Summer Sale

It's that time of year again, it's summer! We're celebrating our favorite season with a sale. Save 20% on all our products and fabrics by using coupon code summer20sale at modernjune.com and at our Etsy shops: Oilcloth Addict and Modern June.

Sale ends Friday, June 27 at Midnight! 

Happy shopping,
Kelly

Cinco de Mayo Flash Sale!

Modern June 

Modern June Etsy

Oilcloth Addict Etsy

Blog Tour Dates for At Home with Modern June!

 Are you ready for a chance to win my new book, At Home with Modern June? How about I chip in some chalk cloth? Enough to make two of the no-sew chalk cloth placemats? If so, head over to the following blogs and sign up for the RSS or email feeds to you don't forget!

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and/or Facebook feeds for daily updates as well.

Blog Tour for At Home with Modern June Dates 

Monday, April 7th: Stash Books
Tuesday, April 8th: Pretty Prudent
Wednesday, April 9th: Craft Gossip
Thursday, April 10th: Apronista
Friday, April 11th: Whipstitch
Saturday, April 12th: Craftypod
Sunday, April 13th: Sew Mama Sew
Monday, April 14th: Grow. Make. Eat.
Tuesday, April 15th: Modern June Instagram Giveaway!
Wednesday, April 16th: Finding Home 
Thursday, April 17th: Modern June, the Oilcloth Addict

We're kicking off a great line up of bloggers with a tour of my home on the Life Made Lovely blog. I'd be honored if you'd have a look at my little home made with love. There are lots of projects from the book within the tour.

Lastly, I'll be showing Richmond, VA how to make these fun little no-sew placemats on Virginia This Morning on channel WTRV CBS 6. Tune in on Monday, they will be giving away two books! 

Announcing Spring Oilcloth Tablecloths

Announcing oilcloth tablecloths, just in time for spring! Now on sale at ModernJune.com!!

Pick from one great print from the following four oilcloths...

And one fun print from the following 3 oilcloths...



Our tablecloths now come in set sizes, start with how wide your table is. We have slim and wide widths, and then pick which length works best for your table.

Slim Oilcloth Tablecloths:
47" x 70"
47" x 90"
47" x 108"
47" x 120" 

Wide Oilcloth Tablecloths:
60" x 70"
60" x 90"
60" x 108"
60" x 120" 

Book Trailer!

I am so excited to share my little book trailer for At Home with Modern June with you! I just got a big stack of books and they are listing in my new shop, modernjune.com!! (How's that for a soft opening!) I'd love to sign one for you! 

xoxox,

Kelly

Pillow Talk

Despite last weeks snow and ice, I spied a few daffodils blooming in my back yard today! Modern June is ready for spring, are you? Our oilcloth pillows will surely get your front porch or back deck pretty in no time. They are trimmed with a band of oilcloth which keeps the rain from leaking into the stuffing.

Choose from a 16" square and/or a 12" x 16" lumbar pillow, then pick from the 12 oilcloths for the front and the back. Next, pick one color trim and your good to go. We'll make those up for you in about 2-3 weeks and you'll be all ready for spring!

We aren't the only ones that love our pillows! Check out this great Etsy treasury featuring our perky pillows. Thanks, Rasa Vil Jewelry!!

In just 2 days?

So, I made this decision to stop making custom items and now with only two days to go it's scary as hell! Change can be terrifying, can't it? I mean what if I'm wrong, what if I never make another penny doing what you love? What if I can't meet payroll? What I can't pay my rent?

Don't get me wrong, I know that this is for the best thing for my family. But I'm still scared. It's just that drastic change is hard. There I said it, I'm scared. 

So, my dear Socrates, I'm going to trust you on this one. I'm going to move forward with all my energy and get the next chapter going! OK? OK!!

Last Chance Sale

Want one more cool tablecloth from Modern June? There is only 3 more days left to order, so we thought we'd tempt you a bit by offering you 20% off! The entire shop is on sale! Feel free to snag up some stock items too! 

Fabrics are running out fast so please have a look at our swatches and pick out 2-3 prints. We won't be carrying as much fabric in the future so once some of these prints are gone, they are gone. 

As of March 1st Modern June will be taking a vacation, so I can finish building the new ModernJune.com retail site. I'll also be working on my At Home with Modern June book release fun!

Read why I'm making these changes below! It's been a hard decision but my team and I are ready for new adventures!! We can't wait to share it all with you soon! 

Thanks for all the love and support over the last 7 1/2 years! Cheers to more happy years to come!

The end of an era...

Over the last few months I've learned some very hard lessons. And, all of these lessons have led me to the same decision: as of February 28, 2014, Modern June will be taking it's last custom orders.

By the middle of last month, I knew that the time for a change had arrived. A number of issues were coming to a head: a slow January, financial difficulties, and poor planning. I realized that I couldn't reach every goal I had from Modern June at once, no matter how hard I worked towards them. Money and time only stretch so far.

So, I did what most businesses do when things slow down and immediately downsized. Let me tell you, it felt like hell letting some of my Junies go. I felt like a failure. I felt that I couldn't meet my goals. I couldn't grow my business, take care of my people, make a profit, and be everything to everyone.

One week later, I found myself dealing with a family emergency. And in that moment, all of my Modern June concerns paled by comparison. Out of respect for those I love most, I won't go into the details, I will simply say that my priorities became very clear, very quickly.

Now, after spending the last 3-4 weeks away from the studio I can see things more clearly. I have had way too much on my plate for years. The changes I seek aren't failures, they are growth. Over the past few years, there are so many creative ventures that I've had to put on hold while managing the day-to-day flow of custom work. And, even with a very talented team of Junies, it still took all of my focus just to manage custom work and stock products.

When one door closes, another one opens, right? Right!! So what's next from Modern June? Moving forward Modern June, the Oilcloth Addict will be offering a smaller range of stock items and focusing more on DIY.

I've been busy constructing a new ModernJune.com where Modern June goods will nestle up with Oilcloth Addict's fabrics. I've been designing new fabric patterns for Spoonflower. And most excitingly, I'll be promoting my upcoming book At Home with Modern June, which releases in less than a month. So, I have a lot of fun in store for us all!

I'm very thankful for my team, I am grateful that I got to know you and work with you all! Thank you so much for your support over the last 8 years--I couldn't have done it with out each and everyone of you.

Here's to the future!! Cheers! 

Publishers Weekly Review

My upcoming book At Home with Modern June gets a great review from Publishers Weekly!!

Pre-Order Today!

 

Did you know that you can pre-order a copy of my next book, At Home with Modern June, at your favorite online book retailer? Have a look inside my book at Amazon! Buy it up at Barnes and Noble! Or, better yet, check out my publisher Stash Books to pick up my book and many more!!

Official release date is April 1st!! Stay tuned, I have lots of fun planned!

Winter Sale

Now's the time to spruce up the house and fight off those winter blues with a new tablecloth!! Save 20% on all custom and ready made items on the Modern June and Oilcloth Addict shops now through Saturday, January 18th.

My living room paint color!

For the last two weeks I've been posting a ton of photos with my Christmas decorations on Istagram and on my Holiday Pinterest board. Several people ask me about the paint color I used in my living room, so I dug out my paint can to share it with you all.  

Those who know me well know that I don't take the easy route very often! Well, picking out paint is no exception. After buying and being uninspired with several samples of blue paint colors I ended up mixing my own color. I just took bit of this and a bit of that and a few more bits of white paint until I got what I liked. After I was happy with the dried color swatch in the room I took a lid of dried paint in for the paint people at Lowes do their magic. 

Let's call it Breakfast at Tiffany's! The color code is 101-2.52, 102-24, 103-1Y39.52 The paint is a semi-gloss! 

Art smocks are back!!

Girls art smocks!

How how I love these sweet art smocks!! Made with laminated cotton in fun prints for boys and girls. Think of all the memories your little people will paint up for you both. Kerri, my Ohio Junie, has been hard at work to bring us many prints to choose from, I'm happy to have these back on the Etsy shop for holiday gift giving!!

Boy art smocks

How to care for your Chalk Cloth products!

 

When your chalk cloth arrives it's a nice solid black, if you were to write on it at this point you would end up with ghost lines. Meaning, if you write "pie is yummy" on the black cloth, your going to see a faint outline of those words. I prefer to cure my chalk cloth so it looks like a fabric chalkboard. This just requires a little TLC.

 Start by rubbing a piece of chalk cloth from side to side with the broad side of the chalk.

Then with a damp cloth wipe off the chalk. This will leave your chalk cloth gray and smeared, so grab a second towel that is just a bit damp and wipe it off again, this removes the remaining chalk. You are now good to go!

 

The chalk will have scratched your fabric here and there, this is normal. This is what give your fabric the appearance of a chalkboard.

Doodle on my friends... Doodle on!

What about clean up time? No worries there. I made NY Strip stakes for Thanksgiving and I dribbled all over the runner while serving. Oops! After dinner I just spritzed the runner with a mild cleaner and wiped it down with a dish rag and it was as good a new!

When the parties over roll that runner up on to the cardboard tube it came on so it's nice a pretty for the next big event. Or, better yet leave it out for everyday use! You'll find lots of uses, I promise! How about the worlds longest Honey Do list? Oh... I like that idea, a lot! 

Thanksgiving at Kelly's

We have just gotten a few new laminated cotton prints in and this one from Amy Butler is just perfect for my dining room. The name of the fabric is Couture Floral. I love, love, love it so I had the Junies make one last tablecloth before taking off for a long holiday weekend!! My family and I really like our Modern June elasticized tablecloths because the stay put and are so easy to clean up. See all our new laminated cotton swatches on flickr.

I layered on one of my chalk cloth runners on top of the table this year. We normally use runners on the sideboard and do a buffet line, something like this! But this year, it was just the four of us so we could keep things simple.

We all wrote down what we were thankful for much like Laura's family does, check our her pretty blog, Finding Home! 

You might have noticed over the years that I'm a last minute, fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. Thanksgiving is always done last minute since we're right in the middle of the holiday rush. Once the table was set I realized that I didn't have a set of coordinating napkins. OOPS!

Check out my quick cheater napkins, they are just fat quarters. Yep, just a simple piece of fabric squared off with pinking shears. Once I cut them I folded them back up like they were, that way I didn't have to pull out the iron. You have to love using your stash for things like this. Once they are all washed up, I'll use my new serger sewing machine and finish them off quickly with a rolled hem, this way they won't fray over time and heavy use.

Grocery store bouquets are always good in a pinch, I was just lucky enough to get out and shop for groceries on Wednesday. Don't you just love my fun new tray? It that was hand lettered by a fellow Country Living Fair vendor. I'll be sure to look up her contact info and share it with you all soon.

How sweet are these gorgeous chocolate turkeys? OMG, they cost way too much but I couldn't resist getting one for each of my kids. Fresh Market knows how to get all my $$. I'm hoping that Maddie and Aidan are nice enough to share.

We love us some pie!! Learn how to make chalk cloth chalkboard at my other blog Oilcloth Addict!

I hope you and yours had as nice of a Thanksgiving as we did. I am so thankful for all the kindness and support you all give me and my team of Junies over the years. I am truly blessed!!