The most common piece of advice that everyone gave me is to dedicate my etsy shop to only one category of product.

But for me, that's completely impossible.

I am a scanner, as author Barbara Sher would call it. Scanners find a passion in a wide range of things and they don't like to be limited to only working in one field for their entire lives. Scanners like me find their greatest joy to be in exploring new things, trying new projects, and mastering all of them.

When I was opening my shop, I couldn't think of one phrase to accurately describe it. It is not only a jewelry store, or just a print store, it's all the objects and pictures that I love to create. What unites all my works is their beauty and the care and detail I have put into them. This I can guarantee you, which is why the only name that fits my shop is Something Beautiful by Alika.

Boho Chic Jewelry
My jewelry line is unique and whimsical. In the past, I have done a lot of beadwork and bead crocheting, and have written articles for a beading magazine. But eventually, I wanted to move on from tiny beads and began making jewelry out of large beads and whimsical pendants. I was making them for myself and had a lot of fun wearing them.

Then my sister, a well-known Russian children's book author and an avid lover of the boho style, came to visit me. She asked me to make her her own collection of jewelry with that boho flair that she could wear for book signings and TV appearances. After I made them, I couldn't stop!

Now I'm making boho inspired jewelry of my original design for sale. All my pieces are beautiful, a little strange, whimsical, and funny. I don't like slick and simple lady-like jewelry, the kind with a small chain and modest pendant. I like my necklaces to be noticed, to be conversation pieces, and to tell a story.

I don't just put a bunch of beads on a string and finish it off with a clasp. Every bead in my jewelry is put on a metal eye pin with loops on both ends; then a variety of them are joined together to make a design and color combination that is splendid and eye-catching. To simply string them is a lot easier, but pins (though time consuming) add a nice shine and provide a professional designer look.

Painted Stone Art
My painted stones are all either highly detailed and very realistically rendered, or bold-colored, ornamental, and instantly eye-catching. I am a professional artist, not just a self-taught crafter. I don't simply reproduce basic lessons from craft books. All my stones are my original design and involve meticulous study of animals. I like to think of them as painted 3D sculptures, so I never just use a stone surface as a flat background-- my stones become the animal, and the stone's shape becomes the animal's body.

I love decorative ornamental drawings, which has inspired me to make some of my stones--especially my fish collection--very colorful, and stylized instead of realistic.

For those of you who would like to try their own hand at stone painting, I sell sets of different sized stones, one of which is primed and has a preliminary sketch of a cat on it to get you started.

Prints & Artworks
My store also has prints of my original illustrations from the wonderfully successful children's book written by my sister, as well as ACEOs and prints of my other art works.