My infatuation with little started at a very early age. I could hardly wait to get home from school to work on one of my "on going" projects. I inherited back one of those projects that I think I made when I was 12, which was a little purse that I macramed with little tiny string. It had a bazillion knots and took me a month of working on it almost every day after school. I was going to sell it at our local bazaar for the sum of $8, but my mother intercepted and bought it instead.

When I was a young mother I looked for ways to add to our income and stay at home. For a while I made little Tea Cup Teddy's and Coffee Cup Kittie's that had movable arms and legs from ultra suede and shaved sheep skin. The littlest being only 3/4 of a inch tall when sitting.

In 1990 my husband, I and our two girls moved from the Seattle area to Bend Oregon. It was there that we acquired some polymer clay to make Barbie doll food. We got pretty good at making it look like the real thing (and so little) and ventured out to make beads imitating some of the old glass millefiori beads that I had collected growing up in Seattle in the 60's. It was then in 1991 our little homeschool business Bumblebeads was born, with the first production making childrens necklace bead kits....and little earrings.
Our girls have grown and have families of their own but I continue to explore with polymer clay using it in combination with some of my metal work, always striving for the little details that make my work unique. The little bee that I have always used as a makers mark has come to represent that the impossible may just be (or bee) possible since bee's are not designed to be able to fly!
When my nest became empty I returned to my love of working with metals. It was then I went to work with two very talented jewelers in Bend and learned much in the 8 years I was with them.

After 22 years of living in Bend we made the move back to our home state, Washington. Now living in the little town of Sequim on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. We bought a little house in the forest with a little studio for me. There was a door to a porch deck from my little studio and we were able to make it into a room where I can do my stinky stuff like soldering and baking my clay pieces. It’s my favorite room where deers come right up to the windows!

I have sold my work through galleries in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and California. I also have enjoyed doing many art shows through out those states. In the past I have been privleged to win awards for my polymer millefiori designs and have work published in five books.

Visit my other shop here on Etsy where I have my polymer clay buttons, beads and scarf pins. Give it a look at BumblebeadsButtons.Etsy.com

Thank you for shopping on Etsy! You are what keeps us creating!