20.03.11 - A note from Sara

It's been a year since I was first introduced to beading and straight away I loved it! A few courses later and I was hooked - it was great to be able to take the creative skills that I've gained through papercrafting and apply them in a new way. It's been lovely to make gifts for family and friends, to go alongside the cards that I craft for them for Christmas and Birthdays. 

We ran a tester class at Craftaganza 2010 to gauge your thoughts on jewellery making. Some people were definitely sceptical about the class. Would it be too difficult? Would they be happy with the results? We're happy to say that this wasn't the case at all - they LOVED it, and it proved to be one of the most popular classes we ran at the event.

Gradually, the staff in the office have bitten the bug too, and so has my mam - it's been wonderful to spend time with her sharing our new hobby! 

Seeing so many people enjoying jewellery making so much prompted me to start our new beading company - Beader's Companion - so that we can spread and share this fantastic hobby wider!

From the outset, we knew that Beader's Companion needed an expert on board. Thankfully, deciding who was really easy! Sarah Millsop has been a good friend of mine for a number of years and has an amazing knowledge of jewellery making - she teaches classes in it at a local college (and has been giving the Crafter's Companion team and I lessons too!)

Sarah is also taking her expertise to Create and Craft, with regular weekly shows every Wednesday at 9am. She'll be starting with some of the basics of jewellery making and building upon that over the weeks. In time, she'll be guiding you through more advanced techniques, a wider range of products and different styles of beading.

Sarah's a pro at taking non-jewellery makers and turning them into people who can wear their own jewellery with pride! 

I hope you'll join our extended Crafter's family and have as much fun creating beautiful jewellery as I have!