Jillian Lyons Designs: CT

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

art

We're All Mad Here - JLD at Mad Hatter & Co.

11:41:00 AM

Some of my customers may remember a time when I sold some of my jewelry designs at a little shop in downtown Seymour, CT. It was called Mad Hatter Boutique. I loved selling in my home town. It was a great little shop. Since then Mad Hatter has regrouped. Joan Tarby, owner of Mad Hatter, has since partnered with Angie Chernovetz. She owned a little shop called Tangie's around the corner. I tell you this was a match made in Heaven!

Over the summer I received a message from Joan. She and Angie were starting a new shop in Southbury Connecticut. This time it would be a cooperative shop. They were inviting a curated selection of artists and vendors to join, share in the rent and responsibility of the space, creating a unique boutique. I was thrilled to join this amazing selection of women. This shop would be called Mad Hatter & Company.

The end result of this grouping features brands that Joan brings in such as Sugar Lips and Umm Gee clothing, scents by Margot Elena, items by JKC and more. Her daughter Meghan brings in a bit of retro flare with curated items under the business name Her Looking Glass - Anne Taintor, boutique gift items by Demdaco as well as Kelly Rae Roberts. Angie's Treasures uses her creative touch to restore and repurpose vintage furniture, as well as bringing in creative and fun box signs and greeting cards. The shop also features artists such as Re-Designed by Elizabeth, who makes wine bottle lights and Redneck Wine Glasses. Alison Wonderland who creates original wire, enamel and beaded jewelry. BBA Bracelets, which in my opinion, makes some of the coolest stackable bracelets that she fittingly calls arm candy. We also have Bowtique by Alexa, seriously adorable bows and hair accessories for women and children. She also takes custom orders and prints her own fabrics! Black Tabby Studio who makes the most adorable little cards for just $1 each or in bundle packs by occasion! She also makes very clever mugs. Lastly, there is me. Jillian Lyons Designs. I make beaded and rhinestone and vintage inspired jewelry, I also brought in my new line, JK, which is all faerie and nature inspired jewelry and terrariums. I take custom orders using the shop as home base if you'd like local pick up. I work behind the counter quite a bit and even lend a loving hand to the shops social media promotion. In the fall I am looking forward to bringing in my wearable wings for costumes and fun!

Below you can find some images of this gorgeous collaborative shop. The inventory literally changes every few days. It never looks the same twice.

Mad Hatter & Company is located at 134 Main Street South in Bennett Square, Southbury Connecticut. We are open Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sunday 10am - 3pm. Regular photo posts of new inventory go onto the Mad Hatter & Co. Facebook page! See something you love? Send us a message! We will hold, and ship!

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

angel wings

Our Photo Session With Sassy Mouth Photo

1:30:00 PM

art show

LOVE Haven 2014

1:11:00 PM

art

The JLD Zombie Invasion!

1:32:00 PM

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! Like to a ridiculous degree. It is my favorite holiday. My kitchen is decorated for Halloween pretty much year round. (The only time it comes down is for Christmas!) Really I love everything about just the month of October. It's Fall in Connecticut and the leaves have started to turn those dazzling shades of red, orange and gold. This is also my birthday month. So the whole month is filled with horror movies, fun events and birthday celebrations!

Back in July I was already thinking about All Hallow's Eve. Sara Kenny, a friend and sometimes model ha an amazing idea for a photo shoot. I had said I wanted to do something period themed. Like Pride and Prejudice. Sara said she wanted to do period piece zombies. That was it. I was in, we had a plan and a photo shoot was born! Sara orchestrated the entire project. A huge team was assembled to take on this shoot. Sara brought in her best friend and friend to Jillian Lyons Designs, Shelby Threloff. Shelby brought in her mother, super dress maker Beth Threloff who also makes costumes for Wallingford's Trail of Terror! Shelby's boyfriend also joined in as our male model, Duke Davis, another alumni of the Trail of Terror. I added in Caity Taylor, a very natural model who has a regency look to her ala Pride and Prejudice to round out our modeling team. Having just graduated from UConn and about to start spending most of her time in NYC, I was lucky to book her! But I had an in - she's also my cousin!

This shoot took weeks to plan. We all messaged each other regularly. I designed pieces around the concept of period piece zombies. So for me the key ingredient was going to be the photographers and the make up. I wanted nice close ups I could use to promote my business for the Fall! Sara and Shelby were no strangers to the world of prosthetic make up. Being fans of cosplay and conventions of all kinds they jumped head first into this task. They brought on Deidre Deth for all of our prosthetics. Her work took about 2 hours, and so completely rocked my socks off! To add a touch of glamour make up artist Sarah Mrazik came in and applied a beauty to the zombies. Pretty zombies! Glamorous, period piece pretty zombies!

Deidre Deth and Sara Kenny.

Shelby Threloff is one adorable zombie!

Sarah Mrazik with model Caity Taylor.

Caity is ready for her close up now Ms. Lyons.

Deidre Deth creating a nasty bite wound for Duke Davis.

There was a serious buzz in the air the day of our shoot. Everyone dove head first into this project. Photographers Brooke Cadett and Shawn Baskum were brought in. We all met at a beautiful location chosen by Sara in the woods of Wallingford. It was perfect. Then the magic happened. Matt and I sat back and relaxed in the summer sun while Brooke captured some amazing shots.

All photos below are courtesy of B.Cadett Photography.

An amazing shot of Caity Taylor.

The best picture of the day!

You can find many of these items pictures in my Etsy shop! Thanks for reading!

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.

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

We're All Mad Here - JLD at Mad Hatter & Co.

The Resurrection of Jillian Lyons Designs

Cinder + Salt Debut Party @ The Haven Collective

Our Photo Session With Sassy Mouth Photo

LOVE Haven 2014

The JLD Zombie Invasion!

Was This a RAW Deal?

The Comeuppance of Ty

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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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recent posts

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