My creativity flows through  wire and beads. I began making jewelry as fun, inexpensive gifts for family and friends. The process was so fulfilling it became a ritual. I love the creativity of my job as a landscape designer, but it is fast paced work with high expectations from clients. Jewelry making is a more relaxing process: the imperfections of each piece are part of its charm. Some are elegant, some quirky, and some end up back in the bin, ready to be recycled.

My happiest memories of my Grandmother involve the two of us sifting through her jewelry boxes. She had a knack for finding and repairing interesting jewelry. We created our own scavenger hunts by scouring garage sales and thrift shops for treasures. She knew the difference between valuable finds and worthless imitations, but to me, even the cheap costume jewelry was fit for a princess. I never left Grandma’s house without a shiny bauble or two. Each one could provide an escape into a fantastic world of imagination. The wooden beads turned me into Pocahontas. The rhinestone necklaces were priceless pirate spoils guarded by mermaids.

I still explore flea markets and antique fairs looking for jewelry. I love taking apart broken or mismatched pieces and assembling them into something new. Giving purpose to a pile of wire and beads is inspiring, because sometimes life can feel like that broken jewelry: scattered and disassembled. But with a little time and creativity, endless numbers of solutions reveal themselves. This shell with those beads or a pretty stone with that ribbon: there are so many possibilities.