It started to happen in the early 2000’s. Once
9/11 occurred and everyone started expressing
their grief through crafting, beading had gotten
very hot, and knitting had come back with all of
those exquisite “novelty yarns”. Now a bit more
functional, I needed something more to give my
life meaning, and was searching. Although I had
4 great stepchildren, they didn’t live with us, and
I had a longing for one person on this earth to
call me “mommy”. So in 2000, we brought home
Lilia, from Russia, then our 2 year old daughter,
who is now almost 17! Quite remarkably, she is
very creative and talented!
store to have opened in South Jersey since the
last one closed in the 1970’s. Jubili Beads &
Yarns® premiered on June 21, 2003, in a tiny,
800 sq. ft. rental in the up-and-coming, historical town of Collingswood, New Jersey. With that
milestone Friday event, I stopped crying for the
life I had lost, and never looked back...
Jubili did so well, (despite two other rival beaders opening up their own stores many months
later, but now, both closed), that within less than
a year, I had purchased a large building down the
block, almost 4,000 sq. ft., with two floors. By
the time we moved, the business was flourishing,
Once I started beading and meeting other beadI had 6 staffers, and lines were out the door for
ers, I got hooked! The day I saw my first barrel
holiday shopping. But what was most interestof “novelty yarns” in an out of town knitting shop,
ing was that as word of my personal journey got
I stopped dead in my tracks and immediately
out via local newspaper and magazine articles
proclaimed to the owner, “oh my gosh, beads with and my web site, customers started pulling me
those yarns”! And so I became one of the early
aside to tell me their own stories of chronic pain,
enthusiasts for what in a few years would berecovering addiction...and how my staff and I had
come known as “mixed media”. Eventually being helped them to heal, as we supported them on
able to start doing a little crocheting again, I oftheir own journeys to finding their creative spirit!
fered my sizable basement craft room as a haven I began to realize that others might benefit from
for other mixed media enthusiasts, and started
the same creative journey to healing that I had
the “Bead & Fiber Guild of South Jersey”. A
discovered for myself! I describe this realization
group of 10-15 women meeting once a month for as, “the doctor might have had to leave medicine,
about a year, we taught each other techniques,
but medicine never quite left the doctor”. It startand had lots of laughs! By then, I had used my
ed me thinking on how, in a more deliberate way,
first ball of novelty yarn, strung beads on it, and
I could help people heal through creativity.
made a mini scarf with beads sprinkled in the
pattern, and embellished with a beaded fringe.
Only a few years later, that first foray into being able to crochet again would become known
as “The Jubili Scarf”, published in Beadwork
Magazine in the October, 2004 issue!
Grieving all these years for the loss of medicine and many other aspects to my life, (skiing, biking, gardening, traveling), I was tired of
grieving! With only one knitting store in South
Jersey and no bead stores other than Philadelphia, PA, 15 miles away, and Princeton, NJ,
an hour and a half ride, I began to think that it
was now time to pursue something else for my
life. I turned to the Guild attendees for guidance.
Did they think I should open a bead store? After
many resounding “yeses” and much encouragement, I opened the first privately-owned bead
Above: That’s me with Lorraine Pinkerton. We hit our 11 year
anniversary in June, and Lorraine’s been with me 9 or 10 years!
She’s my only full time person, and keeps me organized and
sane! She also teaches the beginning knitting classes and a few
other classes here and there.
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