I always knew, deep in my heart, that I wanted to be an artist.
I have been making artwork in one form or another for as long as I can remember. I was always drawing or doing something artistic as a kid. That didn't change as I got older.
By the time I reached high school, I knew I wanted to spend my life making and creating art. I wanted to learn it all. I signed up for every art class available. I loved every second of it.
My sophomore year I hit a bit of a road block. I was a new student at a new school in a new neighborhood. Every art class was full by the time it was my turn to sign up. I was a little upset about it at first, but soon resolved to get into any of the art classes I could, in spite of them all being full.
Every day, I went to the vice principals office and asked if there had been any openings in the art classes. Every day he would say no, and I would be on my way. By the end of the first quarter, I had every art class my schedule had room for.
In collage I did much the same thing. I studied design, ceramics and pottery, figure drawing, sculpture, and metals. It was in collage that I discovered my love of making jewelry. I found that I truly love working with metals. Especially copper and silver. This also led to me falling in love with beadwork. I created my own charms in copper and silver, then added beads to make earrings and necklaces.
I started experimenting with beads. I wanted to make something really spectacular out of beads. My dad’s birthday was coming up, so I decided to make something for him. I decided to make for him a dreamcatcher. Not just any dreamcatcher though, one made almost entirely out of beads. To me, it was a sparkling masterpiece when it was finally finished. Having done it once, I couldn't resist making them for other members of my family.
After collage however, life did what it often does and flipped my world around landing me in beautiful Central Oregon. My pursuit of art was put on hold while my fiancé' finished his degree at the local collage there. I worked to keep our bills paid while his parents made sure we always had plenty of food in the fridge and gas in our cars.
By now, most of my family had a dreamcatcher I had made for them and every wall in my home had one or two hanging from it. I was running out of room for them, but didn't want to stop making them. I sold them at craft shows and did a few Saturday markets. Then a friend told me about Etsy.
I had never heard of Etsy before that and while I loved the site, I was reluctant to try to sell online. I had only ever sold in person before and wasn't sure how anyone would even find me online. I listed a few things at first, but didn't really start building my shop until I made my first sale. I started making jewelry again and soon expanded into making seasonal cards as well.
Now here we are, almost 6 years later. I still live in Central Oregon, I am married to the most wonderful and caring man, and together we have a beautiful and sweet little girl. I still love making dreamcatchers, and jewelry has become a passion for me. My shop has grown immensely since I first began here.
I truly hope, you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating them.
