Joy in Jewelry

I always thought my passion was animals and taking care of them. As a little girl, I wanted to be a veterinarian. That is, until I grasped the understanding of what all that entailed. There was no way I would be able to live with myself if I couldn't save one animal. So, the search began within my heart to find the next best thing. I kept coming up empty handed.

My senior year in high school, I took an accounting class. I was good at it. It was fun and challenging. And hey, the money isn't bad! I graduated high school with honors, and off I went to college, a first generation college student, to begin my journey to become an accountant.

Once I got deep into the classes, I was feeling unsatisfied. I knew this wasn't what I really wanted to do. But what is left? What could I do that wouldn't waste all of the time and money I'd already spent on my education thus far? I had been receiving tutoring for my economics class. My tutor encouraged me to fill his spot as the tutor for the university. He never understood why I was receiving tutoring in the first place! I accepted. With that bit of encouragement, I thought I'd give being an economist a try. Again, I was apparently good at it. Why not?

Little did I know, that position would lead me to my husband. He was a fellow economics tutor and we bonded over being from the same area. Although I enjoyed the job (and the company), I still wasn't fulfilled. I lost interest quickly. The only thing left for me to do was liberal arts. I just couldn't put my finger on anything and I didn't want to leave without a degree.

To pass time, I tinkered with making my own jewelry and crafts. I loved to create and express myself artistically. I never gave that a thought as a career because I knew exactly how hard it was to get anywhere.

Again, rather quickly, I knew that even a liberal arts degree just wasn't for me. I dug deep within, and really thought about what I wanted to do. Working with animals kept popping up. So, the search began for careers that would allow me to work with animals. I landed on Veterinary Technology. Yes, I would be a veterinary technician!

Remember that fellow economics tutor? We began our relationship in November of 2005. By 2007, he was graduating with his Electrical Engineering degree. I decided that I would be leaving Illinois for the first time and starting my journey to Veterinary Technology in Denver. He said he was coming too!

What an experience! We fell in love with Colorado, taking in everything it had to offer in our spare time. We also fell more in love with each other, and in May of 2008, he proposed on a mountain top! Of course, I said yes.

In 2009, I graduated from Bel-Rea institute. We had been married for 6 months. I started working and LOVED my job and my work family. We started to talk about having a family of our own, but the time wasn't just right yet. The more we thought about starting our own family, the more we felt pulled to move closer to home. So the search began for a job for my husband closer to home. He quickly found a good job in the St. Louis area, and back we went!

Not long after we moved back and moved into our new house, we learned that we were pregnant after trying for a couple of months! It was a hard pregnancy that prevented me from returning to work. Oh, how I missed working with the furry and feathered creatures.

In April of 2011, we had our little boy! When he was 10 weeks, I returned to work. It felt so different this time. While I still loved taking care of animals, my heart just wasn't in it the same way. I missed my baby so much. I birthed my new passion. After a few weeks, I left the field to stay home with my baby boy.

Around the same time, the student loan bills started coming in. We purchased our house based on 2 full time incomes. Things got really tough! But, I love a challenge. I started to think of what I could do to contribute to our income. I revisited the idea of doing something artistic and crafty. With the time I now had at home, I browsed facebook pages and saw how people were utilizing it to grow their small handmade businesses.

In October of 2011, I committed to starting my small jewelry business. I started on facebook with wire wrapping. I tinkered with many different genres, such as bead weaving, and getting really artsy with alcohol inks and metal. I knew I hadn't found my niche yet, so I kept exploring. I discovered hand stamping, and I haven't looked back!

I love what I do every single day! I love that I can incorporate so many different facets of my talent into what I'm doing now. I'm so grateful that I get to stay home with my, now TWO, boys! We recently moved back to Colorado to start a brand new adventure in the place we fell in love with so long ago. I'm happy we are able to now share it with our sons. I owe it all to my customers. Know that so much love goes into each and every piece I create for you! I am Anchored in Love!