JO Blog

{all photos from a recent trip with friends to wine country} I used to think I was an extrovert. What I am discovering is that I am an introvert (AKA hermit) and an occasional extrovert (AKA party animal). Every 2-4 months or so I will get together with friends here in the US. Sometimes it […]

{Myer lemons arrived from a sweet friend.  My water has never tasted so good} What do I do when I have a million things I should be doing?? I write a blog post. I am amazing like that. Procrastination in all of its glory right here friends! {Do you ever have your child “freeze” so […]

Good morning! I am so sorry I didn’t get my act together yesterday and announce the winners. My brand new art course The Journey of Letting Go {creating beauty from ashes} begins April 8th! If you have never done mixed media before or you haven’t taken an art class ever…you will still have so much […]

The Journey of Letting Go {Creating Beauty from Ashes} begins April 8th! This is a brand new four week e-course. I am so excited to get all messy again with all of you! We will play with… *Backgrounds *Coptic Binding *Journaling *Journaling Prompts *Art Technique Prompts *Watercolors *Clay *Mixed Media Girls *Faces *Digital Art *Pastels […]

I recently returned from teaching at Nurture Your Creative Seed. This was the first retreat of Serena Berry {and I am sure so many more will be coming}. I came in a day early to play with my good friends Lissa and Kim. We ate our way through the city {the best way to see […]

Our March interview in our new video series, Creativity Takes Courage, begins right now! ******* For those of you that are new to the blog then I want to tell you a little bit about the free series. Two months ago we expanded our creative network to offer free videos, new online courses, live “chats” […]

About four months ago we launched our new creative network jeanneoliver.ning.com. We wanted a new “venue” to share our online courses but I wanted it to be more. I wanted a place where women could connect with other creative women, get inspired and even watch videos for free. Two months ago we launched our new […]

For the past 7 years Kelly and Madolyn have gone to the Castle Rock Daddy Daughter Ball. I know when Kelly first took her that it wasn’t really his “thing”…but it was definitely her kind of “thing”. After that first time together and seeing how much she loved getting dressed up, dancing with her dad […]

Last fall as I was walking with Kelly through the Tuileries Gardens I instantly knew what kind of art retreat I wanted to create. I am not the person that dreams of having art retreats or had even been planning to ever create one. There are so many beautiful and amazing art retreats that it […]

Our February interview in our new video series, Creativity Takes Courage, begins right now! We have such an amazing and fun line up for you guys. When I get off an interview I am just giddy and it is hard to not share all of them with you right away. For those of you that […]

Last Saturday as my husband and I were drinking our morning coffee we started talking about what Saturday mornings were like growing up. It was funny to  reminisce on those weekly routines. Saturdays to me was waking up early, heading downstairs and watching cartoons. If I woke up really early my only option was Davy […]

I do not like to paint furniture. Let me say this again. I do not like to paint furniture. Now repeat another 100 times and you may be a bit closer to understanding the depths that I will go to NOT paint furniture. I am guessing that many of you are very similar to me […]

{original image found HERE} When people come into our home for the first time one of the most common questions is how did we pick all the paint colors. I have always found picking paint colors fun and had never really thought about it. {original image from the living room of Jennifer Rizzo} I go […]

One of the best things we did for our house in 2012 was to give it a face lift with new paint throughout. I have a bit of wanderlust/ants in my pants:-)…whatever you want to call it and sometimes I need change in a big bad way! We have been in this house for almost […]

Our new video series, Creativity Takes Courage, begins right now! I have been wanting to do this for so long! I am beyond excited that it is starting and honored with the long list of creative men and women that have agreed to participate! Last month we expanded our creative network to offer free videos, […]

  {image found HERE} I hear it all of the time… You deserve to be happy I deserve to be happy If I only had xyz… I would be happy It is not that happy is a bad word. I just know that there is more! {image found HERE} You are surrounded by it every […]

I feel like I am still getting into the groove of the new year. The past two years I have gone HERE to connect and focus my creativity and business. It starts today and I am kicking myself for not going. I had forgotten that January and February can be hard to put it nicely. […]

My home life and work life overlap, collide and sometimes don’t have boundaries with one another. It is the blessing and curse of running your own business from home. To throw one more thing into the mix…we homeschool our children. In short, our children are usually with us for school, running the house and watching […]

{All of the photos in this post are from my recent trip back to Montgomery, Alabama.  We walked through my old college and walked around my grandma’s neighborhood. Always beautiful} Early Friday morning I boarded a plane to Montgomery, Alabama for a memorial service. I was meeting my mom and most of her family to […]

Today I will share my Homeschool Favorites of 2012 You can also see my Business Favorites, Creative Favorites, Home Favorite and Beauty Favorites. If there was ever something in our lives that I never went looking for, didn’t plan to do and could have never pictured myself doing..homeschooling is it! If there was something that […]

Today I am sharing my Beauty Favorites of 2012. You can also see my Business Favorites, Creative Favorites and Home Favorites. When I was growing up I loved nothing more then my Kit n Kaboodle. Seriously…that thing rocked! I would buy the 2,054 eyeshadow collection from the drug store. I think there may have been […]

Today I want to share my Home Favorites of 2012. You can see my Business Favorites of 2012 HERE and my Creative Favorites of 2012 HERE. I think home favorites are so different then some of the others I will be sharing this week. Our home is about connecting, relaxing and living together. It is […]

Today I want to share my Creative Favorites of 2012. To see my Business Favorites of 2012 click HERE. I  love to create and there is always something new or new to me that catches my eye. I love seeing what other artists use too and how they like to use them. Many  of the […]

I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that we are in 2013:-) I loved 2012. It was truly a year of growth and seeing a clearer path. It was a year of appreciation and connection. It was a year of figuring out what we really wanted and working hard in many […]