“I grew up in a noisy home with lots of music, pets and…BABIES!”
Being the oldest of 5 children…I hold a special place in my heart for babies. Seeing how fast my own babies were growing-up awakened me to relive their babyhood. This bittersweet reminiscing prompted me to design a charm to honor that precious time in a mother’s life…”no matter how old our child becomes we’ll always hold them as a baby in our heart.” My greatest gifts are my 2 children ~ my love for them inspired my first design A Mother’s Heart. My wish for my design is that it reaches deep into the hearts of all mother’s, just as I have reached deep into my heart to create it.
I was born & raised in Greenwich Village, when it was thriving with big families. It was like living in the country in the middle of the biggest city. Small private schools, beautiful churches, parks & gardens, cobblestoned tree-lined streets that were crawling with writers, musicians, artists and poets. Living in such a creative place ~ I developed a passion for many arts & crafts. I am detail-oriented, creating is my life force. Designing jewelry came like a calling for me, which prompted me to create Heartbeat Designs ® (Founded 1999).
The inspiration for My Baby Angel was another calling to create a memorial charm to help those suffering the heartbreak of child loss. I receive touching emails from parents I have given many of my charms to. They say the design provides comfort – and a feeling that their baby’s spirit is always with them...lost babies are held in our hearts and God’s hands forever.
My next design happened while surfing for memorabilia for a favorite movie. I stumbled upon Karolyn Grimes ~ the child actress who played “Zuzu Bailey” and said …”Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings” from the classic movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” As a result of our chance meeting, I was commissioned by the actress to design a charm in tribute to her role. The Zuzu Bell Charm depicts a bell with wings. This enchanting charm in a pretty organza pouch with 3 silk rose petals…”Zuzu’s petals” captures the true magic of the movie.
For decades my family and I have lived in horse country with our rescued pets. Today, as empty nester’s, my husband and I have a super smart dog named “Zuzu”… who rings a bell to go outside. We also have the sweetest cat and a wacky and clever cockatoo parrot. Being Certified in Nutrition I enjoy integrative & holistic healing, nutrigenomics, and clean organic eating. Other hobbies I enjoy are home decorating, gardening, cooking, nature walks, bicycling, all genres of music, playing piano, composing songs, writing poetry & short stories. One of my children’s books is published – and several of my songs have been used in schools and churches with one of my original songs accepted by the White House’ Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Jubilee Commission in 1992. It’s buried in a time capsule today.
To find peace & happiness, I hand raise butterflies, which inspired me to cast & sculp clay butterflies in my craft studio. I later added hummingbirds, horses, alpacas, seahorses, starfish and other magical creatures to my clay creations. I hand gild each piece in gold or silver paint to embellish them to look like fine jewelry. “Always do things that make you happy ~ and you’ll always be happy.”
Life is about joy & peace. It’s also about change and transformation, like a butterfly. Nothing brings me more peace than my butterfly & hummingbird gardens ~ and nothing brings me more joy than creating & designing something new!
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”
“I dreamed a dream ~ and it came true.”
2000
2023