary section and yes somehow it all works together...


Refinished vintage painter's ladder...hand dyed scarves,market bags, and upcycled fabric wreath.


The barnyard area....some awesome salvaged rusty metal/barnwood art and a few of my refinished pieces like the wagon, ladder and the hutch


People in the shop


The beverage area....yes I did serve green bottled soda...lol



Some green adult beverages too


Water bottles and vegetable tray were donated by my local upscale grocer Wegman's.


My handmade snacks, vegetable tray...grapes,brie,walnut spread and crackers.


Another version of a brie tray


Yes I did announce that I did my own tablescape


People in the back of the shop


People in the front of the shop

Thank you to all my friends and family who came out to the Grand Opening to support me and my new business.

I think I covered every spot in the shop except the check out area and that is under some wall renovations but I will share it soon.  

The store was very well received by my merchant neighbors, town officials and the community too.   Everyone expressed there love for something different and refreshing and of course I was beaming with pride and hoping that this means I will be well received and continue to build more of a following in town.


I'll be sharing this weekend's parade event as well...


SHE TOOK A LEAP OF FAITH......AND BUILT HER WINGS ON THE WAY DOWN.


-MJ