I hear the ocean calling...

Bead orders, the book proposal, details for the Bead Cruise - my days are filled with fun adventures, new work and the joy of sending my creations out into the world. And like bread cast upon the water, good things make their way back to me. Life is sweet. Above are my pearls that I ordered from Fire Mountain Gem. Love the pearls, total lusciousness.
And some beads I picked up when Hobby Lobby had their 1/2 off sale last week. I love my Hobby Lobby, just 10 minutes down and road and always filled with good things. I snuck in a little teal branch bead that matched the earthy tones. Loving the wood beads. I made a bracelet with those big chunks of carved wood the other day. I'm thinking of sending it in for the Summer issue of Stringing, so I won't show it here.

I seem to have some kind of pink and teal theme going on in the studio. These are little sets I put together for those taking my bracelet class on the Bead Cruise. I've paired them up with lampwork disks from Blue Seraphim. I will be putting together kits for the cruise. They are not my favorite things to do, so if I can do them in assembly line style with a helper I'm able to force myself to finish them! I have some surprise limited edition kits to take on the cruise for our Bead Bazaar nights. The days are ticking ahead and as the cruise gets closer I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.

Busy days are ahead...new beads for tomorrow, my newsletter is going out, I have a business workshop this weekend...the list goes on and on! I wouldn't trade a minute of it though, I'm living a charmed life.

Sneak Peek

Adding new items to my shop tonight or tomorrow morning. It's been a busy few days!

Happy Creating!

Over Exposed?

Just a quick post so you know I'm still alive. Buried under beads and a mile long to-do list, but still here. Working on Bead Cruise details and there are so many of them! Bead orders, new beads, book project directions and samples, dreaming of what I'd like to do for the rest of year and into next. My brain is about to explode. I better take a time out!

Can you believe I'm in all these magazines right now??? Crazy! I worked so hard last year submitting projects and now I'm working equally hard on my book proposal. It's coming along nicely, the projects are shaping up and I have this great thread that ties them all together. I wish I could just tell you all about it right now! I'll post more about Bead Style and Bead Trends later this week. Oh, they have some goodies!

Speaking of sharing good news, are you on my mailing list? You should be! I have two awesome free projects coming out soon for newsletter subscribers only. You don't want to miss it! I always try to include something to spark your creativity and inspire my readers. Sign up for my newsletter here: http://humblebeads.com/newsletter.html

Okay, I'm off to find some Motrin and bat my eyelashes at my husband to see if he'll run and get Chinese takeout. Probably not the best idea for dinner, but what the hay! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Lily Necklace

Busy week of making beads, working on book projects and getting ready for the Bead Cruise. I'll share a necklace that I made a few years ago. A beaded lily, pearls, silver seed beads, stones, a pmc leaf and some of my disk beads.

A detail of the flower. I need to make some more of these! I also did a tiger lily in orange and bronze colors around the same time. It's probably the only piece of jewelry I regret selling, I wish I still had it in my hot little hands!

This purple version belongs to my friend Juliet now. Here is a photo from our Bead Soup night. Beads & chocolate abound! (Me, Juliet & Angela)

Rings & Things

Here is a detail from my Bead Soup necklace. I was inspired to make this charm after flipping through the new Rings & Things catalog. I bought Jess a set of letter stamps from Evie's Tool Emporium early this year and decided to pull them out and give stamping on brass a try. The brass is Vintaj from Bello Modo.

And speaking of the new Rings & Things catalog, whoever is in charge of putting it together this year should get a raise! I get their catalog every year and I was always like, huh, there it is, same as last year. But not this year Mon Cher, it's packed with good information about materials, tips on how to use products and best of all, tons of inspiring projects that you can download on their website. I looked through the catalog this year and thought, "Yeah, I need to order from Rings & Things!" It made me wish I could make a Humblebeads catalog. Uh-huh, yup, when my imaginary millionaire silent-partner finally makes my dreams come true.



This is my favorite project, a Sweet Pea pendant from Mollie Valente. You can see more project ideas in the Rings & Things design gallery.