In 2004, Casey Webster was planning her wedding and was disappointed at the selection of wedding jewelry she was finding.  She wanted something more personal to reflect her style, feelings, and inner beauty.  She also wanted jewelry in which her bridesmaids would feel beautiful and actually wear again.  While trying to be more creative in her jewelry search, Casey found a beautiful moonstone which she had reamed and also found some pearls, vintage glass beads, and a beautiful flower clasp which she made into a necklace.  Very pleased with the outcome, Casey then made jewelry for the bridesmaids using simple, elegant real stones and pearls which were both an upgrade to what she was finding and much more affordable.  When the wedding was over, Casey began to seriously consider building a business around creating wedding jewelry and started keeping her eyes open for stones with colors, textures, styles she liked.  She began taking a few classes on wire working and other forms of jewelry making, showcased her work at local craft shows, and increased her network of contacts.  Casey also began to display her jewelry in salons and shops around Vermont and developed an online storefront.  CW Creations was featured in the 2006 Fall/Winter edition of Vermont Vows wedding magazine and her business really took off from there.
 
Casey’s father was very proud and began collecting gems, learning abut jewelry design, and even designed a few rings himself.  He toted his copy of Vermont Vows, with Casey’s pages marked; around with him everywhere he went, always eager to share with people the business his daughter had started.  That same fall he passed away in a tragic accident.  Casey was overwhelmingly devastated and also charged with all tasks connected to settling the estate.  Casey’s grandfather passed away three months later and the remaining family of Casey, her brother and uncle had to repeat the very painful process with the added difficulty of clearing and selling their family home.

At the start of 2007, Casey decided to make the business her full time passion and immersed herself into jewelry making, transforming her grief, sorrow and pain into something beautiful.  She began attending the Fletcher Farm School in Ludlow and taking a series of one week classes - PMC (precious metal clay), glass fusing, silversmithing, and other jewelry making classes.  The solitude and creative time was extremely healing for Casey and deepened her original desire to help women recognize their inner beauty and be comfortable in their own skin.  It was then when she connected with Heather Paine.  While the two had met in the Vermont craft circuit previously, it was not until this time when they shared their stories with each other and knew without a doubt that this was the time they were supposed to meet.  Both felt a burning need to do something more with their lives benefiting a greater humanity and both had always had dreamed of owning a store.  Casey also reflected on how proud her father was of her dreams and endeavors and knew that was an undeniable blessing.  So Casey began investing inheritance money into a store with Heather and a week and a half later they found the current store location in the Blue Mall - the unique Vermont boutique known as Candles & Creations, a division of Spirited Living, Inc.