Finally making jewelry again!

While on family vacation in California, when I was 14, my mom took me and my twin sister to a little shopping area. We were in Carlsbad and having lots of fun. While having fun we stumbled onto a bead store. They had little kits with everything you needed to make a necklace and a bracelet. The kit I picked out and bought was brown and yellow colors with a brown clay bead with a sunflower on it for the center piece. That was the day my love affair with making jewelry began. I loved it!!! I continued to buy more beads and new tools and new books on how to do certain things and my love continued to grow. Eventually it became a huge hobby. It was my out. When everything in life seemed to be too much all I had to do was pull out my tackle box full of beads and begin to put new things together. I could do it for hours at a time. Eventually I grew quite the collection. I learned the difference between sterling silver and silver plating. I learned what round nose plyers are and how to use them tomake the perfect circle on an eye pin or head pin. I learned about glass beads, fiber optic beads and Sworovski crystal. I even started making baby bracelets for an online baby product website. They still sale some of my designs on that website.

Unfortunately, when I was 22 on the only night I decided to leave my 30 pound bead tackle box in my car, someone broke 2 of my windows and stole it along with my haircutting shears and license. I probably had $5,000 worth of bead in that box. Now, $5,000 worth of beads acumulated in 8 years isn't bad. What sucked is that I couldn't go out and blow $5,000 to replace my supply. It was a super sad thing. I was devastated. It was my out, my release, my escape from everything in my chaotic world. I bought a new little tiny tackle box to restart the collecting. It has been 2 and a half years and I finally have enough to make a few things. So, here's a sample of my creativity so far.

I wear black to work so I keepp and make alot of black jewelry.

I saw this kind-of-cameo and had to have it. It's even prettier up close and personal.

My brown set that I totally love. I can't find the other earing though. I'll just have to make a new one.

Not bad huh?