I have been in the jewelry business in one way or another most of my life. I first started making jewelry as a college student. I was already makin jewelry before I started taking classes in fine arts. I was making hammered copper and silver jewerly, learned to do enameled work and soem glass designs. This was my hobby and one of my passions. I made jewelry to give as gifts and wear, occasionally I would sell a piece, but I found it very hard to put a price on pieces that I had created.

After finishing college I began teaching elementary school, met my husband and married. We moved to Oceanside, California where I worked for a wholesale Gem company. It was a wonderful experience I took more jewelry classes, taught some classes and made jewelry and got paid to do it. I was in heaven!

Years later we opened a gift shop. We already had a video store to run, so it just seemed natural for us to add another retail location. We started the shop in a shopping mall, but soon moved to a downtown location next to a fine jewelry store. They sold the gold and diamonds, we sold the gifts and wonderful hand-made silver and gold gemstone jewelry. It was great for both stores. Christopher and I ran the Gift Gallery, my husband, Larry and my other son Jeremy ran Ritz Video. We were in different cities so we didn't see each other much. As everyone knows retail requires all of your time and energy. I don't know how it happened, but Christopher managed to date once in a while and yes, he found his future wife, Andrea. So now there are 5 of us. So how did we wind up on the web?

Simple we made the decision to sell the stores, our home, and all of our worldly goods and relocate. We moved back to my birthplace, California! I took a position as a consultant for a educational publisher, Larry took a job, and all the children went back to school. I couldn't forget my jewelry, so I continued to make a piece here and there and they started to add up and stack up - you can only wear so many pieces - and you can only give away so many - so okay, weekend craft shows! That was/is okay, but I still wanted to do more. So with the help of the kids we opened our first website - Jewel Heist (it's a steal!) I didn't come up with the name, Christopher and Jeremy did, and it was catchy wasn't it? That launched in 2001 and continued to be a place to put my jewelry and pieces that I discovered from other artists, it was fun, then in 2006 I decided that I wanted to revamp the website and offer great jewelry at bargin prices. GiveMeJewels was born and that is where we are today. This family business is still my passion and it is also my way to keep balance in my life. I love finding great values to share with everyone. Every piece that is purchased is inspected by me before it is packed and shipped.