bead swap at the beadsoup party group

we got our partners a couple of days ago to decorate a large match boxfor the bead swap, we are supposed to decorate a large match box, and fill it full of beady goodness and then send it off to our partners.......I have had mine done for days now, was just waiting for someone to send it to...

So I got it off in the mail a few minutes ago.........you should be getting in in just a few days Marcie! I hope you like it!

what the ? swap

my package arrived at my swap partners house yesterday, so I am safe to show off what I made for her now! I called this bracelet and pandant sunflowers the center bead in the Flowers id tiger eye, and the petals are red Aventurine with cocoa colored pearls on the ends where it connects to the bracelet strand, with two shades of green faceted flat round crystals between the flowers.....

My Partner Cecilia sent a not saying she has worn it all day, and loves it! Now I am working on a challenge for about.com beading the challenge is called diamonds are a girls best friend.......I'm making earrings all fringey in silver delicas, with AB crystal fire polish 4 mm beads, I have one done and it is really blingy!

new netted cab

I netted a cab today using Leslie Rogalski's (the editor of Beading Daily) instructions but I teaked it to make it my own, and it didn't fit the cab I had intended it for, but luckily I had a tiger eye stone, that wasn't really a cab, it is heavy and about twice as thick as your average cab, but it worked perfect for my netting!- and it looks pretty cool....... the first pic is the back side of the cab, the second is the front side, the instructions are very easy to follow and it works up pretty quick.

I started a pair of earrings last night for a challenge on About.com beading.........it is due in april, and the theme is diamonds are a girls best friend......I am using silver delicas and 4 mm AB crystal firepolish rounds, and doing coraling stitch, I got the first one finished and it looks really pretty.

craft day, and cab shopping

My hubby took me to a rock shop today, because I wanted to buy some cabs to bezel........ I've never bought at a rock shop before, I had no idea how spendy cabs can be, the few I have were bought at a gem and mineral show, sometime in the past and they didn't seem to be all that expensive, if my memory serves me, but I could be mistaken......any way, I bought three fiber opticcabs, a nice green, a caramel, and a nice dark smokey grey. I also bought a grey lace agate, a couple sardonyx, and a few I am not sure of what they are, so they should keep me busy till the next gem and mineral show......along with the use the muse and various swaps I am involved in!

speaking of swaps, I am doing a bead swap where we fill a large match box full of beads from our stash, I have been having fun with that, I have enough beads collected to fill the match box, and I have strung all the matching ones in matched groups so they are nicely organized, I have added several focal beads, some lampwork beads, a nice dragonfly charm.......I think it is a nice selection, someone will enjoy getting it! and today, I decorated my match box, in fact I am waiting on it to dry right now, I found the perfect scrapbooking paper to cover it with, it has words of inspiration on it, and I put a pretty purple and gold button on top, all in all, I think it is turning out really nice, I just hope the box will slide back into the cover now that it is covered in pretty paper, I'm thinking about putting a beaded drawer pull on one end then it will be done and I can fill it up with all the treasures! I will post pictures of it after my partner gets it.

Use The Muse IV

I just signed up for the USE THE MUSE IV contest, just sent in my order for the beading kit! I have never entered any of my work in a contest before, so I am hoping my stuff will be good enough........I do like the idea of using a kit of beads that everyone else will be using, and I am anxious to see just exactly what the "muse" will be.........I guess I will just have to be curious for a while, as the kits won't be sent out till the 24th, and if you are interested in entering too, the 25th will be the last day to preorder the kit at the preeorder price of 30.00 plus 5.00 shipping.

after the 25th it will be 35.00lus 5.00 shipping...........also on Scarlettes Blog she has a bunch of incentives to order early, several giveaways and such, one of them is an additional use the muse kit, so you can enter twice, or just use the kit for your own personal beading, one lucky persons name will be drawn from the preorders , also if you blog about it there is another drawing for a beautiful pendant/charm.....the one shown at the top of this blog .....this should be lots of fun!

what the? swap

I recieved beads from my swap partner a couple days ago, I am supposed to make her a bracelet from beads she sent, beads that make her say what the %#*& .....why did I buy these ?........she sent some very nice beads.....some silver lines gold delicas, I strand of red aventurine that are rice shaped, some nice fat tiger eye ovals, some copper lined size 8 cubes, some rose quartz chips and rounds
and two hanks of size 15 charlottes........I won't use the charlottes way too small for me. I'm adding a few crystals, and won't use the rose quartz, or the cubes, will be returning those with the finished bracelet.
the bracelet is turning out nice, after several false starts, and taking the sissors to it about four times.........I think she will like it
I hope she can figure out something to do with what I sent her, s small handfull of furnace glass, in shades of green and brown, some green crystals, two or three colors and sizes of seed beads, and some beads that I can't remember what they are called, they are flat rectangles with rounded corners and edges with a piccaso finish on the edges, and a clear green on the flat part,
they didn't make me think what the&*^%, I really don't have any beads like that, except for some really ugly indian beads I bought, sight unseen, years ago because they were a "bargin"
I've never done that again, learned my lesson! but I really didn't want a bracelet made out of them, they are huge like what they used to use on macrame pot hangers in the 70's........

beaded cab swap

laser treatment

well.....I had a laser treatment on my left eye today, to help cauterize leaky veins and to help thin out the back wall of the eye ball, because it was thickening and putting a strain on my retina. This is to help keep me from getting a detached retina which would cause me to go blind.....they said it will take up to three months to see the full effect of the treatment, and I might have to have it done again up to three times more, I hope not, being unemployed and uninsured, its way too expencive for me as I have to pay for it up front, even with me having a 70% discount because of my poverty level, 70% of several thousand per treatment isn't easy to come up with.
as it is one treatment took two full weeks of my unemployment money, which would pay for other important things like food, car insurance, perscription drugs , ect.....so at least if I need it again I have a few months to figure out where to get the money.......
my eye has just about undilated and feels pretty much back to normal now, woohoo!! so maybe I will do some beading

blog surfing

WOW!!! I have spent a good part of my day surfing through the blogs of the participants in the bead soup party swap, and I just have to say there is an amazing amount of talent here. Its very diverse and it was interesting to see how each person used the beautiful bead soups they had been provided......I have to admit I am jealous of the talents these people have, as I do mainly bead weaving, I need to learn some new techniques, and learn to incorporate more mixed media into my work, I think... I especially loved all the ceramic beads and pendants that several of the bead soups contained.....would like to start using things like that in my work, I recently purchased a couple pendants from Earthenwood Studios so that is a start!
Looking at all the beautiful work has inspired me but will have to wait till I finish up a couple projects before I try my hand at something out side my usual box Thank you so much for hosting the party, Lori........it has really been fun
I need to clean up my desk and put away beads from finished projects so I can put some of this inspiration to work!just need to figure out what to do with it (the inspiration) well I guess the beady clutter too! I'm off to shovel off my desk top..........

Bead Soup Party......The Big Reveal!!!

The Day is finally here.........the Bead soup party reveal!! I have had my bracelet done for quite a while, and have had a hard time keeping it under wraps till today, I think it turned out pretty well!My swap partner was Maria Greene and she sent me all kinds of beautiful enameled copper beads she had made her self, and I had fun using them, and added a lot of my own stuff from my stash....
You can access the list of participants at http://www.prettythingsblog.com
please visit all the other participants blogs and check out their beautiful creations!
and thanks for checking out mine too!

ocean adventure challenge

my picture taking skills leave a lot to be desired, this is my ocean adventure challenge necklace, it is ogalala butterfly stitch with a beautiful lampwork sea shell and some coraling for an accent........I thought the ogalala stitch in these colors looked like ocean waves