What I Made Monday

This weekend I was working with some of the goodies I received from my swap partner, Jessica Klaaren. I tried my hand and some freeform, but I suck at it. I tried my hand at some netting, but it didn't do what I wanted. So I ended up doing a beaded bead. Specifically, the one from the March/April issue of Beadwork mag. I did make some changes, in that I didn't have the right size of beads so I improvised. This was easier than I had thought it would be. I was all worried about making the right selections on sizes to make the proportions still work, but it all just sort of... worked. I also varied from the pattern in that I did not cover all sides of the bead with the embellishments. I left 2 sides plain. The reason for this was that I knew I wanted to thread the bead on the silk ribbon, and so I didn't want to block the holes with the embellishments. Overall, I like the bead, but I really wish I could have found a way to work in the green beads from my swap kit.





I also spent some time this weekend doing some bead organization. I ended up adding 3 new boxes to my bead stacks (the boxes were swiped from my Hero Clix storage... poor Hero's having to share boxes....). Here you will see the stacks of big divided boxes, some with beads and some with finished items, as well as the small boxes that hold all my flip tops. I should mention, this is just the portion of my jewelry making supplies that live in the living room. There is more - power tools and chemicals and such, that live in the work space in the basement. There is also more hiding on the floor down between the chair and the cabinet. And more beside the cabinet(including some knitting supplies). And more behind the chair.... Starting to wonder if some of this doesn't need to migrate back downstairs.... Anyway, I tend to do most of my beading, polymer clay work, and shrinky dinks (new obsession!) in a recliner in the living room on a personal sized folding table (slightly bigger than a TV tray, but not much). Someday, I will have some well organized beading studio, and when I do... well, I will probably still haul it all to the living room and bead with the family in front of the TV. Oh well.