I absolutely love jewelry. I could never go by a jewelry store or counter without stopping to admire (drool over) all that beautiful wearable art. But it never occurred to me to try actually making jewelry until 2008. Late that year, when the economy tanked, I lost my job and couldn't get another one--no one was hiring. While browsing through eBay, learning about selling things online, I saw some beaded jewelry and found myself intrigued with how it was made. My husband gave me a book and a beading kit for Christmas, and thus began my passion for beads and beading.

My niece suggested I try selling my work on Etsy. So I opened my Etsy shop Beadelight in 2009. Then my mom gave me an anklet made of some beads strung on elastic cord and said maybe I could make those. As it happened, I love to read but was forever losing paper bookmarks. So I began experimenting with making beaded bookmarks on elastic cord that kept my place in the books I was reading. I started making beaded bookmarks with Swarovski crystals in birthstone colors. I sold some, received some custom orders, and I was in business!

Next I began taking jewelry-making classes and became interested in bead weaving and wire work. Then in one of my wire-wrapping classes a fellow student showed me some of her large-hole beads, and I bought a bracelet from her. I began buying beads and bracelet blanks and making Pandora style bracelets and earrings. I loved designing the bracelets, sold some, and decided I would focus on this type of jewelry for my Etsy shop. I've been doing so ever since.

Bead weaving, bead embroidery and wire work still intrigue me, and I plan to start listing some of my pieces in those media. But I expect to be making and, I hope, selling Pandora or European style jewelry from my Beadelight shop on Etsy for years to come.