I grew up in a house full of brothers and would prefer to poke in a campfire than go to a school dance, but I tried to be “the girl” for my Mom.

I love to sew. My first big project was sewing a tent and panniers from Frostline kits for my older brother. In grade 12 and 13, I took grade 9 and 10 art, an interest that developed late. Over years I have made 32 wedding gowns, as gifts, for friends and acquaintances.

In 1980 I studied drawing, photography, Fashion illustration, pattern making, garment design and construction in the Creative and Visual Arts/Fashion Design department at St Lawrence College, Kingston, Ontario. I’ve always been uncomfortable to say “fashion design”, so I call it clothing design. In third year I designed a collection of downhill skiwear. The 12 pieces were rigorously tested and proved to be very ski-able, but a bit too wild for the Gatineau Hills.

After graduating, I became the pattern maker and assistant to the designer at Ambridge and Thompson, manufacturers of skiwear and outdoor clothing.

While on a bicycle tour of the Maritimes, I stopped in to visit Vicki Bardon at Suttles and Seawinds in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. I became one of her pattern makers and assistants.

My Aunt Isobel Plaunt had been the first teacher in Spence Bay, NWT. When I learned that the Government of the NWT needed a manager for their Parka Production Facility in Frobisher Bay, I said, “I can do that!”

I met a really great guy in The Legion on a Saturday afternoon, in Iqaluit. We got married in the Anglican Mission, and our wedding photograph was taken on a huge snowdrift.

In Iqaluit I collected sealskins from the wives of local hunters and sent the pelts to Winnipeg to be tanned. I designed and hand sewed the tanned sealskins into backpacks and briefcases for my shop, Baffinland Outdoor Clothing.

I was 1 of 12 mostly Inuit students in the inaugural class of metalwork, taught by Jack and Eric Leland at Arctic College, in Iqaluit.

Our daughter, Megan Ooleepeeka was born in the Baffin Regional Hospital. Our son, Morgan Ron was born in the Stanton Regional Hospital, in Yellowknife. In Yellowknife I had glass jars of water and food colouring stacked on the ledges of our living room windows. I spent the next 9 years raising our children, trying to cope with the darkness of the north, relocating to Prince Edward Island, and finally recovering. I set up a modest metalwork studio, but very quickly discovered that what I really needed was colour. I bought a bracelet of transparent red glass beads. It was like candy to my senses and that was the beginning of my career as a jewellery designer.

In November 2004 I gave myself a design challenge. I bought a shopping basket full of glass beads from Walmart. I designed and produce a collection of colourful, affordable, everyday glass bead bracelets and earrings for the high school’s Christmas craft show. That was the beginning of Happy Glass.

Sandra Jeffery, from the Showcase Boutique, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts told me to make a more expensive version of the collection, and she would place an order. This became the Happy Glass Summer Fun Collection. That year I exhibited at ACTS and the PEI Craft and Giftware Buyers’ Market. I filled the orders and re-filled, and re-filled the orders. I’ve been doing that for 5 years. Upon the urging Of Bruce MacNaughton, the proprietor of “The Prince Edward Island Preserve Company”, I registered “Happy Glass” as a trademark with the Office of Intellectual Property.

Out of curiosity, in January of 2008 I took a weekend lampwork course with ISGB certified instructor Susan Hood, from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I occasionally borrowed Susana Rutherford’s equipment, at her Firehorse Studios. I took another weekend course from Susan, and in the spring of 2009 I set up a lampwork station in my Happy Glass studio.

Jeanette Walker, the master goldsmith of Walker Studios, in Charlottetown, is very generous with her tremendous skills, and supportive of me. She helped me dust off my metalwork skills, and taught me wax carving and sand casting. She sends visitors to my second floor studio. Recently Ayelet Stewart and Gail Hodder have joined Jeanette as my mentors.

I have occasional help from my dear friend Cindy, my daughter and son, and constant support from my husband.

Happy Glass maintains the Summer Fun Collection but has also expanded to include an Artisan Collection of contemporary handmade jewellery using original lampwork glass beads and hand-forged silver.