I've decided to join in with the March challenge #hellomaker as found on the lovely Hannah of Hannah Hand Makes Instagram account (check out her gorgeous IG feed here!). This week's post is: WHO? Who are you? Tell us about yourself, your likes, dislikes and any fun facts! I'm Julie and that ^^ is me! I'm in my kitchen, which is where most of my work is done over on my work table by the gorgeous natural light of our large 3rd floor window. I make jewellery, memorial keepsakes and home accessories using materials such as resin, real flowers, fabric and sterling silver. I love the fact I can look over my local area (Penge, South East London and over through to Beckenham, Kent and beyond) while working. As a lot of my pieces literally contain or are based around nature, it's a fabulous never ending inspiration. I'm 35 and have been married to my number one guy for almost 7 years (together almost 12) and we have two amazing sons, aged 14 and 5. Going through the teens and the toddlers at the same time has been... interesting... for us both but always a challenge we love to live for. I've had health issues most of my life and was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome alongside other associated conditions not long after the birth of my youngest son. My mobility has always been dodgy but took a huge turn, along with my general health, for the worse after his birth. I became a wheelchair user on the advice of specialists around 2 years ago, after a year's worth of physio and trying everything possible to alleviate the deterioration of my spine and hips. I had to mourn the life I lost and it was a dark time in my life. Starting my business helped me massively. I felt like through pain and feeling like a huge burden, I was still able to contribute to my own household, to society and to my own mental health but focusing myself and being creative. I've always LOVED creating. So, A little fact: my EDS makes me super bendy. It's a negative thing overall as I can damage, sublux and dislocate joints and their surrounding structures very easily. It also makes my skin so peachy that it tears, marks and bruises under very little force, makes my teeth crumble and makes me very prone to passing out. However, I get told my skin looks a lot younger than it is and feels super soft, I can scratch anywhere on my own back or reach that thing that is just out of arms length by half popping my shoulder out and in again... and I can wheel faster than I could ever walk! Every cloud has a silver lining. What do I dig and hate? Let's find out!
Some other interesting tidbits you may not know: I used to have a lot of piercings and am a qualified body piercer too but now my passion is tattooing. I've never tattooed anyone but I'd love to try one day. I'm currently adding to my own personal stash of tattoos by continuing to grow my (eventual) full sleeve. I'm a secret singer. I adore to sing but I'm too shy to ever sing in front of people.
I'm a YouTube Addict. I cannot knit. I've tried SO MANY TIMES, so so so many times. My poor mum trying to rescue my ever increasingly tight tension and dropped stitches, it's just never going to happen. I can't drive. Or ride a bike. I can hold my breath for a slightly alarming amount of time. I'm petrified of the sea. Well that's pretty much it for today. Next Sunday I'll be talking about 'WHAT' so if you're a curious kinda cat why not stick around and see what a day in my life looks like?
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Who is Julie?30 something, mother of two gorgeous boys, lover of one gorgeous husband, perpetually living in a dream world full of wine, chocolate and artsy crafty things. Archives
February 2018
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