Back to Reality Bead Porn

That's the worst part of vacation, you know. Being forced to come back to reality when it's over.

I have decided to solve that problem by going on vacation again starting tonight ;-) Mom and the kid and I are heading down to the Four Seasons resort in Carlsbad (Mom won a free stay in a contest) for the next four days. We may just hang by the pool the whole time or, if we get adventurous, we might take the kid to Sea World or Legoland (both nearby).

So, while I'm getting my luxury vacay on, here's some bead porn to tide you over:





Sterling silver twisted rings from Sweet Rock Candy Beads. I use these in a lot of designs - they are great for hanging dangles on bracelets or connecting earring elements because they are a little more visually interesting than just plain jump rings.





Sterling silver seahorse from the same vendor. I'm continuing my quest to own all beach and ocean-related beads ever made.




Bright yellow painted brass filigree components from Paloma Antigua.

Of course, I had to get the green, too. Made some earrings out of these over the weekend which I'll post next week.

I loved the color combo on these. Plus, they are just meant to be obnoxiously huge and fantastic earrings - and I am all about the gigantic earring. LOVE the giant earring. I've been known to wear a 4" pair of shoulder-dusters to work...with jeans LOL!

Not sure what I'm going to do with this one yet, but I liked the color combo and I'm thinking about some way to fasten a large crystal or stone in the middle or maybe separate the sections and wrap them around something. I'll figure it out eventually.

Some patinated black rings from Miss Fickle Media. I feel spook Halloween-ish designs coming on!

Another one of Amanda Davie's gorgeous resin-filled bezel clasps.

Frosted aqua glass teardrop beads from Excellent Gem.

These beads have a great squashed, almost-acorn-like shape with a teal and picasso finish on them.

I've been using a lot of these center-hole flowers lately. Them make great dangles AND can double as beadcaps, too.

And the tiny purple version is so cute!

This bead mix has fall written all over it.

Melon beads have become my favorite, go-to filler bead and I'm collecting them in every color I can find. This berry-licious wine/purple combo was a yummy addition to my collection.

All of the above glass beads are from All Things Beaded.

I've been gradually grabbing up pieces of Floridity's "Whisper" collection of pendants and needed some accent beads to go with them so this set was just perfect.

Sometimes, I pick beads because they are just too weird-looking to pass up. Purple and black polymer clay "lava" rocks? I say, "why not?" These are from Aslan Crafts.

This pendant is polymer clay, too. Great colors and such a groovy design. This came from Analiese.

Fun little shell fossil-style pendant from Spirited Earth.

I fell in love with this ceramic sailboat pendant from Elements Pottery at first sight. LOVE the dark stormy background and the sailboat racing to safety before the storm hits.

And if your boat is in trouble, of course you need a lighthouse to guide you in. This was another "love at first sight" piece. I think I hit the "buy" button before the picture even finished completely loading on the screen LOL!

I REALLY need to stop buying ocean-colored lampwork. Seriously. I am powerless over the glass - especially when it will make cute little dangles like thise big hole rings will. As the picture shows, these are from HMB Studios.

And since we're coming up on fall, I got this set, too. A girl cannot live by ocean-colored beads alone (although heaven knows I am giving it my best shot!)

One of my favorite things about Blue Seraphim beads is the way she experiments with color. I would NEVER have put these colors together, but now that she did it for me, I can take this gorgeous "Tuscan Garden" color grouping and run with it.

Okay, that's it for this week. Try not to hate me too much (again) while I'm off at the resort. Having a drink by the pool. Or going to the spa. For a massage. Or a pedicure.

Gosh, next thing you know, the producers of "The Real Houswives of Orange County" will be contacting me to join the show. Except they'd probably make me get boob implants and there are just some things I'm not willing to do for fame.

KJ