Beading Up A Home Business

SWVAToday.com:

Creativity is spontaneous, explains Anne Vaughan as she talks about her work. Surrounded by a multitude of colorful beads, the jewelry designer says it’s a feeling of energy that starts the process and helps her create the one-of-a-kind necklaces, earrings and bracelets.

The Floyd woman began her home business 1 ½ years ago, and it has literally taken off. Operating from the family’s basement and advertised by friends and the internet, Anne Vaughan Designs is well established and growing.
The designer describes her style as “chunky, earthy, but also very simple and elegant. It’s all over the spectrum.”

Vaughan has a passion for turquoise, and it has a prominent place among her jewelry. She says she continues to be amazed at the variations in color of the stones. She orders some of the stones she uses for her jewelry, but others, turquoise in particular, she likes to hand select. Her jewelry also features fresh water pearls, precious metals, such as copper, and a variety of other gemstones. They are often conversation pieces. One necklace she designed is made from palm nuts and bone with wood. Another necklace features red coral and turquoise.

Owning a home business is allowing Vaughan to spend time with her children, Autumn, age 3, and Gabriel, 16 months. She had taught school at Floyd Elementary, just a short distance from her house, but she says it was hard to balance being a teacher and a mom, both with their demands on time and energy. Her husband, Aaron, actually motivated her to start the home business.

The home business has been a “positive experience” for Vaughan. “I feel grateful to have ‘found’ it,” she comments.

Spending time with the children is the greatest benefit, but Vaughan says she also enjoys her customers – “they’re happy people.”