new bead and button goodies for Christmas

I'm sure that this is no surprise to anyone reading this, but I am always excited about new bead and button goodies for Christmas and my birthday (or any other time someone surprises me with a random gift).  I got both this year for Christmas!  Here's a little preview for everyone.

My mom got me the awesome set on the left from Jen (blueseraphim).  Some of you may remember that this exact set was on my 2010 Etsy wish list so I was super excited about that.  Then my brother's girlfriend got me the set on the right from a shop in Chicago called Beadniks.  I have never been there before, but I need to sometime!

My mom got the rest of this year's stash for me, largely from a craft or fabric store (I'm not sure which) that was going out of business.  It's always sad to see a craft place close, but it's nice when you can take advantage of clearance deals.  This is the shell set.  As you probably know, I've had a lot of success with my shell bead jewelry line.  This will be a fun new twist on that idea.  I am definitely going to make at least one shell button charm bracelet with this set.  A matching set of earring has potential to be awesome as well.  I'm open to other ideas, too.

My in-laws got me a huge set of clearance button strips like this last year, which I have used extensively.  They work wonderfully for earring stud pairs and can be worked into almost any button charm bracelet style.  I'm really excited to have more for my stash.  There are some great blue/red matching pairs in this set.  Christmas in July anyone?

There were a few other random cards, too.  I LOVE the silver Celtic knot design.  It will make an awesome clasp for a Celtic themed bracelet at some point in the future.

Finally, my mom found some more vintage American flag buttons in her own stash.  I got a handful of them a while back and have made a couple earring stud pairs from them as I blogged about here.  I would love to use these for a button charm bracelet, but they are so old (as you can tell from the way the cardboard is literally disintegrating) that I would worry about them wearing through.  So I will probably use them for an embellished button bracelet like this one.