Well, since I have SO much free time (tongue firmly in cheek here), I thought I’d dabble in a new pastime. I’ve at least one friend who is a beader par excellence and has made me aware of all the different projects that can come out of the one medium. 🙂 My goals were a little simpler though, and motivated largely by vanity. I love jewelry and I love finding the perfect accessories for a particular outfit or occasion. However, finding the “perfect” things takes time and often more money than I wanted to spend, once I spied that ideal necklace. In other cases, I would wind up settling for something less than ideal, which – if one isn’t in love with it – is still money wasted. So I thought I’d try my hand at a little basic stringing, and recently took my first class at a local bead shop.

My picture quality leaves a bit to be desired, but the first bracelet was what I made in class. It’s comprised of dark violet irridescent beads spaced with pinkish Swarovski beads, and silver beadcaps. Knowing the limitations of my short term memory, I thought it would be prudent to buy the fixin’s for a second bracelet that I could make right away – repetition being the mother of retention and all. 😉 So out I walked with a couple of tools, turquoise beads and copper accents. It all came together with surprising ease in the comfort of my living room.

These are obviously very basic, but were enough to whet my appetite, and I’ve begun haunting more local stores already. We won’t talk about my recent purchase of a Beadsmith Deluxe Jewelry Tool Kit. Ahem!