Feature: jek

Here's one of my favorite kitschy, youthful, colorful artists and bloggers! She's a gem and I'm a faithful follower. :) all photos are from jek's flickr photostream.

1. Name:
I go by jek (lowercase a must!) but my given name is jessica. Never been a Jessie so it's jek for short as in JEKissa...

2. Something awesome about yourself:
I know all the words to Grease 2 AND almost all the choreography...

3. Tell a little bit about your blog, shop, and and what kind of artistry you focus on!
I have four blogs. Aack! I'm a bit of a manic blogger.

scrumdillydilly is my blog blog. I post pics, projects, recipes and all sorts of wordiness about simply living in these kooky times. This is the blog to read if you wanna check and see what I am up to. I really really like making things and coming up with new crafty projects. Sharing is fun so I share here.

scrumdilly-do is my kids' art & craft blog. I'm a children's book specialist and just just just finished by degree in Human Development where I specialized in Play and Emergent Education. So this is where I get to share what i know with inquiring minds.

pepper lemonade is currently private, it's where I go to vent and release all the ick in my heart over not being able to have children. Life is too short to let the bad stuff take over but sometimes you need a place to wallow. This is where I do it. It was public for awhile but I thought maybe I was too too sad to put it out there. Someday I'll make it public again but for now, I'm still kind of in the grieving process.

goin' with the a-go-gos is my newest blog and I co-author it with the mister. We're going to hit the road soon for a few months and this is where we will tell tales of all our adventures!

4. How would you describe your personal style?
My personal style was heavily influenced by my dear Mamos who dressed me up in my sister's handmade hand-me-downs from the sixties. Toss in a little Lucille Ball, Pippi Longstocking, the gals from L'il Abner with a dash of Eleanor from Slaves of New York and you get me. I'm a little bit country and a whole lotta Doris Day.

5. What are your current obsessions?
Currently I am obsessed with making bunting, vintage linens, vintage music and vintage cameras. I also love me a pineapple banana smoothie or a tall glass of Ovaltine blended with ice.

6. What kinds of specific crafts and hobbies are your favorites?
I love all crafts. Sewing and upcrafting are some favorites. But photography and baking come in a close second...er..first.

7. What/Who inspires you most in your art, wardrobe and home decor? Your creative space is so inspiring!
Aw thanks! My Mamos really inspired me. Her stories of her teenage antics and her adventures in fashion design in the early sixties really made an impression. I grew up on old movies and musicals so that aesthetic really slays me. Truth be told, my older siblings also play a huge part in what pleases my eye in home decore. I think we all got it from our mother. In blog land, the words and photography of Ms. Andrea from Hula Seventy always inspire, the art and style of the young Kara of I Just Might Explode fill me with envy for my teenage self and if I could pull off any style it would be a cross between Janet Klein and the girls of Dog Patch in the 1959 production of L'il Abner. But then again, Edith Head's design for Shirley MacLaine in What a Way To Go are the best!

8. Describe what you do on your perfect free day:
A perfect day includes waking up with the sunrise, traveling with my mister for a picnic breakfast somewhere purdy, maybe a wee hike, definitely a nap followed by either a banh mi sandwich or pho and ice cream at Fosselman's in Alhambra. Throw in a photobooth and I'm over the moon!

9. What are some style goals or things you want to accomplish soon?
I really, really, really want to conquer making my own clothes. It seems crazy to me that my mother was a designer and that both by brother and my sister can sew clothes but I cannot. I want to find a perfect feed sack dress from the twenties and recreate it...with pantaloons! I miss wearing bloomers and pantaloons.

10. If you lived in another decade, what would it be?
I'd probably totally be a flapper. The music and styles from the twenties make me smile like a fool plus the wit and humor between the sexes then was much smarter than it is now.

11. I hear you're taking one heck of a road trip! Tell us a little about that!
Oh my gosh! THE ROAD TRIP! Mr. a-go-go and I have been talking about this for a few years now and we've decided to take the plunge and go for it. We've had too much ick happen over the past few years. Too much grieving and loss and we need to get out of the funk before it defines us. Not only are we taking this crazy road trip, but we are packing up the tiny casa and moving away from this city we love and hate. Don;t ask us where because we're not a hundred percent sure yet.

We've managed to save up enough that we hope will carry us for at least two months of traveling. We'll be driving all over the U.S from coast to coast and back again. We'll even be crossing into Canada and all along the way we will be meeting and visiting with all sorts of crafty awesome internet friends that we have never met before. We've got a huge map and lots of notes and sofas, backyards and guest rooms to crash in. We leave May 7 and have much packing to do still. Sooo excited and totally freaked out, but am really looking forward to meeting everyone we possibly can, even you!


~jek
xxoo