It's mine, all mine!

I attended the last local bead and gem show of 2005 this past weekend. It was a bit disappointing because some of the usual vendors did not attend - probably due to the time of year and the fact that there's a bigger show in San Diego this coming weekend. Some day, I'm going to save up my pennies and be able to hit the bead orgy that is Tucson in January of each year, but until then, I'll have to be satisfied with the meager pickings at the local shows (although I'm hoping to get to the L.A. gift show for the first time in January, 2006, so we'll see how that compares).

However, if not all of my regular favorites were there, some of them did show and they were having incredible sales. Lan's Beads had 70% off their entire stock - woo hoo! I probably should have bought more there, but I had some specific needs for planned projects so I just stuck to that and you'll see the strands in the following pictures.

I also decided to post some recent ebay goodies that have been arriving in my mailbox - early Christmas presents to me! This first picture shows two sets of absolutely stunning lampwork glass beads by ebay artist Kaye Husko of Oregon. Her work is quite pricey (and deservedly so), but after haunting her listings for nearly a year, I managed to pick up a couple of somewhat affordable sets. I don't know if I'll be able to part with these, though, because they are just so beautiful. They may have to find their way into jewelry pieces for my private collection. Hey, a girl has to keep SOME bling for herself ;-)

Also in the picture is a lovely strand of turquoise rondelles that I got at the 70% off sale. Only part of the strand shows - it's a full 20" strand.

Well, I had planned to post more pics in this entry, but blogger.com is being lame so....stay tuned for part deux.

KJ