Why I started beading!

The lovely Lori Anderson is doing it again, there will the the 6th installment of the Bead Soup blog party!!  This will be my fourth time participating, my first partner was Maryse Thillen, Glass Bead Art, second was Sandi Volpe and third was Kristina Johansson, Maneki.  I can't wait to see who I will be paired with this time, Lori does an amazing job of getting us all together and there is so much inspiration and amazing creative designs I usually have to lift my jaw up off the floor. 

So onto why I started or should I say what piqued my interest in making jewelry.  It was back in 2008, my third child was 6 months old and my Mom went in to have bunion surgery.  She was laid up for quite awhile and decided she needed to do something to keep herself busy while recuperating on the couch.  Beading it was, she started showing me what she was doing and made me a bracelet, while I started looking at the magazines she had acquired and all of the beautiful things I could make for myself and my journey began.  When I first started I didn't dream that I would try and make this into a business, truthfully I think I wanted something for me that I could get wrapped up in.  I remember looking through a magazine and seeing some beautiful lampwork beads that were like Chinese lanterns, and I had to have them, my mom and I both ordered some beads, I didn't know it then but I do now they were made by the lovely Sue of SueBeads.  I didn't even really know what Artbeads were at the time.  When I first began I mostly shopped at Michaels and our local bead shops Beads & Plenty More and BeDekked.

I went back to work in October and one of my co-workers was telling me about her blog, she does book reviews for publishers and suggested that I get involved, while I started my blog and at first I was focusing mostly on other doing book reviews but then I started finding all of these other bloggers who blog about beads, there beautiful creations and handmade products and I was hooked.  My blog has since changed direction, with my primary focus on Bead makers, jewelry designers and fashion.  I have connected with some many amazing people online through my blog and I have found it to be a great tool to communicate what is keeping me busy as well as what goes on in my head. 

I still feel like I am a newbie when it comes to designing and I still want to experiment with so many different mediums, I realize that sometimes things take time to accomplish and I need to be patient with the process.  I wish that I had more time to play with my beads and focus more on promoting myself and my jewelry but I am also trying to be patient with myself in that area too.  My daughters are still growing up and I feel that my primary job is raising them and everything else has to come after.

There are a few people who I want to mention that have given me some positive encouragement and have extended the olive branch of friendship, Erin Prais-Hintz, Lori Anderson, Rebecca Anderson, Christine Altmiller, Hope Smitherman.  There are also some people who inspire me constantly and I hope to one day be at their skill level, Lorelei Eurto, Heather Powers, Erin Prais-Hintz, Lori Anderson and Rebecca Anderson.  The friendship and inspiration list actually go hand in hand, and there are so many people that I have encountered on this journey that are amazing and wonderful.

I know that this was a long post but I hoped you enjoyed a sneak peek into a bit of my history!

Have a wonderful day!

Take care,
Penny