On to the Now.

My words are being spent in other ways at the moment.  Collected and corralled in what is, for the time being, a jumbled mess.  I proceed anyway, trusting the voice that connects me to the tapestry, the thread that sometimes lingers in a gentle breeze and at others clings tenuously to that which it is not yet time to let go.

As with any beginning, we welcome another year with big hopes and dreams.  With certainty, with expectation, with the promise of something more, something better, that something we as people continually feel: the need to really live, to love, and to laugh...to dream, to create, to breathe, to be.

This is me wishing you enough of those things to let you soar.  May your soul fly free in the clouds while your feet stay firmly planted.  Much love, my friends.  Much love.

~~

There's a sale on at Studiojuls.

30% off all listings, including recent additions.

Coupon Code:  EOY2012

Thanks for supporting my art for another year.

You rock my world.

~~

Play Day.

I made a few fun sets on Friday.

If you love them, you'll find them at Studiojuls.

~~

Lately~

Next up?

~~

I finally ordered some Moo Minis,

and now I wish they were here yesterday already.

(front and back)

Putting my money where my mouth is.

If you haven't read Yesterday's Post but you'd like this post to make sense, take a peek.  If instead you just want a Christmas deal on 2 days of my life you can skip it and keep reading.

(There are still 5 days left to pledge whatever amount you can...and every little bit helps!)

I spent Saturday and Sunday making beads for Darcy.  Well, not actually FOR Darcy, but to sell toward pledging my support for her project.   (Update: 1 sold, 1 to go, 4 days left!)

I've listed 2 collections of beads in bright happy colors.  Most of the sets are encased and layered with beautiful detail, and each collection includes a One of a Kind Focal.

The retail on each set (the price at which I sell them, which is actually already less than retail) is over $200.  They are priced on my site today at $110, and when both have sold I will pledge $175 toward Darcy's project. The difference is to cover my material cost and a little bit of my own self employed time.

Together we can make an artist's dream come true this Christmas.  Let's do that, k?

You'll find them at StudioJuls.

~~

Let's make a difference, k?

Christmas.

There are 2 ways I'm going to remember the holidays this year.  The first is with love for the children and heroes whose lights were extinguished too soon.  My heart breaks for those this tragedy has left behind, yet I know there is nothing I can say to assuage their pain.  There is nothing anyone can say.  I lift them to God and beg the comfort that only He can give, that the light of His love will break through the darkness in which they must find themselves.

I've been searching for a way to feel empowered in spite of my sadness, to do something that will have a positive impact in at least one life.  I found something special while surfing facebook, and I want to share it with y'all.

If you've been around the beading arts world for any length of time, you are likely already familiar with The Jade Dog.  Darcy is a prolific artist creating beautifully intricate and unique beaded designs.  In spite of the fact that her designs can vary greatly in end results, she has an identifiable style in the feeling of her body of work.

She has set an incredible goal for herself, to bead a full body mannequin, and she needs our help to achieve this dream.

Kickstarter is a funding program for creatives, a place to put your idea out there so that the public can learn about you and offer financial backing for your project.  A project must be fully backed before anyone is charged for a pledge, no matter the amount.

Darcy has put together a wonderful presentation about her project, and with 6 days left she is sitting at $1630 toward her needed amount of $3000.

There are 362 followers of this blog.  If 270 of us donate just $5, Darcy will be fully funded to move forward in pursuit of one of her dreams.

It's a small thing to do that will impact a true artisan's life, but in the end will also result in beauty being added to a world that needs it.

Please check out her presentation, and if it is where you can donate any amount, please follow THIS LINK.

This Christmas help me give Darcy the gift of faith, of believing in and supporting her creative journey.

Together we CAN make a difference.

~~

~~

I hope this season finds you wrapped in joy with the ones you love.

~~

ORFUNZ! Take 2. And 3. And 4.

I've put together a few more ORFUNZ! collections from my bead bowl and listed them in my shop~ for way less than $1 per bead ~ because I'm crazy.  And it's Christmas.

ORFUNZ #2

ORFUNZ #3

ORFUNZ #4

You'll find them at Studiojuls.

~~

ORFUNZ!

128 Beads

PLUS Bonus Collection!

Bonus collection:

A total of 141 Beads
$110
(approximately .70 per bead!)

You'll find the listing HERE.

(SOLD)

~~

Hoo Hoo Hoo!

Remember THIS with these guys?

I ran across those photos while I was cleaning out some folders a while back and was inspired.  My flat backed chatons are still winning at hide and seek, but I did rediscover some vintage Japanese cabs.  I had intended to keep the color scheme classic, but you know what they say about intentions.

CooCoo explained that he needed bracelet accompaniments~
(there was much eye rolling involved)

And of course earrings, too.

I decided maybe CooCoo is just a little too bossy for his owl britches, so I made him a twin thinking he'd be a little less demanding.

No such luck.  He wants all the extras as well, but I don't really mind because there are shows next year and I've already way decided that one of these babies will be staying around this girl's neck..

~~

Conversational excerpt:

J)  "I think we define "tortured artist" differently."

L)  "How so?"

J)  "You say it like it's a bad thing."

~~

White Noise ~

~~

And Love.

A new design I'm playing around with~ 

To be worn as a pendant or as a brooch/pin.

Because Boots.

And Scarves.

~~

Melty Glass ~ Because apparently I am simply unable to stop completely.

A couple of weeks ago I might have mentioned that I had an order for 500 same colored spacers.  That sound you are hearing right now is the sound a beadmaker's head makes when it explodes.  Because 500 same colored spacers, that's why.

I checked in with my client last week just as I always do to make sure she was pleased only to discover that the 500 same colored spacers had not arrived.  After doing some checking and searching and pleading on my knees wondering why the Post Office hates me, the package was still MIA so I'll give you 3 guesses what I've spent the last couple of days doing and if you guess anything other than remaking 500 same colored spacers you may not pass go or collect 500 same colored spacers.

Mama needed a break, y'all.  So mama broke out some pretty colors to play with in the middle of remaking that thing which I can no longer name.  I'm just gonna go ahead and say Mama did a damn fine job distracting herself with the shiny, because this:

Renaissance

and this:

Tropicana

I listed them

 at Studiojuls.

~~

The moment you get into a creating groove and look at the clock thinking it might be lunch time but the numbers glowing back at you say 9:25pm.

I've had several days like that in recent weeks, and trying to explain the stupid smile on my face in every day words is harder than tap dancing on a cloud.  Although having never tap danced on a cloud, or on anything for that matter, I'm pretty much taking some assumative license.

Assumative:  Adj. (uh sue muh tiv)
Full of, characterized by, or showing assumption or readiness to believe a word is actually a word when it is, in fact, not.

I've been working on a couple of custom orders in both the bead and jewelry departments.  The jewelry projects are surprising because of the repitiousness I don't typically allow to creep into my jewelry designs, but more on that later.

Repitiousness: noun (reh puh tish us nis)
(See Assumative)

I designed these for one of the custom bead orders, and because I needed 100 sets I made 106.  It's like "new" math, which is apparently way harder than just regular math.

I've got these extras laying on my desk now so I listed them in my shop.

Painted Desert

approx 9mm

organic faceted nuggets

velvet matte finish

~~

Did I mention Red?

As in jeans~  

with a black sweater,

Black Boots,  

Turquoise scarf,  

and this.

I need to back it, edge it,

put on all those clothes

and go somewhere fun.

Like Mama's house

on Thursday.

Gobble Gobble, y'all!

~~

Because I can.

Break out the sweaters, y'all~ winter is teasing us with just enough chill to make boots and scarves passable attire down in the south of Alabama.  I bought some new jeans a month or so ago and the periwinkle blue in this set matches them perfectly....so instead of saying I might have to keep it I'll just go ahead and admit that I made it especially for myself.

Next up?

Something for the RED jeans.

Because Red jeans?

Oh Yes I did.

~~

I think I'll start by making the world's ugliest necklace for next year's Land of Odds Ugly Necklace competition.

I've joked before about giving up making beads, and what I now understand is that those dips into the idea were actually baby steps toward its actual happening.   I've been blessed with a decade long run of self employment doing something I enjoy, but the time has come to focus my creative energy elsewhere.

I'll still be here, full of my crazy, writing and sharing my jewelry designs.  I'll continue to make beads for my own designs and for a couple of my wholesale accounts, but there will be no more Julsbeads available for public consumption when my current inventory is sold out.

I want to thank each of you for supporting my work through the years.  You've made a huge difference in my life, and I appreciate y'all more than you know.

I'm having one last sale on my beads.   Starting today you can take 25% off your entire order at Studiojuls.

The sale will run through the end of the month or until they are gone, whichever comes first.  When something sells out, it will not be remade.  

At checkout use Coupon Code:  CO25

It's been a wonderful experience watching my art beads turned into beautiful jewelry by such incredibly talented hands.  You bless the world with the sharing of your creative souls. 

   I love y'all, every single one.

Juls

~~

W(s)IP ~ sometimes what comes next is the thing that matters.

If I were to write too many words today I'd run the risk of admitting a decision I haven't totally made yet.  Or maybe that means I have, but speaking it into existence seems irreverent while I am still knee deep in the process of making peace with it.

This has been an exhausting week.  For half of the US the next step is coming to terms with loss.  Following that?  Finding a new hopeful space in which to spend our thoughts.

Because Hope is a given, and knowing that is a gift.

Earthbound

Painted Sky

~~

Ears Rings & Blog Hoppy Things

Are you familiar with Ears to You?  I wasn't until a few weeks ago when the clever and generous Amy Freeland of Copper Diem announced an earring-making-blog-hop-free-for-all of handmade treasures to be donated to such a wonderful cause.

It is a special thing to receive an unexpected treasure at a time when you might need one most.  I'd like to go ahead and thank the ladies who will receive the pairs I made for giving me that gift in advance.  I hope they make you feel as beautiful as you are.

Here is a complete list of hop participants,

and you should go give them all

a proverbial hug for being so awesome.

Copper Diem

My Addictions

Beads, Tea and Sweets

JulsBeads

Fabric of my Life

Blogging Business Artisans

Jeannie's Blog

Lorelei's Blog

One Kiss Creations

Backstory Beads

According to Katie

Cherish Designs

Beads: Rolling Downhill

Falling Into The Sky

Garden Path Beads

Antiquity Travelers

Sissy and Jacks

Erin Siegel Jewelry/Art Bead Scene

Northwood Creative Studio

SilverRose Designs

Dreamin of Beads/SAS Jewelry Design

Cabe Woman

Summers Studio

Honey from the Bee

Shaiha's Ramblings

Mama's Got to Doodle

Beads for Busy Gals

Tanya McGuire

Creative Atelier

~~

I'll talk more about Halloween tomorrow. If I survive.

Right now I'm doing some earring assemblage, some website stuff, and making 500 rondelle spacers for a custom order.  If you haven't peeked at RCBD, go ahead.  We'll wait.


Do you see what I did up there?  Mentioning website stuff all nonchalantly like it is an every day thing and like I'm not all high on effort because Hey!  I'm actually rebuilding a site after what?  4 years?  Le Squee.  While I was waiting for you a minute ago I busted so many moves people driving by looked in my window and stopped.  Because Hammer Time!

Okay.  Not Really.  The Juli was blessed with that thing called white girl rhythm, which means while she can totally get down to the GoGos and Gangnam style she looks like a dilapitated flipflop when it comes to hiphop.  But let's keep that our little secret, k?

Anyway. WIP Website!

~~

I've made earrings for this, but that reveal isn't for a couple of days so for now I'll just share some custom collegiate pairs.

If anyone wants to come over and locate my wire cutters,

I'll give them to you

right after I clip those wraps.

~~

AMC has a Halloween Fest running all day today, 

and by Halloween I mean the actual Halloween movies, 

and by Fest I mean

That. Music.

Shudder.

~~

You're hearing it now too, aren't you?

Sorry about that.

~~

A Play Day

It's been a while since I've blown any shards, so yesterday I figured I'd amp up my shard supply.   Now when I say it's been a while, what I mean is I didn't get it right until the third try.  Which means I wasted 2 big blobs of glass, a half hour of my life, and a sheet of silver foil.

Worth it.

These are listed over at Studiojuls, but at the end of my torch day 1 of them is going MIA because last night before bed I got out the components to make a cuff.   Head's up.

~~

For my family in Christ, I have a prayer request.  My uncle has been diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer pending some test results which the doctor suspects will indicate Stage 4.   It is a radical progressive small cell cancer and even with treatment has been deemed terminal within the year.  My cousins lost their mother in 2001 to lung cancer, and I cannot begin to imagine how they must be feeling knowing they face the same with their dad.  Please join me in praying for Harry's easy transition and for Chad and Jake to find comfort in God's promise and peace through this loss.

Thanks, y'all.

I've got the Blues, baby.

If you need some too

you can find them at 

Studiojuls

for $15 each.

I've also lowered the price on all of the other focals listed.

Let's make something pretty, k?

~~

A little Sunday beading.

Soul of Atlantis

~~

Y'all know how much I hate working with these colors~

so when someone purchased this focal and requested I make it into a pendant I cried.  Or ya know...did a happy little mental jig.

A girl I knew in high school bought it.   She was one of those girls that stood out but not for typical reasons.  She was (and is) physically beautiful, but it was (and is) her inner goodness that set her apart.  For as long as I have known her, Ginny has been the kind of Christian that attracts people to Christ.  We weren't close friends, but she is one of the people I remember clearest.

When I sat down to make her simple pendant on a cord this happened instead.  For all of the kindness and love she has contributed to the world I wanted to give her a small piece of it back

It felt wonderful to create purely from a place of love, to exist in the space for which God gave me my abilities without concern for anything else.  Without knowing it and without expecting this when she opens her package, she has once again, without intention, shined her light.

I'm thankful for people like that...for reminding me to BE a people like that.

~~

This is just fluff until later on today when I have something better to say.

This is not post number 666 on this blog, which means I just realized that the previous one was.

Ew.

Here is something the opposite of that~

Confessions

Last night I turned into Samuel L Jackson.  I'm not proud of it, but it happened.  And do you know why it happened?  Because SNAKE.    SnakeInsideTheHouse AGAIN.  

This time it was Devaney's bedroom.  Hanging around under her bed.  It "raised up" at her.  From UNDER HER BED.  In close proximity to my living quarters, y'all.  My brain cannot wrap around what comes next.

Devaney came home from college last week.  Because all of her furniture is still in her apartment in Auburn, John got out a twin mattress from the storage shed to serve as a temporary sleep spot.  After discovering a second (different, longer, female) snake we all decided it was time to find the source, and considering where the second one was found that mattress seemed a likely spot.  Upon dragging the mattress outside and discovering holes in the side, John cut it open to find snake poo.  We know it was snake poo because we took a picture and looked it up on the internet.   

Which means Devaney slept on a mattress containing a snake.  Which means she is the new queen of badassery.  Because having just learned I'd slept with snake?  Instant dead.  She just went back into her room and did Devaney stuff like the whole snake mattress thing never happened.  Like it never happened, ya'll.  

~~

I'm in the throes of quitting smoking.  What I've learned is that it isn't about the nicotine as much as it is about the habit.  Like sitting here right now at my computer, writing especially, I keep reaching over expecting to find an ashtray.

But I won't.  Ever again.

Which is weird.

But it's time.  For a plethora of reasons, it's time.

~~

Speaking of time, I finished the beadwork on this part of of a 10 year old UFO.  I can't tell you how ridiculously happy that makes me because clean bead embroidery work on a 3d object is tediously tiresome, even with an end goal in mind.

She's busy.  And imperfect.  And special.

~~

The voices really DO have good ideas.

studiojuls.com

~~