This might end up being 5 segments. I'm scheduling these posts today (Sun.) and I'm hoping my Miyuki and Delica beads will arrive tomorrow, so I can include them. I want to get some of those previosuly mentioned projects going and get them in my studio. I will just write another post with those if they don't arrive tomorrow.

On today's tour, first we have bugle beads. I have quite the selection of bugles. I have some that are incredibly long-sent to me by a friend who thought she wanted to weave beads, but found out she like silversmithing much better. She sent me some of her stash, including those incredibly long ones. Besides those, I have your basic twisted bugles, and the straight ones, both in a wild assortment of colors.


The next stop is the DynaMite drawer. They come in these nifty little containers, (you might have noticed some reused one in other pics)that stack nicely in these deep drawers. I know-I said I didn't like bead containers stacked on each other, but in this case, the drawer is deep enough and I have enough DynaMites to be able to stack like colors and finishes with like. For example, the transparent cobalt can stack on top of each other.


The last stop on the tour today is what I consider to be my "misc." drawer. It has all the beads that don't fit in any other category. It has the acrylic accent beads I use on my ornament drapes. I prefer acrylic drops rather than glass on some cases because of the weight factor-glass weighing more than acrylic. It also has my box of business cards, my earrings cards and a small stuffed penguin I picked up someplace for some reason. Not sure he shows in the picture.

My creating and storing with seed beads-pt.3

The tour today will start with the second storage cart. I'm not sure what those things are "officially" called-rolling carts with drawers, I guess. It didn't take me long to find out that those carts don't roll too well when the drawers have pounds of beads in them. LOL!

This is a picture of Matsuno seed beads. Matsuno is the 3rd largest of the Japanese bead manufacturers, with Miyuki and TOHO in front of them. I like them because they are quality beads, come in an incredible range of colors and finishes and are reasonably priced. FireMountainGems sells them under the name DynaMite.

The open spaces are for beads that are going to be used in a couple of projects this week. One of the things my muse did while "we" were organizing is come up with things to create. Since I knew it would be a few days before I got to working on those projects, I set the beads-and everything else-for those 3 projects aside. Yep, 3 projects-sometimes I think my muse thinks I can bead at the speed of light. Notice the first drawer.I don't like beads stacked up like that because it makes it hard for me to open the drawers and "cruise for color" when I want to do something. See, I told you it will soon be time for another cart.

The last drawer today has crystals and bi-cones-all pretty and sparkly. I love the facets on these and how they reflect the light. I always try to catch that when I am photographing a finished piece, but it isn't easy.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and a HUGE thanks to the AFlessthan(10) guild.

Creating and stash showing-pt.2

On today's tour, we will see how the things in the first 3 drawers of the cabinet the small organizer sits on, live and are stored. I organize my beads by size, brand and when I can, color. Every beader I know organizes their beads according to how it works for them and we all have different ways of doing it.

This first drawer has all my Czech beads in it. They are Ornela Czech beads. Ornela has been making beads for many decades, if not longer, and they make great beads. The colors are really intense and rich. For the pinks and reds, they use gold in the color-just like in ruby glass-which is another of my glass loves.


The second drawer holds the wonderful beads of TOHO. This Japanese bead company has been in business forever. They make wonderful seed beads-in all sizes and finishes and have an outstanding reputation in the beading world. The different containers are because different suppliers package their the way they want. The small rectangular-tictac-containers-I have gotten from a couple of different places. They are a handy size for many types of beads.


The last drawer opening on today's tour is my gemstones, agates and other rocks. LOL! If you peek toward the middle back of the drawer, you will see those baby food containers I mentioned yesterday.

I'm the featured studio this week

and since all the other guild folks will be promoting me and my Artfire studio, I thought I would take some time and blog about my creative process and show you my newly organized, ever growing bead/gemstone stash. So that's what I will be blogging about this week. I also hope that you will learn a little more about how the items in my shop came into being and that way, get to know me a little better.

I have been on an organizing binge the last few days. I had to. I recently recieved 2.5 pounds of seed beads in the mail (and I'm expecting approx. another pound in the next couple of days) and they were in zip lock bags. Seed beads and zip lock bags usually equal bags coming open and seed beads in the drawers, so I needed to re-do my beads. My son and his family moved in with us a couple of months ago. His family includes our year old grandson. One day, I noticed that my grandson was having some fruit out of this really cool little rectangular plastic box-with a resealable lid. I asked that those little Gerber fruit and veggie containers be saved for Grandma. I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but I knew I would find something-and I did. They now hold my gemstones, sorted by type. The containers that were holding part of my gemstone collection-the chips-are now holding a large part of the 2.5 pounds of beads.

This first picture is the overall view of my storage set up. One of these days, I'm going to have to get another one of those carts. LOL!

The tour will start with the 3 drawers in the small cabinet. the stuff sitting on the top of the carts is pieces that are finished, pieces the need to be cut up and re-used, and a couple of projects I stopped in the middle of because I needed to think about a little more. those will probably end up in the cut and reuse stack.
Anyhow... the first drawer contains the small beeds-the 15's and the 13 cut charlottes. I love charlottes. It amazes me that they can actually put a facet on a bead that small. They sparkle so pretty.


In the next drawer are the containers that used to house my gemstone chips-now holding size 6 and 8 seed beads.

Last on today's little tour is the drawer that houses the square beads, the dagger beads, the fringe beads and other shapes of glass beads that I don't have enough of yet for them to have their own drawer. Notice I said yet. A big thank you to the AFlessthan(10)guild.

Hippie Chick Jewelry and Design

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is the featured guild studio this week. I love the name of this studio-maybe because it's because I'm just an old hippie chick myself. LOL! Hippie Chick is located in the beautiful state of Oregon and here http://www.artfire.com/users/hippiechickdesign .

She has been designing jewelry since 1999 and has been actively involved in several large arts and craft shows out there. Her work is cool, colorful, reasonably priced and she has free shipping for US and Canadian customers.

One of the pices that I love in her studio are these Vineyard Cluster earrings. Wouldn't they go perfectly with that little black dress-or that black turtleneck and your favorite jeans?

The Unakite Lariat is a wonderful piece. It would go beautifully with soft warm colors.

So go and check out her studio and see what you can find that you like. Remember, Valentines Day is coming and so is Mothers Day.

There is a link to the guild blog on the right, under My Blog List-be sure to check it out.

CapriciousAdornments is riding the Artfire Crazy Train

There is a wide range of styles-enough to suit every taste, from cool and elegant to modern and funky. So, I will show you a couple of my favorties from this studio, then you click the link and go see for yourself.

This studio offers lovely, one of a kind handmade artisan jewelry. http://www.artfire.com/users/CapriciousAdornments