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Meet Yvette Marie

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Yvette Marie.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Hi! I’m Yvette – I am a creative healing artist and I specialize in creating exquisite jewelry for self-empowerment, inspiration, meditation and self-healing. Although I create jewelry for men and women, my creative style tends to be very soft, feminine and alluring.

I live in the Arizona mountains where I am just minutes away from the serenity of the forest and I love the fact that where I live, the weather can change in an instant, and be 85-90 degrees and suddenly it’s raining and 65-70 degrees all in the matter of minutes!

I have always been highly creative artistically – growing up in a family full of eclectic artists from painting, drawing & music to sewing, photography & poetry and anything in between. I can remember as a child, I would pick up rocks, shells and leaves and even pieces of wood from my father’s scraps, just to get a closer look at their intricate design patterns and beauty. I absolutely love the sheer beauty of what nature provides in the organic structure, color, patterns and the feeling I get when I take a moment to appreciate what nature has to offer my senses.

I always had this deep calling to be a healer and artist even though life took me through different jobs and activities in order to sustain a steady income for my family. I dabbled in different forms of art for the sheer joy that it brought me, and each time I would share my art, people would ask me why the heck I wasn’t pursuing it as a career? I just kept putting it off, feeling that my family needed the support of a “steady income” despite the pull to follow my passion.

After moving our family up north, the opportunity sort of presented itself in a very strange manner (serendipity?) to make a change and follow my ever-changing bliss – Along with my husband and children, I got severe whooping cough and was not able to work for over a year as I was healing. During that point, I had a tremendous amount of time to contemplate life and everything else under the sun, and I realized just how much being my own boss and following my evolving bliss as a healer and artist meant to me and made the choice to not return to the corporate world. That thought had been following me for about 20 years! I felt I could no longer ignore the inner calling (more like screaming), and despite the utter terror, chose to leave the corporate world and security of a weekly paycheck to find something far more satisfying to my soul.

As soon as I made that decision to listen to my inner self, I felt a different sense of peace inside…I studied many forms of alternative self-healing, and now I get to uplift others and help them find more Joy, self-appreciation and inner peace and create beauty to share with the world! Nothing else comes close to the joy and fulfillment of what I get to do every day. And, as a bonus, my family can move anywhere in the world and I can take it with me and never have to start over in my “career”.

Please tell us about your art.
I create beautiful inspirational jewelry that can be worn daily, but also used with yoga and meditation for inner peace, self-healing and uplifting the spirit – most people call the necklaces I create “malas”, yoga beads, meditation necklaces or prayer beads. Prayer beads or malas (Sanskrit: mālā “garland”) are a traditional tool used to count the number of times a mantra is recited, breaths while meditating, counting prostrations, or the repetitions of a Buddha’s name.

Although I create jewelry for men and women, the majority of the jewelry and mala necklaces that I create are naturally geared toward women and are very feminine in the design aesthetics and tend to have a romantic or sensual energy to them.

I am inspired by the stones and other products that I choose and the designs just kind of flow through me as I am creating a specific piece of jewelry (I tend to lose track of all time) whether it is a custom order or an organic design – all of the jewelry I create is intended to elicit a certain energy or feeling for the person receiving it. I just turn my favorite music on, sit down and let it flow – sometimes, I have to take a break as a particularly favorite song might come on, and I have to get up and dance and sing. Whatever get’s the creative juices flowing and continuing, I am Joyful!

Many times, I have received a message from a person who just received their new mala necklace or other piece of jewelry, and the words that are repeatedly shared is, “I gasped when I took the necklace out of the box! It is so beautiful! It is more than I could have ever imagined!” In all honesty, as an artist, these words bring major tears of Joy to my eyes (I cry easily anyway!) and I have to just sit for a moment and express my gratitude that I get to do this every day and also allow myself to soak in the appreciation from my customers and clients, which blissfully keeps me motivated to keep creating more!

I absolutely Love what I do (outside of the amazing comments from my customers and clients). Sometimes, I feel I am creating the jewelry for my pleasure because I tend to fall in Love with every piece! However, often times, as I am in the midst of creating a mala or other piece of jewelry, I just get this feeling that someone is just waiting for this specific creation and will find tremendous Joy in the receiving of it!

How does it get any better that that?!

As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
As an artist, I define success as the feeling of utter Joy in what I do (and getting paid to do it is freakin’ awesome, too!) – in addition to over-joyed customers and clients. Nothing beats someone messaging me with the sheer Joy of receiving one of my mala designs or other jewelry creations! Like I mentioned before, so many times, I have received messages from a customer or client that has just received their mala necklace in the mail, and they exclaim that they gasped when they opened it because it was so beautiful and more than they ever imagined – I admit that I cry every time I hear this! I try to take great photos of my jewelry; however, nothing beats receiving it in person, getting to see it, touch it and wear it!

I feel that having absolute Joy and gratitude in what I do is MAJOR not only for financial success, but also staying motivated and happy in what I do and share with the world as an artist! It is very personal, a part of me that feels almost naked sharing my passion in front of the world.

I feel that everyone is here to do and be something different and express themselves in something unique to share with the world, you have to be grateful not only for others and what they offer you (support as a friend or family, or customer support purchasing your art and following you), but, you also have to have gratitude for the unique qualities that you offer to this world. I recently saw a great quote: “Anyone can have what you have, but no one can be who you are”. I absolutely freak in’ Love that! Own your uniqueness, don’t fear it.

I feel especially in the field of art, people who aren’t artistic and may be more left brained, or are not in the “art world” may think from a more logical sense, and will encourage you to be like everyone else or you won’t be successful – offer trendy items, since it’s all the rage what people want. I have had some very caring people in my life tell me I should offer items that I can quickly and easily duplicate for fast sales. I feel it is just the opposite – if you have something different and unique, and it’s from your heart, your passion, you have something no one else has to offer and there are always people looking for that, what you have to offer. Not everyone wants mainstream, mass created products, especially art.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Currently you can find Inner Balance Jewelry designs directly through my website @ https://innerbalancejewelry.com (pardon the mess, as of the writing of this, I am in the middle of completely revamping and upgrading my website with the help of a very talented person!)

You can also find Inner Balance Jewelry to purchase your own very special mala design or other jewelry through my Etsy shop @ https://www.etsy.com/shop/InnerBalanceJewelry

Although I do sell and deliver in person where I live locally, the rest of my sales and shipping are directly through my personal website for custom orders and also through my Etsy shop. I have tried the local artisan shows, and at this time, prefer to remain online. You can also follow me on Instagram @innerbalancejewelry

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
All photos credit Inner Balance Jewelry, Yvette Marie – Founder

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

 

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