A few years ago, my brother-in-law and his wife gave me a hand-made bracelet made of silver beads and crystals for Christmas. It is beautiful and I love it because the crystals are green (my favorite color). When I expressed my pleasure in receiving the gift, they seemed quite relieved and blurted out that they didn’t know if I’d like it because I made my own bead jewelry.

How many of you have this same dilemma when it comes to family and friends giving you beaded gifts? In my situation, it was obvious that the assumption was made that because I make my own bead jewelry I might be critical or not appreciate someone else’s work. I actually feel quite the opposite. I can appreciate the creativity and thought that go into creating an original design. I know how many hours it takes to first select just the right beads and color combinations and then stitch an intricate pattern. And for me, I love receiving a beaded gift because I didn’t have to spend the time making it.

I’ve been looking at the images posted on the Bead&Button Web site Forum “Show Us Your Work” section and the Subscriber Gallery. WOW! The variety of designs, quality of workmanship, and creative inspiration of these pieces are quite amazing. There are hundreds of different projects that cover every aspect of creating with beads. Thank you to all the beaders who have posted images of their work. It is inspiring to know that every piece is hand-crafted and no two look quite the same.

If you’d like to show off your latest beaded creation, visit beadandbutton.com and post an image on the Forum. Or you can send us an e-mail with an attached image of your work for consideration in the Bead&Button magazine Your Work department. You may inspire someone to learn a new stitch or technique just to be able to make something similar to your project because they admired it so much.

Thanks for sharing. Happy beading!

Lynne