Back From Vacation

There have been no posts to my bead blog as I was away on a road trip with my granddaughter. Here is a small peek at where we went and what we saw.

Hoodoos in Dinosaur Provincial Park



Back in the Rocky Mountains



Looking out over Osooyos



And finally, home for a beautiful sunset!



And now...back to beading. I'm hoping to have some finished projects to post soon!

Swarovski Crystals

Look at this gorgeous collection of Swarovski that just arrived from Artbeads!



The largest piece is a Fancy Oval. It will be the focal point in the piece I have planned.



The other beads I have are two Triangle Rings, Teardrop Pendants and finally some Faceted Roundelles. Since I'm about to leave on vacation, it will be a while till I get to beading with them but I can hardly wait. With such a beautiful collection of crystals waiting for me, I'm going to look forward to getting home again!

Where Does The Time Go?

it's hard to believe that it's been almost a month since I last posted here. It's been crazy busy in my life. I'm had either friends or family staying with me for the last three weeks. In the same timeframe, I purchased and investment property, coordinated the trades to get it ready for my new tennant for the first of the month. I've also been working like a slave in my garden and I'm really happy with how it's coming along.

I have been doing some beading, but nothing has been completed except for a few of earrings that I managed to squeeze in. Anyway, here is the piece I've been working on. Those are glass pearls I'm using.



The stone is captured in peyote stitch and it's the first time I've had a success at it. Though I did rip out the first version as it didn't fit the stone properly. There are two secrets to success with doing a peyote bezel...first, use a strip of paper and wrap it around the stone to find out the exact length of beads to string to start. I've been using a strip out of my shredder. Secondly, size 15 beads. The bezel needs no decreases when you start with a larger bead and decrease the bead size. I started with #11 Toho seed beads then went down to #11 Delicas and finally down to the #15 Toho seed beads.



The necklace is in progress and it's taking a lot longer than I expected it would. I'll be taking it with me when I leave for holidays on Wednesday. (Another thing to make my life hectic!)