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Jewelry is my passion and it all started in 2003 when my sister-in-law purchased a gift certificate at a local bead store for my birthday. I used the gift certificate to take some basic classes and started spending every extra moment playing with designs.

In 2004 my husband and I took a trip to Italy. There we visited the island of Murano where I fell completely in love with glass and decided to take a Lampworking class to learn how to make the glass beads. After attending my first glass lampworking class at the UC Davis Art Center I was hooked! I brought my husband along one weekend so he could try his hand at it. I was thrilled to learn he too enjoyed working with glass. He still amazes me with his creations to this day.

Soon thereafter my husband built a studio for us at our home in Sacramento, California, where we continue to make glass beads and pendants together. My husband uses mostly Borosilicate glass to create beads and pendants while I use a Moretti (or soft) glass for beads and pendants. The differences in the glass add yet another dimension and variety to my jewelry. Borosilicate glass is a very dense glass with metallic properties. One color can produce multiple colors when heated in the flame. The metals in the glass are very opulent and rich. Moretti glass (or soft glass) offers a much broader range of color. Both types of glass are equally beautiful. All of our beads are properly annealed in a kiln and carefully cleaned to assure a lifetime of beauty.

I use our glass beads to make one of a kind pieces of jewelry. I believe in using only the finest materials in my designs. As my grandma always said, if you are going to do something, do it right! In addition to our glass lampwork beads I use semi-precious gemstones, solid sterling silver, gold fill and gold vermeil in my designs. I love making jewelry as much as I love making the glass beads. Jewelry designing is my passion and I hope you find my pieces to be unique and beautiful as well as fashionable.

More recently I have become addicted to wire- work! I studied for several months in 2007 with Eni Oken and learned so much in such a short period of time. I am pleased to marry my addictions to glass, wire-work and semi-precious stones. I am inspired by everything; colors, nature, architecture, animals, etc. My wish is that all of my pieces find a special home and are treasured for many years!

To visit my shop online: www.jewelsbyldesigns.etsy.com
And my blog: www.jewelsbyldesigns.com