Me. Laurie Eller. This photo was taken in February 2009 by my good friend, Moon Ko, who does all my family photography. She's just the best.
 

My name is Laurie Eller and I'm the sole creator of the designs you see here. I live in the gorgeous Kentucky Bluegrass (in a small town just outside of Lexington) and I have been married for fifteen years to my wonderful hubby (Jeff), and we have four beautiful children (Nathaniel-11, Natalie-9, Nicole-7, Nadine-6).  It's definitely a wonderful life.

Creating and designing has been a part of my life since I was young. I remember begging my mother to let me use her sewing machine to make doll clothes at an early age, but it wasn't until college that I began making jewelry. For the last six-plus years I have been creating jewelry for customers from here in Lexington all the way to England and Australia.  It makes me proud to know that others enjoy my work as much as I enjoy designing it for them.

At heart, I'm just very silly. It's not a good day unless laughter is heard and I love having good days. My friends and family are very important to me and my hobbies include scrapping (although I'm not very good at it!--I tend to waste a lot of paper! ::sigh::), painting pottery (at The Art Box, here in Lexington), and listening to audio books from Audible. While I am working I tend to listen to music or audio books on my iPod. :) (I'm currently listening to The Time Traveler's wife and Voyager, book three in the Outlander series... I know, you really wanted to know this, didn't you?!)

Laurie Gale Designs is full-time. I work more than forty hours a week, either with torching, construction and web-design (I built and manage my website). Although I'm full-time, I try to make each job personal, emailing and getting to know you so I can better serve your needs. I hope you enjoy my work in the process and I want you to enjoy your time on my website. Stay. Look around. Listen to music. Just be. If you should need anything, please don't hesitate to email me. I'm never too far away from my laptop.

- laurie

Laurie Gale Designs
My things carry the finest pieces and I only use sterling silver, 14kt gold (sometimes gold-filled), and copper.  I love using Vintage crystal, special pewter buttons, and unique bits and pieces in my work. Everything is collected from various places around the world and I also attend bead shows throughout the year. I inspect everything and make sure that it is my very best work, that each piece is just perfect.

Custom Work
I specialize in custom work and take it on a first-come-first-serve basis. During the months of November and December the turn-around time can be slow simply because of the work load, and it's best to contact me in January through September for special orders. You can browse through my site and get an idea of my style and if there's something you like it's possible I can make another item similar, but it can never be the same as all my items are one-of-a-kind pieces. Please remember that custom orders are just that, custom. They are made specifically for YOU and are tailored just for YOU, so please be patient with me as I can sometimes agonize over things and finishing products depends on the difficulty in the piece desired.

From time to time, I have bead strands sent to me that customers have purchased and would like me to create a specific design with them. My prices vary but generally, for a simple strand bracelet, my fee is $125.00. This fee includes the addition of components and/or findings along with my design fee.

Contact ME
Feel free to email me and I will be sure to get back with you as soon as possible. lauriegaledesign@aol.com  Or you can check out my BLOG.

My Precious Family
  You can always stop by my blog to see more of my family photos, but here are a couple so you know who we are.

My Family. Mid-June 2009.
Jeff is holding Nadine (6), Me, Nicole (pink, 8), Nathaniel (11), and Natalie (9).


Our kids. (Nicole, Nadine, Nathaniel, Natalie)


My husband and me. Fifteen years. He's my very best friend.

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25 Random Things about me that you might not know.
This was a thing on Facebook that friends asked us to do. I had fun trying to come up with 25 random things! :) You can try it!

1. Despite the fact that I had to drive ten hours each way to college, I do not like to drive now... if at all possible, I make my friends (and my hubby) drive me around. :) I'm nice like that.

2. No one can ever accuse me of hoarding things because I love to get rid of stuff and am constantly throwing things away (or giving it away, whichever works). I like clean walls and less things to dust.

3. When I was in the fifth grade I pierced my own ears because my Mother didn't let me. I got an infection and my Mother made me wait until I was much older  to get them pierced by a "professional" (at Merle Norman, lol). When Jeff met me I had eight holes in my left ear and five in my right. Now I have one in each and am just fine with that.

4. It is a well-known secret that I want to get a tattoo, but I'm worried that the person will make a mistake and I might end up with a three-eyed elephant. One of these days I'll get one. I'll keep you posted.

5. A few years ago we got a "garden fungus" on the mulch in our yard. My husband said the remedy for removal was urine. So I peed in a jar for several months, pouring it over the mulch until one day I found out that he was kidding. Nice hon. Real nice. I rarely trust him these days unless I validate the information with the internet first. *smirk*

6. My graduating class had only 55 and my school was K-12. I have very good memories and am still friends with most of them today. I am happy about this.

7. My favorite food is Salmon.

8. Even though I am only (only!!) 37, I am covered with gray hairs. This? This I do not like. I pay a great deal to keep it at bay.

9. My favorite color is pink (altho this is common knowledge among my friends). The last four digits of my cell number spell out the word "Pink" (on purpose). I have had this number for eleven years. :)

10. I have a secret dream to be a baker and own a little shop in my town, selling fresh breads, pastries but most of all Cuppie Cakes to all of my friends.

11. I am allergic to latex but yet all of my jeweler's tools have latex handles. This presents problems on a daily basis but I try not to worry about it.

12. My first and only speeding ticket was when I was sixteen, going 37 in a 25 after leaving youth group. It scared me so much, that I never did it again. My friends give me grief over this and say I'm a granny driver (refer to #1 for more information on driving).

13. My other favorite food are Cup Cakes, Coconut to be exact.

14. In my town I am the County Cookie Manager, overseeing 30-plus troops who sell Girl Scout Cookies, although I am not a fan of Girl Scout cookies. lol

15. I tend to be a creature of habit, owning five pairs of the same Chico's jeans, and countless Life is Good T-shirts... I figure if it's comfortable, buy more of it and who cares if it looks like a uniform. Go for comfort.

16. Growing up, my parents would take me to New York to see Broadway plays. I have seen Cats five times. Most recently I've seen Wicked twice and loved every minute. :) I like people who sing at me. *wink*

17. We bought a trampoline last Spring and the first time I got on and jumped I wet myself. I never got on again.

18. Whenever I work I listen to audio books on my iPod. I am a huge fan of Vampire books but my favorite book EV-VER is The Pillars of The Earth. If you haven't read it, do.

19. Since I was a child, I have loved movies and my all-time favorite movie is You've Got Mail but if you ask me about Christmas movies, hand's down: ELF. (what's a Christmas Gram? I want one!)

20. I have been married almost 15 years (May 20th) and they have been the best years of my life. My husband is the sunshine on my face.

21. When we lived in Washington, D.C., the S.W.A.T. team surrounded our house to do a drug bust on the corner house. We moved to Versailles, Kentucky three months later.

22. In my junior year of High School I played Lucy in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. Can you see it? LOL

23. I melt glass for a living and make beads. One of the things you use to design is something called FRIT. I have over 100 bottles of frit. I suppose it's an obsession.

24. In my upstairs hall closet I have two full shelves filled with scrapbooking supplies that I have yet to use. Someday I hope to find the time because I love to Scrap.

25. I have always wanted to visit Hogwarts.