Orlando jewelry-maker designs memories

Erica Croft has always needed a place to channel her creative energy. Over the years her passions have ranged from fashion and interior design to stringing together the perfect bracelet. Her Barbie dolls always had impeccable outfits – no mismatched shoes or wacky hair. Her first place, a retro Airstream trailer her grandparents gave to her, had walls painted the color of the rainbow, glitter splashed ceilings and her shoes lined on shelves along her walls as works of art.

That wild, free spirit side sort of runs in the family, Croft said. The Orlando-based FSU graduate comes from a line of creative ladies. Her mom decorated her clothes with gems and stencils, and her grandma is known to throw glitter on trees and in wet asphalt as she walks around the senior home park she owns when she’s not painting murals on the clubhouse walls. She’s been an inspiration for Croft since before she can remember.

“She made my imagination perfect, I think,” Croft said.

For more information, go to facebook.com/eurekastreasures, call 352-978-3914 or email [email protected]. Bracelets range from $25 to $40, and owner Erica Croft also offers build-a-bracelet parties for kids and adults.

Now, Croft focuses her imagination on her jewelry business, called Eureka’s Treasures. She wanted to be a bit like Barbie growing up, and when she had her own daughter, the idea of having jewelry to go with every tiny outfit was too tempting to forget. So she started creating her own, mainly inspired by nearly 2-year-old Alice, who takes her back to her glitter and rainbow days.

Croft creates mostly bracelets, but also necklaces and earrings, with beads and charms. The jewelry has the look of the expensive brand Pandora, where a single charm starts at $25 and can reach more than $800, but with a price more people can afford. Her bracelets cost $25-40 depending on the size, and she uses the same quality Murano glass beads that Pandora does.

Croft also does build-a-bracelet parties for children and adults. Guests choose from her many beads and she makes the bracelets while kids enjoy an ice cream bar she brings, or adults relax with some wine.

And her jewelry has the same Croft mark of color and sparkle she’s put on past projects. Her go-to beads are the ones covered in rhinestones, and it’s hard to find a bracelet without a few.

Most of her work is one-of-a-kind, and she lets customers collaborate on their design. They can choose from her hundreds of different beads, or if they have a special theme in mind that she doesn’t have a bead for, she’ll find it. She’s done bracelets with lion charms she found for an Oviedo High School cheerleader, little silver bones for her X-ray technician friend, and birthstone charms to represent each of a doting grandmother’s grandchildren.

“You can make them yours and unique,” said customer Brittany Knight. “Nobody else will have it.”

Croft hopes that her jewelry can mark special memories in people’s lives.

“I don’t want it just to be jewelry, I want it to be a statement of either what is going on in your life or the moment that you’re in or the event that you’re at,” Croft said. “I want it to stand out.”

In the future, Croft hopes that she can expand her business to feature hand-made tutus for her favorite little customers, and possibly move into a storefront where she can feature all her jewelry and projects. She knows one day, she’ll be just like her favorite fashion designer, exuberant pink tutu-wearing Betsy Johnson. She already feels that way when she creates her jewelry, she just needs the audience.

“I feel like Betsy Johnson,” Croft said. “I want to be Betsy Johnson. I want to be that badass 70-year-old lady doing cartwheels down the runway and showing off her cool designs.”