The Need To Bead

For those of you who have viewed my profile, you know that I have "making jewelry" listed as one of my interests. Jewelry making became a hobby of mine when I moved back to the East Coast last year. One day, when I was overcome with boredom (and I'm sure getting on my best friend's nerves), my friend suggested that I make a necklace. She had dabbled in jewelry making over the years, so she had lots of supplies to keep me occupied. I had nothing else to do, so I decided to give it a try...I immediately discovered a new love and a hidden talent.

Many trips to the bead store later (having spent nauseating amounts of money), I was hooked. I found beading to be very therapeutic. I was in my own world. Creating beautiful works of...art, really. Before I knew it, I had an array of beads/crystals/charms/clasps in all shapes, sizes and colors and a bin full of custom made necklaces. I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do with them all!

As I began wearing some of my pieces and sharing my new found hobby with friends, the response and reaction that I received was alarming. I was encouraged to begin selling my pieces...start a business even. Strangely enough, I was a bit apprehensive about "letting go" of something into which I had put my heart and soul...accepting money for something that came so easy to me that I felt anyone could do it.

I ended up giving away a couple of necklaces before I actually sold one. My first sale went to a very good friend of mine who purchased them to give away as Christmas gifts. I was told they went over well. That same friend, for Christmas, gave me the most special gift that I think I have ever received...she had about 200 business cards printed up for me and in the box was an article that she tore out of a magazine about a woman who had started her jewelry business after divorcing her husband and finding herself financially strapped, and in a bit of a depression. That gift meant the world to me...it showed me just how much my friend believed in me. I still get chills and teary eyed when I think about it.

After the drama resurfaced in my "marriage," I lost my mojo...lost my desire to create as a result of my lack of inspiration. From time to time I would go through my bead collection...desperate for something to click...to bring back the joy that it had once given me. (cue cricket soundtrack) Nothing.

Well folks, as I gain stride on my journey back to joy, I have fallen in love again!

I have been commissioned, by my gift giving friend's sister, to make the bridesmaid's jewelry for a wedding she is in at the end of the month. Soooo...to make a story, that I never intended to be this long, short - I am beading my little heart out and will be back as soon as I'm through...which is going to HAVE to be in the next couple of days as the wedding is right around the corner. If I'm able to figure out how to post pics...I'll take a few to share with you.

Creativity STILL resides in me after all!