it's Day 1 of Meet The Maker Week 2017 and today's theme is... 'You'.

It's fun to look back on the last year and see what's different from what I wrote then... not much apart from I'm a year older!

So here goes:

I'm a 43 year old Londoner who specialises in designing, teaching & writing about beaded jewellery. This began nearly 18 years ago as a hobby and grew & grew until it took over my life.

I work primarily by myself with occasional help testing instructions from kind beaders but I write all my own instructions, draw my own diagrams, take my own photos, answer all my emails and even do my own accounts (arrghh!!) It's a lot of work for one person but fortunately I love it.

Over the year I can bead anywhere from 50-150 items and spent a good 2000+ hours beading which keeps me very busy and my poor hands overworked, but I find it impossible to sit still without my hands working away so I'm rarely without beads & thread in my hand.

I'm currently working on my 8th & 9th books and have previously edited a beading magazine for 4 years. I love writing about beading & beadwork and sharing my instructions and designs with the world.

This year I've been busy working on a Love Beading project and have given away beading and jewellery-making instructions based on love & hearts to thousands of people around the world.

My family called me everything from Jeanniepoppers to Siobhan and in my past life I had the roller derby alter-ego Femme Fatality.

Multiple sclerosis has taken quite a toll on my energy levels and I'm still learning to manage that and keep a balance between work & non-work but I'm getting better at it.

I fully in love with love, colour, polka dots & stripes, art & craft and like to surround myself with all of them.

Add in sunshine (all that vitamin D is great for MS), good food & drink and most importantly... friends & fun, and you have the recipe for a very happy Jean.

In addition to checking out all the other lovely things posted by makers taking part in Meet The Maker Week I'm very busy beading away and here's a sneak peek at a kit I'm launching soon and the new colour scheme I'm using for another project.