10/17/2026
Of all the people to see at the airport on my way to my first jewelry trade show, it was Emily, the first person I hired outside of family! ❤️ And she was headed to the same place! After over 22 years in the jewelry business, I couldn’t help but smile at the timing.
We laughed about those early days when I was making jewelry at our kitchen table and Emily would come over and help make bracelets. Fun fact: Emily even helped me set up my Amazon store when she was still in high school!
Eventually, I outgrew the kitchen table. And with a family of five, we actually needed somewhere to eat dinner! So I moved everything into a spare bedroom.
Then the boys got older and needed their own rooms, so Mike remodeled our garage into a workspace for me. It wasn’t fancy, and boy, did it get cold in the winter, but it worked!
All the while, we were traveling to craft fairs and art shows on the weekends. Hundreds of them over the next 10 years. We’d load everything up, drive to a show, set up, sell for one to three days, tear it all down, and do it again the next weekend.
And when I say we, I mean WE.
My mom, dad, sister, Mike, and eventually the boys all played a part. Support looked different for everyone. Sometimes it meant watching our young kids while I was away at shows, making jewelry, packing up and loading the trailer, helping customers, selling jewelry, taking orders, or figuring totals on old-fashioned calculators and using those knuckle-busters to process credit cards (remember those?!). And after a long weekend, there was still everything to tear down and haul home.
So many people gave up their weekends and their time to help make this little business possible.
My very first show was when I was five months pregnant with Mason!
Then one day, I was driving around the square in Newton and saw a For Rent sign in a Main Street storefront window.
I walked in just to look. I had absolutely no intention of opening a store.
I walked out with a signed lease.
And here we are, 13 years later, still in our little shop on the square.
It’s been a wild ride. There have been plenty of ups and downs, lots of learning things the hard way, and more people who have helped me along the way than I could ever begin to name. Our community has been so good to us, and I’m incredibly grateful.
But as I walk around this jewelry show, something else keeps crossing my mind.
My mom would have absolutely loved being here with me. She would have wanted to see everything, and I can just imagine the conversations we would have had about all the beautiful jewelry and ideas.
And my dad? He probably would have been happiest just hanging out with the boys, visiting and spending time together.
I miss them both so much.
It’s funny how something as simple as seeing someone at an airport can bring back 22 years of memories.
I started making bracelets at my kitchen table, never imagining where it would lead. And now I’m walking through a jewelry show I’ve dreamed about attending for years.
I sure wish Mom and Dad were here to see it. ❤️
