Spring Puppet Theater

We've been playing with lots of puppets around our house lately! My little girl really gets into it. I had these characters already created so I thought it would be fun to bring them to life as little finger puppets. Below is the outcome! If you'd like to create your own spring puppet theater, I've included a jpg below for printing & some loose instructions.

YOU WILL NEED

1. printer for printing

2. heavyweight paper

3. scissors

4. sticks

5. yarn or string 

6. box

7. tape

INSTRUCTIONS

I printed out the 8.5 x 11 sheet attached. Next, I colored my characters and the other pieces bright and happy colors. Once finished with the coloring, I cut them out. You don't have to use all of the pieces but I tend to overdue it, so I strung everything up at once! There are holes that need to be cut out of the characters for your fingers to go into for movement. I used an x-acto knife, but if you don't have one of those, you could try to use your scissors. Next, I cut a hole in each side of the pieces that i planned on hanging with my yarn. 

Now you're ready to start putting your theater together! I found a shoebox to use and then added some paper to the top of mine for a change of color. Toward the back of the box, cut an X on each side and then insert your sticks. I wanted 3 rows for hanging my background so i cut three pieces of yarn that were about double what I actually needed. You can create as you desire, but my next step was to tie one piece of yarn to the stick that you see on the left, string on "happy" and "the sunshine" and then I tied off the yarn on the side you see on the right at the point that it was hanging like I wanted it to. It will take a little finessing to get it to the look you desire, and in the end, I actually needed tape to hold my sticks right where I wanted them inside of the box! Be sure to leave room for your hands to get onto the stage and perform. I added the flowers last. To hold them in place, you can fold the bottoms in about 1/4" and then tape them down. And now you're ready for your first performance!

I would love to see any theaters created out there in the world so please feel free to share! 

Happy Creating!

and 

Happy Spring!

xo! julz

Newness!

I am a huge fan of change! Lately, I have been making lots of changes in my world. After over 7 years in business, I’ve decided to take my business in a new direction and focus on what i'm most passionate about. Why not, right? Handmade Julz will now be focused on creating illustrations and design for the young at heart. As a stay at home mom for the past few years, I have grown to realize that my true passion is found in illustrating teaching & trying to bring happiness wherever I can in this world!

Inspiration for the artwork came during a time when I was taking Juniper to the zoo every week and making time for myself to draw daily. I was also in search of a way to create while my daughter played, so I started to embroider some of the artwork that I had drawn. I discovered that I really enjoyed embroidering and i found it very meditative.

The release of the Handmade Julz DIY Embroidery Kit is the first of many exciting things to come with this new direction and my new adventure in business as a mama. That's our sweet little Juniper above. You can learn more about the kits and how to purchase on my website! 

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS ELEPHANT : DIY EMBROIDERY KIT

COUNTING BEAR : DIY EMBROIDERY KIT

BE BRAVE LION : DIY EMBROIDERY KIT

LOVE YOURSELF GIRAFFE : DIY EMBROIDERY KIT

Another new product that I've recently started selling are these embroidery hoop wall hangings. They arrive ready to hang and bring happiness to any room. You can learn more about the hoops on my website too!

Thank you Jena (aka:Miss Modish) for being your oh so fabulous self and for helping me with all of the beautiful photos!

my most recent illustrations

5 recent illustrations : available in my shop : $25

illustrated, printed, painted, numbered + signed 

Maven logo & sign

New branding and hand painted sign that I created for Maven!, a photo by handmade julz on Flickr.

New branding and hand painted sign that I created for Maven!

Salt Dough Necklaces

Crafting with Juniper, a photo by handmade julz on Flickr.

I love that Juniper loves crafting. It's a dream come true. We try to make something together at least once a week. i'll start posting them here on the blog!

meet juniper!

i've been away from the blog lately. it's been almost 2 years! since then i've had a little girl - juniper clementine. i now spend most of my days playing with her and i couldn't think of a better way to spend my days! i've been working here and there and enjoying the time when i am making jewelry, working on an illustration, or a project with friends. i've also got some onesies and toddler tees printed in the past few months, and also decided to start phasing out my necklaces because i just can't do it all and i'd like to move my focus to more illustrating! i've created new artwork since i've posted as well. i'll post again soon to share the projects that i've been up to recently. I hope that you are out there doing wonderful things in the world! xo > julz

Catching Up

as promised, here are a few pictures taken while on the road in california for the renegade handmade shows! we set up shop at the Fort Mason Center. pics 1 & 3 shot by the lovely jena of modish blog
I had several new art prints to share the entrance to the renegade craft fair : san fran lovely graffiti bathroom inside of squat & gooble : san fran i saw pretty hot pink flowers & a blue sky in capitola.ca beside the sea in capitola.ca i love chandeliers : above the entryway at stripe in santa cruz.ca amazing store : stripe in santa cruz.ca baron's orchids : morro bay.ca one of the 7 sisters volcanos : morro bay.ca my friend erica & i : renegade LA we set up shop in downtown at the market center : LA i explored downtown LA and took photos of pigeons near trash cans my favorite summer shoes on beautiful mosaic work wonderful colors and finally palm trees living next to tall buildings

renegade SF- setting up the booth

it's been a busy few months. we ended the house search and actually found a place. we moved in the first week of july and then i left for a 2 week trip to california for the renegade shows the time spent away was wonderfully terrific, catching up with old friends and getting to know several new people in the world. i'll post more pictures soon of my trip. this picture was taken by the oh so lovely jena of modish blog

3 Necklaces

I took some pretty pictures of a few necklaces & matching earring this evening. Then, I dropped my camera and the screen broke! Here's a few to share pre-breakage. They're now available in my etsy shop! $30 for a large necklace & free matching earrings ;) I'm off to West Palm Beach tomorrow for a visit with my family and to become a Godmother to my sweet little niece! I'll be back next week. Enjoy your weekend!

Home Sweet Home

Recently, I've been trying to get back into making art and rediscovering my illustration style. This has proven to be a difficult task for me with everything else I already have started and need to stay focused on. I've spent many hours in the past couple of weeks drawing out different ideas and working with different mediums. So far, I have 3 different series that I want to work on. I think that I'll probably just work on all 3 at the same time because that's generally how I work. I'm a multi-tasker, but also a bit unfocused at times because I have so many ideas that I want to execute! We've also been spending much of our time searching for a home to buy. The painting above is the first in a new series that my husband and I have started together. A 'home' related theme seemed to make the most sense for the time we're experiencing in our lives at the moment! I look forward to sharing many more in this series and others in the coming weeks! Above & below are a couple of baby shower invites that I recently designed for friends bringing cute little babies into the world this month!

We're a Work in Progress

Today I am procrastinating. I made good progress on the taxes yesterday, so I'm back today to share a little collaboration happening in our home right now. Our first art-related collaboration happened at the end of last year when we designed our wedding invitation together. We also worked together on a logo for Cafe Au Play. There's an interesting challenge that happens when two very passionate people are working together on something that they are each so passionate about. Each one of us has our own unique ideas, styles, & processes that we're bringing to the situation. In my case, I'm bringing a non-planning kind of process of just making it happen along the way in whatever way ends up happening. I don't really think it all through when I'm painting, sewing, building and it drives Brian crazy. In the general everyday, I'm usually the over-planner and brian is the under-planner. I'm enjoying these discoveries about myself and my husband and our processes that it takes to work together to be happy with the outcome. I hope that everyday continues to bring a new challenge because it's pretty fun to learn new things and create art together. There will be many more works in progress happening in this home soon to be revealed, but here are a few for now.