About Me

■ My name is Lisa and I've been making friendship bracelets for the past 15 years. I guess you could say that bracelet making is a lifelong hobby of mine. 

I started learning how to make macrame bracelets when I was just 9 years old.

My first attempt was the basic candystripe which I learned from a girl in school.

Soon after I purchased a book so I could further progress my skills on my own.

■ Most of you are following me for my friendship bracelets but as time progresses you'll soon notice that I like to post more than string crafts.  

I'll admit that I often stick a bracelet or two in my purse to carry along with me 
so I have something to work on when there are breaks in my day but when I'm 
at home it's rare that I pick up a single skein of floss. Macrame Bracelets are my
least favorite craft in a sense despite my years of experience. I love them for the
ease of carrying them with me when I'm out but when I am at home I prefer to
gather a bunch of found/random objects and try go "Beyond" the bracelets.

Yeah, I guess most of you got that last reference.

■ Why did you start making videos?

I started making videos in October, 2010 after visiting my boyfriends family.
His sister wanted to learn how to make friendship bracelets but since they
live three states away and there was so much going on when we got there
I didn't have much time to spend with her in order to teach her everything
that she needed to know when it came to making all the bracelet patterns.

When we got home from the visit I decided that I'd try making videos for her.
I made my account and she was my first subscriber. I worked on a few videos
but instead of directing them at her I decided to make it general audience so
I didn't seem as silly saying her name constantly. Soon I saw my subscribers
jumping up from just her to 10, to 100, to 300 and now I am nearly at 15,000.

At some point around 300 Subscribers I found out that she didn't like making
macrame bracelets but at that point there were so many other people following
me that I decided I would continue to make the videos. I never really planned to
have so many people following me... but I will admit that I think it is pretty cool.

■ Some have asked where I get my ideas... 

In a sense I tend to have those signature "HOUSE" epiphanies but instead of figuring
out a patients ailments I am figuring out ways to put random objects together in order
to make something new. Sometimes I see inspiration as I'm walking down the street.
Shadows of a tree on a brick wall, moss on some stone, etc. It sounds funny but there's
art all around us. Few of us acknowledge it and fewer of us try to recreate what we see.

Other times I see inspiration from other crafters/pictures of crafts. I try not to carbon copy what I see- I prefer to take the work I've seen as guidelines and then mold it into
what I would like just as I want everyone who watches me to do. Take the learned
methods, color schemes, general shapes and textures then use them in your own way.

♦ Carbon copies are okay sometimes but there's just so much that could be done 
so it is a bit silly to strictly limit yourself to staying inside the craft bin, right? Right.

■ To me crafting and artisanship are about making one of a kind items not about mass producing... so I try to put a twist on each creation.

I try to make and post "one of a kind" items in my shop and rarely post duplicates.
That means once an item is gone it's gone forever and chances are very slim that
I will remake it. (I really hate pumping out object clones left and right- I think that
duplicates make the original less special so I try to avoid doing copies at all costs.)

■ Have some questions about my string, camera setup or where I shop?

Visit my FAQ http://beyondbracelets.blogspot.com/2011/08/youtube-faqs.html



■ Other Links:

-Tutorial Playlists

-My Online Shop

-My Facebook

-FB.NET Page