Category: daily

Two Saturdays ago, my Bead Soup arrived in the mail from Michelle Buettner of MiShel Designs! I finally got some pics of the beautiful soup.

Isn't the packaging nice? *makes note to self for next time* *cough*

There are a lot of lovely beads in there – quartz, chalcedony, onyx, opalite (which we actually sent each other! hah!). Can't wait to make something with them. I may go totally traditional and do a strung necklace – the clasp seems to want to be on a strung necklace rather than a chain one like I've been doing lately. OR I will totally do something with chain, who knows? 🙂

What to do, what to do… I look forward to working with these fabulous beads! They are outside my usual color palette so it will be a good challenge for me to think outside the box! Thanks Michelle!

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I went to the Gem Faire with Janelle in Sacramento and we had a BLAST. I like the Gem Faire because it seems to have booths that have more wholesale pricing than the Oakland shows. (The Oakland shows tend to have more famous artists and art beads and prices to reflect that, not that there's anything wrong with that.) Janelle bought various findings and got some great deals on shiny beads (her favorite!), and I got the following:

Not much in the way of beads, only 4 strands of stones (one turned out to be dyed lavender, my least favorite color of all time – curses upon fluorescent lighting! Oh well, they'll still work even if I thought they were white/clear), a set of cloisoinne owls (for earrings, natch!), and some resin/acrylic flower cabs. They will make great pendants! The rest of stuff is metal findings (at GREAT PRICES, very comparable to what I get at U Bead It, slightly cheaper and tons of metal color options): earrings, ring bases, bails, crimp caps, ball-end head-pins. I am stocked up for a long, long time.

AND since we went a little over a week ago, I have made practically ZERO things to show for it, aside from some rings that I glued cabochons onto. Janelle sent me several texts last week with all the fabulous earrings she has made. I have not only created a monster but the pupil will soon surpass the master, let me tell you.

I was at Walmart the other day and they actually have some interesting findings in their bead aisle – I got some non-glue bails for pieces that have a hole drilled through them. I used it for the big resin rose up there so you will probably see some sort of necklace with that soon.

And by "soon" I mean the next time I get around to posting, haha. I still have two knitting FOs to share, that have been done for approximately forever.

So I signed up for the Bead Soup Blog Party, hosted by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things. What a fun idea! I first found out about it earlier this year (last year? can't exactly remember) and knew that when it came around again I would sign up. I received my official partner information and my partner is Michelle of MiShel Designs! She designs fabulous jewelry and loves pearls. I put together a package of beads for her and will drop it off at the post office tomorrow. Here's what I sent her:

Haha, what, no! It is supposed to be a surprise! Once she receives her beads and shows them off, I can show what I sent, but not until then (and I probably won't until the big reveal). I hope she likes them, and I can't wait to see what she makes! I went to the bead store in Concord to get a clasp to match the pendant and I also picked up some of my very favorite style of beads to go with it (later I got home and found the exact same beads in my stash! I think I need to inventory, haha).

And when I receive my beads from HER, I will show mine! I am excited.

Here's how the blog party works:

Sign ups were last week, and we were assigned a partner. Each partner sends a pendant, a clasp, and some coordinating beads. The stuff needs to be good stuff, not just crap from your stash you're trying to get rid of. Packages need to go out by August 17 and the big reveal of what you make is September 17. I first found out about this fun swap right in the middle of the last one and was determined to participate the next time it rolled around.

So, I worked on that, and this weekend was EXTRA PAY DAY WEEKEND and I went slightly insane, but really, even though I wound up spending a veritable tonne of money, I got all sorts of things that I needed/wanted:

1. A big fat crockpot (I already made a super successful beef stew in it, it was delicious. And gone to live in my belly.) I love my baby crockpot my mom gave me, but it is only 2 quarts – perfect for carnitas but too small for bigger dishes like stew (I was going to try to cram a stew in it but thought better)
2. Abby's birthday presents!!!!!!!1 Abby knows PARTLY what I'm getting her, as I told her not to put it on her birthday list for our mom but she doesn't know EXACTLY what I got her, plus I got her something else that is related and fun. Maybe. I will probably also make her some jewelry. I can write that because it almost always happens, so it's not that big a surprise.
3. JEANS!!!!!1 I love jeans, and I needed like 2 more pairs since some were too short and/or made of inferior quality so they busted out at the thigh seams. I managed to hit the 40% off denim sale, so that was nice.
4. GROCERIES! I was tired of subsisting on spaghetti.
5. Shirts for the fall
6. A new FABULOUS purse that I forgot to take a picture of, it is the culmination of my heart's desire: greeny turquoise crocodile (fake-o) skin. I got it on mega clearance at Kohl's. 

Anyway, I still totally have money left if you can believe it, but I have to pay Abby back for some tickets she bought for us for an event of epic proportions at the end of the month and also pick up my prescription, yay, not.

In conclusion, here is a fabulous bracelet I made out of beads from Michael's.

They're dyed stones, but I really like them, the veining is really beautiful up close.

THE END, till next time, my peeps.