We recently connected with Juliana Miller and have shared our conversation below.

Juliana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope to leave behind a legacy of joy, hope and encouragement. Growing up, I remember feeling a sense of wonder at the things around me, and as got older that wonder faded. Life can be hard and it is easy to forget the simple pleasures that once kept us occupied for hours. My goal with the Blobs is to reignite the wonder in us all.

Juliana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello! My name is Juliana Miller and I am from North Pole, Alaska! Here I have become known as “The Blob Lady”. You might think that would be seen as an insult, but it is a name I am proud to have. I would consider myself an artist, author, and designer. I have always been ‘drawn’ to art, from a very young age. The Blob was discovered during a science lesson in middle school. The students were told to draw what they saw under the microscope and label the parts of the cell. I enjoyed science, but I thought it would be fun to add a set of big googly eyes to the cell I was drawing on my assignment. What ensued was a teenage obsession with doodling the resulting character all over my homework and notebooks.

What started as a doodle of a basic character soon began to grow into a series of Blobs with many different personas, that I collected in a small notebook that I called “The Book of Blobs.” I drew my classmates, teachers, and pop culture references as blobs. It was 2003, and I was thirteen. Fast forward through the years, the Blobs were my go to artistic inspiration.

I attended the University of Idaho from 2008-2021, and earned a degree in Advertising. While there I took many different classes, and whenever possible I would incorporate my little buddies. I took a number of artistic courses for my minor in Fine Art, and my painting professor was amused at my large oil painting of a Scuba Blob. That painting now hangs in my daughter’s room. My final project for my degree was also an Integrated Marketing Plan for the business of Blobs.

After school, I moved back to my hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. I got a job at the local newspaper as an advertising layout artist, before moving onto an advertising company as a graphic designer. Those jobs gave me the skills and experience necessary to fuel my own dreams. During that time, I met my now husband, we married, bought a house, and started our family. My one pregnancy resulted in twins, and I am now blessed to be a mother of a bubbly daughter and a sweet son.

Needless to say, the first four years of their lives were a blur of diapers, playdates, learning and growing… and not just for the kids! As they got more independent, I rediscovered my artistic prowess and redoubled my efforts at making art. I had a few false starts as a portrait photographer and freelance designer before settling into my role as an illustrator. A few collaborations with local authors resulted in my first few self-published children’s books. Through those experiences, I realized the joy of helping others bring their words to life with art.

While doing this, I had friends asking me why I didn’t make my own books. That question stuck with me for a while, as I never thought I had much to share. As I continued to ponder the question though, I realized that motherhood had taught me plenty in a short period of time. Slowly, I began to illustrate my own children’s books (with the Blobs of course). My mother-in-law had a few books she had written for her grandchildren, and I also illustrated those for her. One of them titled “Five Little Blobs”. In no time, I found myself with a few titles of my own.

I homeschooled my twins for Kindergarten and first grade, and during that time we discovered a lot of fun art mediums. While they were playing with play dough, I grabbed some polymer clay. While they built box forts, I started creating a diorama with the clay blobs I made. It began slowly, and with some encouragement from friends and family, I decided to try my first bazaar. Covid closed things down for a while, so when bazaars started again the cost to be in them was discounted. There wasn’t a better time to start. I registered for my first event in June of 2021, and I set up my table with my paintings, greeting cards, and all the books I had illustrated. I even brought my little diorama to draw attention to the books I made.

That event taught me one thing, and that was that people of all ages were drawn to the blobs on the diorama. A sweet lady told me that she was obsessed with the blobs and if I made the clay ones she would buy them. Looking back, that event was wildly encouraging to me, even though I barely broke even for the cost of the event and the investment I had to make to be there. My disillusioned excitement led me to register for the Tanana Valley State Fair for ten straight days. Bless my husband and our families for helping with the scheduling. I spent all of June and July making more things to bring to the fair.

That fair is what got me started for real, and I was blown away by the people that showed up with encouraging words and support. In hindsight I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into, and I am glad I didn’t or I may not have tried. I have struggled with insecurities for years and never thought my work was worth putting out there. I am glad I didn’t listen though, because this journey has been so fun, and so encouraging. After the fair ended, and I had “adopted out” close to 90 blobs and drawn many Blob Portraits and sold quite a few books. I was stricken by the number of people that had an immediate affection for the blobs. I decided that the reception was a good enough reason to keep sharing my little creation, and I rebranded my art business to Blobbify.

Over the next year and a half, I continued to push my limits and created stickers, ornaments, prints, and many more books. After making over 1,000 handmade polymer clay blobs, I moved to making silicone molds of my best ones and started to cast them in resin. I am always trying to innovate and make more fun things for people to experience. My best sellers are the “Adopt a Blob” options. I now have stuffies that my sweet neighbor makes with her embroidery machine, and each blob (resin or stuffy) comes with an adoption certificate. Kids and adults alike get to name their blob.

This last year marked some big steps for Blobbify. I sat down and wrote out a business plan, that ended up being nearly identical to the Integrated Marketing Plan I did for blobs in college. I filed a Trademark for Blobbify, and now have an agent who has helped coordinate sponsors for my newest book that takes the Blobs on a trip to my hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska in search for the “Golden Heart”. This book will be released in June, and I am so excited to see where it will take the Blobs.

This whole journey has taken a life of its own, and I am just happy that my middle school doodles made their way into the hearts of those I meet.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I have often held the impression that the purpose of a business is to make money. When I began Blobbify, I realized businesses have the ability for a much greater purpose. At first glance, I make books and adopt out little figures, but if you stop and stay a moment, my goal is to sneak goodness into each part of what I do. My books have messages of hope and purpose, encouragement and wonder. They are simple, and anyone could draw a blob. The fun of what I do is not really in how complex it is, but the heart behind it. I want each person I interact with to know they are loved and valued, and that their life has purpose. The Blobs love. Simply.

If my goal was simply to make money, I don’t think this would work. There is no love in money, but it is needed to create things. When I interact with people, my goal is not to sell them anything. I like to talk to people, and I like to share my dreams with them and hear about theirs. It’s amazing how many creative people are out there that just need a word of encouragement to be willing to share. I’ve found that when people see someone living out their dream, they usually like to support it, so I want to encourage other artists too.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have received my fair share of odd looks when I tell people I draw Blobs professionally. The world can be a harsh place to put any part of your identity on display, especially something that you hold near and dear to your heart. It would have been very easy for me to have been shut down in the beginning. I am blessed to have family and friends who encouraged me, and for the people that first experienced my business to have been kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blobbify.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/blobbify
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/blobbify