Welcome Back to Jula Paper Co

Oh friends, this is equal parts exciting and terrifying.
Welcome to the refreshed Jula Paper Co, I’m SO happy you’re here!
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve blogged (almost 18 months) so maybe a re-introduction is in order?

So…. hi! I’m Jill. Also Jillian. Not, Jula.

For those of you that are new here, Jula Paper was previously Bella Carta. A name I came up with a few months after our wedding... and then a few years ago, I decided it didn’t “fit” anymore. Jula Paper was born, and I know this my business for the long haul.

Jula was named after my family - the initials of my boys, plus a “U” for “US” - my husband of 10 years and me - the anchors of our ship. Lots of people think Jula is my name, which is fine with me, but I promise its built on much more, and whenever I need a reminder of why I started this in the first place, all I need to do is look at my business card.

This little business was a side-hustle for many years. I’m not afraid to use the word hustle, because that is exactly what it was. Late nights, early mornings, train rides, lunch breaks and sometimes a vacation day when things got especially busy. And then, I was part of a huge corporate layoff in March 2018 (yes, that big toy retailer we all loved as kids), and we found ourselves at a crossroads. Give this business the chance to replace my income, or go back to the office. We agreed we’d see it through the fall of last year, and well… I’m still here, pinching myself that the dream I had 10 years ago grew into something that could help support our family.

The last 18 months were a learning curve of sorts: for me, for my family, and my business. I realized very quickly what worked and what didn’t, and what I truly wanted to be spending my days working on in my little home office. That meant that this fall, I stopped offering Wedding Invitations, and decided to streamline my business to offer Branding and Social Stationery, only.

So what can you expect to see here from now on? More writing. More of my work, inspiration and maybe a peek into my life outside of design. Blogging about our family and home renovations was a big part of my life for many years, and brought some wonderful people into my life. We’ll see, maybe those old posts will come back to life on here, too.

I’ll be sharing some new projects and my Holiday Collection in the coming weeks, so I hope you’ll follow along! Welcome (back) friends, I’m so happy you’re here!

And lastly, a very big thank you to these very special ladies for their help with my new brand photography
Jennifer Larsen Photography
Copper & Chloe
Hair by Andrea Rossi
Makeup by McKenna