I know that there are a tons of bead artists out there and I’ve spent a lot of time looking at various shops over the years of promoting handmade; but every once in a while a shop will jump out at me and leave me stunned!  Such is the case of Patricia Reeves and her amazing talent with beads!

Patricia was always a creative soul, starting with mud pies and dolls made from Hollyhock flowers but she did not find her true passion until a bit later in life.  After working with watercolors and drawing, a friend introduced her to the amazing world of beads and she was hooked!

When Patricia is not creating wonderful beaded art, she can be found in her garden surrounded by the colors of nature which quickly find their way into her work.  She loves to plant flowers for her butterflies to enjoy and even leaves a small space in her yard untouched so that the butterflies can lay eggs safely.

Patricia was introduced to beads by a friend who offered to teach her the basics, one problem became evident immediately, Patricia is left handed and her friend is not.  If you have ever tried to teach certain crafts when you each have a different dominate hand, you understand that it is not always easy to turn things around.  Instead of giving up, Patricia spent hours pouring over books on beadwork; starting and starting over again, until she got the hang of the basics…and there has been no looking back.

The result of all this hard work is some of the most amazing bead work I have ever had the pleasure of seeing and Beaded Nature was born.  Due to the time consuming nature of her work, Patricia chose to sell strictly online rather than do craft fairs as she did not think she could manage to create enough inventory to fill a space.  She loves it when that one special piece finds its perfect buyer but readily admits that online promoting is not her favorite way to spend a day…after all…that time could be spent surrounded by the wonderful colors of her beads!

Patricia has learned a few valuable lessons from her, as she puts it, fumbling start into the world of selling handmade work and that is to never undervalue yourself, your time or your creations.  She encourages others to take into consideration how much time and effort you put into your pieces and to never spread yourself so thin that you take the joy out of creating.  Creativity needs to be nurtured, so talk to other artists, either online or in person and use their criticism to improve your work…decide what part of the critique is valuable to your artistic growth and let the rest go.

Are you ready to be amazed by what can become from a pile of beads?  Beaded Nature can be found on Etsy and you can follow her work on Facebook; but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you come face to face with the artistic creations that can come from a woman who has found her passion in the world of beadwork.