Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday November 23

Janet from Shabbyfufu

Good Saturday Morning everyone.  This week's line up is Janet Coon from Shabbyfufu on my spotlight and Kate from Salvage Dior on Susan's spotlight.   I have the the pleasure to introduce  you to Janet Coon.   Janet Coon blogs at Shabbyfufu and has a fabulous business with some of the most beautiful treasures for sale.  I have just recently gotten to know about Janet and was so excited when she said she would do the Spotlight Feature.  So join me in reading and learning more about this talented blogger.

Janet Coon at Shabbyfufu

Thank you for inviting me to share a bit about myself with your blog readers today Kris!

I'm Janet although I'm most known on the internet as Shabbyfufu, the name of my on-line business that I've had for about fifteen years now. I would venture to guess that I'm often called an internet dinosaur, but I like think of myself more as a pioneer who enjoys inspiring and mentoring others as well.

Shabbyfufu the moniker came to be when I was in the antique and collectible business with a local friend some years back. I have always painted my furniture white, sewn, crafted and furnished with thrift shop finds since my college days! I love to mix in a bit of sparkle, and when a friend took a look at one of my shop vignettes said "your style is so shabby, yet so fufu." The combined name stuck, and a bell went off for the brand! 

I was born a city girl in New York, but have lived in South Florida for most of my life now. True loves are my family, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, the beach (where we have a part-time home), traveling, creating and treasure hunting.

As a child I went with my aunt to my first flea market and broke open my piggy bank to buy a vintage perfume bottle. From then on was hooked on vintage. I have been an artist as well for as long as I can remember, always puttering with projects and organizing ways to sell my creations. In college I studied art with emphasis on ceramics and took many classes that helped me learn a variety of techniques and skills such as photography. I received my degree and taught art for awhile, but quickly learned that I enjoyed the creative process more than the instruction aspect. 

Fast forward to marrying my husband of over 30 years now and raising our family, during which time I continued to create in various ways and sell my pieces to supplement our income. 

My biggest successes in that arena were with my pottery lines and my clothing company, neither of which I am still doing at the moment. 

Changing times and shifting modalities are just a part of life and keep it interesting, and often unforeseen circumstances come into play. I had a studio that was a separate building behind our home of twenty three years now. We went through the devastating Hurricane Andrew back in 1992, and with our home left a shambles, the studio was gone. We stayed and repaired, rebuilt and eventually enlarged and improved…but the studio that I could play and make a mess in was reconfigured into part of a large home addition. On to other things with some trepidation,  I closed my clothing line (Pour It On Productions) and then the internet and Ebay came along to give me new direction. 

I still enjoyed the thrill of the hunt for vintage, and started back attending yard sales and flea markets and selling on Ebay in the late 1990's. This allowed me to combine so many passions and it then was quite thrilling to see the bidding wars on my vintage finds as well as the creations that I had previously only been able to sell in local shows! 

I began to specialize (and still do) in altered art mannequins and dress forms, as well as recreate lighting fixtures into art pieces for the home. Under the Shabbyfufu umbrella my pieces are found all over the world and it's an honor to have quite a few clients that have been with me ever since those early days. 

Eventually I cracked into the early days of website ownership (yes, had to know some code way back then) and Shabbyfufu.com became my thriving and full time job. Such joy! I could then have my own "store", not rely on Ebay or the antique mall and make it my style in my own way. I took thousands upon thousands of photographs of merchandise and vignettes and began to be featured in magazines such as Romantic Homes, Romantic Country, Better Homes & Gardens and several international publications as well. 

Several months ago I had the pleasure of being filmed by a crew from a French television channel for a day at my home and working with my photography business, and was it was aired as part of a documentary over in France!

In the spirit of helping others, I've worked with other talented artists through my website, and have enjoyed connecting and allowing these women the chance to follow their dreams…just as I had.

My blog became a natural extension of my website, at first started to let my customers and clients know a bit more about me and the other artists on the site. I also used it as a marketing tool in my early days of blogging (since 2007) and still do. I was featured in one of the first books about blogging called "Blogging For Bliss" by Tara Frey. To this day I follow that mantra in terms of my personal blogging and try and not get too bogged down in the commercial aspect of penning a blog. I enjoy…and so I do!

These days you can still find me being the same "artsy craftsy Janet" aka Shabbyfufu, over on my website shabbyfufu.com and my blog shabbyfufu.blogspot.com. I am most often behind the lens of a camera as a freelance stylist and lifestyle photographer, currently working on home shoots with several magazines both internationally and within the U.S. I have a few other exciting things in the works as well, and am scouting homes on a regular basis…so feel free to contact me about that if you know of any "magazine worthy" homes.

I have so much to be thankful for in my life and I truly am! 

Thank you for reading about me and I encourage you to follow your dreams and allow them to take you where they will... as they have with me. 

Happy Holidays,

Janet

Thank you Janet for sharing about yourself.  It is so nice to get to know you better.  Now that you have come to know a little more about Janet you can hop over to Susan's blog and read about Kate from Salvage Dior.

Have a wonderful week end.
Kris
:)