newest bead and button goodies

I have acquired a number of new bead and button goodies the couple weeks and thought that you would enjoy seeing many of them.  I am frequently inspired by crafting supplies and hope that you will be, too.  Enjoy!

The downtown Vogue Fabrics store in Chicago has a random button bin.  You can fill one of these bags for $2.  The selection changes frequently, but I've never been disappointed with the given lot.  Check out all of the flower buttons, wooden buttons, and metal buttons!

I have two favorite bead stores in the Chicago suburbs.  My parents live one block away from one of them so it's where I usually go when I'm back that way.  I almost always stock up on seed beads, Czech leaf beads, and other Czech glass.  I go through 6/0 and 11/0 seed beads more than any other beads so I always like to get a few colors.  The Czech glass selection varies but I almost always find some great leaves and other unique shapes.  Check out all of the leaf colors and the great dice beads.

My mom ordered a set of these tiny glass bottles and corks for me for my birthday.  I enjoyed using the sea glass bottle charm for my tropical destination challenge piece and would like to use bottles again for future charms.  Why not make some of my own charms?

I picked up some screws for the corks so I'm all ready to go as soon as I get inspired.  There are so many possibilities out there.  Check out these great Etsy listings as well as this bottle tutorial.

What would you put in your bottle?

Finally, I cashed in all of my Bead Trends gift certificates for Fire Mountain Gems and got this box of goodies.  Yep, I had to get all of it organized by bead type.

Thank you Bead Trends!  The hard work that I put into my submissions was well worth it.

Have you picked up any new craft goodies lately?  What are you going to make with them?

Where I Linked Up Today:

treasury round up and new goodies

As always, I'm so honored to have my pieces included in treasuries on Etsy.  Thanks much to all of my curators!

Angela (AngelaDesign) included my Beaded Bracelet - Black and Pink in her Black and Pink treasury.  I never get tired of this color combination!

Glass Flower Knitting Stitch Markers (N2) - set of 5 - ready to ship

Christina (BirgittasBeads) included my Silver Dangle Earrings - Pink Shell in her Make it pink, rose, or fuchsia! treasury.

Christina doesn't have anything available in that particular Etsy shop right now.

mellimoon included my Beaded Cuff Bracelet - Skinny - Sunshine Gold Accented in her The Sun is Coming Out to Play treasury.  I love the mix of items here.

Amy - mellimoon doll ooak

 I was in Chicago briefly last weekend on my way to Kenosha for my little sister-in-law's high school graduation.  I had not been bead shopping in Chicago in months so I had to hit one of my favorite shops again: Briolette.

I am always looking for more size 6 Czech seed beads.  I use a lot of them in almost all of my right angle weave designs.  Briolette has a pretty good selection so I usually pick up a few when I'm there.  Both the cream and yellow beads will be for my July EBW Challenge piece, as well as many other pieces, I'm sure.  I go through a lot of cube beads for my skinny embellished peyote cuffs, too, so picking up a couple more of those is always a good idea, too.

One of my favorite things at Briolette is their Czech glass mixed bowls.  They sort them by color and let you mix and match to fill the little bags.  I could seriously spend hours digging through them, filling many many bags.  Normally I limit myself to two bags, but I went for four this time, largely because they had so many leaf beads.  I hadn't seen this many there in a couple years.  I picked up a few other assorted shapes as well, including the adorable drilled Domino beads.  I think that they would make perfect little earrings.  I may work up a few of those for Christmas in July.

random feature

Unfortunately it looks like my custom order is fizzling out.  I have someone interested in my Craigslist posting, but she wants to negotiate the price.  I'm a little annoyed because I already took $15 off, and I'm giving a good deal for the shipping as well.  I offered to go a little bit lower.  We'll see what she thinks.  In better news, I sold two bracelets to my grandma today!  She has four of my bracelets now. :) I have a custom request from an old friend here, too, that I'll be able to work on later this month and get to her in person when I'm back here in a few weeks.  We did go to Bead Heaven this afternoon, which was pretty nice, but they didn't have anything that was on my current "to buy for projects I already have in mind" list.  So my mom and I ended up back at Briolette this afternoon, which is one of the two stores that I typically frequent in the Chicago area, and I got most of what I needed.  I've been planning an Art Beads order sometime this month.  I'd still like to refill a couple delica colors, but I'm in good shape for everything else.  I like to buy things in bead shops or other local stores when I can.  As I'm sure most of you can relate to, though, this isn't always possible.  It's nice when it is!

My mom found a new stash of buttons recently, which I went through this weekend.  I'm planning to take pictures of my new buttons and new beads sometime this next week.

Now onto the random feature.  I can't believe that I haven't done one of these since May!  For those who are relatively new followers of my blog, random features include Etsy items that I enjoy that don't fit into any of the categories that I frequently feature like leaves.  Enjoy!

Black Peyote on Pear Silk String Bracelet or Choker by SandFibers

Sugar and Spice Vintage Mother of Pearl Brooch by saphira

Mummy Duck and Baby in Blue - Eco-Friendly, Recycled Greeting Card with Envelope by RUBYrecycled

handmade necklace bright buttons, pvc, beads whimsical series 6 by frankideas

Cha Cha Chimes Lampwork and Sterling Bracelet by AshlynDesign

Mint Green-Silver Beaded Circle Necklace by adri33

Daisy Patch Green Beadwork Cuff by sagescupboard