I’d love to introduce my friend and fellow Austen and dragon fan, Barbara Caldwell!

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 I’d like to introduce Barbara Caldwell. She’s the wife of my fellow Austen Variations author, the somewhat talented and very funny Jack Caldwell. Barbara is the owner of B. Caldwell Creations and has a line of Austen-inspired jewelry. I am honored to announce that part of that line is jewelry inspired by my Jane Austen’s Dragons series!

Tell us a little more about you and your adventures, Barbara!

Hello! I currently live in Prairieville, Louisiana with my wonderful husband of twenty years, my son Sean, his wife, Roni, and their one-year-old baby, Kai. Our household is always “buzzing” with activity! We also have two pugs (Mr. Darcy and Pippa) and two spoiled cats (Fatty and Pixie). My other son and daughter-in-law (Doug and Molly), and their one-year-old (Nathan), live in nearby Covington. That’s right—my two grandsons were born thirteen days apart! Both my daughters-in-law are artists and help me with creative design and social media.

I’m a native of Florida, born in the Keys, and grew up near Orlando. I met Jack twenty-five years ago in Louisiana after we had both gone through divorces. Believe it or not, it was a blind date! We’ve been together ever since.

How did you get into jewelry design?

 I started making jewelry in 2001 as Joyful Mysteries. At the time, I was busy taking care of my children and had just lost both my mother and father-in-law. Someone asked what made me happy. At first, I drew a complete blank, then it hit me. Color. I love all things colorful; color makes me happy!

I focused then, as I do now, on beautiful handcrafted rosaries, jewelry of faith, beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. It was born of my passion for color and my faith as a converted Roman Catholic.

Then Hurricane Katrina came to call.

I vividly remember so many from Louisiana coming to sojourn with us in Houston during that time. What did you and Jack do?

My husband and I left Louisiana for a while and lived “up north” in Wisconsin and Minnesota where we learned all about snow, ice, and minus-15-degree temperatures! Joyful Mysteries was set aside, but not forgotten.

I can certainly relate with life getting in the way of things some times. How did you get back to your creative endeavors?

Now back in Louisiana and nearing retirement it was time to revisit my true passion and re-launch my business under its new name B. Caldwell Creations. I choose the theme of a bee because it symbolizes my personal and business mission statement—don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve your dreams.

This quote from A.S. Waldrop has inspired me: “According to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumble bee cannot fly; its body is too heavy for its wings and that’s the simple reason why. But the bumble bee doesn’t know this fact, and so it flies anyway for all to see. Remember this when you’re losing faith or hope God’s proof that the impossible can be.”

Do you have a passion for Jane Austen, too? Ok, I know, it’s a bit of an obviously question, all things considered.

Yes! Blame that on Jack!

Really, I would have never guessed!

I’m one of his editors for his books, so that’s where I grew to love Miss Austen. He introduced me to works from you and Abigail Reynolds and others. I was already dreaming up Austen-based jewelry designs when I came across a new stone: Dragon Blood Jasper! I had just finished Longbourn: Dragon Entail, the second of your wonderful Jane Austen’s Dragons series and got inspired! So, now I have a Jane Austen’s Dragons Collection of bracelets, earrings, bookmarks, and kilt pins!

I love all your work, but I confess, I have a real soft spot for the dragon blood jasper pieces. I love the ones I have! 

Thank you so much! If anyone is interested in viewing more of my work, my website is https://bcaldwellcreations.com On Facebook, I can be found at https://www.facebook.com/bcaldwellcreations

 I hope that you will share our website and Facebook page with your friends and family. I look forward to hearing from you about our products and how we can add things to our collections that you could get excited about.

Until then—Bee Inspired!