Jessica Kemp is not only the co-owner of Bumble Beads, but one of the talented instructors as well. Jessica graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Home Furnishings Merchandising. She has lived in Denton most of her life and is truly passionate about growing her business while meeting new friends throughout the community. Over the last few years Jessica has experimented with beading and has grown to love the new hobby. Her passion and obsession with jewelry making led her to opening Bumble Beads. She enjoys learning new techniques everyday and you can bet that she will share all the tips and secrets with you!

	Nicola Connor (a Dentonite since 1993) was born with the joy of creativity and a passion for colors.  When she was a young girl, she loved to draw and color with crayons.  As she got older, she painted on rocks and made cute kittens out of yarn.  But her creativity was put on hold as she began working, got married, and eventually became a mother to her two sons. Her creative side was reawakened a few years back as she started making Christmas gifts for friends and family out of colorful bottles that she collected.  Then card making grabbed her attention, as she enjoyed combining the colorful papers with ink stamps.  While on vacation one summer, a gracious shop owner showed her how to bead and crimp.  She was hooked!  For Christmas that year she made all her female relatives bracelets, which she displayed in a red sleigh basket, and let them choose the one they liked. Before long, beads were taking over the house, so she put in a cottage-style studio in her back yard.  You'll find her there early in the morning, caught up in the flow of inspiration for hours on end.  Seeing the looks of pleasure on her customers' faces as they admire and wear her jewelry is her greatest reward.
	Emily Hinson is a born and raised Texan. She attended the University of North Texas where she received a BS in Elementary Education. After teaching elementary and preschool for eight years, she is now a stay at home mom of two young girls. Blessed with a wonderful husband of ten years, she and her family are very active in their local church. “Creative juices” came easily to Emily being that her mom is a renowned Texas artist! Photography, beading, decorating, bargain shopping, teaching & learning, organizing, gardening, cooking with her daughters, doing just about anything crafty is what make up Emily’s active days! “I have tables set up in our playroom; an organized creative mess that I leave out until the next time I am able to come back to all of my jewelry making projects.”
	Michelle Tucker was raised in the Fort Worth area and now lives in Corinth. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Fashion Marketing.  She has a 17 year old stepdaughter and a 1 year old son. Michelle recently left her career at Michaels as a merchandise analyst to become a stay at home mom. She loves being a wife and mom! Her love for jewelry making was inspired by the creativity she saw while working at Michaels and also from seeing the very cute things her Mom and Sister in Law were making. Lately she has been trying to step out a little to see what other objects she can add a little bead “bling” to.
	Anne Stiles keeps busy with her “day job” as the associate dean at Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing. After graduating from TWU in 1990, she left to teach at universities in Arizona, Georgia, and Arkansas, but returned to Denton and TWU in 2002. Her love of beads did not start until 2000 when a friend took her to a bead store while they were at a nursing convention. It was “love at first site” as she found herself wanting to buy every bead in the store! She decided after making her first bracelet that this was quite an enjoyable hobby. After taking some classes, reading lots of beading magazines, and getting lots of compliments on the jewelry she wore, she began selling her creations to others. She has a wide variety of techniques so that she never gets bored. Her techniques include stringing beads, weaving (stitches such as peyote, netting, spirals etc), wire wrapping, creating chains with interlocking jump rings in various patterns , and bead embroidery on cloth.

Brenda Wells, also known by some as “Dr. Brenda,” loves to make and sell jewelry through her company, “Xena’s Revenge,” and you can sometimes find her designs in stock at Madison Jane in Denton.  A self-taught beader and jewelry designer, Brenda especially loves to work with pewter charms.  She keeps over 200 styles of charms in her craft studio at all times, with her most unusual charm to date being a microscope (“One of my friends is a science teacher, what can I say?”)  She loves working with “shiny things,” but especially iridescent materials. Brenda was a college professor here in Texas, and as she puts it, “I started making jewelry because it was a great stress reliever.  It’s much cheaper than psychotherapy and much more legal than strangling someone who gets on your nerves.”  She brought her teaching skills into the Bumble Beads classroom in 2009, but soon left Texas for a new teaching position at East Carolina University in North Carolina.  Brenda returns to Texas from time-to-time and always stops by to teach a class or two for us.

Brenda lives with her son, “Little Prof,” and her three dogs, including “Xena the Warrior Princess,” for whom her jewelry business is named.  She has completely filled up one room in their North Carolina home with jewelry making and general craft supplies, and continues shopping for more.  When she’s not making jewelry or teaching college classes, you can pretty much always find her (and Xena) on Facebook.

Helen Staggs has been making jewelry for more than ten years. After an accident left her with a broken arm, beading proved to be excellent therapy to help regain her dexterity. This newfound interest soon became a passion. From beading to wire work to pearl knotting to PMC to lampworking to silversmithing – Helen loves trying new jewelry art forms and has traveled all over Texas to learn techniques from some wonderful teachers. Now she wants to share her knowledge with her new friends at Bumble Beads. She is anxious to see the beautiful pieces we can create together.

Stephanie L. Tremper I am a wife, mother, daughter, friend and Christian. I am outgoing and try to be creative with the smallest of things and love cooking all sorts of great Texas food for friends and family. I have been making my wire wrapped crosses for about 9 years now and have made and sold over 200 crosses. My crosses are typically bought and given as family gifts for the home. I started making my crosses in Lubbock while attending Texas Tech University to make Christmas presents on a limited budget. I have been married for almost 9 years, and have lived in Fort Worth while working for Steve Hawkins Custom Homes as an executive assistant for about 4 years. I now live in Denton and take care of my daughter from home. I love my family, home, life, and our fresh start in North Texas.

Cheryl McQueen I have enjoyed doing crafts all my life, beginning when I was just a small girl drawing paper dolls using notebook paper and crayons. I began sewing at age 12 and then explored many crafts throughout my life including machine embroidery, paper crafts (iris folding and rubber stamping), jewelry making, working with beads, stained glass, and fused glass. I love to create beautiful items to sell at craft fairs and I opened a shop on Etsy in July 2008. I love taking any kind of craft class and look forward to teaching you in my classes at Madison Jane/Bumble Beads. In my “spare” time, I work at the University of North Texas, spend time with my daughter, read, and play with my cat. I am highly involved in my church and with my daughter’s orchestra booster club. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention housecleaning—that’s because a crafter has more important things to do than clean! But craft clutter is fun clutter!

Bren Crosier Jewelry, jewelry I love jewelry and it has to be different from anything you see in the store! A few years ago I retired from the corporate rat race, after working 40 years in customer service related field. Not having a free cash flow and looking for something to keep me busy I took a basic stringing class from a former associate and became hooked on beads. Using the internet and book stores as reference guides I now have a bead store at home , the guest bedroom closet became my own bead store (truly). My eight year old granddaughter thinks I need a sign over the door. Family, friends and neighbors shop in the closet to pick what they want made. Beads are my passion! It even feels good when I sell something instead of giving it away.

Sharon Anderson As a child I probably made Barbie's first pair of earrings using straight pins and seed beads. I actually had to "pierce" her ears, because at that time, Barbie did not have holes.   I first worked as a seamstress doing bridal alterations, making flower girl dresses and making headpieces using sequins and pearls. That was when I started becoming interested in making jewelry. That side of my career was put on hold for a long time and recently I have turned to teaching which is very satisfying for me.  I love teaching all ages how to design and create an exciting piece of jewelry. It is very satisfying to see someone start with a handful of beads and end up with a unique and beautiful piece of jewelry. I love working with chain and jump rings and beads and also different wire techniques.

Ryan Harmon I grew up in Dallas, Texas and I have enjoyed drawing and creating things since I was a little girl. Five years ago I took an earring class at a local bead store with my mom and was hooked. Jewelry became my true passion, and I moved to Denton to attend UNT and major in Metalsmithing and Jewelry. I absolutely love what I do, and I love to teach others the joys of creating something all their own. I like to do stringing, wire wrapping, silk knotting, leather jewelry, and am still learning the joys of silversmithing. I have loved living in Denton and getting to know all the wonderful people here. When I'm not at school or working, I enjoy reading, crochet, drawing, going out dancing with my friends, and adding to my vinyl collection. I'm very excited to be working with Bumble Beads and am looking forward to meeting all of you.

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