I live in Vancouver, Washington with my husband Chris, our four children, Cassie 9, CJ 6, Derek 5, Ryan 3 and our Chihuahua, Taco.   My studio is set up in a corner of our house so I am able to work here and there throughout the day as time allows.   I am really lucky to be able to work from home doing what I love and still be with my kids.

As long as I can remember I have always been interested in hot glass in one form or another.  I could watch glass blowers for hours. I stumbled over lampwork beads accidentally on the Internet and immediately knew that is what I wanted to do, and set out to learn as much as I could.   At the time we were living in a little town in Illinois, so the next time we made a trip to a big city, my first stop was the bookstore to buy Cindy Jenkin's book on lampworking.  After reading it cover to cover for a month I finally ordered supplies.

I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to do it!  My first bead was a burnt blob aquamarine that was permanently stuck to the mandrel.   It was the first lampwork bead I actually saw in person.   I kept practicing until it finally came together.

My favorite beads are florals.   I am constantly amazed at the things that can be done with glass, and all the different color combinations.   I have been doing some experimenting lately though and will be introducing a couple of new styles in the next month that won't have any flowers.

I would like to give a special thank you to the designers who provided the pictures of their designs to be used here.   If you'd like to contact any of them let me know and I'll put you in touch with them.   Thank you JustBeads for giving me the chance to be Artist of the Month.

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