It's All About The Beads!

Yesterday morning, I received surprises in the mail! It was definitely an unbirthday day for me. Ever have one of those? Where you get your birthday and Christmas all wrapped into one day? They don't happen often or even every year--but once in a while, you get a bonus. 

My Bead Soup/Swap partner's bead arrived in the mail. I was all excited because--well--she's sending me beads. Does it get better than that? I have to think about that for a  minute. I'm sure there are things, events, incidents that do actually get better than receiving beads in the mail, but my brain is in lock-down mode at the moment. 

 Anyway--she sent me this gorgeous little bead pouch!   Isn't it cute? It just reminded me of the chocolate-raspberry torte my husband and I shared on our official first date. I've decided I'm keeping it, but I was thinking others like these would be great as give-a-way goody bags for jewelry gifts! 

Oh you are dying to see what was inside? Here you go.  

 Aren't they magnificent? Ok--I'll quit teasing you and show you what was in the pouch. 

Doesn't that just thrill you to no end? Dana actually took a better picture of the goody bag. You can see that on her blog. She also took pictures of what I sent her, if you are interested.  I forgot to do that because I had gardening on the brain--not beading. It seems I have trouble multi-tasking, so I'm grateful Dana took photos! You'll have to visit this blog (and hopefully others) on June 19th to see the delightful treasures Dana sent! I'm going to have so much fun creating with her goodies!
                                        
The other unbirthday surprise I received in the mail came from my best friend. She sent me a box full of goodies too! She sent me some broken chains and bits and pieces, thinking I could work with them. She's right--I can and I already have plans for them. 

She also sent a myriad of beads, pendents, and fun vintage bits. This is like heaven! I just love those gold-lined shells. They were part of a necklace/earring set but I'm thinking of something else. 

She also sent me a beader's delight bag full of crystals and spacers! She is just too sweet!  I really enjoyed my unbirthday surprises!

   

 

Bead Swap!

Remember the Bead Party last month? Well I joined another bead swap set up by Lori Anderson, the same incredible lady who set up the virtual Bead Party. Unlike the party, it was just a simple bead swap. The rules were--fill a large matchbox full of beads you would like to receive (in other words--no junk please!) and send it to your bead swapping partner by March 8th. 

Naturally, I joined up. This was an occasion for free beads and being the bead junkie that I am, I couldn't resist! I bet you're thinking I didn't try very hard either--and you would be accurate. I resisted for two whole days before adding my name to the list of potential swappers. The selling point was that I didn't have to do anything by a certain time---with midterms and papers and exams coming up this month. 

I got lucky and drew Jayne "Boot~C" from Oklahoma. I'm meeting a lot of really terrific people from that state lately. :D Jayne and I have a lot in common. We share the same age, one of the same astrological signs (ok--I'm half Sagittarius, but it counts!) and we're both in education. Wohoooooooooo! How cool is that?!?! Naturally, we share the best trait in common and that's our love for beads, beading thingies, and pretty things! 

Come time to find a matchbox that was the right size and I hit a dilemma. In our small town, there weren't any large matchboxes--just large packs of small matchboxes. I took the measurements again and hunted all over this house for something of similar size. The only thing I found was an empty Land O' Lakes Butter tub--the kind that's mixed with canola oil. I emailed Lori who said that would be perfect.  

I started rummaging around my bead stashes and adding beads and glittery stuff to the butter tub. Then I took some of the things out and added others. I found that I really wanted to send Jayne a lot of different things and most of it wouldn't fit into the tub. I had to plan this out better. By now, Jayne and I had swapped email addresses and been in contact with each other--she's simply bubbly and cheerful in her emails. They always made me smile. We exchanged information about what we liked, what we didn't like, what we didn't work with well and what we had to have. And I revised her butter tub full of beads again after each email. To be honest, I revised it even the day it was being sent out! "No--no--Let me see if this will fit in too! She will love this!" We weren't supposed to CRAM our boxes full of things--just fill them. I kind of broke that rule. But I have a feeling I wasn't alone. I did try to send her a bit of every thing.

Naturally, I forgot to take pictures of what I was sending to Jayne.  I remember telling myself to get pictures because it would be nice to have a record of what I sent, instead of trying to rely on my faulty memory. And my faulty memory came into play. It's always faulty when I'm trying to get midterm grades in and the life of an adjunct professor is...well it's not always pleasant. 

But when Jayne's package arrived, I was thrilled. This is what I found inside! 

Do you see those boxes? Jayne MADE those cute little boxes! I'm keeping them! I don't know for what yet, but wait and see!

Look at all those goodies! But wait--there's more! Talk about a color combination! I fell in love with those gorgeous colors!

Those lampwork beads at the top, upper right are from Cindy Gimbrone--and they are simply gorgeous! I picture them on a necklace with those divine pink howlites and aqua crystals! The white coral I have plans for!

 This is an interesting earthy mixture! There's snake vertebra, green adventurine, horn beads and prasiolite. I can picture these in my mind all mixed together to form a beautiful down to earth jewelry ensemble. 

These are from the bonus boxes--chrysocolla and teal green adventurine nuggets. I'm so excited about having these stones! Just holding them makes me all happy and warm inside. These will be great but I haven't made up my mind yet of what I'd like to to do with them. I have some other beads that will match these perfectly so I need to see what develops!


Jayne--thank you from the bottom of my heart! This was a fantastic bead swap and it's been fun having you as a partner!  Lori--thanks for another great idea! I can't wait to bead!