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About The Lipstick Ranch


How the ranch got started~

I started with our rusted iron pendants about 7 years ago. Originally I had only about 15 styles and I used them as magnets. I expanded the line and started using them as jewelry pendants. At that time I only sold them in my own personal jewelry creations. I focused on the wholesale jewelry industry. I had a showroom at The Denver Merchandise Mart and primarily sold to the western industry. The western world is a fast moving fashion forward community that has pared with the country and organic look. In the western world you stay successful by blazing the trail and being the first to launch a new concept or design. That is where my slogan came from "it's all about being unique"! My biggest account was The Grand Ole Opry...what a fun experience that was. I designed and created jewelry for them for over 5 years.

I started selling our pendants individually about 3 years ago. There was a local bead show and I had numerous requests from bead lovers just wanting to buy the items that went into my finished lines. That was the start of The Lipstick Ranch transformation. Since then I have completely stopped making wholesale finished jewelry and now only design to inspire our bead customers. Since the first bead show, I have added numerous fabulous lines to The Lipstick Ranch. I now have a line of leather cuff bracelets, necklaces & accessories. All of our "lipstick leather" comes from premium US hides that are cut and assemble by us right here on our farm in Colorado. I also have 5 finishes of ball chain, also produced in the US as well as beautiful handmade chain and hard to find accent items. We strive to bring the most unique items to the beading industry at really great prices.

My background is finance and accounting...a far cry from anything glamorous. I like to think my creativity is "in my blood" and God given. My mother graduated from The Art Institute of Chicago. She owned her own business as an artist in the 60's & 70's (which was iconic for a woman in those days). She was commissioned by The White House under the Ford administration. Featured in numerous magazines like Family Circle and Ladies Home Journal and truly to this day is my biggest inspiration. My mother passed away when I was 5. I knew I always had that creative gene...from decorating our homes to my kids pumpkins at Halloween (we could never just have a pumpkin...it had to be a 6' x 6' theme featuring a pumpkin). Creating and designing feels comfortable to me...it's like going home. I get quiet there and many times ask my mom for advice (I know to some this sounds crazy, but it works for me). Some of my biggest accomplishments today are what I thought were mistakes at the time...including my rusted iron pendants.

With an enormous amount of help from my husband all of our rusted iron pendants are made on our farm in Colorado. My husband owns a dairy farm...so we had the perfect shop already in place. We have a "rusting field" where time and nature give our iron pendants that perfect finish. I write the software for our pendant designs and my husband cuts them out. We truly are an old fashion Mom & Pop shop. I have a studio on our farm (actually I took over my husband's horse barn).

All of this is God given and only a small portion truly belongs to me.

Oh and by the way in case you were wondering ~ DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE!

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? ~Mary Oliver

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