A CHANGE IS COMING AT LAST FOR ME

I am getting my life more organized so I see BEAD WORK in my near future again.

I have reorganized my craft room and I did a wonderful job of sorting through my book stash and I am donating many of them.

I sat down one day and made a list of what crafts thrill me the most. You see, I have so many different types of crafts stored away that it has cause me to feel very frustrated. 


When I enter my craft room I want to start crafting but there is so many projects that I have saved that I am overwhelmed and by the time I leave the craft room I have not done any projects.

So I took some time and made a list of just what types of projects really excite me.  This is the list I came up with...
1. Loom Beading.
2. Embroidery Work
2. Cross Stitch

These is the top 3 of my crafting project I wish to continue.
Among my other collections of crafts I have a large assortment of Pine cones and sea shells.

I will spent the time between now and Christmas of 2012 constructing the pine cone project and also the sea shell projects.  And of course I will spend my evenings doing my hand stitching and beading on one of my many looms.

I have a wonderful feeling of freedom and control. I no longer feel overwhelmed when I enter my craft room but see the few wonderfully fun projects I want to work on.  Each completed project will be wrapped and stored away in boxes in preparation for the Christmas sale late next fall.

I also have many beads...glass, plastic and wooden beads that I will not be using on my loom work so I have been trying to decide just what I want to do with these.  I am listing some sports stuff on Ebay soon and I may post a few there to see if they would sell. Some of the beads are vintage so maybe someone would like them as much as I do.

I will post photos as I complete a project.

A PRETTY PATTERN

BEADING VARIATIONS

I had beaded this blue themed bookmark sometime ago and have taken the same pattern and changed things just a bit.

This is the result of changing colors and adding a few different bead colors here and  there.  I also added a few extra rows to change the look.

So I am having fun trying different patterns and of course the choice of bead colors are endless and only limited to my budget.

Fortunatley I live close to ShipWreck Beads!!

A TEST PROJECT

I am trying beading different types of BOOKMARKS and this is my first attempt.
The difficult part will be finding the perfect pattern then finding the best bead color combination.
I already have an idea how to cover and enclose the back side and add a tassel to make it complete.

I have a new camera and picture program and so far I am not happy with the results. A few pictures I uploaded today are yet to be discovered any where in the program.

Be patient with me as I practice, practice, practice with this craft...and hope for better pictures soon!

It is so wonderful, fulfilling, relaxing, and enjoyable to be back to beading once again. I have missed it.

I FINALLY WENT TO THE GREATEST STORE ON EARTH!

While we were doing our Costco shopping in Olympia a few days ago, my husband asked me if I wanted to go by Shipwreck Beads in Lacy, Washington on the way back home.  Believe me, I couldn't get the response out fast enough.

I have been waiting for the right time to visit this enormous Bead store and that day felt like the time to make this adventurous trip.

It took us some time to find this hidden away jewel but we arrived in plenty of time to do LOT'S of shopping.  And shopping I did!

According to the pamphlet they handed out at checkout, this is a family owned and operated business since it was founded in 1969.  Shipwreck Beads first location was in a tiny ship on Olympia's Mud Bay.

At 80,000 square feet, they carry over 8.3 BILLION beads in stock with new items arriving every day.

It is the largest selection of beads available the world over.

And as you can imagine, they also offer a new deli so you can keep on shopping!!

The store is enormous but they make it real easy to find what you are looking for.  They had many colors of my size 11 loom beads but I was disappointed in their lack of selection of beading looms for sale.

There was only one style but fortunately it was the type I was looking for. And at a very good price.

This is a Continuous Bead loom meaning that you can bead an item that is actually longer than the loom itself. Very handy to have when beading hatbands and such.

Since I don't have to pay any shipping the price of these beads were very reasonable.  In Montana I bought these beads at a Crafts store but had pay more to cover their costs and shipping.  But now I can buy them myself right from her source.  And there are many, many color choices to choose from.

And I was excited to find that they sell white size 11 beads in large quantities that saves me even more money.

I am always in need of white beads.

And I was very happy to find these beautiful tubular Turquoise beads at unbelievable prices.  They will work very well added to my beaded feathers.

So I am sooo ready to get back to my beading projects.  It has been a long time since I sat at my loom and now is the time to return to it. 

Of course I will post photos when I am back in the swing of things here.