Hello! I am Julie, the face behind this little shop called "CandyCoatedCuteness". I'm a mixed media artist. Like most artists, I've really been an artist my entire life, so it's difficult to pinpoint when I actually "became" an artist! I've been painting since high school and making jewelry since junior high. I decided to become a professional artist around 2007 and have been working towards that end ever since. Though my style has evolved and matured since then, one thing has always remained a constant--a love of color and a love of movement!

My shop right now is focused on my jewelry, which I love to make! It's different from my art, though there are many of the same elements. The biggest difference is that my art is very emotional and sometimes even dark and painful. For me, jewelry is an escape. It's more joyful and more detached from any of the heavier emotions. With jewelry--I play! I play with all of the things that I generally don't play with in my "serious" artwork. Things like glitter and rhinestones and the kawaii aesthetic and using text and color in unexpected ways. I also LOVE magazines! Many of my pieces use images and text from magazines and I can get almost obsessive cutting things apart and putting them back together in a different way.

All of the jewelry in my shop is handmade by me and only me. Most of the pieces are one of a kind originals, and some I consider to be miniature paintings and collages in a different form than my work on canvas. I will ALWAYS let you know in my description if a piece is one of a kind or not. I work with a lot of different materials and really am an experimenter. I love wood and resin and plastic and paper and found materials. I always have new ideas, so definitely check back again soon. :)

As my shop is still small and hasn't been live a super long time, I also do all of the packing a shipping. I love to do mail art on my packages and include hand written notes with your orders. Over time as I grow as a business I will no longer be able to do that, so for now I enjoy that personal touch. Mail art and pen paling and outsider art are all things I enjoy--so you never know what you might get in your mail box!

Never hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns, or comments.