Elena O'Donnell, a stay-at-home mom and local jewelry maker, started with baby blankets and moved to trendy jewelry, never losing sight of the meaning behind every piece.
She started her website about nine years ago in an effort to bring in supplemental income while living with her young family in Ohio
"I needed to bring in something extra, but I still wanted to be able to stay at home," O'Donnell said. "I was in baby mode, so at that time babies inspired me. I thought, 'What would I want to get as a gift?' and I started a website with personalized baby blankets."
A couple years later O'Donnell and her family moved to Auburn, and she put her website on hold with the hope of expanding the site before relaunching it.
"When I was looking to add more personalized items, I thought I would have someone do personalized jewelry, but then I thought, 'Why would I do that when I could make it myself?'" O'Donnell said.
As she began creating her own jewelry, O'Donnell joined Etsy, an online marketplace for all things creative and handmade, and learned of an artist competition at The Villager, a store in downtown Auburn.
"The first time we started carrying her pieces was for an artist show," said Kathy Myles, The Villager gallery manager. "It was about two years ago. She entered three pieces in the show, and they did so well, we kept her ever since."
O'Donnell now sells her work at The Villager, Etsy and her own website, which shows no trace of the original baby blankets that got her started.
The lasting theme in O'Donnell's work is personalization.
"I love to customize and personalize," O'Donnell said. "That's my focus. That's what kind of fuels my pieces. Since I knew monogramming and personalization, that's where I started with jewelry making."
Her sterling silver and copper necklaces and bracelets displayed at The Villager are engraved with initials, names and meaningful words and phrases.
"From the personalization I've gotten into inspiring words," O'Donnell said. "Everything is focused around inspiration, personalization and customization. It's all about the meaning behind it."
To view O'Donnell's work, visit her website, www.madgabdesigns.com.
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