Bows…really…more bows?

Jo and I never subjected our daughters, when they were little, to placing a bow, big or small, in their hair. It just wasn’t our thing. We were never big advocates of the baby headband, or giant bows larger than the child’s head. Don’t get me wrong, we were never anti-bow, just never jumped on the bow bandwagon, which proved very hard for me when I moved to Little Rock, and my daughter was only 3, and the south LOVES big bows; the bigger the better. I felt a little out of place not sticking a giant bow in my daughter’s hair. But she didn’t seem to mind. She would barely let me brush her hair, there was no way she was going to let me put something in it.

So, with our indifference to bows, what the heck are we doing making so many of them?!?!?! Maybe if Hopie-Jo bottle cap bow barrettes and headbands had been in existence when our girls were younger, we might have had an entirely different outlook on the big bow! Because take a look at this!

Can this precious girl get any cuter!!!! And how cute is that bow headband?

She was the perfect model. Never fussed once, even as we changed the bows and kept snapping shots.

Yes, we are now on the bow bandwagon. We LOVE bows. I’ll even be wearing a bottle cap bow headband at Chesterton’s European Market in a couple weeks. All you local folks swing by the European Market on May 1 and witness first hand our new found love of bows.

And fear not, our bottle cap charms are still a very big part of our business. Just ask my daughter, she is quite the salesperson. I think she sold $50 worth of charms and necklaces to her classmates last week. And we still have about 7 orders to fill. I think they are finally catching on up here.

We are also knee deep in custom orders! YIIPPPEEEE!!! We are waiting for some supplies to come in, but once they do we will have Cubs, Bears, Black Hawks, White Sox, IU, Purdue (as much as it pains me to type Purdue, all my Hoosier alumni buddies, fear not, Jo will be making all things Purdue related so I don’t end up with hives or something) Butler Bulldogs (Hoosier basketball at its finest), Duke (because order has been restored), Arkansas (woo pig sooey) Pulaski Academy, Chesterton Trojans, LaPorte Slicers, maybe even Valparaiso Vikings (although Valpo=Alpo. I had that on a swim shirt in high school), Michigan City Wolves, and the list goes on and on. Again, we love custom orders. And we can customize the barrettes, headbands, or charms. We aim to please.

And don’t forget about our newsletter that doesn’t exist yet. If you want to be one of the first to receive our awesome newsletter that we will one day design and email out, send us an email to hopiejo@gmail.com and let us know you want to be included. We promise it will be worth it! Coupons and stuff….everyone likes coupons!

Oh, one last thing, Wrights Flowers and Gifts in Michigan City, Indiana is now carrying our bottle cap bow barrettes in the store. If you’re local, stop in and have a look.

We've got such talented and creative friends!

This is my first, off the cuff, blog. I'm one of those bloggers who will write it first (that's right, write, pen to paper...so vintage...so old school), then type it into word, then read it a hundred times, while tweaking and editing and still not be completely satisfied in the end, but I will then cut and paste it into the blog and be done with it. So I have no idea how this one will go...there's no turning back, I got one shot (not really, I can always edit it, but that's not as exciting to say).


Hopie-Jo has incredibly talented friends. The first one is Lee-Ann and her fabulous Etsy shop Whoopsie Daisies. She is all vintage all the time and sews like a pro. You need to go check out her blog, Whoopsie Daisies Days because she is currently doing a giveaway. I really shouldn't be sending you all to her blog for the giveaway, cause I really REALLY want to win the scarf, but she is my friend, and I want to help her out and get her name out there as much as possible. We've been friends for a long time. First our older brothers were friends, and then our families became friends. I grew up going to July 4th picnics at her parents farmhouse (she and I would play Charlies Angels in the barn...oh yeah, we go back a long way) and our families spent Christmas Eves together, and still do! We were even on the high school pom squad together. If I knew where any of my old pics were, I'd include one. Anyway, the whole point of this is to send you over to her blog, here so you can check out how fabulously creative she is. And you should also become her fan on Facebook.


Super talented awesome friend number 2 is Michelle. Michelle and I worked together at PA in Little Rock. She is a super talented graphic designer, a wonderful writer, and a great friend. She also has a blog all about her adventures as a mom. She has the cutest little girl, Lily. Read all about their adventures,here.
Michelle is responsible for our new Hopie-Jo logo (as seen above). WE LOVE IT!!! She is also making us business cards and a banner for our Etsy shop. Cuz we currently don't have a banner and our shop looks really dull. Thank you so much Michelle for helping us out!! And for being so darn talented. And for being a great friend!!


Super talented awesome friend number 3 is Melissa. Melissa and I were Brownie Troop leaders together for our daughters Brownie Troop (our daughters are great friends!). We had so much fun together!!! And I really got to see and appreciate her talent as an artist. She and her husband have a website that highlights their work, check it out Aguiar Art Designs, here. Because Melissa has a heart of gold and likes to help her friends (in this instance, me) she is making us, Hopie-Jo, animated banners and blinkies. She has done some great designs for us, now I just need to ask her to tweak her designs and insert our new logo. Here is a banner she is currently working on for us as seen on her blog here. Melissa also does electronic scrapbooking and creates gorgeous pages! So make sure to check out her blog too, here.Her blog is so full of cool graphic type blinkie stuff...she needs to teach me how to bling up this blog! Melissa, help!


We have lots of other talented, creative and wonderful friends, but we'll have to tell you about them later. Especially our friend currently creating a website for us! You'll learn all about her when our site goes live and we gush all about her in a blog!


We are lucky girls with such wonderful friends!

WARNING: WAY off topic!!

My husband and I are spending the weekend in Chicago celebrating our mutual 40th birthdays. I turned 40 last month and he turns 40 next month. So, his wonderful family put us up in the Four Seasons in downtown Chicago for a weekend birthday celebration...but I digress, I'm not writing to talk about my fabulous weekend in Chicago, but more specifically the fabulous concert we saw Friday night and some observations.

We saw Tegan and Sara at the Aragon Ballroom. First of all, this was my first concert experience at the Aragon Ballroom and I sincerely hope it is not my last. What a fabulous venue! Second, Tegan and Sara rock the most and if I wasn't such a fanatical fan before the concert, I definitely would be after the concert. Damn they're good! I've been a Tegan and Sara fan for a several years now. I became a fan right around the time "Walking with a Ghost" was released. I love their music and lyrics. I'm one of those people who uses music to help me get through various situations in life. Tegan and Sara have helped me through more situations, good and bad, than I care to recall.

An observation from the concert, call me old...or call me old school...but what the hell is happening to concerts these days? Not the performers, but the audience?! When I'm at a concert, I sing along, dance, move, yell, clap, scream, make a complete and utter spectacle of myself. That's what a concert is for, right? Getting into the music. However, last night, I think I was hanging in the mellow old lady section or something. I was the only one moving, singing, not able to sit still in my seat. All those around me were too busy recording, taking pictures, and updating Facebook with their phone. Really?! Why go to a concert to view it though the screen of your phone? Insane?!? Or texting or updating Facebook? Why? Watch the show!!!! There is a live performance going on in front of their face yet they are too busy recording it so they can watch it back later?!?! HUH? If I want to watch concert footage on my computer or phone, I'll search YouTube. I go to a concert to watch the show. If I want to see pictures of a concert, I can get that off some random website. Why expericence a concert through a phone? I just don't get it. I tried to join in and I took one picture on my phone, actually, my husband took the picture on his phone. He graduated from Duke so he spent most of the concert checking his phone for Duke/Purdue score updates (thankfully Duke won). Here is the pic he took:

Notice all the glowing lights of phones?

Not worth the time or effort and not worth taking my eyes off the action on the stage to look through the screen on his phone. Again, call me old school...but what the hell? Have we all lost the ability to live in the moment? Put the electronics away kids and appreciate what is going on around you as it is going on around you, not later when you watch it back on your phone.

I must admit, I was on the second level and not on the floor, so perhaps I was with the old/mellow crowd, but looking down onto the floor, I saw the same thing happening...phones glowing, recording, taking pictures. I just don't get it. Okay, tangent is over. I've said my peace. Tegan and Sara rocked! One of those bands that sound just as good, if not better live than on their record. I used the word record... I'm vintage!

Oh, and if you didn't know, we are Hopie-Jo and we make bottle caps and bows. Even though you wouldn't know it from this particular blog! Thank you for letting me vent. We have new bows and a new charm holder listed on Funky Finds. Make sure you check 'em out!

Hopie-Jo Loves Bows!

We are blog slackers. To our defense, we’ve been busy. What have we been doing, you ask? Making bottle cap bow barrettes! Say that five times fast:

Bottle cap bow barrette

Bottle cap bow barrette

Bottle cap bow barrette

Bottle cap bow barrette

Bottle cap bow barrette

Can’t type it fast very well either.

We are making two types of bottle cap bow barrettes, korker and loop.

This is a korker bow.

And this is the loop bow.

We are having so much fun making them!! We’ve sold 3 so far, 2 korker and 1 loop. We even did a custom order for Hopie’s neighbor.

This fabulous Smurfette korker bow will soon adorn the hair of a smurf loving 4 year old!

We love, love, love, custom orders, so don’t hesitate to send us an email, hopiejo@gmail.com if you want us to make something specific for your little bow wearing cutie.

The smurfette bow turned out so cute, we made a loop bow to sell on Etsy.

This one will soon be in our Etsy shop.

This fabulous bow is headed to Little Rock, AR

This super cute bow found a home in LaPorte, IN

We’re beginning to plan our summer. We want to rent booth space at craft fairs to sell our fabulous Hopie-Jo bottle cap products. For those of you local to NW Indiana we are going to give the European Market in Chesterton a try. We are hoping to be approved to have a booth on the opening Saturday of the season, May 1. If you live near by, make sure you visit our booth. Maybe we’ll do a coupon or something for our blog readers/facebook fans….hmmmmmm something to think about. We’ll keep you posted, we haven’t even filled out the form yet for the Market.

If any of you know of local craft fairs you think we should be a part of, please let us know. We are just beginning to look into this, so any help is greatly appreciated.

We’ve also set up another online shop! YIPPEEE!!! We are now on FunkyFinds.com, such a great website! Click here to visit our Funky Finds shop.

For those of you following Jo’s back progress, she is slowly getting around better. She is still in a lot of pain, but she is determined to fight through the pain and get herself back to normal as quickly as possible. On the positive side, she’s got lots of time to make bows and bottle caps!

Just a reminder, one of these days we would like to create an email newsletter, maybe include coupons for our Etsy and Funky Finds shops, so if you would like to be included on our email list, send an email to hopiejo@gmail.com and let us know you want to be Hopie-Jo in the know!

Paper, paper everywhere

Listening to Tegan and Sara, sun is shinning, time to write another blog. What does one have to do with the other? Absolutely nothing just thought you’d be interested in what music is playing and the weather. The sun feels good but the backyard has become soft and mushy, borderline mud bog, as the snow melts.

Look what Hopie-Jo is donating to the Kingsbury Elementary School Fun Fair raffle!

2 charms, 1 necklace and 1 charm holder. We think the charm holder turned out awesome!

This past summer Hopie moved. Because of the move, Hopie has found herself with a lot of packing paper, way too much packing paper!! Being all environmentally conscience, Hopie has saved all the paper. Jo will probably be moving within the year, so some of the paper will be re-used for Jo’s move; however, there is still way too much paper.

This is all packing paper. Each one of those boxes is full of paper.And there are boxes, behind the boxes!

We have been trying to come up with uses for the paper. The kids use it as scrap paper. They’ve painted many pictures on the paper. It’s great for protecting surfaces while crafting. But still, so much paper!!!

What about dying the paper and using it in our bottle cap charms? Since google knows EVERYTHING, it didn’t take long to find a DIY about dying paper. I found this webpage http://curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/1272-how-to-tie-dye-paper and decided to give it a try. I gathered the needed supplies:

And proceeded to get messy and dye some paper.

Who knew shaving cream and food coloring could dye paper. So much fun!!

The paper turned out great, unfortunately, the bottle cap glaze causes the dye on the paper to bleed, so using the paper in our charms isn’t going to work. But we can use it for cute packing paper when we ship our charms. And we’re trying to come up with a way to maybe use the paper for our charm holders. We’ll figure something out…cause did I mention, we have a lot of paper!!

Jo is slowly, but surly, recovering from her back surgery. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Charming Charm Holder

The unveiling of Hopie-Jo’s first charm holder:

IT'S SO CUTE!

And it looks fabulous with charms and necklaces hanging from it! So functional, so fabulous!

We have been going back and forth with charm holder ideas. Trying different materials, throwing around different ideas, and this is our first success! We are so excited! Not only is it cute and functional but the material in the center was once a fabulous shirt, no longer worn, looking for a new meaning in life. We feel really good about reusing/upcycling old clothes. We’ve decided this is our charm holder calling, reusing/upcycling forgotten, outgrown, vintage, thrift store find clothing.

Since we both have pack rat tendencies this is proving to be a great idea for us. We both have this habit of cleaning out our closets of clothes we no longer wear just to put them in a big plastic container and stick it in the basement. You never know when you might need something again. The black floral velvet dress worn to a college formal too many years ago to admit, yeah, that will be worn again…NOT! How exciting to find that dress and realize how cute it will look as a charm holder!

Check out this pile of treasure!

It might not look like much now, but just wait until they have new life as charm holders.

Clothes may go in and out of style, but there is always a use for fun and funky material.

The charm holder will be going up on our Etsy shop soon. I know, I know, we’ve been saying that for awhile, but we promise, Etsy shop will be open this week!! Also, we are planning an Open House to showcase all our great stuff. If you are interested in being added to our email list to be notified of the Open House, emailed coupons for our Etsy shop, and general news on Hopie-Jo, please send us an email to hopiejo@gmail.com and let us know you want to be “Hopie-Jo in the Know.”

On a personal note, Jo will be having back surgery on Friday, so please, everyone send good thoughts and prayers her way. Once she is back on her feet we have so many plans for Hopie-Jo!

Family = Friend, Air Bubbles = Enemy

There is one enemy of the perfect bottle cap. An enemy that can strike at any time once the glaze goes into the bottle cap and can completely ruin a fabulous charm. We have the perfect design, we fill the bottle cap with glaze, all seems well. Moments later, a glance at the drying bottle cap reveals a bubble peaking out from under a flower pedal, or a cluster of little bubbles have gathered around one edge. URGH, frustration! We have been fighting air bubbles! Trying to find the perfect glaze that will not produce multiple air bubbles is not easy. We have tried four? Yes, I think we've tried four different kinds. We've gone back and forth on some, and thought we had it figured out. We were so excited to receive our most recent shipment of glaze thinking our bubble troubles were over. However, it has been air bubble madness this past week since our recent shipment. URGH! So now, we are anxiously awaiting yet another shipment of glaze that will solve all our problems! Or we hope anyway...we might lose our minds between now and then. We glaze our bottle caps and we have to watch them...for hours...because air bubbles pop up...seemingly out of nowhere...one minute no bubbles, the next, a HUGE one....or multiple little ones...either way, it's a nightmare. AND, if we don't catch an air bubble in time, and the glaze sets, we're screwed. Oh the trials and tribulations of a fledgling business! We'll figure it out.

We have to figure it out, because we have SO MANY NEW DESIGNS (and so many charms in need of a coat of glaze)!!! We are so excited about our latest group of bottle caps. Now, if only we can keep them air bubble free. For those that don't know, Jo ruptured a disk in her back a few weeks back. The poor thing hasn't been able to sit up in weeks. One good thing has come out of her misery, however, and that is her creativity!!! While being confined to her recliner all day, she has been a bottle cap charm making machine. Her creative juices are flowing and she is producing amazing stuff! While Jo is being uber creative, Hopie is popping air bubbles, keeping spreadsheets, and photographing bottle caps for Etsy. Here is a sneak peak at some of our new charms that will be debuting on Etsy, hopefully within the week!

Notice the tweezers? Tweezers are great for popping air bubbles!

Remember, you don't have to wait for us to open our Etsy shop, you can order direct at any time!

Hopie and Jo traveled to Avilla, Indiana on Sunday for our nieces birthday party. The birthday girl, Mya, received 2 charms and a pink choker necklace as a gift from her Aunt Hopie and Aunt Jo.

Here is Mya sporting her new necklace while blowing our her candles.

She also received a charm from her cousin Abigail and proceeded to wear that charm most of the afternoon (as seen in the above picture). We have the greatest family support team EVER!! Our sister-in-law Amy (Mya's mom) proceeded to buy more charms and choker necklaces.

Picking out the perfect charms!

Cousins all wearing Hopie-Jo bottle cap charm necklaces! Aren't they cute?!

AND, Amy's sister-in-law Julie also bought a couple charms. Hopie-Jo scored! We need to have family birthdays every weekend. :) AND, sister-in-law Tina placed a custom order for charms to use to hold up notes at work. She promised to post pictures when she receives her order. We love our family!! But we really really don't like air bubbles....