Ms Bijoux was an idea born in Prague, Czech Republic where I lived for 2 years. Immersed in beads and the beading culture I became a bead junkie, prowling Europe for new, old and unusual beads. My favorite place to shop was a bi-montly flee market just outside of Prague held in an old blasting field. There I would find vintage un-circulated pre cold war beads and costume beaded jewelry. My favorite beading town is called Jablonec, a small town in Northern Bohemia. There I met many bead makers and visited numerous factories.

Before living in Prague I lived for two years in SE Asia, home of Bali beads and the popular Thai HIlltribe Silver. I will be returning to SE Asia after Thanksgiving for the holidays and will keep a watchful eye out for any new bead designs.

I get inspiration from traveling the world over with my husband. Often times I will come home from a trip
and design a bracelet that contains the hues of the area I just visited. On a recent trip to Egypt we traveled
deep down the Nile River to Lake Nassar, almost to the Sudan border. One evening at dusk, the stars
twinkled and the dusky desert colors were steaming with pinks, orange, black, grey and gold shimmers.
The evening before, some young Nubian dancers came on board our boat and danced, beating on drums,
their wrist and ankles flashing as the silver they wore reflected the evening light.This was the inspiration for
the bracelet 'Nubian Night Sky'
I Hope you enjoy my pages,

2008 Update
In September of 2008 my husband and I moved back to the Seattle area. I found myself without a car in W Seattle just after moving. After a couple of months I decided to see just how long I could go without my car so I left it at our summer cabin. Well, a couple of months turned into a year! I walked, rode the bus and biked everywhere. I lost weight AND inches, met new friends, saw my neighborhood gardens and yards up close and in slow motion. I did not walk at a slow pace though. I walked to the store with my sturdy 20 year old backpack and carried it home on my back full of milk, produce, jugs of juice, rice and more! I often carried one to two full grocery bags in each hand. I also walked the beach almost every day on my way to the post office and at a slower pace I found lots of sea glass, I filled up flower vases, jars, bottles and anything that would hold my treasures. The bits of glass soon lined my window sills. I was pleased to see hardly any trash.