Li'l Taste of Bead Porn

It's time for our annual pilgrimmage to Palm Desert for Spring Break...and boy, do I need a vacation. It's looking like it's going to be in the 90's out there which is a LEETLE warmer than I really like it, but I'll be glad just for the change of scenery. And, the hotter it is, the more time I get to spend by the pool drinking foofy drinks.

I always like to leave a little bead porn in my wake when I head out on vacation so y'all have something to look at while I'm gone. So here goes:





I was really excited to discover these monogrammed sterling silver charms at Sweet Rocky Candy Beads.






You can get every letter of the alphabet.





And they come in multiple styles...like this more ornate version.





I picked up quite a few to cover the various initals of my family members. They are also available in vermeil if you prefer gold over silver.





A recent review of my bead stash showed that I had (big surprise, I know) let my love for art beads blind me to the fact that I was running out of staple items like clasps, ear wires, jump rings, wire, etc. So, for a few weeks, I tried to limit myself to only buying the "necessities" until I could get my supplies back in balance. I had mixed success with that LOL! However, I got some help when I found these beautiful metal-stamped clasps by Orrtec which allowed me to mix getting a basic (clasp) with fulfilling my NEED for artbeads (since it's hand-crafted and stamped instead of mass-produced).





One rule I did stick to..."one" is never enough.





I found these lovely enameled flower components at Sue Beads. Perfect for springtime earring designs!





Again, I couldn't just get one pair. Who could resist these yummy springtime colors?





One unique thing about Sue's shop - it's the "oldest" one in my vendor favorites on Etsy. That means that her shop was one of the first few that I favorited upon joining Etsy a few years ago and since I pretty ruthlessly clean out my favorites based on performance and upkeep/rotation of stock, it really says something about her as a vendor that she's managed to hold onto that position when lots of others have been deleted for various reasons. Go, Sue!





If you've been reading the blog, you already know that these cute, bright polymer clay daisies came from Floridity. I used them to make earrings a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't happy with the final result and still plan to re-make the earrings, but the beads are still darling and are in no way lessened by my crap design attempts LOL!





At the same time, I got these lovely carved poly clay beads from her as well. The colors are delicious!





I was lucky enough to have a bracelet design published in the Winter, 2011, issue of "Stringing" that had a central pewter bracelet link and I've been wanting to do more with that style. I found these bracelet bars at Captured Moments which will be just perfect for that idea.





My only problem was that she had so many wonderful styles and designs...not only could I not pick just one, I had a hard time narrowing down below 10! There are quite a few still in my "Favorites" marked for future purchases.





For now, these are the ones that have made their way into the chaos that is my (so-called) studio.





I was particularly fond of this version - it looks like old leather to me.





I wanted some fun, bright pairs of lampwork beads for earrings (since that seems to be all I have time to make any more) and I Make Beads never disappoints.





Continuing with the theme of Spring colors, I found this soft, pretty set of lampwork beads at Mermaid Glass.





I love the combination of the rough, lava-like etching treatment on these beads with the flower designs. Found these pretties at OutWest.





Lastly, I succumbed to this gorgeous deep-purple lampwork flower from Serena Smith. For years I have been putting her large flower beads in my favorites and then talking myself out of them because I'm not sure what to do with them. I finally decided to take the plunge because I just couldn't resist the purple color. Of course, I still have no idea what to do with it, but it will be fun trying to figure it out!

That's it for this round. Happy vacation!

KJ