beads

  • Take Time to Wear the Flowers

    ByHeather Bailey

    FloralPendant350
    I had the best time bead-shopping with my mom & sister last night. 
    We clucked and cooed over each other's finds and left with an
    assortment of big plans.  We hurried back home afterward & sent the
    men out to a movie together.  Now to plan a jewelry night.  I'll
    probably have to wait a week or two — if I can stand it.  We'll see.

    As promised, I posted the floral pendants I mentioned yesterday.  They're similar to the blackbird pendant,
    maybe a tiny bit less shiny.  Same material though. These are also
    a discontinued design;  I was only able to get my hands on twelve.  Here they are.

  • Babblejabber

    ByHeather Bailey

    I'm scattered like these buttons between a bevy of projects.  It
    looks like they will all be wrapped up around the same time.  I'm
    finishing up several new patterns, an assortment of kits, a contract
    for a new product line (!!!), and so on.  (More on these soon.) 

    ButtonBowlsHB

    Next
    week I'll be at Creative Escape getting raspy from eight-hour days in
    front of a large crowd of crafters.  I'm hoping my loud, floral apron
    will distract everyone from the dark circles under my eyes.  That, and
    under-eye concealer.  Anyone have a favorite brand of concealer to
    recommend?  I'm planning ahead.

    I still need to do my annual
    birthday giveaway.  I've decided to wait till I release some of the new
    goodies I've been developing.  That way the prize will be fresh &
    exciting.  Ya, just you wait.  I haven't forgotten.

    Also, I've
    posted a handful of blackbird necklace charms for purchase.  Since my
    Laura No Peeky post, a ton of you have asked where to get one.  I did
    my research.  It turns out it's a discontinued design, so I decided to
    get what was left & just post them.  They're $3.50 each.  And I
    only have 20 of them.  When they're gone, they're gone.

    Off to a
    ridiculous, private bead sale this evening with my sister.  I'll be
    shopping for doll eyeballs.  Very exciting.  I'm sure I'll be tempted by more glamorous things though.

    Update:  The blackbird pendants are all spoken for.  I do have a similar pendant I'll post soon.  It's floral.  I'll take a photo & let you know when they're up.

  • Bead It, Kid

    ByHeather Bailey

    Necklace1new3
    Beadingnew So, guess who made these necklaces?

    Four-year-old Charlotte did this all by herself.  I thought I was
    embracing disaster by allowing her free access to several bins of beads
    while I worked on the computer today.  I was entirely wrong.

    Not
    only did Miss C patiently string together all of these designs without
    my oversight, but she made them all symmetrical.  Even her most
    eclectic necklace doesn't miss a beat
    bead.  Hours and hours of necklace-making.  All I did was add the
    clasps.  And I bent a loop at the top of her one pendant.  That's it.

    Necklace3new2

    Necklace4new2
    When I was four years old, my bottom dresser drawer was stocked with
    white paper, a stapler and staples.  I made all sorts of wild
    inventions with white paper that year.  And here I thought I had been
    tricky-stuff at four, with my paper robots and elephants.  Looks like
    Charlotte has 4-year-old me mightily whooped.

    The moral: 
    Moms, Grandmas, Aunts and Alligators, let your kids have access to some
    of your precious supplies.  They may surprise you with tidiness and
    ingenuity!  I can only imagine what I would have done with real art
    supplies at that age.

    Of course, they may surprise you with a royal disaster instead.  I've been there too — many times.