Jillian Lyons Designs: creative

Ashley Taylor

Summertime @ JLD

7:11:00 PM

Summer is here, and we’re so excited for what’s to come. June was a busy month for us in the Valley as Jillian has officially made the move to the quaint Borough of Naugatuck, Connecticut! July currently has us adjusting to a new home office space that has a home for all three JLD brands. Aside from the move, business has been booming!

Jillian Lyons Designs has now become it’s own separate entity, working exclusively with small businesses of all sizes, helping them to market, brand and build their social media presence. We are pleased to announce our newest member of the Jillian Lyons Designs team, Ashley Taylor. As our Administrative Specialist she works hard on helping to create our marketing, posting to our social media, and helping to keep our office up to speed and our deadlines met. She possesses a great interest in both vintage and contemporary fashion as well as blogging. We look forward to seeing what creativity she brings to JLD and it's sister brands, Valley Vintage and The Red Queen.

We have also recently teamed with the film Aaron’s Light, a film about one Autistic man’s journey to reach his dreams, all the way to Yale University. Donations are currently being accepted for this groundbreaking movie that will be filmed entirely at Yale. Please consider making a donation to this film, we strongly feel it will make a difference for people with disabilities.

Valley Vintage is pleased to announce that last year’s beloved Summer sale is back! That’s right -- The Magical Summer Sale -- from July 18th, until August 15th, 2016, save 40% on all festival wear, denim, groovy 60s fashions and summer inventory! Continue to check ValleyVintageLLC.etsy.com regularly for updates. Find some of your favorite Vintage Summer pieces now! We will be featuring new inventory daily during our sale.

Our newest brand, The Red Queen, has now officially started to feature its latest products at The Mad Hatter & Co. shop in Bennett Square at 41-D Main Street South in Southbury, Connecticut! Our latest items are brought to you by Mystic Knotwork, Designer Dwellings, The Red Queen brand and more to come! Be sure to keep checking out our Facebook page for updates and new items and local brands available through The Red Queen! We’re so excited and hope that you are too!

All of us from the Valley thank you for your loyalty, support, and your business. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to email Jillian directly at JIanBoutique@gmail.com for more information.

Have a wonderful Summer!
-- The Jillian Lyons Designs Family

angel wings

The Resurrection of Jillian Lyons Designs

11:57:00 AM

Valley Vintage has begun thriving as a business. With our official one year anniversary as a business happening this month, I have no doubts that VVLLC will continue to grow and be something I will continue to love curating and running.

Jillian Lyons Designs on the other hand, has had a very troublesome year. Sales had progressively gone down. On top of this I had burned myself out last year from crafting. I took a break for a while. I had very little inspiration or drive. I think this is something many artists go through at one time or another. To make matters worse, I hurt my arm and wrist for a prolonged period of time at the height of the Holiday season. When 2015 rolled around, my precious JLD started to feel like it was dead in the water. I toyed with the idea of closing it. Putting all my eggs in the vintage basket seemed like what would eventually happen. But it hurt me deeply to have to publicly say my inspiration is gone and so is JLD.

Then Marissa at Sassy Mouth Photography tapped me to use some of my angel wings in a Victoria Secret inspired series of photo shoots. As I said in a previous post, I HAD to say yes. She was practically magical! I admired her work. So off I went.

Seeing her finished images moved me. I was finally ready to make wings again! The flood gates opened and I started creating. I also started posting new items to Jillian Lyons Designs for the first time in a year. It felt so good. Like an awakening of my authentic self.

Soon enough offers came my way. PopUp55 offered us the use of their wonderful pop up shop space for a 2 week run with a Spring theme. Assuming they meant Valley Vintage I started curating bright Spring colors in my mind. Then a surprise. Elinor Slomba, my contact at PopUp55 and New Haven's Project Storefronts said no. She was actually looking for Jillian Lyons Designs to bring in the Spring. I was surprised, nervous, worried. Even though I had new product, I wasn't sure if JLD was enough for the PopUp55 shop. or it's New Haven customers. I negotiated for both vintage clothing and my costumey accessories to have a presence there. Elnor said ok, but let's say Jillian Lyons Designs @ PopUp55.

So that brings us to the present. I have just wrapped up my two week long pop up shop event. What I learned from this, is that people liked Jillian Lyons Designs. I sold both old and new products. The things I felt weren't my strengths did just as well as the things I thought were shoe ins. AND the vintage clothes weren't the huge success I expected them to be. They did EQUAL business.

I learned many valuable lessons about working with a staff, what works for me in person versus online, how to better market myself in all respects. I learned so much that the powers that be from PopUp55 / Project Storefronts have invited me to share my experience and Etsy marketing tips at a workshop. So on April 23rd I will be at The Haven Collective giving a little talk about all of these things. This is happening from 7:30 - 9pm at 938 State Street New Haven. You can find more info HERE.

In my next post I'll be adding some of the gorgeous shots from our Pop Up Photo Shoot on the streets of NHV! For now you can find a few in the I Love New Haven blog, courtesy of Mr. Chris Randall.

art show

Cinder + Salt Debut Party @ The Haven Collective

10:45:00 AM

art show

LOVE Haven 2014

1:11:00 PM

art

Petra Szilagyi Shows New Haven What She's Made Of

1:42:00 PM

art

Was This a RAW Deal?

2:41:00 PM

My business and my blog has been associated with RAW Artists for about a year now. Last September I participated in my first RAW show. The director at the time was really enthusiastic and dedicated to what she did and it reflected in the show. As I am seeing in my current research, she kind of went above and beyond her call of duty for RAW. My experience was very positive and it was what kept me coming back and going to events.

These events are typically pay to play. Something that really never bothered me. As a crafter or artisan, I generally pay a fee to do most events I take part in. They can run anywhere from $15 to $400 depending on the length of time it runs and how established it is. And there is never a guarantee that your particular medium or set up will draw a crowd or make you any money.

So when RAW initially told me it would cost $200 for the event, I didn't think much of it, except can I come up with that. When I was informed that I could reduce my cost by selling tickets at $10 each and that money would directly reflect in my fee cost, I thought, ok. Not too bad. I have never done an event that says we'll help you bring the cost down. I will be completely upfront here, I don't make a lot of money. I live paycheck to paycheck and am very much so a "starving artist" by choice. So the less I have to put in, the better. The previous director even went as far as to give me an extention to pay off my fee when I couldn't come up with it all in time. Something that is apparently not so typical from what I have been reading from other artist experiences in and out of Connecticut.

However, things have changed since that show and my RAWard nomination. The previous director resigned. A new one stepped in and the look and feel of the Connecticut shows changed to reflect this new presence. Something I felt was a positive change. Other changes taking place I had mixed emotions about. The $200 fee went up to a $300 fee. Tickets were now $15 or $20 at the door. A big difference to someone like me! I struggled with $200, $300 was a little scary. I still committed to the show based on my previous track record with them. This time around I spared no expense promoting. I made fliers, I posted Facebook ads, paid for a 30 second video advertisement and fellow tweeters to tweet the event as well! I bought supplies, I designed, I hired a make up artist, I booked 5 models. I wrote 2 different press releases - one already sent out to some of my local contacts and a few national ones that were niche for me such as Cancer Today. In June I started making a plan to make this event the centerpiece of my Fall line of Halloween themed pieces and costume accessories. My runway was going to be Halloweeny epic! I did a photo shoot in July to help me promote all of this. I was putting out a lot of dollars and time, but it was a labor of love and I wanted people to walk away saying WOW what a show!

To my surprise, I suddenly receive an email from the regional director of RAW. In a nutshell it says that the current director has made the decision to leave RAW CT. That the organization was shutting down RAW CT until further notice. That IF they start up again it will be in January or February. My response... what the fuck?

Like I am sure many artists did, I had a billion questions. Mainly why does one person leaving mean the shut down for the rest of the year. Frankly speaking, I work two day jobs. One as an internet sales consultant for 2 car dealerships. I have worked for them for 3 years. The second as an assistant, press contact and Etsy shop manager for a small mobile start up business. And rule one for most business, the show must go on! I have seen people quit on the spot, I have seen managers leave in the middle of a busy day for personal emergencies. These things happen. But you don't just say oh, too bad. We better close for 3 months. You take the next person in line and say ok, this is now your job until we find a suitable replacement and you KEEP GOING. I started to see some of the reactions of other artists and people affiliated with RAW. I saw postings and personal messages like the venue has pulled out of the shows as well and RAW may not come back to Connecticut at all, I started wondering what was up.

While RAW Artists is a national organization and not an LLC, it should have the same need for sustainability and ethics as any other business. Someone in the chain of command is clearly making a profit. Your reputation is a key part of those profits. I think to just up and say no we can't do this is a complete cop out. And BAD BUSINESS. I noticed today when I went to reference some of the posts about this in the RAW Connecticut Facebook group that anything telling more then it should or close to a negative response had been removed.

New Haven has a very active art community and scene. People talk. Word on the street is that a lot of New Haven feels like RAW is nothing more then a creative Ponzi Scheme. I have been receiving private messages all day from fellow artisans saying they felt something was horribly wrong, or participated in a show and felt ripped off or exploited.

So I asked the great and powerful Google what it knew. It told me RAW Artists lost it's not for profit status last year. Not that they decided to start taking a profit of it's own accord, but that it's not for profit title was revoked.This was emailed to me a s a new direction. Leaves me wonder which is spin and which is what really happened. I was eager to be a part of this group that was by artists for artists. They touted that yeah, you spend this money, but we are giving back to the artists. And I did receive a very nice press kit and photos. I did make great connections. Well now it's just nothing more then a pay to play for a 4 hour event. This was something I believed in. Maybe I am being a Negative Nancy or a complainer. but I am mad. I can't recoup what I already put in. The remedy after I sent this complaint to the Regional Director was that they would give me an out of state show to compensate... but I'd still need to pay. SO, I can pay out the same amount to have a harder time selling tickets, spend even MORE money for new fliers, press releases and add in travel for myself and 6 - 8 other people and just take the loss> NO THANKS.

So, at this point, I am removing myself from RAW. It makes the most sense for me and my business. While I know this post may ruffle some feathers, I am sticking to my guns. No one is offering me any money back. Or even any apologies at this matter. If they had maintained the non-profit thing, I probably would just suck it up for a good cause. But that is not the case. I still maintain that I met amazing people and had an initally positive experience, but this really fucked me and I didn't even get dinner first. My voice is my own and I have to do what's best for my own business, image and sustainability. This treatment after being so devoted is kind of... bullshit.

from LA Weekly - Controversial Promoters RAW Put Bands in Front of Audience - For a FEE
Why I Disagree With RAW
Connecticut RAW Artist Retaliates

action movies

The Comeuppance of Ty

9:38:00 AM

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away Ty Bargar, his brother Brett and myself worked at a little place called Best Video. We had a lot of good time there. Most movie rentals were free, patrons frequently asked for our opinions on flicks - some actually excited to hear our reviews, and if you worked there long enough you got immortalized in Best Video history with a staff pics sticker that hosted your name and likeness. Movie geek Nirvana I tell ya! But good times don't last forever. Video stores have gone the way of the laser disc since then. Best Video still stands - but is now partly a coffee shop and performance space that has some movies.

The Bargars and I all left Best of our own accord. Ty went renegade and took his movie reviews to the world wide web. Perhaps you've seen his site with Brett, Comeuppance Reviews. Or his previous work with Moe Porne on the podcast Drunk on VHS. He's my friend and a pretty kick ass dude!

I posted this pic of Ty on Facebook once and his Dad got mad. I assured him it was just a pellet gun. Also Ty has lost a lot of weight since this one. But still bad ass!

Ty, do you know any Karate yet?

Haha, no, but we should know Karate by now! We have seen so many martial arts movies!
A long time ago, at a birthday party, my sister and I all took a Karate class...the Sensei asked us to say "Kee-yaaaah!" a lot. True story!

How did you and Brett decide to start Comeuppance Reviews?

We noticed there were so many ridiculous action movies like Karate Cop or Shootfighter that no one has seen and thought we can review these with a sense of humor...never serious.

What has been your favorite movie review for the site?

Good question. We have a couple favorites: Death Ring, American Kickboxer 2, Night Of The Kickfighters, Ring Of Steel, and Project Eliminator.

How do you guys pick the movies to review? Is there a process?

It definitely has to be off-beat action from the 80s or 90s...where everything was still silly and not politically correct.

Who are some of your favorite stars of the screen?

Dolph Lundgren, Cynthia Rothrock, Lorenzo Lamas, Gary Daniels, and Billy Blanks. They always deliver the goods.

Do you consider most of what you review to be camp or serious action and why?

Camp would probably be Night Of The Kickfighters, it is a riot to watch. Adam West at his best. Straight Action: there is a killer flick called Action U.S.A. From beginning to end it is non-stop action.

Please explain to my readers what a triple punch is.

It's one punch from the left, one punch from the right, and then you put your fists together and then strike! BOOM! Triple punch.

angel wings

To Heaven and Back: A Photo Journey

1:04:00 PM

I have started doing a series of photos and photo shoots based around some wearable wings I had made. This all started back with the 2012 RAWards Hartford Connecticut, which I was nominated for Accessory Designer of the Year. My gorgeous model Krista Combies was the first to wear these black angel wings and become my Black Angel.

Well flash forward to June of 2013. My little sister Rosamarie loves posing for pictures for me. I have used her in the past to model some of my scarfs. This time around we were taking some fun shots and I was putting jewelry on her when she looks up and sees the black wings "Can I wear THOSE!" she says and starts saying please pleeeeease! I say ok, we can do some goth pictures. She squeels with delight at the thought of going Goth. I didn't go to dark and despairing with her, she's only 14. But Rosie is the second to wear the wings. "You need to make more of these!" she says. "I want a pair in blue!"

From Rosie's one sentence of a pair in blue, a bell goes off in my head. DUH! I should make these in a bunch of colors, sizes and styles. Halloween is my favorite holiday ever. What would be cooler then to sell these for Halloweeny! Ideas came FLOODING! This would give me a chance to do MORE photo shoots of my own! I am by no means a photographer, but I love love love taking pictures and asking people I know to let me style them for modeling shots!

Once I started showing people pictures of Rose, people started asking more about my wings. My next thought, to do an angel wing shoot. My idea formed into a concept. A happy go lucky angel is in Haven and goes to visit Earth. Suddenly she becomes stuck on Earth and can't find her way back home. I started thinking about blonde's I know. One person came to mind who I thought could pull off the innocence as well as the more emotional lost look of being Earth bound. I reached out to my 15 year old cousin Jennifer. I am not hugely close to that side of my family, but I have been getting to know Jennifer and see a lot of creative passion in her. This was a great way for me to get closer to her as well as my aunt and uncle. And a great excuse to spend the day doing something she would enjoy. I asked her and she said yes, very excited about having the opportunity to do something like this. I was so happy to do something nice for her!

I then got the name of a budding make up artist, Ms. Mecca Dunlap.She has worked some of my favorite Connecticut based photographers like Ginger Grant and Mike Chaiken as well as designer Asa Gleek. She was amazing. She jumped in fearlessly.Working with her was so effortless, I am planning on making her a regular on my upcoming projects.

The finished product came out better then I thought it could! Jennifer was beyond prepared and posed like a pro! The time I spent learning different editting apps and programs paid off as well! Here is the Heaven Sent Jen shots an EXCLUSIVE just for my blog!

I will be adding more images for PART 2 this week! Stay tuned for the Earth Bound Angel shots!!! Feel free to click the image link below to visit my Etsy shop. <3

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JillianLyonsDesigns.etsy.com

art

RAW Connecticut's Expressions

2:13:00 PM

I think it is pretty safe to say that the all new RAW Connecticut show was a success. The New Haven Russian Lady, the new location of the Connecticut shows, was packed to the gills! There was a very different feel to this event then it's predecessor RAW Hartford. There were more artisans represented in this event. There was a more organized and uniform look. In this production you could feel the influence and personality of it's new director Jess Brey. With RAW Hartford I always felt like I was entering a rock concert type of event. It always felt very edgy and punk rock. RAW Connecticut felt more like entering a stage production. Slightly more refined, but still all about the artist.

I left the event early, having worked all day and in desperate need of food and bed. As we left Matt and I noticed a line going down the block of people eager to get in and see what RAW Connecticut had to offer. I had to smile. They were in for a treat. As you are about to see ;)

The Blackthorn Workshop by leather designer Paul Drennan

The Blackthorn Workshop

Budambe Designs by flame worker Andrew Budlong

Budambe Designs

Gypsy Soul Productions by accessory designer Chandra Lynn

Gypsy Soul Productions

Ok I admit I am biased on my love for this one! I am a serious nerd for the Dark Side.
The Goblin Workshop by Paul Windebank

The Goblin Workshop by Paul Windebank

The Goblin Workshop

This one also rocked my socks right off! I love pin up girls and I love sugar skulls.
Classy Sassy n Crafty by Kelli Martin

Classy Sassy n Crafty by Kelli Martin

Classy Sassy n Crafty

My lovely acquaintance from Etsy.com, Ms. Jenn Corriveau of Petite Maus had a gorgeous display!

Petite Maus by Jenn Corriveau

If you would like to do a RAW Connecticut show please contact director Jess Brey! Or Visit any of the RAW Connecticut links for info on upcoming shows!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brought to you by Jillian. You know her, you love her, maybe you should buy from her ;-) just sayin'. Thank you for reading!

Summertime @ JLD

All of us from the Valley thank you for your loyalty, support, and your business. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to email Jillian directly at JIanBoutique@gmail.com for more information.

Have a wonderful Summer!
-- The Jillian Lyons Designs Family

The Resurrection of Jillian Lyons Designs

Cinder + Salt Debut Party @ The Haven Collective

LOVE Haven 2014

Petra Szilagyi Shows New Haven What She's Made Of

Was This a RAW Deal?

The Comeuppance of Ty

To Heaven and Back: A Photo Journey

RAW Connecticut's Expressions

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All of us from the Valley thank you for your loyalty, support, and your business. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to email Jillian directly at JIanBoutique@gmail.com for more information.

Have a wonderful Summer!-- The Jillian Lyons Designs Family

About Me

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Have a wonderful Summer!
-- The Jillian Lyons Designs Family