Lia

Sooooo.... a while back, a friend of mine sent me a link to a necklace she wanted.  It was totally awesome.  It was also $80.  Yikes.  So she asked me to make an attempt at duplicating it.  I know the one I made wasn't quite as good, in some ways, but in others, it was BETTER.  Theirs was single strand around the back, and double in front.  It was silver chain with random groupings of purple, blue, and silver "pearls" interrupting the chain.  VERY pretty necklace.  I got pretty close with the colors.

I'm sure you're wondering how mine was better, though, right?  Well, I made mine as one LOOOONG necklace that can be wrapped to be a short one, or worn long.  MUCH more versatile, don't you think?  Darn tootin'  =D  And I even figured out the best way to wrap a necklace without it adjusting throughout the day all by itself and all that mumbo jumbo.  But if you want to know that little secret, you'll just have to come see me. =D

So there it is.  Thank you, Lia, for the inspiration.  Or was it Premier?  I don't remember. 

Oh, and the kicker?  I sell mine for $20.  Yes, that's right.  1/4 of the price.  So... if you ever see something you like, but don't want to pay the full cost, send me a link.  I can't promise I'll be able to duplicate it, but I can sure try.

Candy

I've been getting a lot of things made over the last couple of weeks.  I had a bit of a funk, when I was just staring at all of my supplies at a complete loss as to what to DO with them.  But that seems to have passed.  And here I am.  Thank goodness.

But first things first.  I had intended to post this blog about this topic a couple of weeks ago.  But thanks to my lovely computer issues, it didn't get done.  So I'm starting with that.  Seems to make sense, right?  Right. 


So here's the thing.  A year or two ago, I found this amazing seed bead mix.

I ordered it, and totally fell in love with these beads.  They were such a fantastically perfect mix of colors that I was practically gushing.  So I made a bunch of jewelry with this lovely mix.  Which lead to me needing to order more.  I ordered again.  Ran out again.  So I go onto the site, search for them, and strike out.  Okay.  So I dig up my invoice to find the exact name of the mix.  Search again.  No luck.

WHAT!?!?!  Yeah.  They stopped carrying them.  Lots of swear words were said.  LOTS.  So I've spent a lot of time searching the vast nothingness-that-is-somehow-something known as the internet.  As much as I love google, I didn't have any luck.  Great.  So I take a meager little sample into a couple local bead stores.  I figured they'd be able to tell me what TYPE of beads they are.  What size, make, etc.  One store told me one thing, and the other told me something totally different.

This is getting better and better, isn't it.  Yeah.  So I decided to make my own mix.  I couldn't find anything with the size and shape I was looking for, but I got as close as I could, and ordered every color they offered (well, all the ones with the right finish).  Not nearly as many colors as I would have preferred, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

I took a deep breath and opened the first package.  I dumped the beads into the bucket and grabbed the next package.  Let me tell ya, it's harder than you would think to take something you know is just fine and dandy on it's own and do something to it that you know you can never undo.  (cause there's no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that I'm ever separating these beads)  This is how it came out...

Not too shabby, eh?  I still like the first mix better, but I'm pretty darn satisfied with my own personal mix.  So the Candy necklace lives on.  Sweet. (get it?)  I'm just trying to ignore the part about there being only 9 colors.  9 is most definitely NOT an even number.  Gah.

Peace out, dudes.  I less-than-three you all.