Earthgems Jewellery

Hi I'm Alison McClelland (Allie) and I'm the owner of Earthgems Jewellery. I am Dyslexic so apart from being my co-worker in the business my Mum, Sue, is also my scribe and Social Media guru! So with corrected spelling and grammar mistakes here is my story!

I am 39 years old and I have 3 children aged 24, 20 and 16. If you're trying to work it out, yes I was very young when I had them! Due to being only 15 when I had my son I had to give up my planned career in engineering and with help from my family concentrate on being a good Mum. I married at 19 and had my two daughters, but unfortunately nine years later that marriage was over and I went back to being a single Mum for many years. I now have a wonderful partner, two lovely Step Children and have just become a Granny!

I've always been creative and even as a small child I loved making things. I think this is due to my dyslexia, I struggle to express myself in the written word, so I compensate by creating art and craft instead (and talking….a lot!) this was always nurtured and encouraged as my Mum has always had creative hobbies (she talks a lot too! It's hereditary lol!).

Over the years we have tried lots of things, from art to creating greetings cards and we both love baking, but the jewellery making was always my favourite. I started with seed beads when I was a teenager, then we worked with gemstone beads and wire.
As the children got older and I got divorced the jewellery making turned from a small hobby to a way of helping support the family, alongside many part time jobs.
Eventually we just had too much jewellery to wear ourselves, so in 2008 I registered as self employed, so we could sell what we had made and we became Earthgems. Six years ago Dad bought Mum a new hobby kit for Christmas and we discovered Metal Clays! Now our jewellery making is our passion and joy and therapy all rolled into one.

Over the last 10 years the business has grown, from doing just a few local fairs we are now booked most weekends in the summer for fairs all over the Highlands and we now supply four local outlets, as well as selling online. We have also branched out to do workshops in metal clay showing people how they can make their own jewellery and sharing our passion.