At the end of 2009 I took a much needed break having finished a particularly grueling movie. After a week of sitting around I decided I needed to be productive and settled on trying my hand at quilting. After Googling how-to's and playing with fabric, I started envisioning jewelry pieces instead of quilts. Soon after I decided to take a leap, a very scary leap and Chocolate Sushi Handmade was born!

With zero business acumen or computer know how, I opened the shop on Etsy.  It was slow going at first, but sales started to pick up. I was extremely proud of how well the shop was doing despite my lack of promotion.

My biggest seller, the Blue Ocean Fabric Necklace has been pinned so many times on Pinterest that it blows my mind! It has also spawned many how-to blogs and even Youtube videos. [I 'm not sharing the links because, although they use my photo, none have actually made the piece like I do--ie. I never hot glue any of my pieces--so I can't endorse them]. Even though they're trying to give away my secrets, I am humbled by the love!

Another great thing happened thanks to my work in the film business. The Set Decorating department for the movie Premium Rush contacted me. They bought 10 pieces to use as background decoration in the bedroom of one of the characters in the movie!

I was also shocked and honored when I was contacted by Stitch magazine to have one of my AI collection pieces featured in their holiday gifts issue:

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