Why I Started Beading

I thought today I would take a moment to credit the person who inspired me to start beading! She may not even know just how instrumental she was! :-) One of my husband's group of friends includes a bunch of guys from high school, the neighborhood, and their friends... well, one of these friends married a girl (This goes back more than a decade--I believe she was the second girl in the group, we really had our work cut out for us, taming these beasts! ha ha!!) and she made beautiful jewelry. She now has an etsy shop called Farfrumplainjane. Well, at get-togethers she would sometimes bring some of her finished work to see the reaction--to know if people liked it, they would do well at craft fairs, etc etc. Well--in all of her beautiful work which I admired there was one bracelet that especially caught my eye. It was called "tennis bracelet" and weaved with gorgeous AB Swarovski crystals. The depth of the black crystal spoke to me. It was more than I was used to spending for a bracelet, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I went to her next craft fair, deciding that I would fork over the money--but it was not there!!! All of this I kept to myself.

So I decided to learn to make it. After a year or so of learning to bead the various stitches and learning about the various beads, I finally found the pattern and did learn to make it... but here is the funny thing! I have not yet made one for ME! :-) That is how it goes with beading--many gifts get made. (Don't feel sad for me, ha ha! My jewelry box is overflowing!). But she has always been very generous, willing to share and teach, and I appreciate that. Even though I never owned that bracelet, it went one better. Because I couldn't purchase it, I found a passion that I have never found for an art or craft before. It gave me something far better, it gave me my Love of Beads... and for that, Jane, I thank you!

Check out some of Jane's gorgeous work, and be sure to visit her etsy shop!