Hi, I am a designer. I’ve been a designer since I’ve been a little girl. I always find ways to design stuff. First I designed house layouts when I was 10 years old or so. I would look through books and magazines that had house layouts and then I would transfer them to my own paper to a scale that would fit on the paper and then I would find ways to “improve” them or make them different. I never knew what this was called that I was doing and that maybe this was something I should have been thinking about doing on a professional level when I grew up. But, anyway, I had fun designing the house plans.
Once I grew up, after I was working for a while, my job was designing group health and group life insurance policies. This included designing their words as well as their physical layout and helping to design the brochures and other material that went with them. I also had to be aware of the laws that governed insurance policies and I had to adapt the wording to make sure the insurance forms were approved by the state insurance department where the group was headquartered. That was fun too. But that was in my “other life” way back in the dark ages of time.
About 17 years ago, after more schooling I designed landscapes and gardens and was a garden consultant. I still do this but on a much smaller scale. One day while on a job I slipped and did a somersault. That was it. I had enough. I didn’t want to break another leg, or worse.
I’ve always enjoyed glittery stuff and this is where this blog comes in. I remember enjoying looking and trying on my Grandmother’s old-fashioned jewelry. I wish I had that jewelry now but it is long gone and I don’t know what happened to it.
“Fine Jewelry” is too expensive to purchase but I enjoy the glittery stuff so how can I still have my glittery stuff. Last November my husband and I had lunch across from a store in Glen Arm called “Ya-Ya Designs”. I went in and signed up for a beading class and that was it. I love handling the beads and looking at the beautiful colors, shine, shape, and style of the beads. I love taking a handful of beads and putting them together into a cohesive whole — a necklace, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings. That’s what “Design” is all about.
Well, that’s enough for today. I think I’ll design a new necklace and then I’ll go outside and work in the garden.
It’s a great life!
