Made You Look Bead Porn

Is anyone else having just the week from hell? I swear I know at least four people who got the $*#& kicked out of them by life this week (including me) and I'm trying to figure out what is UP with the universe.

Is it some kind of Mercury in retrograde kinda thing or what?

Well, whatever it is, the only antidote I can come up with (that won't require me to be on a future episode of "Intervention") is bead porn.

So, whether your week has been good, bad or just mediocre, come join me in a bout of bead indulgence, won'tcha?






I don't mention it that often, but I work at the corporate headquarters of a medium-sized chicken restaurant chain. If you live in California, you probably have heard of it, but the rest of the country? Not so much. Like I said, we are medium-sized.

Anyway, this week we had our annual charity auction and every year I try to donate some kind of chicken-themed jewelry. Last year I did a couple of pieces using gorgeous lampwork chicken beads mixed with silver and gemstones. I decided to go a little more simple this year by using this darling sterling silver chicken charm from Beth Hemmila at Hint. I made my own bail for the charm using some sterling silver wire wrapping and a freshwater pearl. Attached the whole thing to sterling silver chain and then wire-wrapped on a few dangles of peridot, turquoise, garnet, carnelian and crystal. Sadly, didn't get the finished piece photographed before I had to turn it in for the auction, but I think it turned out cute.

AND, it helped raise money to support our charity group who donates both money AND food from our restaurants to lots of causes throughout the year.






Usually, I get silver pieces from Cathy Dailey, but occasionally she has some bronze items and I just love the color and texture of them so I snapped up these rings.





And this really cute flower pendant, too.

Then, I saw these laurel green patinated rondelles from Miss Fickle Media and thought they'd be perfect for Christmas designs.

Or anything else, really. Because they are perfect and I love them.

I keep trying NOT to buy matching chain and findings for everything, but really? That's just NOT who I am LOL! I am and always will be an overly-matchy girl at heart.

I was raised that my shoes and purse needed to match not only each other but also my hemline.

I wear pearls with everything.

In high school I was SOOO preppy - wore argyle sweaters over oxford shirts and penny loafers with EVERYTHING.

And besides, when Shannon is so kind to provide such gorgeously matching chain for those beads...why should I even bother to resist?

Yeah, I'm kinda obsessed with Czech glass. You didn't notice until I pointed it out, though, right? Love these cool, swirly snail beads.

Okay, there is ONE cure for matchiness obsession - a set of beads that's ALREADY in a mix of gorgeous colors.

This is a new shape in Czech glass - kind of a faceted nugget, but slightly lopsided so they don't look machine cut.

Rondelles in a dainty, feminine transparent pink with a Picasso finish.

(BTW...does anyone else wonder why this finish is called "Picasso?" Because I can't figure out how it relates to Picasso or his art - it's not like the beads have some mismatched eyes or upside down noses or anything.)

Royal blue with lavender accents? MUST come live at my house.

Lavender opal with Picasso finish.

It's probably too early to start planning for Spring jewelry, but I couldn't help thinking of that when I saw these lovely green and lilac beads.

All the Czech glass is from Bead and Ribbon on Etsy.

More springtime beads - tiny lampwork nuggets from Radiant Mind.





More tiny nuggets - in fiery shades of gold, red and fuchsia. Also from Radiant Mind.

I love Juls Beads - both because they are beautiful and because their creator and I have a lot of things in common (like our love for Dr. Pepper). So, when she started making all these funky glass birds, I just had to have one. And I wasn't the only one. Every time I had one all picked out? Somebody else bought it before I could get to it.

Eventually, I prevailed and now Silverparrot has her very own glass Juls Beads parrot. And he is a total cutie-pie!

Thanks, Julianna! You rock!

This set? I got off Juls' site before anyone else. So nyah, nyah, nuh, nyah, nyah.

Right after I found THESE ridged lampwork beads at Flame Crazy. They are my new obsession.

I fell off the lampwork wagon pretty hard this last month LOL! It's not my fault. Darned lampworkers always tempting me with their shiny, sparkly creations! I liked the denim blue color of this set with the splashes of yellow in it. Lampwork is from Firebabies.

I'm gearing up for the holidays with this sparkling set of hollow beads from Mermaid Glass. And really, if you think they look great in the picture...I only wish I could show you the real thing. They are SO pretty. And mixed with some black crystals or other sparkley beads they will be THE thing to complete my New Year's Eve ensemble.

Umm...that is...if I were going to go anywhere besides my couch and wear anything besides my flannel pj's and fluffy socks that night. Because I am a party animal, yo.

That's the end of this week's bead porn. Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for the no links - I'm running short on time to get this posted, but I figure y'all are internet-savvy enough to type those vendor names in the search engine on Etsy and figure it out for yourselves. If not, e-mail me and I'll hook you up.

KJ