Welcome to LA's Jewelry Box

So I'm kinda new to this whole blogging thing- never attempted it til I had this computer class this past semester at school that required me to keep a blog but yeah, here I am.

Welcome to LA's Jewelry Box. I'm LA. I'm an artist by trade and all around I love working with my hands. My mom got me into beading way back, about 6 years ago. She signed us up for a class at a local bead shop and while my *first* bracelet turned out rather disastrously, being more fitted for an ankle then for a wrist, I kept at it, it was fun and it let me flex my creative muscles much more then just drawing or just taking pictures.

Shortly after that, I got involved with a Bead Society through the same bead shop and while I haven't been active with the Bead Society since I graduated high school and went off to college, I still bead, I still make jewelry, and over the course of the last year or so, I've really grown as an artisan crafter, moving in leaps and bounds.

I love the whole DIY aspect of working with my hands, taking different parts to make a one-of-a-kind whole. I rarely buy jewelry any more because for the most part, it's all stuff I can make. I also like the challenge of figuring a design out.

I've taught myself quite a few tricks through DIY videos, articles in magazines like Ladies Home Journal and Better Homes and Gardens, as well as through deconstructing old jewelry of mine, stuff that's broken and I haven't worn in years and usually if I can take it apart, I can figure out how to put it back together (my dad's pocket watch being a victim of such curiosity).

In addition to making jewelry, I've also gotten into textile crafts, having taught myself some basics this past summer in my quest to have a skull pillow to match my skull blanket, I'm gradually learning, again thru trial and error as well as DIY help videos the art of textile crafts.

I like to think of myself as a jack of all trades, my primary outlet for creativity is my work as a printmaking majour, I use etching plates, linocuts, and lithography in my studio work and have also strayed into the realm of book binding. Ideally I would like to be an illustrator some day but I'm happy so long as I have some sort of creative outlet.

So, yeah, welcome to my blog. I'm not quite sure how these craft blogs work but I'll do my best to keep y'all's interest and foster creativity and unique designs and hope y'all stick with me as I work to figure this out myself :)