I have two jobs and I love them both! For my "day job" I'm a hair colorist with a specialty in corrective coloring, and for creative release I make beaded jewelery. In addition I'm a wife and mother of two young children so my life is full but satisfying and it all works very well together.

When I was a child my mother made beaded Christmas ornaments and would give me her left-over beads. In those days I did many different kinds of bead projects but my focus on jewelery-making was launched in 1987 when I was in beauty school. I had been making jewelery for myself for years but in college my classmates began asking if they could buy the things I was wearing. That gave me the idea that along with coloring hair I could pursue jewelery-making as an additional business.

I started by selling my work at private jewelery parties, at craft fairs, and by word of mouth. In the late 90's I was an early adopter of selling on eBay. In 2003 I launched my own web site and e-store. Since then I have been shipping jewelery worldwide.

I never get tired of jewelery-making as new ideas are constantly popping into my head. Sometimes my ideas come about by serendipity from something like spilled beads and other times they just come out of thin air. Sometimes I get so excited I can barely stand it until I get to my workshop (a shed my father built years ago) to try out a new idea.

At this point I have been selling jewelery for over 20 years and have a high percentage of valued repeat customers. I've been doing beading for so long that I've become very efficient which means I can sell my work for less. I am very organized and I pride myself on my customer service.

And now the tables have turned and I'm giving my left-over beads to my mother who is still making beautiful Christmas ornaments for our family.

Jewelery making is my passion. If I don't create, I'll explode!