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Russellville woman follows passion for making jewelry, now has pieces in stores across the U.S.

Amber Lea Smith owns Amber E Lea Designs.

A business owner in Russellville has made her lifelong passion a career.

Amber Lea Smith owns Amber E Lea Designs.

“I start off with porcelain in various colors,” Smith said. She started creating art when she was just a child. “I started with ceramics when I was like ten taking classes at the art center,” Smith said.

Those classes lead to a big career.

“Then from there I took wheel throwing classes, hand building classes through high school and ended up eventually graduating from UCA with a degree in ceramics,” Smith said.

For 5 years she fine-tuned her process of creating jewelry and has been running her own Russellville based business ever since.

Completing a batch of handmade jewelry takes weeks.

Her favorite part is selling the pieces at events. “I love meeting people face to face and seeing their reactions,” Smith said. Her love for fine art expanded beyond Russellville and now her work can be found in several locations.

“I sell at about fifty boutiques across the country. A couple internationally,” Smith said.

She’s created her own studio behind her home and fills orders for shops like Anne Taylor and the Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas.

“This is actually the earring that Joanna has, the Saturn,” Smith said. That’s--the famed TV personality Joanna Gaines. “She has a couple of pieces of my jewelry and that’s the one that really stood out. You can see it with her long hair, it looks really good,” Smith said.

Smith said her jewelry business is taking off, but this is just the beginning.

She’s still taking classes to learn more techniques and even plans to create other porcelain items like home décor.

“Really just putting myself out there, working hard. Here I am,” Smith said.

She said starting a small business is tedious, but worth the work. “You definitely need to be passionate about what you’re doing because it does take a lot of time and effort and energy,” Smith said.

In August she'll be doing her first trade show in Las Vegas, selling wholesale to boutiques.

You can keep up with her on social media here.

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