How pretty is that family ring?? I just love those swirl earrings too! And oh my goodness, how fun are those candy earrings??
I'd love to introduce you to the artist who has a brand new shop on Etsy! MadMaggieDesigns! I've been admiring her jewelry for a while now on her blog. I got a chance to ask her a few questions and would love to share with you all! Read through to the end to find information about her FREE FAMILY RING GIVE AWAY!!! You don't want to miss that!!! 1. Tell us a little about yourself and your shop.
My name is Leslie Gidden, I am 36 years old, and I live in a beautiful small town south of St. Louis Missouri. I am married and have a wonderful 3 ½ year old daughter Madelyn. My husband and I will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary this October 11th. The month of September brings us to our first year in our new house here in Farmington. I am a part-time registered nurse working for a local pharmacy as a Community Education Nurse during the day. I talk too much, laugh too loud. I love to read…..ANYTHING! I love my family more than anything else in this world. I miss my Step-father and Mother-in-law every day, so much I physically hurt. I have a very strange sense of humor……not everyone gets it. I always fight for the underdog. I am a member of the Kids with Food Allergies support group. I LOVE helping others. I am a very caring and compassionate person…..so much so that little daily tragedies that happen elsewhere and are even out of my control will set me into crying jags. I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs………I am SO boring! More importantly, in 1999 I went to visit my father for a holiday during nursing school and it was then that my father introduced me to jewelry making and design. Yes….my father! The Christmas after my daughter was born I made jewelry as gifts for about every female on my list. This came out of necessity as I was now a stay-at-home-mother, and we only had one income coming in….all with a new baby. That Christmas was how it all started. You know how it goes….someone sees the jewelry, they refer them to you and voila……a business is born. .
2. How did you come up with the name of your shop?
From the minute our daughter was born it was pretty evident that she had 2 very distinctive sides to her. She is truthfully, for the most part, very very sweet. But on occasion the “other side” comes out. We call that person Mad Maggie. Her full name is Madelyn Margaret……hence the Mad Maggie. I searched, and brainstormed, asked advice, but the naming of my business kept coming back to Mad Maggie. It just fit seeing as that first Christmas I made jewelry was how this all started and I made the jewelry to stay at home with her…….1+1+1 and all that! It just came full circle around to her…….my Mad Maggie. Why I picked the “evil side” of my daughter I do not know. I guess I could have named it Madelyn Designs……but, I am sure this is a whole Dr. Phil episode in itself.
3. What is your favorite item in your shop?
Oh my gosh, THIS is a hard question. My biggest seller is the family jewelry, but I LOVE working with sterling wire. I love my Mother’s Rings because they were conceived for our local health department who commissioned me to make a piece of jewelry for their new Breastfeeding Clinic. All of the mothers who “graduate” a year with the clinic get a Mother’s Ring……I just LOVE that! I love being in Wal-Mart and seeing someone with my ring on. But, with that being said, I think I am going to have to say my all time favorite is the Sterling Wire earrings……any style. I just love the organic feel and look. I love making them. I love that there are never two the same. Plus I like anything that you can throw on and wear daily!
4. What is your favorite material to work with?
The Sterling Silver Wire, 0.925…..which is so aggravating to love a medium that steadily goes up in price EVERY DAY! I do think I found a new love though…..Brass. I have always loved my mother’s vintage jewelry that I used to play dress up with. The Brass reminds me of that fun time, so you might start seeing a collection of Brass jewelry soon, named for my mother’s side of the family. The Kelly Collection…….we are so Irish Catholic!
5. What is your inspiration?
Truthfully….my daughter. But, jewelry inspiration comes from many places. The Sundance Jewelry Collections, J Jill Jewelry, Acacia, color, other artists…..daily LIFE! Everything I see, people who I come in contact with. For example, my Katie Collection. This came from meeting a friend/co-workers daughter named Katie. She is such a joy and a truly nice teenage young lady! I just saw “candy” in my head whenever I was around her! She has this beautiful smile with those cute braces on her teeth…..it just took off in my head from there! 6. What future plans do you have for MadMaggieDesigns? I would LOVE to be a featured artist on Etsy…..heck I would love to be in a Treasury on the front page. But, with jewelry design, it is a hard road. It is so saturated with sellers. I am still waiting for that BIG IDEA or design to come to me. I want a design that I can create and is so unique that if you ever saw someone wearing it you could say, “Hey, that’s a Mad Maggie’s isn’t it?”. Oh, but wouldn’t it be fun to see Mad Maggie Designs in a retail department store? Before nursing school I worked in the jewelry department of Dillards Department Store in Oklahoma City. I would just SO LOVE to see all of my designs right there next to Anne Klein, Kenneth Cole, Anna and Ava, Adrienne Vittadini, and Napier………*sigh* A girl can dream can’t she?
OK, now for the giveaway! Go to MadMaggieDesigns. Check out her lovely shop. Then take yourself over to her blog and find the post for her giveaway, and post a comment about her shop! Maybe you will be chosen for a FREE FAMILY RING!!!
