JMO's First EVER Giveaway!

For the first time ever, Jean May Originals is sponsoring a Giveaway! Here's the lowdown on how it will work:

WHO - Anyone and everyone is invited to participate. Tell all your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors.

WHAT - Winner will receive 2 bars of our new April Showers handmade soap (approx. 2 oz. each) and a 100% Cotton Crochet Washcloth. This batch of soap was made using the cold process method and is rich with skin loving ingredients like Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, and Olive Oil. Infused with Rain fragrance oil...a very clean, fresh scent suitable for men, women and children...these lather-rich bars are a treat for your skin and gentle enough to use as a facial cleanser.

WHERE - Just visit the new and improved JMO website here. Check out everything we have to offer including our newest product lines--Handmade Soaps and Photo Cards. Then return here to the blog and post a comment on which item you liked the best. If you don't see anything you like on the website, tell us what you would like to see! Winner will be chosen at random using random.org. When posting your comment, please include your email address name (just the part before the @). I will only use this information to verify the winner.

WHEN - Post your comment by midnight, June 27. All participants will be tossed into the list randomizer and a winner will be chosen on June 28. I'll be announcing the winner in a blog post so check back here on that date to see if you've won!

WHY - This giveaway is our way of kicking off the new website and rolling out our newest product lines. These are exciting times for JMO and we want everyone to know about it!!

Open to U.S. & Canadian residents ages 18 and up. Only one entry per person. Comments must be posted by midnight on June 27 to be eligible.

Discover This ~ Greetings from Shebel Road

Next up in the Discover This Series is one creative and talented lady. Meet Kris Shebel, a Michigan City, Indiana resident who combined her love of scrapbooking and creative writing to open her own business, Greetings from Shebel Road. Kris creates beautiful handmade greeting cards, invitations and place cards. Kris has been designing greeting cards for many years for family and friends and, after receiving many requests, decided to go public with her own greeting card line. She says "After all, if you're going to send something to someone, I feel it should be special and stand out. They should know you've really taken the time to create something just for them, even if you've purchased it." Kris gets inspiration for her designs from things she sees in nature, the store, or from other paper crafters. She attends scrapbook conventions and says "it's a great place for inspiration and idea swapping as well."

When you purchase one of Kris' custom, handmade greeting cards or invitations, it will reflect your personality and style. All of her products are handcrafted and embellished with such luxuries as beading, ribbon, 3D die-cuts, crystals, raffia, etc. Giving one of Kris' cards will be a gift itself to the recipient. As one of Kris' customers so eloquently put it, "At a time when the unique is too often overshadowed by the commercial ~ the only thing more special than giving these lovely "Works of Heart" is receiving one! Congratulations on a wonderful line of quality, hand crafted greetings!" Now THAT's a great compliment!

There's also a bit of interesting history behind the Greetings From Shebel Road name: The original Shebel family homestead property is situated right across the street. This homestead was built by Kris' husband's ancestors in the early 1800's. At that time, if a particular family owned a large portion of land, and the "farm road" used to access the home was eventually changed into a county road, the road would be named after the original family residing there. The original farm house was torn down approximately 30 years ago and replaced with a beautiful English Tudor home. Her husband's father built that home. Kris and her husband dearly miss him, as he passed away in 1992. Kris and her family reside in a rural neighborhood filled with generations of family and their roots run deep. She feels honored to live on the road bearing her husband's family name where they raise their beautiful daughter and furry friends together.

I'd like to thank Kris for participating in the Discover This Series here on the JMO Blog. For additional information and to see more of her designs, visit HER WEBSITE.

Mother's Day Specials -- LIMITED TIME OFFERS

Mother's Day is fast approaching and JMO has a few beautiful and affordable offers just in time to honor Mom.

Handmade Soap Bundle

JMO now offers handcrafted bar soaps in a variety of scents and colors. Made using only the finest ingredients, our soaps are lather-rich with superb moisturizing properties that are a luxurious treat for your skin. For a limited time only, and just in time for Mother's Day, May 10, we are offering 2 full size bars (approx. 4-5 oz.) in your choice of Pink Sugar (pink), Ocean (robin's egg blue), and Coconut (pale yellow). In addition to the full size bars, Mom also gets 2 guest-size "candied" soaps in Mango Papaya, as well as a Mini Crocheted Cotton Scrubbie. The entire set will be beautifully packaged and ready for giving. Regularly $25, we are offering this set for $20, and that includes shipping & handling! All soaps are made to order to ensure freshness. We ship anywhere in the U.S. via USPS First Class Mail. (Sorry, no international shipping at this time.) Hurry, this offer expires Friday, May 1, 2009, so we encourage you to order NOW to ensure delivery by Mother's Day.

Everlasting Bouquet

A fresh flower bouquet is a lovely and thoughtful gift, but unfortunately a short-lived one. So we've created the Everlasting Bouquet, a collection of 3 crocheted flowers complete with it's own bud vase and rock filler. These beauties will never wilt, never need watering, and last year round. This is one bouquet that will last forever!

To introduce this newest item to the JMO Home Decor collection, we are offering an Everlasting Bouquet for just $20 (includes shipping & handling). If intended as a Mother's Day gift, we MUST receive your order no later than Thursday, April 30, 2009. We realize it's really short notice, but we want to be sure we are allowed enough time to create your flowers and ship your package so that it arrives before May 10. We ship anywhere in the U.S. via USPS First Class Mail. (Sorry, no international shipping at this time.) Flowers will be created using our choice of colors--we promise it will be FABULOUS!

These offers are not available on our website. Prices good through May 1, 2009. The only accepted method of payment for these offers is Paypal. To place an order for a Soap Bundle or Bouquet, please send us an email at jmm@jmayoriginals.com. If ordering soaps, please include your 2 color/scent choices. We will send a request for payment within 24 hours. ITEMS WILL SHIP ONLY AFTER PAYMENT HAS CLEARED.

Give Mom the gift of handmade this Mother's Day!

Discover This: "Rad Rugs" ~ Alexandra Marshall

Ok readers, get ready to be wowed by the next featured artist in the Discover This series. Her name is Alexandra "Lex" Marshall from right here in my hometown of Chicago. Lex designs and creates beautiful, unique hooked rugs using primitive techniques. Her parents have always had hooked rugs on display in their Maine home, but a few years ago Lex took an interest in practicing the art herself after visiting the Tunbridge World's Fair in Tunbridge, VT. While watching a rug hooking demo Lex says she "...was fascinated both by the process and by the finished result. I bought a beautiful rug with an image of a lion on it, based on a primitive pattern. It was just so totally charming..." She bought books, searched for tips online, and now creates some of the most beautiful rugs I've ever seen. She would encourage anyone who is thinking of trying out a new craft or art form to just give it a go!

Inspiration for Lex's designs come from different sources. "I like to use images from other forms of art that are perhaps less traditional as hooked rug images. For instance...the Pomona rug was inspired by a pre-Raphaelite tapestry, and the rug I’m working on right now was inspired by still-life paintings of food as well as a Roman Mosaic. The apple rug was inspired by my friend Cassie, who loves apples and who took me to the Tunbridge World’s Fair."

Lex uses high quality linen and wool in her rug designs in the hopes of creating a piece to last many lifetimes. One of her favorite rugs in her parents' home is from the 1800s, and she says "it’s still beautiful." She's happy to create custom rugs, as she believes they are "a unique way to commemorate a favorite pet, a beloved house, or a moment in someone’s life."

Below: Bad Apple Rug, Pomona Rug, Swallow Rug

To read the story behind each of these rugs, be sure to visit Lex's etsy shop HERE



"Food" Rug in progress (Lex hand-draws each image with a sharpie!)




Tools used to create Lex's rugs



Special thanks to Lex for allowing me to feature her and her beautiful rugs in the Discover This series.