A couple of items of business right away: -I want to thank everyone who is reading or following the blog. I can’t tell you how much of a thrill I get (it’s kind of silly what a dork I am) out of each and every single comment and how I watch the follower number to see if it creeps up. I may not always comment back due to time restraints, but I swoop onto my comment approval page every single morning and usually judge how good the day is going to be by how many comments I have (see, I told you, I’m a huge dork). Anyway, thank you all for choosing to spend some of your valuable internet time reading my random, beady drivel. -Crap! While writing about #1, I just forgot what #2 was. Either the re-blonding had more of an impact than I thought or the Alzheimer’s is gettin’ goin’ early. I cannot remember ANYTHING any more. It’s awful. I’m sure someday soon I’ll be found wandering aimlessly around some neighborhood (not mine) naked except for socks and a lot of beaded jewelry. Okay, sorry about that mental image. Let’s progress to the beady stuff, shall we? I managed to squeak in a couple of pairs of earrings during the week: I'm trying out some different backgrounds for my photos so let me know what you think. These were another product of serendipity when Swarovski crystal teardrops in “Titan” fell next to hammered gold hoops on my beading station. I thought the result was very simple, but really pretty. I think the “Titan” color may be a special coating and not a regular Swarovski color, but I’m not 100% sure so don’t quote (actually, probably a good idea not to quote me anyway…the men in the white coats might come for you). I got the teardrops from Fusion Beads. This pair I made using some lovely porcelain pendants from Summers Studio. They reminded me of some antique lace and I loved the delicate blue color and didn’t want to fight too much with it so just platinum pearls, Montana blue crystals and some touches of gold were the perfect addition. And now on to this week’s new beads (which is what you were all really here for anyway, right?): This amazing floral clay pendant came from The Classic Bead on Etsy. The colors are actually even deeper and richer in real life. I can’t ever resist ocean-colors so I knew I had to have this wonderful set of lampwork beads from Lazy Cat Beads on Etsy. She calls them “smartee” sets and has designed them to work so well together that all you need to add is a few spacers and crystals and your design is done. Excellent idea for we overwhelmed (and okay, yeah, I’ll admit it, lazy) beaders! In fact, I liked the idea so much, I bought a second set in pink! Got this incredible bronze wing charm with lovely turquoise patina from Zoa Art on Etsy. And then, for some inexplicable reason, I found myself buying hand-dyed silk ribbons. In lots of colors - like "Maple Sugar." And "Vintage Rose." And my favorite: "Painted Pony." These all came from Jody Poesy on Etsy and she threw in a whole handful of freebie ribbons in a bunch of different colors with my package - awesome! I sure hope I can come up with some designs to make use of them because they are really stunning. That’s it. More beads next week as I am off to the Costa Mesa Gem Faire tomorrow. Gotta keep that economy going! KJ