04/12/2026
Happy sunny Sunday, y’all!! ☀️ The wifey was discharged from the hospital today and we’re just settling back in at home. 🎉
I had to put a jewelry and logo collage together today and find this bio that I keep stored in my phone to submit for my guest vendor spot over in NoMad-Discover the Journey of Handmade.
So I thought I’d take a moment to reintroduce myself and my work here on my Juniper Arts page as well.
I’m a q***r woman who loves being a wife and mama. I firmly believe the personal is political and I am lucky to safely live my life out loud and with authenticity in the physical and virtual spaces I occupy. While I focus this page largely on my small creative business, you’re going to see pictures of my family and occasionally see posts about my politics.
I live in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, Illinois. I was born and raised in Chicago proper, never had an address outside of Chicago until I was 35, and I’m still not convinced the suburbs are for me. I’d love to move back to either Rogers Park or Albany Park in the city someday.
I have a day job that, quite frankly, bores me. But it pays the bills and allows us to have health insurance, so, you know. I have decades of experience working with kids and did work in foster care for a few years that I loved and that felt important, but I burnt out quickly. I wish Juniper Arts was my full time gig, but it isn’t and I can sadly admit that it likely won’t ever be. I still love and enjoy it fully for what it is. I’m also passionate about supporting other small businesses.
I mostly make jewelry, with a heavy focus on earrings. I used to make other items like wind chimes/sun catchers, bookmarks, and keychains with more frequency, but to be honest, they just don’t sell as well. So for business purposes I’ve really honed in on my niche as opposed to trying to expand my product line. I do take custom orders though and work on “just for fun” passion projects.
I take pride in the fact that my pieces are one of a kind. I have zero desire to mass produce my work and instead focus on making eclectic and interesting jewelry. Finding and using unique components, vintage beads, artisan made ceramics, and a variety of natural materials - like wood, bone, glass, crystals and gems - is something I truly enjoy. And learning about the history of a particular style of jewelry or technique or the source of a bead or natural material is a special interest of mine (leaning into the fact that I’m neurodiverse is a whole different lengthy post, but you can see more AuDHD content on my personal page).
If you’re still with me, I just want to say thanks for being here on this jewelry journey with me, and thanks to all of you who have supported me, whether through purchases or engagement here on my page, or some combination of both. THANK YOU ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎
