When cousins Tauria Raynor and Aisha Cross were little girls, they liked to hang out together and play dress up. As adults they still like to play dress up, only now they are helping others to look their best.

The two recently started a home jewellery business called FindUs KeepUs. Their slogan is, ?we make clothes the accessory?.

?One Saturday we were brainstorming ways to make money, and my husband is a senior broker,? said Mrs. Cross. ?He does business with a lady in Connecticut, and she was trying to get rid of some beads because she had done beading for five years.

?He said ?oh, my wife is trying to get into beading?. She sent us some beads and samples and we went from there.?

Mrs. Cross and her cousin make the jewellery in their spare time. In their working lives, Mrs. Cross is a teacher at Paget Primary and Mrs. Raynor is a social worker.

?We always liked buying exotic jewellery,? said Mrs. Cross. ?We liked buying different styles. When our jewellery broke we would sit there and make up stuff. We got into doing that. We said ?we should do something with this?.?

Both women are quite creative and like to sing. Mrs. Raynor is in Tony & Tina?s Wedding and also performed in the Bermuda Idol competition.

?I love accessories,? said Mrs. Cross. ?My cousin and I are very similar as far as our tastes. Sometimes the ideas just come to us. Sometimes we get ideas from magazines, or we just take apart pieces we already have. We tried to model from some of the samples that were sent, but you can tell our style from some of the pieces that were made.?

Mrs. Raynor said what makes their pieces stand out from the crowd are their unique colour combinations. They might put pink and red together or even orange and purple.

?My favourite colour is purple, but I like a lot of earth toned colours as well ? brown and green,? said Mrs. Cross. ?Although the colour doesn?t matter as much to me, so much as the uniqueness of the piece. It should look different from what other people have. That is what we try to do for other people as well. We try to make each piece different from the last.?

The cousins use a number of different materials to make their jewellery ? everything from wooden beads to semi-precious stones including garnets, fresh water pearls, sapphires and peridots. Prices range from $15 to $600.

One of the most exciting things for the women is seeing their jewellery around someone?s neck or wrist on the street.

?Some of my co-workers have bought my jewellery and wear it to work,? said Mrs. Cross. ?It is a nice feeling seeing someone wearing some of our jewellery.?

Mrs. Raynor said she saw someone at a party wearing a necklace and knew instantly that Mrs. Cross had made it.

?I hadn?t seen it before. We try to take pictures of everything we make, but sometimes we forget. I looked at it and I said, ?did Aisha make that for you?? She was like, ?yes?.?

?Aisha and I have similar styles, but there are differences. I tend to put a filler bead between each bead, but Aisha would mix it up, or put pearls together without a filler bead. I always do a pattern. I would do four here, and put a filler bead between each.?

However, Mrs. Raynor said their styles have evolved since they started making the jewellery in November. They influence each other.

Aisha has now started to use a more regular pattern and Mrs. Raynor is learning to be a little more free.

However, Mrs. Cross said her cousin is possibly more of a perfectionist that she is.

?She will make something and then take things apart,? said Mrs. Cross. ?I tell her ?no, don?t take it apart?. When we show those pieces to people, people always say, ?oh that?s nice?.?

They will custom make jewellery for people, and will try to match colours to dresses. One of their customers was a lady who needed seven pairs of earrings for bridesmaids.

?People sometimes say, ?we are wearing pink?, but we like to see the outfit,? said Mrs. Raynor. ?Sometimes what we see is not what they say. Also, they may be wearing green and blue and we will make a pink piece to go with them, which they wouldn?t have thought of, and we show them how to accessorise it.?

Information about FindUs KeepUs has spread through word of mouth. At Christmas business was booming with people looking to get that special, one-of-a-kind gift.

?We were a sell out,? said Mrs. Cross. ?We sold 30 to 40 pieces.?

FindUs KeepUs has also made appearances at local events such as The Rubber Tree festival in Warwick, fashion shows and weddings.

?We have had one male customer so far,? said Mrs. Raynor. ?I made a man?s choker out of pearls. So men do wear pearls. More like the metrosexual type of male. We put a lot of Bali silver in between and less precious stones. For a woman we would put more precious stones. Freshwater pearls were too round for a guy to wear, so we made something with these long stick pearls.?

To make their creations they use everything from pliers, and wire cutters to their own fingers.

?We usually get our beads from bead world,? said Mrs. Raynor. ?We also have Internet addresses where we can order beads online. But mostly whenever we go to New York we go to Bead World. We also have beads from Aunt Jean?s Beads in Somerset. She brings them in. I have talked with someone who makes beads, but we haven?t seen her work yet.?

When a customer buys a piece of jewellery they always get a card explaining what semi-precious stones went into making the piece and also a special gift bag.

?I think we could make a living, but if we don?t keep dipping into what we have already made,? said Mrs. Raynor. ?Right now it is just trial and error. If we opened a store it would be different.?

FindUs KeepUs will also do alterations and attempt to fix jewellery.

?We are always expanding and branching out,? said Mrs. Cross. ?We have started to make pieces out of seashells and clothing. We are avid watchers of the DIY network and we get ideas from that.?

For more information about FindUs KeepUs, telephone 735-7119 or 331-6364 or email finduskeepusbermuda.com .