Pardon me as I take a moment for a little shameless self-promotion, but I was recently interviewed for an article from Ink magazine concerning the growth of jewelry making has a hobby. The article was just published, so if you are from the Bay area, you may have already seen it, "Handiwork more than tea cozies." Here's a little snippet, though I hope you get a chance to read the whole thing. I does require a quick registration, but it took about two seconds.

Jewelry making often conjures up an image of middle-aged soccer moms selling crocheted frog earrings at the local senior center craft fair. I would know: I've seen it.

But nowadays handiwork is more than just tea cozies and hemp bracelets. It's a stylish way to accessorize yourself without emptying your pocketbook. After all, the price of one pair of earrings will get you enough beads and hardware to make at least three times that for you and anyone you deem worthy to give them to.

And they look fabulous.

So how does one get into the sometimes tricky art of making jewelry? To find out I talked to jewelry designer Tammy Powley (www.tammypowley.com), from Port St. Lucie, Florida. Powley is the author of several books on jewelry design as well as a few popular beading Web logs, which she updates regularly.

Thank you to Beth for being so kind and for including my URL. I'm amazed at how many times I read similar articles on the web about other designers, and yet no URL.