Meet Julie from ModJules (and a Giveaway)

Julie is a local-to-me artist who designs unique jewelry for craft shows and an Etsy shop called ModJules. Mod Jules specializes in jewelry and gifts that speak to you. Julie says she loves finding and designing images and sayings that fit individual personalities. Her handmade jewelry incorporates a variety of techniques and materials, including upcycled game pieces (scrabble tiles, mah jong tiles), hand-stamped metal, rubber stamping with inks, embossed and riveted metal, and digital collages.

If you are looking for jewelry featuring Les Miserables, Downton Abbey, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Jane Austen, Dr. Seuss, the Hunger Games, English Grammar and more, this is the place! She's absolutely open to new ideas--just let her know if there's a subject for which you need jewelry!

Tell us about your background. What path led you to the work you do today?

My love of words, basic graphic design, scrapbooking & stamping have all combined into my jewelry style! I have a very liberal arts background; I was an English major and eventually got a graduate certificate in Linguistics. At one point, I was looking into doing web graphics as a job change and took some basic classes in web design and graphic software. When I had kids, my interest in scrapbooking took off and then I eventually got into stamping as a creative outlet. About four years ago, I tried making pendants with initials on them out of little travel checkers for my daughter’s birthday party goodie bags (I’d seen an idea online). I thought that was kind of fun and started experimenting with paper, stamping, different games pieces and resin. People started asking to buy what I was making and before long, I had myself a small business.

  

How do you come up with new designs and ideas for your jewelry?

Although my etsy store mostly has my scrabble tile pendant designs, I’m always trying new techniques and experimenting. At my craft shows, you’ll see I’m really all over the place with wire-wrapping, other game pieces and embossed, riveted, and stamped metal jewelry--rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I just come across some new product or technique online and have to try it! As far as my scrabble tile designs are concerned, I take inspiration mostly from popular culture such as TV shows, movies, books, and music that interest me.

 

  

How do you combine your work and your family life?

I’m lucky in that part of my work can be done on the computer around my family (4 kids ranging in age from 10 to 2); I’m not writing the great American novel so I don’t need complete concentration! My jewelry is also made in stages so I can disappear into the craft room for an hour during nap time or at night or on the weekends when my husband can take over. I don’t have a schedule; I just make the time when I have an order. During the holiday craft season, my family tries to come visit me at my shows. It’s become a family tradition that when the show is in some quaint area, we go exploring nearby afterwards and get dinner (subsequently spending what I just made! lol). Also, my kids have their own craft area and it’s fun for me to see them trying to make their own things and be little entrepreneurs; I’ve made pendants from dominoes my son has colored and my daughter makes barrettes to sell at my shows.

 

Is this contemplative work for you? Do you listen to music as you create? Favorite creative soundtrack?

It’s contemplative in the sense that I NEED it to stay sane, lol. I mostly listen to the radio when I’m working—usually a pop rock station with dancey music I can bop along to.

  

Can you suggest ideas for Mother's Day? How about graduation gifts?

I do have a few mother-themed scrabble tiles; I also make custom stamped metal pendants with kids’ names on them that are popular. For graduation gifts, I make stamped metal pendants with a name and birthstone or (and this is true for moms too), if the person has any particular interest, they might enjoy a pendant with a saying that relates to them personally—maybe they love rescue dogs, want to be an English major, play Minecraft , plan on attending UVA or are a Downton Abbey fan! I can take any picture or graphic and make a custom pendant too.

 

What's the product you are most excited about in your shop right now?

Usually I’d say whatever I designed last but one series of designs I really love are my Jane Austen scrabble tile pendants. I absolutely love her books and I had so much fun choosing the quotes, finding the graphic elements and putting them all together. I had a happy accident where I’d inked the sides of the tile to get an antique look and after the resin hardened, it reacted with the ink and created this really cool unique swirled look—almost batik—so every pendant is different!

 

~*~*~*~Giveaway Details and a Special Offer~*~*~*~

Poke around Julie's store and come back and tell us which item you like best. You'll be entered to win any one scrabble tile pendant in the etsy store and a chain or cord of the winner’s choice (value is $16.50 with shipping).

 

For the special, you can take 10% off a minimum purchase of $8 with the code FOSS10  good through May 5. Think spring gift giving:-).

The winner is 

Wanda, who said...

They are all awesome, but this is my favorite...http://www.etsy.com/listing/126312147/dr-seuss-grandmother-of-all-things?ref=shop_home_active

My 4th grandchild is on the way and I am loving taking care of the precious souls!

Thanks for the opportunity to enter!

Winner, winner! Chicken Dinner!

Not really. But the winners of the Jacob's Toy Box Giveaway and the Hedgeapple Farm Giveaway are announced in the original posts. Just click those hyperlinks.

needle & thREAD & a whole lot of reading about eating

 

Hello! Some sewing actually happened around here! Honestly, it was so nice to get back to it, to feel that wonderful fabric and to smell steam rising from crisp creases. I don't know what took me so long. I'm ready to binge on sewing again.

I made those Easter dresses. Well, actually, I did deviate from the plan. Instead of the Fairytale dresses, I went with the simpler Family Reunion dresses. I still love the Fairytale dress, but I didn't quite have the time or energy to commit. 

My girlies are quite pleased with their dresses. They looked so sweet Easter Sunday and these dresses are simple enough to get lots of every day wear all spring and summer. Again, I'm thrilled with the Oliver + S attention to detail. My friend Cari came over to help me with the dresses and she'd never sewn with Oliver + S previously. I think she was really impressed at the quality and clarity compared to other patterns.

Incidentally, someone asked why tracing is necessary. The way these patterns are printed, it is absolutely necessary to trace if you want to sew more than one size. The sizes overlap each other and it would be impossible to cut one without destroying another. After I trace a pattern, I store each size individiually in a ziploc bag. So, tracing is only necessary the first time. After that, it's a much simpler process. I definitely think I'll sew these dresses again, so all that tedious tracing time will have exponential benefits.

I've been reading about a bazillion nutrition books. Everyone has a slightly different angle on the ultimate "anti-inflammatory diet." I've been reading and researching deeply from the vegan end to the paleo end, considering absolutely eveything in between. It's sort of astonishing how many well-respected and well-credentialed people can have such passionate convictions about the same topic and come to such widely disparate conclusions. So, do I have one book to recommend? Um, no. Not really. Do I feel like I've wasted time reading so many? No. Well, maybe. 

I guess the thing is that I didn't really learn anything new. I've spent eight weeks taking Heather's Whole Food Kitchen workshop and reading extensively on my own and I didn't really add to my nutrition knowledge at all. I already knew how to organize a kitchen, plan menus, shop in a wholesome way. I've been feeding real food to a dozen people, more or less, around my table on a daily basis for quite some time now. I was reading nutrition books when some of the people who are writing new ones now were wee babes. Laurel's Kitchen and Moosewood philosophy framed my kitchen for years. And Mollie Katzen is often in my ear in the kitchen. I've been researching the best anti-cancer diet since--well--since before I had cancer. And that was nearly a quarter century ago.

What I learned from my experience of Heather's class is to stop looking for a person or a science to nail exactly what I should eat to prevent disease and enhance quality of life. What I've discovered as I've weighed one theory against another and kept a food diary is that I need to start trusting myself. I need to listen to my body and have a little confidence that it will tell me what's best for me. 

So, for anyone interested in {very} a broad nutrition education, here's the reading list.

It Starts with Food

Practical Paleo 

Everyday Paleo

Paleo Comfort Foods

(The paleo books are now living at Kristin's for awhile. I still highly recommend them. It was just time to pass them along for a bit.  Ironically, since passing them along, I have noticed that Kristin's Instagram food pictures are suddenly very vegetarian.)

The China Study

Super Immunity

True Food

Eating Well for Optimum Health

(Andrew Weil has long been an influence. His anti-inflammatory pyramid makes pretty good sense. I can't do grains quite the way he prescribes, but he's a good guy;-)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (always a good go-to for gardening inspiration. Might be an annual March must-read)

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Food Rules {Herein lies the simplest strategy of all: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants}

unDiet I think this one is a good concept and her blog is probably worth a gander, but the book felt really unorganized to me. It's conversational and sort of bloggy sounding and might just try too hard to be hip and cute. Or maybe I'm just old... Still, I found myself copying parts of it to hand to certain offspring (who would have been put off by the "pinkness" of the book) and I really liked the section on cosmetics. Seriously, girls, what have we been rubbing on our skin and allowing to seep into our bodies?

Clean Cuisine. I liked this one. It drove me crazy that the authors include corn with vegetables and not grains and then really missed how ubiquitous corn is. But all in all, I like this one. 

{The raw milk books are not here. My experience with the milk philosophy and "traditional" foods was by far the most miserable physical and emotional three years ever. Milk is not for me.I've read those books, lived that diet. Not revisiting. No milk. Never.}

Also not read: Crazy Sexy Diet and MILF Diet. Both sound intriguing, based on descriptions and recommendations from people who've read them. But I live in a house with lots of people and, honestly, both sound offensive. I couldn't leave them on the kitchen counter for my grab-a-minute-or-two style of reading.I'm not a big fan of profanity. I think it's unprofessional in a published work and frankly, I think we can do better vocabulary-wise. There are so many great words from which to choose; let's challenge ourselves to express the best way possible. In the case of the latter book, I admit I had to check Urban Dictionary for the acronym. Then, I had to wonder. Did no one involved in the naming of this book understand that women likely to read it are of the age that they are mothers of teenaged boys? And then, what were they thinking? That the moms would want the book hanging out for their sons to spot? And that that exchange wouldn't be incredibly awkward for both of them? This is just weird. 

And there is definitely weirdness to be experienced in the foodie world. Lots of different lifestyles and philosophies intersect. Many people, from many different walks of life want to eat well for their own health and the health of the planet. I think we have much to learn from one another. I do offer this caveat: if you are a reader who is offended when the author's lifestyle or faith or political perspective doesn't match yours exactly, you might not want to read through the books I've listed above. But if you like to glean wisdom from the people you bump into at the Farmer's Market, that's a rockstar list of books.

I'm eager to see your Easter and springtime sewing and to hear what you're reading (and eating?)! Please a leave a link and let me know what you've been up to! I promise to re-vist the combox (and to follow links to your blogs) frequently in the next couple days if you want to talk food. Or fabric. Or both.

What are you sewing and reading this week? I really do want to hear all about it!

Make sure the link you submit is to the URL of your blog post or your specific Flickr photo and not your main blog URL or Flickr Photostream. Please be sure and link to your current needle and thREAD post below in the comments, and not a needle and thREAD post from a previous week. If you don't have a blog, please post a photo to the needle & thREAD group at Flickr. 

       Include a link back to this post in your blog post or on your flickr photo page so that others who may want to join the needle and thREAD fun can find us! Feel free to grab a button here (in one of several colors) so that you can use the button to link.

Let Easter Bloom

I awoke to the sound of birds this morning — the unmistakable sound that spring has arrived. It’s the Easter season; a grand, glorious explosion of nature into the liturgical year to trumpet for us that God is life anew.

And the weeds are growing some kind of crazy in my garden. It’s barely warm enough to work the ground, yet all the gardening calendars tell me the time to plant is rapidly growing shorter. With every burst of green — even the weedy ones — I see the promise of the rich abundance of harvest time. It’s mine, if only I tend this garden well.

Please read the rest here. And I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll be back to this space this evening to visit in the combox.

Gathering my Thoughts

{{I got a new camera the day before Easter. I haven't clicked it once, yet, but Mary Beth played with it yesterday. All pictures above are hers and are entirely unedited.}}

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

My garden is overrun with weeds all of a sudden. I am hopeful that warm weather this week will beckon us outdoors to make it all tidy.

::listening to 

birds chirping. And chirping and chirping. I awoke to that sound. Seems appropriate for Easter Monday.

::clothing myself in 

Christmas pajamas and a UVa sweatshirt. I was cold last night. Whatever works, right?

::talking with my children about these books

I chose three of the girls' favorite books for their Easter baskets. These were books that they couldn't bear to return to the library.

For Karoline, it was Mossy. This is the first full book she's read all by herself. It's lovely. I am very fond of Jan Brett's books and this one is my favorite. Karoline told Kristin yesterday that "It's a nature story, but it's a love story. And there's drawing in it, too." What more can you ask for? And what does it say about my girls that they get all starry-eyed and romantic over a love story about turtles?

For Sarah, I chose Cinderella. This version is a 1955 Caldecott winner. The language is rich and nourishing. (For instance I had to explain that the "haughtiest woman" was not the "hottiest woman." My little girls live with five big brothers. That's all I can offer by way of explaining that confusion.) Sarah absolutely loves this book and much prefers this version to the Disney version, though she is definitely campaigning for this video. She likes the songs. Hard to argue with that.

For Katie, I got The Penderwicks. This book is Mary Beth's all-time favorite book. Her copy is the original paperback. And it's falling apart. When she saw that it had been republished in a beautiful, hardbound deckle edge version, she begged one for Katie. As I write though, I'm wondering why I didn't get two. Mary Beth has often said that this series is one she wants to keep forever. Hmmm...

::thinking and thinking

About renewal and Lent and how it all played out this year.

::pondering prayerfully

So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish. ~~ Pope Francis

::carefully cultivating rhythm

I have no rhythm. I've been trying to find it the entire school year. First, there were renovations (of home and heart) and wedding planning. Then, advent and a wedding. Then we worked the gym into the winter rhythm and didn't drop anything else. We have had two bouts of the flu. (The kind that tests positive in the doctor's office. Thank the Lord for Tamiflu.) There was college kid spring break that didn't coincide with my planned spring break. Then there was neighborhood kid spring break; again, not with my spring break. And now it's nearly Bluebell Week, which actually is my spring break. 

There is one common thread. With every wave of rhythm disruption, I've dropped more time in front of the screen. There is only one social media app on my phone and I'm flirting with the idea of dropping Instagram, too, except I do really like it. My Facebook time is nearly nil and after a brief little foray into conversation yesterday, I'm remembering why I've so drastically reduced it. Ain't nobody got time for that.

I like to blog, though. I like to have a pretty place to capture memories and think thoughts. However, with screen time super scarce, I find myself rarely reading blogs. I check in a few times a week and read blogs of good friends and that's about it. And I wonder, can one have a place in a blogging community if she rarely communes? I've never been very good at hanging out with the cool kids. I don't really like a crowd. It's taken me a long time to recognize that one can easily place herself in a crowd online, without even really recognizing it, until suddenly she's overwhelmed by the voices. I remember Amy Welborn once wondered aloud about introverts and homeschooling. She really got me thinking. At the time, I think I had eight children and they were all at home all day long. It had never occured to me that the people in my own house were ruffling my introverted feathers. But her musing raised my consciousness. Now, I wonder, is there a place online for those of us who are Quiet? And if a house full of children are zapping an introvert's energy, can she possibly allow herself to get online and expose herself to more noise?  How does that work into what is preferably a quiet rhythm?

::creating by hand

Easter dresses. More on those on Thursday. And an unfinished Tiny Tea Leaves sweater, one that would have been just perfect for Katie yesterday, but didn't get finished. More on that, too, no doubt.

::learning lessons in

Food. For real. Heather’s class has me thinking and re-thinking. I’m definitely tweaking hard.  I tend to learn by total immersion and I’ve been reading incessantly. The problem is that reading about whole foods is always about two clicks away from reading about cancer. And reading about cancer is about a click from reading about late effects of chemo and radiation. And that's a really bad rabbit trail for me to travel. One can overthink food. I just did. 

::encouraging learning 

A happy not-spring-break learning lovely: Mary Beth's friend Morgan hung out around our house during the public high school's spring break last week. She gathered everyone into an impromptu reading/production of "Midsummer Night's Dream." The boys and even the littlest girls were all into the story together.  Love it when things like that happen.

There will be a decided shift in the next few weeks. We've wrapped up our writing courses for the year. I'm going to hyperfocus on math and nature study. My kids will be thrilled about the latter. The former? Recently overheard from the "magic" corner of the sunroom, where the dollhouse and fairy treehouse live: "And then my father died and the evil stepmother made me do math!"

Prevailing sentiment not withstanding, I have a math plan.

::begging prayers

For the repose of the soul of Kristin's grandfather.  Also, of my friend Katherine's grandmother, who died yesterday. May the peace of the resurrection comfort those who grieve.

::keeping house

The Triddum found me filling prescriptions for Tamiflu, racing to get BIG buckets to put under the gaping hole in the living room ceiling, answering a frantic early morning phone call when my father-in-love hit a deer in the dark, sending my best help off on a trip to Pittsburgh to see Paddy play (Mike and his dad, Mary Beth driving!), amazing seats at the Elite Eight (not me, two lucky boys), driving back and forth to every Triduum service so that healthy boys could serve, trying to finish that sweater, and shopping and cooking for dinner for twenty. None of it was as I pictured. I fell exhausted into bed last night, but I learned that there really is a rather wide, forgiving margin for imperfection when it comes to celebrating holidays. Who knew?

::crafting in the kitchen 

Leftovers. Oh, how we have leftovers! I will reinvent Easter dinner for a week. (Oh, and there were some memorable chocolate mustaches;-)

::loving the moments

when we fill the whole pew at church, but only because the "overflow" is serving at the altar and Sarah is asleep on Mike's lap, otherwise, we'd need to spill into another row.

::giving thanks 

for sunshine.

living the liturgy

We're focusing on Divine Mercy.

Easter is a season. My intention is to live it as such. Throw open the windows; let light flood our lives. He is risen! And we, too, can run and leap and shout for joy:-). So let's get after that...

::planning for the week ahead

Ballet and soccer are in full swing. The driving demands do not all fit. They just don't. My first task today is to figure out a way to get everyone where he or she needs to be. And then, I need to find a way to be sure that I work out, too. And to find time to write. And now we're back to that rhythm thing again. My plan is to go outside and weed the garden and talk to God about it all and hope He answers loudly. 

Instagram recap: