And yet again...

It's that time of year again (sort of ). The BIJOU MARKET! Our favorite show of the year, and this time it's coming a little early - April 8th and 9th in Provo. We're not complaining though, it's the perfect chance to bring in Spring with some really talented vendors... Here's a sneak peek:

You can always see more at the Bijou Market page. And of course, we'll be selling all of our classic designs as well as a few new favorites.

my (dirty) little secret

So, I have this confession to make… While I’m sure there will be those of you out there who will gasp and delete this blog from the list of blogs followed, I think there are at least a few of you who could make the same confession (you know who you are). All right, here it is….Some days I don’t wash my hair. Sometimes I go two days in a row without washing my hair. Sometimes I even go….well I better stop there. You get the picture. If you’re like me and don’t wash your hair everyday (don’t worry your secret is safe with me) you’ll notice that the longer you go without washing your hair the more “lived-in” it starts to look. By “lived-in” I mean oily. So how can you keep it a secret that you don’t wash your hair everyday? I’ve found a few products that can help. Trust me, these products are life changing.

1) Dry Shampoo. If you haven’t tried this stuff you should… seriously amazing. I’ve tried three dry shampoos to date, each has pros and cons.

--Bed Head Rockaholic Dry Shampoo. Smells fab, doesn’t add too much texture and quickly absorbs oil. The problem? The aerosol quits working long before the can runs out of product. It’s really annoying and the product doesn’t last long.

--Batiste Dry Shampoo. This product can be purchased at Sally’s Beauty Supply. It’s cheap, works well, and out lasts Bed Head by a long shot. The problem? It smells weird. The fragrance is strong and not all that pleasant. Come to think of it the smell might have had something to do with my can lasting so long.

--Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo. Of the dry shampoos this was by far my favorite. It smells good and lasts longer than the Bed Head alternative, although in the end, the nozzle still clogged before the product ran out. It leaves your hair with kind of a hair sprayed feeling but it’s oil absorbing powers last at least two days (I haven’t tested it beyond that but I have no doubt it could keep your hair oil free for a week).

2) TRESemme Waterless Foam Shampoo. This is not a dry shampoo. A mousse-like product pumps out of the bottle. This is nice because the nozzle never clogs. It makes your hair smell fantastic but I was really disappointed when it came to oil removal. It really doesn’t help in that department.

3) Baby powder. This is by far the cheapest option and it works well. Just be careful to rub it in all the way because otherwise you’ll be walking around all day with white powder in your hair (people around you will be asking themselves: Dandruff? Early graying?... just trust me, rub it in).

That’s all I’ve got… Any suggestions from our lovely readers???

Cross Your Fingers

Tomorrow, March 23, we are giving away two sweet academy j favorites so cross your fingers and visit www.mygiveawaytoday.com for a chance to win! You'll also find a promo code for 20% off any order through academyj.com. Best of luck!

blog blog blog

So lately I've been looking at lots of blogs (notice i said looking at blogs, instead of posting on this one... we all have room for improvement right?). There are so many amazingly creative and talented people in this world with fabulously interesting lives. I'm hoping that if I keep reading these blogs some of that creativity, talent, and gift for storytelling a little of that creativity will rub off on me :) Here are a few of the blogs I've been lovin' lately:

http://www.clothedmuch.com/

http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/

http://lookthroughmylens.blogspot.com/ (my cute best friend introduced me to this blog last week... jessica is one talented woman! i've always had a soft spot for photo blogs considering i have one of my own sarahcarabine.blogspot.com)

elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/

take a look! or don't... you might wind up spending a friday reading blogs... i'm not a loser i promise :)

Wool Felt Wonders

Introducing our new wool felt Leah clips and bands. Each is handmade of gorgeous, thick wool felt fabric with a texture all its own. Bands are attached to stretch lace and clips are secured to alligator-style clips (and our part of our holiday promo below). They are perfect for ladies of any age and the bands can be made in baby sizes.

Check them out on our etsy shop!

Let it snow.

All of this cold weather and snow is getting us in the holiday spirit around here, and we wanted to share the joy! From now until Christmas, receive your choice of an Ariel clip, Jocelyn clip duo, or one of our new felt Leah clips (stay tuned) with your $20 purchase. Shop early for the widest selection via our etsy shop or our website.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Images from Anthropologie's window displays winter 2009 via heartfish

Penelope or Pentunia... hmm, which one?

Some of our favorite items we've ever had were our peacock clips (RIP). We've had a lot of requests to bring these back but have discontinued them. We did, however, in the midst of a much-needed inventory cleanup, come across 2 final clips - the Penelope and Petunia. We've listed our final 2 as featured items on our etsy shop for those who have asked.

Bijou Market

We love, love, love the Bijou Market. It's an incredible boutique/marketplace being held this November 19 and 20 in Provo, UT. It features tons (like over 40) unique vendors (like us) who sell beautiful handcrafted items. We've sold here in the past and couldn't be more excited for this year - it seriously is our favorite thing we do all year.

Here's just a glimpse at what some of the vendors will have this year:

We can't wait... and of course - we'll be selling some never-before-seen hair love including some pretty darling baby/tiny girl stuff.

FotoFly Boutique

We're excited to be selling our stuff tomorrow night at the FotoFly Boutique. So if you happen to be in the Draper area, be sure to stop by! There will be awesome local crafters, a raffle, free swag bags for the first 100 and more!

Facebook Giveaway

It's time for an Academy J giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a headband or clip of their choice - that's right... whatever your heart desires. To enter the giveaway, just comment on our facebook post telling us which headband or clip you want!

Giveway ends Friday, October 1st. Winner will be notified via facebook email.

Lovin' us some etsy

Yes, it's true... we finally updated our etsy. We have new pictures (that we are in love with, thanks to our lovely models). And more changes are on their way. To shop our latest, check out our Academy J shop on etsy.

We're Back!

To all of our wonderful followers (we know you're out there somewhere...), we have recently taken a bit of an absence but are now back in full force. We have some awesome new products, and basically an awesome new look we're about to unveil. Until then, here's a sneak peak at a few new products (as well as some old).

Be sure to check back here and academyj.com for some great new stuff over the next few weeks!

Free???

If you like headbands and you like free stuff we may have a bit of good news for you.... We are giving away free bands to 2 lucky winners beginning tomorrow on Give Away Today. You can find the giveaway here. You'll also find a code for a discount on all of our products. Honestly, does it get much better than that??? Best of luck!

Da da da DAA!

We are soo happy to announce that we are now beginning to sell Academy J products in a few select stores here in Utah. Academy J merch is now available at Liberation Clothing located at 7918 south 1300 east in Sandy UT. They also sell grrreat jeans and tops, as well as merchandise from other locals (kind of like us!).

And, for those of you in the Utah county area, Academy J products will be available at the new Blue Hazel boutique located right next to 4-chairs furniture in Lindon, UT at 150 south State street. This is a brand new store that is opening May 1st of this year and will feature local artists as well as some designers from out of state. We also are creating a new baby/children line we'll be selling here.. Academy Kids...

We can't wait!

Photos Please!

Our headbands are cool, but our blog is lame. We kind of maybe want to spice it up a bit. Maybe you could send us a picture of you wearing your one of your AJ headbands? Maybe? Please? If you do, maybe we could, with your permission, post it on our blog to show everyone else how great it looks on you?

Open house.

Hey everyone - For a chance to see our new products at discounted prices, check out our open house this Thursday (Feb. 4) in Provo at 591 N. University Ave. Apt. #317.

Hope to see you there!

It's about TIME

It's about time that we updated our website... finally. Our new stuff is up at academyj.com and we are feeling great about it. Check it out soon, because many of our new products are limited (like we only have 2 or 3) and pleeeasseee let us know what you think. Feel free to comment below, or send us a message at academyjbands@gmail.com.

Give Away Today

Hello Hellloooo again!

We're happy to announce that we will once again be featured on Give Away Today on January 26, so mark your calendars for your chance to win some great stuff.

Who doesn't love free stuff?

Check out their great site right here.

Sneak Peak

Not only are we still alive, but we also have some cool new stuff coming out (we like it at least). We're trying to expand our product line to include some unique and one-of-a-kind products. Check out our website (academyj.com) tomorrow for our new products.

Bring out the holly

We have some great new Academy J stuff in the works.  We hoped to have it online before Christmas, but due to finals, Christmas, and the fact that one of us is getting married (!)... we may have to postpone it until after the holidays.  

Fortunately, however, if you are in the area, we will be selling our products (including some of our new stuff) at the My Girlfriend's Closet Boutique in Bountiful this weekend.  You can shop Friday and Saturday (December 11 and 12) between 11 am and 8 pm at 2200 south Orchard Drive.  This boutique may or may not be a great place to find some great Christmas gifts, just sayin'.

Bijou Market

\ˈbē-ˌzhü\ [mahr-kit]

bi [like a bumble bee] jou [zh + you]

bee + zh + oo

This Saturday, November 7 we will be selling our products at the Bijou Market. This market, held at 501 North 900 East in Provo, UT features over 40 local vendors selling their own unique handmade merchandise. We sold at a previous Bijou Market over the summer and loved it! Come check it out and find some great Christmas gifts while you're at it.

We also just may have some unique, never-before-seen products of our own making their first appearance this Saturday.

academyj.com

It's finally here.... academyj.com is up and running. Our products and updated prices are available on our new website and we couldn't be happier. Be sure to check it out and let us know what you think!

We really are so excited about this.

We're also excited to announce another giveaway. Check out the Steals and Deals website and enter for a chance to win.

AJ Giveaways

So we're a little new to the blogging world. We have a long way to go with it, but we are learning a lot about how everything works and are having a blast with it. We have even been featured a few different places... Check them out here and here. Both of these sites are doing giveaways of Academy J merchandise - how great is that?

It's almost here....

Academy J has some big news (well for us at least) ... academyj.com is officially in the works. We've said it before, but this time it is really happening. Our goal is to have the website up and running by the end of next week so be sure to check it out.

(So it turns out creating a website isn't the easiest thing in the world. This is me (Jessica) sitting in one of my design classes working on the website instead of a class project).

Purchasing...

Some of you have had questions as to how to purchase from us. We are currently working on a website, but until then we ask you to be patient. There are still 2 ways of ordering. The first is by clicking on the icon on the right side bar which will take you directly to our etsy shop. The second is by sending us an email at academyjbands@gmail.com telling us what you would like to order. We'll get back to you and tell you the next step.

Let us know if there is anything different you'd like to see here!

The Emma {$22}

Beaded leaves attached to a thin black elastic. Available in bronze.

The Jada {$24}

Thick crocheted band with triple crocheted flower attached. Available in any color/combination and with or without rhinestone center. Please specify.