Born and raised in Wisconsin, Vickie has lived and full and varied life filled with much work and many blessings.  She owned and operated several restaurants and then looking for something not so stressful and something that she, her husband, Kevin and 2 sons, Shawn and Ryan, could do together, they decided on a video business.  After 13 years of a very successful adventure, they attended the annual videoconference in Las Vegas and decided to see the Grand Canyon.  At the urging of a friend, they headed south to see the little “artist community” of Sedona, Arizona.  It was love at first sight.  They sold everything and moved to Sedona in 2000.  After a full and wonderful life with Kevin, he passed several years after the move to Sedona.

Vickie has been creating jewelry as a hobby for over 10 years, making items of all kinds forfriends and family throughout the years.  Life never seemed to allow her the time to fully pursue her love of making jewelry.

Vickie had been working at the Sedona Cancer Center for about 4 years when in 2004 she met Alan Smith when he brought his mother in for treatment.  A wonderful friendship developed over the next few years.

In 2007, Alan asked Vickie to marry him and she said yes!  They now live in Cottonwood, AZ.but spend most of their extra time traveling Arizona doing art shows.  With Alan’s encouragement, Vickie has now jumped in with all her spare time creating her unique one of a kind jewelry.  Using only fine quality materials, she designs and creates each piece to be unlike the usual things you see around most of the arts and crafts shows.  Vickie’s work can be seen at all of the shows and festivals that Alan produces around Arizona under the Running Bear Productions name.