I was an Arabic teacher for many years before we immigrated to the US. After we came here, I was busy with my family and my new life. So I wanted to do something in my free time, just for me to relax. Since I love jewelry and always wear it when I go out, I started teaching myself how to make necklace sets. I made one and wore it to church, and I got so many compliments on it.

I got a lot of support and encouragement from my husband and family to create more jewelry pieces.

BijiBijoux started in January 2011. I've been creating jewelry pieces for 5 years. I found out about Etsy from a cashier at an art supply store, and she encouraged me to visit this site. At the beginning, I was selling jewelry pieces, but I gradually got into selling supplies, as well. So I opened up a new shop called BijiJewelry (https://www.etsy.com/shop/bijijewelry) where I sell finished pieces exclusively.

I sell beads, spikes, pendants, findings and many other supplies. I always make sure to have in stock all the latest popular items. My aim is to help jewelry makers find that missing piece to finish their design as easily and as reasonably-priced as possible.

A few words about the name "Bijibijoux":

Everybody asks me what my shop name means. It took me a lot of time to think of something unique, and what I really loved was taking the first two letters of my maiden name "bi" and combining it with the first two letters of my husband's last name"ji" to get "Biji." Fortunately for me, there was a nice alliterative effect with "bijoux," which is the French word for jewelry. So that's how BijiBijoux began. :)