About Us
I grew up in a small coastal town in Maine. It all started in a small bedroom that had a view of the Atlantic Ocean if you climbed out the window and sat on the roof. I, along with every other female adolescent, read every gossip and fashion magazine I could get my hands on. After soaking in the latest gossip and newest fashion tips I ripped out every picture of the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, grabbed a roll of packing tape and plastered it on my bedroom walls. Each surface of my room soon had a theme. The back of my bedroom door was covered top to bottom with cut outs from Life Magazines Friends edition. One wall was covered in cut outs of lips and eyes. While yet another was covered with pictures of Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty. Around 7th grade I ran out of wall space so I started taping my magazine cut outs to the ceiling. This thrilled my mother as she cringed every time another picture was hung. (She had sponge painted the walls of my room herself when I was younger... needless to say you could only see the paint when it came off with the tape.)
My freshman year of high school my parents, upon the arrival of my three younger siblings, decided we needed a bigger house. Why we couldn't just get rid of the other kids always baffled me but my parents told me that sending the kids back to the stork wasn't an option. But before we could move to this bigger and better house my parents told me the single most shocking thing I have ever heard. I would have to take down all my pictures. This was a daunting task and I won't lie I waited until the very last possible moment to do this. It took multiple X-acto knifes, many hands, and a ladder but all the cut outs came down (the tape stayed up as a present to the new home owner).
I had recently had a brilliant idea and I was dying to give it a try. Instead of tape I would use a type of glue. The first thing I ever truly collaged was the desk in my bedroom. I covered it with pictures of my friends, the latest trends and the biggest stars. It was the envy of all my friends (and still is). From then on I began to collage anything that would stand still long enough. On one snow day my brother fell asleep on the couch and I collaged part of his arm (Not to worry -I got it off of him with no need for cortizone cream).
I now go to school in New Orleans at Loyola University and make my pieces in my dorm room. As luck would have it my roommate is an art major and does her fair share of crafting in our room. One month later and a wasted $3.56 on a bottle of Febreze we decided to accept the combined smell of paint and glue and deem it our signature scent.
I sell my eyeglass cases out of my dorm room to friends and friends of friends. I’ve now expanded JMS to the World Wide Web in hopes of expanding my little business. All my pieces are handmade and one of a kind. I hope that you find something here that speaks to you and that you can have fun with!
Enjoy
-Samantha