book recommendation, other hobby, redone listings

I have another bead weaving book from the library that I've been reading this week: Seed Bead Fusion: 18 Projects to Stitch, Wire, & String by Rachel Nelson-Smith. There really are only 18 projects in this book, and the bead weaving projects are all based off of 2 basic designs. While it is not one of the more diverse beading books I've ever seen, it does have some of the best instructions. The book includes directions in writing, drawings, and photographs for EVERY project. I've never seen anything quite like it. The photographs are all excellent quality. The other unique strength of this book is that there are pictures for each finished project of exactly what is explained in the directions and nothing else. I don't know if anyone else gets frustrated by this sort of thing in most books, but I think that it can be annoying to read directions for a basic peyote cuff and not understand what to do because every picture uses a different sort of bead or has a much more complicated clasp. This book is not like that! It is also not for a beginner, but it allows someone with a little knowledge of basic bead weaving techniques to take on some more advanced projects because all of the directions and pictures are so good.

In other creative endeavors, I finally tracked down a free transcription for Golden by Fall Out Boy, which has been one of my favorite songs for over a year. No, I don't just keep Chopin books around for photographing jewelry, I really do play the piano. :P I haven't in a while, and it's been fun to work on a new piece again.

I finally edited and upload the pictures that I took of some of my older items last week. Take a look if you get a chance!

monochromatic retro charm fringed peyote cuff

double stranded raspberry right angle bracelet (2 versions currently available)

turquoise right angle bangle
double stranded blue and purple right angle bracelet

final package (for now), new book recommendation

As some of you may remember, Heather (Joy De Vivre) hosted a feature/giveaway for me on her blog earlier this month, which Sharla (BeadedTail) won. The winner was allowed to choose any size and color combination for a bead woven pendant or pair of earrings. Sharla chose my raspberry filled design. Because Sharla is awesome, I decided to make her a coordinating leaf pendant as well, and Angel decided to throw in a toy mouse for Sharla's kitties Isabella and Angel. Angel got a HUGE gift basket of goodies for Christmas from my in-laws that they won, and she's been sharing some of her toys with others. I took a picture of everything before I shipped it.


Sharla, with the help of Isabella and Angel, blogged about their goodies today. You have to check it on her blog here! Thank you so much, ladies!

I found another great beading book at the library over the weekend. This one is The Art of Beaded Beads edited by Jean Campbell. Jean Campbell always provides great directions and lots of pictures. Like the Beaded Garden book, you have to be a little more experienced with a variety of beaded stitches than I am to complete a lot of the projects. There are a lot of great projects, though, and a few simpler ideas that I'm looking forward to trying. My beading book wish list keeps getting longer haha. That's okay! I'm glad that I'm able to preview so many books at the library so that the ones I do end up purchasing/asking for as gifts are ones that I will use frequently or keep coming back to.

purple pearl earrings, another new book, and some rearranging

I listed my purple purple earrings tonight that I blogged about in my purple or brown? post.


I still think that these opaque pearl espresso bean delicas are awesome! I haven't gotten enough of them yet. Also, my March deal still stands: Purchase anything in my shop and take 50% off any pendant or pair of earrings. If you don't see a pendant or pair of earrings in a color combination or size that you like, I'm happy to create a custom listing for you.

I found another great beading book at the library this week. This time it's The Beaded Garden: Creating Flowers with Bead and Thread by Diane Fitzgerald. I think I'd seen it there before but was honestly too intimidated to check it out. Not anymore! It has amazing projects with great directions (much better directions than either of the books that I blogged about earlier this week). I'm certainly not up to attempting all of them (yet), but there are several that I am dying to try. The book has also inspired me to attempt herringbone stitch sometime because there are a lot of great herringbone projects in it.

As I mentioned earlier this week, we got a few new pieces of furniture from IKEA last month. We also got a new couch (a real couch) earlier this year when my college futon bit the dust. I can't believe how much our living room has come together.

Here's the couch. I can't believe I hadn't taken any pictures of it before. The pillows (there are 6 altogether) came with it. And yes, that's Kermit hanging out on the end. I love how the dark wood frame matches our coffee table.

I got a couple of smaller bookcases to replace my old wire CD racks. I had more CDs than fit in those two racks and was ready for a system that was easier to rearrange. (And yes, that is one of several Christmas light strands that is hanging up inside. They've become a year round fixture.)

Finally, we got another computer desk. What is now my computer (the older of the two, which used to be Jake's until we got the new one almost a year ago) used to be on one of those little adjustable plastic tables that you can get at Menard's. It actually worked a lot better than you would think it would. I'm certainly glad for the upgrade, though. Yes, there are two of us and two computers. You can probably understand why from looking at this picture.

I'm also sure that you can tell from looking at these pictures how much our hobby stuff takes over our living room. We have enough storage space for it in our second bedroom, but things end up migrating to the living room because that's where we do most of our work. :)