HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We're still enjoying the snow here. It seems to make things extra festive while we're preparing our gifts for friends and family and thinking about packing to fly back to texas for the week. As I write, it looks like a blizzard outside and it brings a smile to my face. I think I'll try and talk my sweet brian into an adventure outdoors! Here are a few of our holiday I'd like to share. I wish you the happiest christmas ever filled with many moments of joy!

snow, shows & shopping!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas! and it's only 10 days away. it really snuck up on me this year. i returned home safely from chicago and all of it's cold and snow. of course i met many talented people (like my booth neighbor Miss Allison) at the renegade show. i got some holiday shopping and trading done. and i stayed with the nicest friends of friends who made me feel so welcome. it was a fun and successful weekend! Here's what my booth looked like. The first picture was the scene that we saw when we walked out the door to leave for Crafty Wonderland on Sunday morning. The roads today were still dangerous from the snow we got yesterday, so I had Brian sharing the day at home with me which was nice. I think the kitties enjoyed having him here too. I've been posting my remaining stock in my etsy shop all day and I'll continue to do that for the rest of the week. I'm also offering **free priority shipping and gift wrapping** on all regular priced items now thru this friday, december 19th! Here's a sampling of some of the goods.

Renegade Craft Fair

You can find me here at the Renegeade Holiday Sale in Chicago this weekend! I'll flying to the east and into very chilly weather. It's been nice and not so cold here in Portland lately, so I'm interested to see what 20 degrees feels like with the snow showers which are expected. yikes! I'm all stocked up though and ready to sell. There are going to be 149 other people selling their wares, i only wish i was going to have more to shop. I'll be surrounded by many talented peeps so i'm sure there will be plenty of shopping only steps away! Super excited!

Octopi Treasury

Thanks Owliday Inn! Get your octopus print in my etsy shop!

I am thankful

As Thanksgiving nears, I think of the many things in my world that i have to be thankful for. My mother, who sends the most thoughtful packages that arrive at least every other month. they are basically like care packages you would get at camp! Yesterday we received Grandma Hannah'a Banana Bread. My husband, who cooks us nice meals to enjoy together - a change from the cheese + crackers + fruit that i usually eat when he isn't around. I'm also thankful to have his hands helping me out with the business this week. I'm thankful for family and friends we have in our lives that are surrounded by and also connected with thanks to cell phones, text messages, facebook, emails, myspace, flickr, blogging, and...did i miss anything? I'm thankful to be so busy that I have to remind myself to breathe! And I am thankful for my health as a couple of people near and dear are constantly in my thoughts as they are trying to heal. And I'm thankful for our 2 kitties, fattie + blackie, that just want to cuddle, eat + sleep. It's a beautiful life and there is so much to be thankful for. Below are a few pieces i've created this week to help promote the Secret Society Sale which is this coming Sunday, November 30. There will be 35 local artists participating and each will be donating 10% of their profits to the Oregon Food Bank, because no one should be hungry. Did you know that Oregon is the 3rd hungriest state in the nation? Check out the site for the full details.

Packaging Projects

This week, I've been working on packaging for a new product that my friend, Chef Bronwen, of Flavour Pals, is working on. I'll be posting about that tomorrow, but I wanted to share with you some of the packaging that I created for my mom and step-dad's company, Coffee City USA a few years ago. The first is a pillow box containing 4 different types of coffee. Each comes with a card attached that you can use to write a message. You can purchase them on their site. At one point, Hallmark carried one of the designs. Mom and Ray LOVE to collect coffee tins! So I wasn't surprised when they asked me to design a line of coffee tins to sell with their coffee inside. We also spotted 3 of the tins in a magazine once, being used as props on a shelf! I'll try to locate that to post. It was surprising and exciting to see even though no credit was given. Hallmark also carried one of the designs too.

New at Handmade Julz

There are 6 new pieces of art for you to choose from on the site!

Design Projects from the past 2 months

I've had lots of opportunity for designing lately and I absolutely love it! It makes me happy to be able to get back to creating artwork other than for my jewelry. Since returning from our honeymoon 2 months ago, I've worked on several projects that I wanted to share. The first pictures below were for a fundraiser for the communication design program that I studied in college. The event was called Block Party 2008 : Alumni Fundraiser. I received a 6x6 block of wood and was told that I could create anything I wanted with it. I made mine a Handmade Julz themed block. A calender is useful for everyone so I made one side into a calender. I took the artwork that I have used in my julz designs and used that for a different background for each month. The other side was covered with glass "julz" gems and then I filled the empty space with a gray grout. I was excited to find the perfectly sized wooden easel to hold the block. I often don't totally think my projects thru until I'm already into it, and after i made my mosaic side, the block was too heavy to stand on it's own. I painted the easel one of my favorites shades of blue to go along with one of my favorite shades of green - which together are the colors of Handmade Julz I'm helping put together a show at the end of this month with Jen of Knot Ugly and Michelle of Eclectikid. It's called the Secret Society Sale If you're in Portland, come check it out on November 30th! This is the postcard that I designed to help get the word out. And the poster design for the Secret Society Sale : Nov 30, 2008 Our friend Bronwen just started a catering business called Flavour Pals We were lucky enough to have her catering our wedding! She also provides personal chef services and teaches cooking classes. Below is the logo that I created for Flavour Pals I had the pleasure of working on a logo for Point Break Surf, a company that teaches surf lessons in Costa Rica. If only I would have been in Costa Rica while designing the logo! And a poster designed for Point Break Surf in Costa Rica I also had the honor of working on my friends Cara & Kelly's wedding invitation. It makes me happy to be able to work on things like this for a friend. The wedding, which was held last month in the hill country of austin, texas, took place in the evening in a space that was reminiscent of an italian villa. It was absolutely breathtaking. Below is the invitation that I created for them. A program for the ceremony was also created. This is the opening page of Cara & Kelly's Wedding Program The inside & back of Cara & Kelly's Wedding Program Thank yous were also designed to go along with Cara & Kelly's Wedding Invitation

Mrs. Julz Nally

Hello! I'm happy to be back to my blog, now as Mrs. Julz Nally! I haven't really started getting everything changed over to my new name - it's quite a process to start changing your name after you been known as that person for 31 years! For now, I wanted to share a few of the details from our lovely wedding - the happiest day of my life so far! The first picture below is the result of our first design collaboration together. We love the art of screen printing. So, how better to announce our wedding than with a genuine concert poster! They are one of our favorite design vehicles ever and a quick way to get a message across. We spent a good chunk of time putting together this concept and design and then sent if off to our good friends over at Cricket Press to have them printed. We also designed a piece that guests could bring along on the trip. The RSVP was a postcard that we designed and printed onto cardboard. We made weekend fun bags! Our friends & family received this wonderful coffee by Coffee City USA which each made a pot of brian's daily coffee and my daily coffee. Brian & I got hitched in the Mt. Hood National Forest! This beautiful photo was taken by our friend & photographer, Kim. Our friend Paul took this photo of the chandelier above our alter. I love cupcakes! Thank you Anne!

Please excuse the absence

I'm getting married in 4 weeks!

2 weeks (+ still counting!) in the Sunshine State

Greetings! As most of you know, I've been traveling around Florida for the past 2 weeks and I'll be here for another 7 days. I wanted to share a few pictures and experiences from my trip so far. I left Austin, Tx on May 15 and headed to Destin, Florida with 8 other girls for a 4 day bachelorette party. This sign greeted us as we entered the state. The weekend in Destin was perfect. We had a fun group of girls and we definitely brought the party to rosemary beach! A few of my favorite moments (that i can share) were the golf cart rides, every moment on the beach, jello shots, the mustaches we found hidden with the tupperware in the house (picture below of Cara, the bachelorette and myself), and "Snack Jesus" we spotted airbrushed on a building. My mom picked me up from there on Monday, the 19th, and we drove over to Panama City for a night. The next morning, we drove across the upper handle of the state and around the curve all the way down to St. Petersburg for the night. There wasn't much to mention about that part of Florida, but we did see a wild boar run across the road which was unexpected. We made one stop along the way in Tarpon Springs, a small Greek fishing village with historic sponge-diving boats and authentic restaurants. We thought about buying a sea sponge, until we watched the video and learned that the sponges are actually skeletons of a living creature. I'm really not sure what I thought they were before, I guess I have never thought about it. Needless to say, after the video, we didn't purchase a sponge but we did leave the city with a piece of bahklava and the most delectable cannoli I've ever tasted! We had time for some beach time the next day. I thought this cute little birdie was going to join me on my blanket! I spotted this sign in Sarasota where we stopped for a bite to eat. My last name is Briggs so we had to go back so I could take a picture. I loved that it was paired with Fruitville Rd. Thursday morning, May 22, we awoke at 5:30am to drive to Sanibel + Captiva Islands 30 mins from our hotel. Sanibel island is the 3rd best place in the world for finding shells, behind Australia and the Phillipines, and we wanted to make sure we were on the beach when the sun was rising! I'll take a picture of all of my finds to show you later, but here is just a little of what we had to search through. We spent 3 hours searching and then had to drive on. My mom and I being the dorks we are took this picture with a couple of our shells. Thursday night we drove over to West Palm Beach where my little brother and his wife live. They are expecting a baby girl in August, so we helped throw them a baby shower on Saturday. Below is a picture of the cutest (and tastiest) baby shower cake I've ever seen and my brother and his wife, Melissa. Memorial day Monday, my mom, step dad and me made our way down to the Keys. We've been staying in Islamorada for the past 3 nights. The water is so nice to look out into, this was a view walking out onto the fishing pier at our hotel. I had to include a palm tree. It's been windy here if you can't tell. It has been blowing at us from the northeast at almost 20 mph! I've enjoyed having the constant breeze while laying out in the hot sun. Yesterday we went to feed the tarpon. They were all next to a dock, waiting to be fed and were enormous fish each weighing about 30-50 lbs. There were some feisty pelicans hanging out on the dock too. One almost ran off with my sunglasses I had down by my side. I'll post another update soon. We'll be leaving here tomorrow and mom and I plan to start heading up the eastern coast of Florida on friday. We're planning on being in Titusville saturday night to be directly across the water for the shuttle launch which would certainly be a wonderous site to see.