Hi there!
My name is Debby Gwaltney, but you may know me by my JustBeads ID, which is "Starlight D", (short for "Starlight Designs"). Although I grew up in Florida, I currently live in Ozone, Arkansas, in the beautiful Ozark mountains of the Ozark National Forest. This area is so pretty and inspirational. I live with my loving hubby, Tim, and we have three wonderful daughters, Rachel, Chelsea and Ginny. Rachel attends college in Little Rock, Arkansas, Chelsea is a junior in high school, and Ginny is just in kindegarten! We also have three wonderfully sweet kitties.
I have been an artist all of my life, and aside from being a wife and mom, it's the only thing I know how to be. I graduated from art school in 1983 with an associate degree in graphic design, and I worked in the field for about 20 years, including a major newspaper in South Florida for six years. On the side, over the years,
 I have dabbled in all sorts of artistic media including airbrush paintings, drawing, pastels, pen and ink illustration, to name a few, and then finally, I started creating beaded jewelry in 1989, and loved it. But, once I discovered glass bead making,
I KNEW I had found my passion and I have been making beads full time since 2003. Although I started out self-taught, in the last couple of years I have been fortunate enough to have taken a few classes with some of the masters out there like Sage Holland, her son Beau Anderson, and also Kim Fields.
I still like to make jewelry, but making beads is the ultimate in fun.
I am delighted to be working with glass. As kids, my parents used to drag my brother and me to all of the arts and crafts shows across central Florida, and every time I would see a glass worker's booth, I would stand and drool at everything I laid eyes on. I always knew that glass was "my thing" but I never figured out what I wanted to DO with glass until I discovered beadmaking. It is the very thing that makes my heart sing, and I spend as much time as I possibly can get away with, furiously working away at the torch. To put it simply, I am in love with glass.
Thank you for taking the time to read about me! Thank you also, JustBeads, for featuring me this month, I am so honored that you thought of me. This is absolutely THE best website for beads on the PLANET, I love JustBeads!
Debby
Please visit my current auctions
here at JustBeads.com
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