My love of beads started the Christmas my brother and I took my mother's old costume jewlery apart and made ornaments for our Christmas tree. What fun we had!! I can close my eyes and see that pile of beads, sequins, pins and fancy trims!! My mother still has some of those ornaments.
Over the years, I have explored a number of creative outlets - cake decorating, quilting, sewing, knitting, cooking, painting t-shirts (does anyone else remember those over-sized, painted and sequined t-shirts of the '80s - or was that just a Texas thing?) Then I took a Beginning Jewelry Assembly class at our local bead store, Nomadic Notions, and rediscovered my love of beads!! I also discovered wire (my favorite is Sterling Silver) - bending wire, twisting wire, hammering wire. And now there's lampworking - fire and glass!! Maybe you'll see some of my handmade beads here!!
By 2006, it was clear that beads and jewelry design were taking over our home. What had started out in one tool box, had quickly expanded and was overflowing the three additional tool boxes, sewing room closet and dining room table. For Christmas that year, my dear husband converted the sewing room to my jewelry design studio - complete with shelves, storage drawers, work surfaces, pictures on the wall and sunshine coming through the window. There was even a place for my kiln and lampworking torch (my Hot Head has since been replaced with a Carlisle Mini CC - another gift from DH). And now I get to work at jewelry design full-time!!
One of my favorite things about my studio is how much my dogs, Missy and Sadie, love sleeping in here with me while I work - until I start with the hammer or drill!! Check out my daily blog (OK, maybe not exactly daily, but you get the idea), "Missy & Sadie's Excellent Adventures" and you'll get to know Missy and Sadie. 
