About
Mary Arntson can look at a bead and see a finished necklace. “I like working with beautiful beads,” she says. “I see a possibility in every one.”
Mary’s passion has followed her around the world, to designers and glass blowers in Italy and Ireland. “When we travel I go online and seek out bead stores. I get many of my beads from private designers,” she says.
You could pick any bead from Mary’s extensive collection and chances are she could tell you where or from whom she got it. Her art is personal, so everything she designs is original. “It’s all unique,” she says. “I would be bored making 10 of the very same thing.”
“I like the excitement of finding new mediums to use and new colors,” she says. The Mary Ellen line has everything from stone to crystal, all with vivid colors and a touch of sass.
A little jewelry can make any outfit look polished, Mary says. “No matter what your job is, when you’re going out representing the company, you’ve got to look nice. Even if you wear jeans and a sweatshirt, you can put on a cute choker. A little makeup, a little jewelry, it just makes you feel better.”