“I grew up in a home some might consider noisy with lots of music, pets and…BABIES!”
I’ve always held a special place in my heart for babies. Seeing how fast my babies were growing-up awakened me to relive their infancy so vividly. This bittersweet reminiscing prompted me to design a charm to honor that wonderful time in a mothers life…”no matter how old my children are they will always be a baby in my heart.” My greatest gifts are my 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 who see it, just as I have reached deep into my heart to create it.
Being born & raised in such a creative place as Greenwich Village ~ I developed a passion for many arts & crafts. Designing jewelry for mothers wasn’t a lifelong ambition of mine; it actually found me. It prompted me to create Heartbeat Designs ( Founded 1999). Designing and creating is an ultimate hobby and source of joy for me.
The inspiration for My Baby Angel was due to a miscarriage ~ and a calling to create a memorial charm to help those suffering the heartbreak of child loss. I receive touching emails from parents I have given my charms to. They claim the design provides them comfort – and that their baby’s spirit is always with them...lost babies are held in our hearts forever.
My next design happened unexpectedly. While surfing for memorabilia for a movie I stumbled upon Karolyn Grimes ~ the child actress who played “Zuzu Bailey”…”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 part. 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 magic of the movie.
My family and I live in the country with our rescued pets. Our latest rescue “Zuzu“ is a smart mini collie designer hybrid. We also have a sweet rescue cat and a very clever and wacky rescue cockatoo parrot. Other hobbies I enjoy are integrative & holistic healing, nutrigenomics, organic eating, cooking, gardening, interior design, all genres of music, playing piano, nature walks, bicycling, composing music and writing poetry & short stories. My latest love is hand raising butterflies, which inspired me to cast & sculp clay butterflies. I’ve now added hummingbirds, horses, alpacas, seahorses, starfish and other magical creatures to my clay sculpting. I gild and embellish them to look like fine jewelry. My motto to live by… “always do things that make you happy and happy you’ll always be.”
Life is about joy & peace. It’s also about change and transformation, like a butterfly. Nothing brings me more peace than my hummingbird and butterfly gardens.
One of my favorite positive affirmations: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”
“I dreamed a dream ~ and it came true.”
