Welcome to Charming Bead

My Story

I started Charming Bead back in 2002 shortly after visiting a local blown glass store in LaVerne, California. A friend and I went to this store on our lunch hour because she knew of a beading area in the back, where people could make jewelry. It was on that very lunch hour that I began my passion for beads and buttons and making jewelry.

I already loved buttons, because I used to go through my grandma's coffee can full of old buttons that she had collected over the years. When our family would visit, while the adults were chatting at the kitchen table, I would grab that coffee can full of old buttons and dump them out onto the carpet to organize them by size and color and shape, until each button had a pile. I would, then, put them all back in the can and save them for another visit. [Incidentally, "Buttoned Up" is a new earring line I’m creating.] Make sure to provide me your email if you'd like to receive ongoing information about anything that's new with Charming Bead.

So it’s no surprise that when my friend and I started to select beads for our respective bracelets, during our lunch hour, I couldn't seem to contain myself. I kept discovering really unique and colorful beads, until my first string of beads was over a foot long! Much too long for a bracelet, wouldn't you say?

At home that very same day, I collected all of my own jewelry and started weeding through everything until I identified bracelets and necklaces that I didn't really wear anymore. I took then all apart and arranged all of the components to see what I had, then ended up making 4 new bracelets that I still wear today. I guess it's a humble reminder of where I began and where the bead-aholic in me was born!