Victoria Garley of Navarre did not open her own art studio until she was 50 years old. But through the years, Garley used her artistic talents in every phase of her life and in any job she ever held.

"My 50's have been good to me," she smiles.

Garley specializes in the glass mosaic medium. Her work is especially popular at the Sandestin Resort, where her work has flown off the shelves for more than a decade.

It was her artwork that led Victoria and her husband, Fred, to discover Navarre.

"We were still in Birmingham, Ala., and a woman told me we needed to go to Seaside, near Sandestin in Florida, to see all the artists' work there," Victoria said. "So on our next vacation, we did.

"I knew I had pieces in stained glass and mosaics that were as good or better than things being sold in those galleries, so later we took some of my glass mosaic works down to a gallery in Seaside. One gallery owner there said they were not taking anything right then, but I should go down the road to Sandestin to Fusion Art Glass Gallery.

"We drove to Fusion, and they took everything I had," she said. "That was about 12-13 years ago. I've have been selling mosaic works at Fusion in Sandestin ever since."

Garley's husband is retired from the Navy, so he was familiar with the Pensacola area. "On one of our trips taking items to Fusion, we drove through Navarre and looked around, thinking we might like to move to the area some day," she said. "We looked at Harvest Village, Holley by the Sea, and the beach area.

"We finally decided to make an offer on a home here, and we moved 11 years ago," she said. "Fred made the garage into a studio for me to finally have my own space for my work. He put in air conditioning and fixed it up so I could do some stained glass and mosaic work. Fred has worked side by side with me on my stained glass and mosaic work, making the frames, helping to cut the glass. I could never do what I do without his help."

She went full time onto her art work right after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I was working at Pensacola Airport managing the gift shop, doing all their displays and buying for the shop, when 9/11 happened," she said. "I was hired right after that by a businessman in Pensacola for my phone skills. I remember the day I turned 50 I was sitting at a desk with folders piled high, a headset, and the phone ringing, and thought 'What am I doing here?'

"That's when we decided to try to go fulltime into my art work."

She found a job teaching art in Fort Walton Beach and opened her Glaze & Blaze studio there. She moved the studio to Navarre about four years ago.

Now she teaches at the Northwest Florida Ballet elementary school in Fort Walton Beach two days a week, holds classes at her Navarre art studio for children and adults, and sells her own art work to people from all over the world. Her mosaics sell for thousands of dollars at the Fusion Gallery. She also paints wall-sized murals, with several found in homes in Sandestin. And she has time to enjoy her children and grandchildren.

"I am enjoying life!" she said.