My life consists of beads and pixels! I just love making things and being creative. I was always making something as a kid. For Christmas & Birthdays I always wanted some type of kit, or rock tumbler, or easy bake oven or something that I could be creative with. I always made doll furniture & doll houses for my little Sister and frog condos out of shoe boxes, for all the little frogs that lived behind us in the ditch. They were never very cooperative though, and always jumping out of their beds!

I started making jewelry thirty years ago and then realized about fifteen years ago that the only way I could really make a living doing what I loved was to have a website and sell my jewelry on the internet. But, I also realized that I had to have really good photos of my work, or I would just be lost in a sea of mouse clicks. So, I purchased a little Kodak DX6490 four megapixel Digital Camera and a $25 macro lens attachment and started clicking away. Customers started commenting on my photos and asking if I paid someone to take them for me. And now, thanks to the internet and digital photography, my jewelry designs are enjoyed by people all over the world and from all walks of life.

In 2007, my husband and I moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina and that is when my love of nature photography was born. I just adore little critters and tiny little bugs that look right up at me in wonder, but surprisingly sit still long enough for me to take a close up photo of their curious little face, before they hop or fly away. People even ask me “what do you do to get those bugs to pose”. I answer, quite honestly, talk to them…speak softly and always carry a camera! But my favorite part of Winter is around January 15th, when the Wood Frogs start calling and mating! My husband built me a tiny little pond on our property several years ago and, like they say, if you build it, they will come! Year after year, they fill up the tiny pond with frog eggs and tadpoles and it literally makes me the happiest girl in the world! More of my nature photography can be found on my website: http://www.kathyhardyphotography.com

Scott was born and raised in the mountains of southern Appalachia, specifically the coalfields of West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

Western North Carolina has been his home since 1992. After retiring from the military, he attended UNC-Asheville, earning a degree in biology, with a focus on the flora, fauna and geology of the southern Appalachians.

He was a walk leader and featured speaker for the UNC-Asheville Wildflower Pilgrimage from 1995 until 2015. Scott has led wildlife and wildflower walks at the Western North Carolina Nature Center, where he worked for a year building the cougar and bobcat habitats, and has served as First Vice President of the Friends of the Nature Center as well as serving on the Town of Weaverville Tree Board. He developed curricula, and teaches field classes for the Blue Ridge Naturalist program now offered at the N. C. Arboretum.

With his photography he was a featured speaker at the Great Smoky Mountains Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in 2011.

He lives in the Hazelwood district of Waynesville, NC and in Balsam, NC with his wife Laurey-Faye, Loretta, the new wonder dog, and Zeb, the 2nd wonder dog. When not leading natural history programs in the region, he enjoys gardening, hiking, backpacking, and playing around with various stringed, wind, and percussion instruments.

Goldenrod

Blackberry

Common Milkweed

Male Elk

Cedar Waxing

Red-shouldered Hawk

Swans

Hobblebush Leave

Columbine

Blue Ridge Parkway