Where has the time gone?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure where March and April went. How did it get to be May already? Time seems to be flying by and I completely failed to post lately and for that I apologize .

I have been busy getting ready for the Spring Show and Sale at the Craft Guild of Dallas. It starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday. I just hope the weather cooperates because it is outside and we have had a lot of rain lately, especially on the weekends.

I made some true junk journals that are for sale on the Craft Guild’s Online Gallery. They are so much fun to make and it gives me a chance to use up all those fabric and paper scraps I seem to have so many of. Here are some photos of the four that I have made so far.

This first one is called Soar and was inspired by the orange butterfly that I cut out from a tapestry that my daughter was getting rid of. That was a great find for me and there are a lot of beautiful butterflies I was able to salvage from it.

Here is a picture of some of the pages inside. They are truly a random mix of papers. The thing I like most about these journals is that the pages aren’t bound at all. They are folded and then tied into the journal with either string or elastic. This way, pages can be slipped in or out and you can keep the cover for as long as you want.

This next one is called Bunny Rides and I just love the images for this one, not to mention the gorgeous color scheme.

Here is a picture of the inside.

The third one is called Frenchie and I just love how dapper he is.

Here is a sample of a the inside.

Here is the last one and it’s called Soar and features another butterfly from the tapestry.

Here are some of the pages.

That’s all for now. I hope to post again next month with more journals to share and maybe a textile collage or two.

November 18, 2021

Around Here – The Week Before Thanksgiving

Sometimes I realize that my website has a blog, but then I tend to forget all about it. I’m not great at blogging, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have to be. This space can be whatever I want it to be and it can be just for me. It’s absolutely okay if no one else ever reads this. Maybe one day, when I’m no longer on this earth, my kids will read it and I hope it makes them smile.

That being said, I’m going to post more often. The older I get, the more aware I am of how fleeting life is and also how precious it is. Not just the big things, but the little daily things as well.

There is a chill in the air today that we haven’t felt in a while. We were blessed with two 80 degree days, but today is in the 50’s and quite windy. The ducks were enjoying it though.

They seem to be enjoying themselves, despite the stiff breeze and colder temperatures. The geese were nowhere to be seen though. Perhaps they were at another pond.

One of my favorite birds are hawks, especially red hawks. We have quite a few of them in our area. The other day I was sitting at my desk and when I looked out the window, I saw a red hawk land in the tree right behind our back yard. It was really gorgeous.

I watched as the hawk moved up the tree and seemed to make itself comfortable.

To my surprise a second hawk came along and landed on the same branch quite near the first hawk.

What occurred next was somewhat shocking – they started fighting and flew away. I wanted to get a picture of this, but it all happened too fast. It was quite surprising, but also very interesting to watch. Sadly, I haven’t had either one of them visit since.

I really do enjoy my view so much more now that we moved. It’s nice to be able to see something besides the alley and our neighbors fence!

I recently finished the Craft Guild’s spring show and it went really well. I ended up selling 40 journals, which is amazing, but I think I could have sold even more if I hadn’t procrastinated so much over the summer and then had to rush to make things before the show date. That really wasn’t smart.

I also had someone who liked to “help” me with my work, but wasn’t all that helpful.

He is cute sometimes though!

Till next time!

September 24, 2018

Try, Try and Try Again

There are times when a piece comes together almost effortlessly on the first try. This was not one of them.

I originally planned on creating an abstract floral piece that consisted of a very detailed mixed media background, along with a vase and flowers. I worked for hours on the background and the vase come out just the way I wanted it to.

Unfortunately, the flowers did not. They were a disaster. The loose style I was trying to obtain never quite came together. I tried to fix the flowers, but I only ended up making them look even worse than they already did. I was at the point of no return.

As much as it killed me to do, I had to cover up everything with gesso and start from scratch. Hours and hours of work, now gone.

Next, I decided to go in a different direction and try some sketchy watercolor type florals. I just didn’t feel confident enough to try the same technique I had just failed at.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this right either. It was just not good. Although I was able to fix the flowers using stencils and acrylic paints, the leaves and stems were still awful. I was thinking that I was going to have to start all over once again.

It was then that I remembered a vine stencil I had. I pulled it out and decided to give it one last shot. I’m glad I did because that stencil allowed me to save the piece.

I don’t think this will ever be one of my favorite creations, but I’m glad that I didn’t quit and that I was able to step back and take a moment and figure out a new direction.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were able to do this in our personal lives as well? Sometimes, when things aren’t working out the way they should, whether it be a job, a relationship, a personal goal, etc., we tend to become emotional and just walk away. We quit, we abandon, we sabotage.

I know I have done that so many times over the course of my life. I felt that it was easier to just walk away instead of digging in and doing the work that might have salvaged something and perhaps taken my life in a new direction.

I’m not saying that we should stay in toxic or abusive relationship. That is never the case. But I am saying that perhaps a friendship could be saved or deepened or a relationship with a child could be turned around if we just took a step back, took a deep breath and figured out what we need to do next instead of walking away.

So today, I’m going to choose to hang in there and do something difficult instead of giving up and walking away. I know it won’t be easy, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

August 19, 2017April 30, 2018

New Website

A Brand New Website

So what do jellyfish have to do with a new website? Honestly, not much, but this is what my brain feels like right now. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that shutting down my former website www.juliemortillaro.com and creating www.juliedawndesigns.com would be take so long to complete.

Not only do I still have an enormous amount of product photos to edit, this is my first blog post. I’m embarrassed to reveal how long ago I started working on this.

The photo editing is definitely the most labor intensive and time consuming part of this process. The problem is that I can’t just take a photo that comes out with a white background, so I have to spend a lot of time in Photoshop Elements and Fotor to get them to look decent. Perhaps one day I will be able to invest in some professional grade lighting, but for now I have to make do with what I have.

Product photography is difficult for me and tricky at best, but so very important. I thought if I just tried to wholesale my journals or sell them on consignment I could skip this altogether, but that wasn’t the case. I found out that even if you aren’t setting up an online shop, store owners or buyers still want to be able to view your products either online or in some sort of catalogue format.

Thankfully, I found this out before I went out to a bunch of shops with my journals in tow. The night before I was going to do this, I came across an article written by the owners of a store in Austin. It talked about the most annoying things to do if you are trying to get someone to carry your products. I was about to do them all.

So instead of driving around peddling my wares, I started taking photographs of all the journals I had created over the past few months. Had I known I was going to have to do this, I would have taken photos after I finished making each one.

This might also help explain why this is my first blog post, even though I created this website in July.

As far as blogging goes, I’ve always been horrible about it, which is simply not acceptable. So this time, I’m vowing to be consistent and I really mean it this time!

This is going to be a place to share not only my journals, artwork and the creation of both, but pieces of my life and things that matter to me.

So, goodbye for now, for I have many more photos left to edit!

Cue the jellyfish…