Jewelry making continues to soar in popularity. One result of this phenomenon is the plethora of jewelry making and beading magazines that have sprung up over the past few years. Like most jewelry makers and bead lovers, I find this a mixed blessing. While it?s wonderful to see the art of jewelry making continue to bring in more converts, my pocket book just can?t keep up with the number of magazine subscriptions I?d like to have.

This often requires me to hit the newsstands and only buy magazines I don?t already have subscriptions to on occasion. The upshot of this is that I miss out on a lot of great projects, so I was really happy to see that Bead Style magazine found a way for some of us who might have missed an issue or two to still enjoy some of the wonderful beading projects from past issues.

In its new book Easy Beading: Fast, Fashionable, Fun, Kalmback Books (the publisher of Bead Style magazine) has gleaned the best projects from the first year of publication, a total of 140 plus projects. Also included is a nice overview of related information, especially designed for beginners, which covers types of beads, findings and connectors, and some basic techniques.

The magazine is geared toward beginning beaders. This means, obviously, that this book is also primarily for beginners. However, anyone, no matter what level you?re at in jewelry designing, enjoys fast and fun projects. This 256 page hardcover book retails for $29.95 and is packed with full-color photos for each project.

This would make a wonderful gift for that friend of yours who says she wants to make jewelry just like you do or even for yourself when you feel like sitting back and looking at page after page of pretty jewelry.