the lovely Jenny Swanson

Through {shop, swap & blog}, I got to meet the lovely, talented Jenny Swanson, the creator of the inspirational Retrieval Project and beautiful shop here.

My package was the lovely "hello fine art print," which I really love. It just greets me!

In addition to the "hello fine print art", Jenny also included a surprise for me from her shop!

a lovely coffee sleeve-I just love the fabric and pattern!

something to dress up my daily cup of coffee and it's earth-friendly since I won't be using paper coffee sleeves anymore.

I'm loving Jenny's art prints and paintings, they are so full of inspirations, hope and love. Let's get to know Jenny and see where her inspirations come from:

Tell us about yourself. I’m a thirty-something wife and mom who loves to create things. I have four children (ages 12, 10, 4 and 1 ½) and one incredibly hard working and very talented husband (he’s pretty much my hero).

I love to work in different mediums and have just discovered my love for mixed media painting about a year ago. It’s been very therapeutic and empowering. For the past six months I’ve been interning with San Francisco artist, Mati Rose McDonough (matirose.com).

I attribute my love of fabric and sewing to my great grandma, Ruby Hart. (stay tuned on my blog for updates about my upcoming handcrafted line called jenuineruby).

My desire is that my artwork and handmade items are inspired, and that they encourage and bring a smile to those who see and use them.

What made you start your business? I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember, and until recently, only gave them as gifts. I was often encouraged by family and friends to make more and sell my creations and finally decided to give it ago about a year ago, selling in my online shop, http://jennyswanson.etsy.com.

What you plan to accomplish with your business? I was a stay-at-home mom since having our first child, over 12 years ago, but because of the current economy and the affect it’s had on our family’s finances, I’m now working as a barista at Starbucks. I love my job, but ultimately want to be home full time again. I plan to grow my business online and locally enough to work from home exclusively as soon as possible.

What you get most out of having your own business? What I love most about owning my own business is the liberty I have in choosing how to spend my time, what to create, and having the time to spend with my family. I love that as my interests and ideas change, I have total freedom to refocus my efforts.

Your favorite independently owned online shop? My favorite place to “window shop” is the front page of etsy.com. I occasionally click on the “see even more recent items” and swoon over things that I’d love to order.

Any updates about your shop? This week I am busy creating, and will add some new items to my shop by the beginning of next week.

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Oooh, I am sure we'll be tuning in to Jenny's blog and see what new items she will be adding to her shop! Thanks very much, Jenny. I've enjoyed swapping with you!

And also a big thanks to Pattie for organizing this {shop, swap & blog}