One day my sister brought a book home from the library about making beaded jewelry. I started flipping through it and thought, "Hey, that looks fun!" So I bought supplies and tools for two of the projects and entered my work in the county fair. Both got blue ribbons!

A few weeks later my mom suggested I make more jewelry and sell at a local music festival. I went under the name "Allison's Creations" and made about $40 (not much), but I'd already been infected with the beading bug! That Christmas I had a jewelry party hosted by my aunt. It was a big success and I got tons of custom orders! It was around then that I first got on Etsy, but for the next couple years I did virtually nothing on it, only selling at the same music festival and doing a couple of parties a year.

In 2010 I decided I needed a new name. Something that exuded my personality. I liked the quirkiness of taking my nickname and middle name and combining them. Thus Alli Rae Jewelry was born. A year later a very talented friend designed a logo for me using a font called Hobbiton (I love hobbits! :D ). And I hired another friend (now my husband!) to take professional pictures of my jewelry.

The biggest thing that's happened for my business was in 2011 when Wellspring Christian Resources started consigning my jewelry. It was all I could do that year to keep up with the demand! This is their fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/WellspringCR?ref=ts

Looking toward the future, I'm putting a lot of work into my Etsy shop, and expanding my horizons learning new techniques like glass fusion. It is my hope that one day I can use the money I make to take another trip to the land of my ancestors, Scotland!