We all get our inspiration for beading from many of places, in the colors we see at sunset,to the piece of jewelry we saw on the neck of someone
famous on an awards show.

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, appropriately enough, gets her much of her inspiration from old stories and songs.I say appropriately enough, because she is a very talented author of science fiction and fantasy novels, and that's how I first learned of this great lady, my mom got me one of her books when I was about 12.Her interests include lmost everything I can think of. Tribal dance, folk songs, fairy tales, and of course beading.Her writing and her beadwork overlap each other in many ways. Some of her books, most notably The Godmother series draw heavily from fairy tales, as does her bead pattern book,Beadtime Stories , She says she does heavy research for her books, and the bead patterns are visualizations of the results . Lately she's been designing Egyptian inspired pieces,
after finishing her latest novel,Channeling Cleopatra.

If you go to Bead-Patterns.com you can find her patterns there, some free,some available for purchase. There are 20 pages of her patterns! Her designs are witty, original, and colorful. Her skill with earring design is just incredible, the clearly recognisable characters in miniature form. Her bracelets are gorgeously thought out bold peyote stitched pieces. Fred and Ginger, the dancing penguins, Vampita, Count Dracula's Girlfriend earrings, her adorable cat patterns, like Dutiful Kitty Daughter Mother, which has a cat with a mouse and flower looking so proud saying "Just for you mom, (heart) me". Her witty Broken Heart pattern is among the free ones, because "nobody should have to pay for a broken heart". It's worth checking out her patterns if for nothing else, to read the desciptions.

Herwebpagehas information about her bead pattern book, Beadtime Stories,plus a gallery, with her gorgeous beadwork inspired by legend, myth and fairy tale. The richness of her Raven Stealing the Moon necklace is simply inspiring.

Lately she's been working with cabochons, in her words "I like to bead around cabs either to make pictures or just to see if I can compliment the cab or come up with something that has a certain feel.." like this Egyptian inspired piece.

This gorgeous necklace was designed around the center Art Deco button that a friend of hers who loves all things Egyptian picked at Embellishments,hoping it would inspire Ms. Scarborough to bead something. I think I might have some old King Tut glass cabochons around here! Maybe I should send her some!

This necklace is one of her gorgeous Storyteller designs. She designs these personally for the people she's gifting with them. This one was a gift for Suzanne Cooper , who Ms. Scarborough describes as being "a great inspiration for my peyote designing and beading". This one is based off a figure in Hopi stories called "The Woman of Hard Substances, who has the power to bestow all precious things for making jewelry, turquoise,coral, shell, silver, that sort of thing".

Both her bead book, Beadtime Stories, and her science fiction and fantasy novels are well worth the time. Her work inspires me, as do the stories she tells.