Flower power

I have been pretty lucky and have met a lot of wonderful people on the Internet, as a matter of fact, absolutely blessed! Included in that number is Juls from Jul's Fantasy Flowers. We have so much in common, and it is such a treat to hear from her when she has a spare moment to post or write a quick note.

On her blog she writes: "I love working with color. I design my happy little flowers as stylized versions of real flowers, they have elements of reality but are really just intended to be fun cheerful little posies. I strive for detail in my work and am committed to providing a unique product to my customers. Each brooch is hand sculpted one petal at a time, so each flower is one of a kind."


She is a green thumbed gardener. Not only for her own use, but contributes regularly to the food bank in her town to help those in need. I've seen pic's of her garden, and this is no rookie's green acres! See what I mean? Oh and by the way the beautiful display photo at the very begining of this post comes from her garden as well! (Wouldn't I LOVE to say that those were mine...)


We've shared in a couple of groups on the web and here's a snippet of part of her profile on Artisans for God: "I am an avid gardener and I grow a huge garden every year. Mostly veggies which I can, freeze and dehydrate and I make a killer Salsa! I grow sunflowers every year in my garden along with a few other select favorites. I recently began making sunflower brooches. I tend to make flowers that represent memories for me of things I hold dear."

Now the flowers that she is talking about are these lovely little brooches that she makes from scratch. I mean scratch. She calls it cold porcelain, and she makes the clay herself. I do not know the process, I'm thinking it is a family secret that has been passed down for generations, because these don't look anything like femo or anything I've seen.

Here's what she says in her shop greeting: "Made of homemade clay, based on a "COLD PORCELAIN" technique. Colors and effects are achieved by working the color into the clay.Sprayed with a protective gloss finish and they are WATER RESISTANT.Carefully Crafted in My Smoke Free Studio!"

Well I'm absolutely amazed at the detailed delicateness of them. They look just like Bakelite to me, they don't look like anything that you would whip up in your studio, or kitchen, or home. This clay is so refined and smooth, it resembles plastic or glass.

She also has this written in her shop header on Etsy:

GIVE YOURSELF SOME “VITAMIN F” -Harvard University study findings reveal that placing small bouquets of flowers around your house increases feelings of compassion and tend to decrease anxiety and worry. So a flower a day helps keep the anti-depressants away.Gardeners have always known this, now scientists are endorsing and praising the “Power of Flowers,” they are natural mood lifters!

Vitamin F! That is so cute! And more than a grain of truth I'll bet.

Well I will have to agree, first because I am a fellow gardener, and second I feel great just being in the company of all these amazing brooches that she creates! And yes, if you're wondering, I am the proud owner of two of them. I just want to frame mine however, they are just that pretty!

Feeling worried or anxious, or need a little flower power? Here's a couple of links that you will find to be medicine to your soul:

http://www.julsfantasyflowers.etsy.com/
http://www.julsfantasyflowers.artfire.com/

And the link to her beautiful blog: http://julsfantasyflowers.blogspot.com/

Juls has a link on her website to a very inspirational video. I don't think she'll mind if I repost it here, I hope you will view it. You'll be encouraged.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k

And I was so encouraged when I saw it, I wanted to get the words to it to journal with. The words are found here in this post: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,285-1-54-31,00.html in case you too feel encouraged.



Thanks Juls for letting us spend some time with you, I am so pleased to know you!


All pictures in this blog post copyright: http://julsfantasyflowers.blogspot.com/
http://www.julsfantasyflowers.artfire.com/
http://www.julsfantasyflowers.etsy.com/ Using without permission is theft.