Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 12:24PM 
Traditional Indian henna tattoo, done by me, Julie Becker Schantz. aka Juju Bee Designs Asheville!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 8:11PM hard to believe i'm going to have to remember to write 2012 on checks/deposits in just a few days. that always throws me for a loop the first 6 or 7 months of a new year.
the sales at the downtown market were really great the last 2 weeks and i have had a hard time keeping my inventory up. right now i only have 3 paintings on display (and 2 henna paintings). i sold almost everything! i am sure that the increase in sales was due to the holidays but it's really nice to know that people actually dig my work and want to give them as gifts. i'm gonna keep doing what i'm doing because i enjoy it so much, and it is bringing in a little bit of extra money here and there. WHEEEEE!!! what a ride!
i am currently on the path of finding an illustrator for one of my children's books. in fact, i am going to research contracts right now so i can really get a move on things. ciao for now!
Friday, November 4, 2011 at 11:50AM what to blog about? hmmm. so much to say yet i struggle with knowing what folks want to read.
my aunt once told me i was a great writer (after receiving a letter from me from camp one summer). and i dabble in writing children's books. i think lots of people think they can write a successful children's book.
i will try to use correct punctuation at all times, however, i do not like to capitalize my letters. the extra effort it takes to hold down the shift key really bugs me. i WILL capitalize words or letters when i feel it is necessary. i am sort of a stickler for grammar/spelling/punctuation but i have been known to make mistakes too. afterall, i am only human.
i have a tendency to write as i would speak in conversation and i think there is a term for that, but i can't recall what it is right now. i don't claim to be very well-read/book smart. we weren't required to read when i was a kid, so i didn't. i only read the books i had to. and even then, i would skim them or read the *CLIF notes*. i was an ok student (B/C average) but had to work hard to just get by. i attended college as well as graduate school. i have a bachelor's degree in fine art (photography) and a master's degree in art education, with an expired license to teach art k-12. i am very proud of those accomplishments (not so much the *expired license* part) as i was the first female in the *becker* family to earn a college degree. and it was a lot of hard work.
i love reading now but don't have a lot of leisure time to do that. if i do read at night, after the kids go to bed, i fall asleep very quickly, like after a page or 2, so it takes me a long time to finish a book.
anyway, the main reason for this blog is to boost my SEO ratings. i want my website link www.JujuBeeDesginsAsheville.com to pop up first whenever anyone searches: paint, paintings, murals, decorating children's rooms, kid's rooms, step stools, rocking chairs, gifts for children, baby gifts, gift ideas, henna tattoos, gifts for pregnant moms, henna on pregnant bellies, asheville art, asheville paint, asheville henna, and so on.
the other reason i want to record my thoughts and daily interactions is for my children (and their children). i think it is sooooo cool for us to be able to do this so easily. i wish i could read what my grandparents and great grandparents were doing at my age, or when they were younger, or even what they thought and felt as they got older. and to know how they saw the world, not just as it's written in textbooks or novels. one thing i regret is not asking them more questions about what their lives were like growing up.
i currently use a twitter account to record things my 5 year old says, because she's so dang funny! it's a quick and easy way to record it forever. if you want to follow it, please do! https://twitter.com/#!/stuffrubysez.
MY ART: i have always loved to draw, or at least pretended to know how to draw. i am not a natural illustrator but i can look at something and recreate it in my own way/style. i know how to *see* things and can draw them. attending art school definitely was the right thing for me to do, but i believe schools/institutions in general can hinder creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and often inhibit expression. so i try to forget a lot of what i *learned* in school, but it's hard.
i think this is enough for now. i have lost my train of thought and need to finish an owl painting i am working on. afterall, owls are the new butterfly, yes?