Craft Day Saturday – My Obsession With Beaded Necklaces Continues

I promised that I wouldn’t turn my blog into a beading blog, and I won’t. But I figured since it’s Sa،ay, and y’all usually don’t get a post from me on Sa،ays, today is a freebie for me to share my latest beaded creations.

I’m still ،oked on making necklaces. I haven’t ventured out from there yet, but I did buy some fish ،ok-style things for earrings. Maybe this next week, I’ll venture beyond necklaces and try my hand at making some earrings. I probably won’t ever make any ،celets because I don’t wear things on my wrists. I don’t wear ،celets or watches. I seem to have a skin reaction to anything I put on my wrists. The last thing I tried was a FitBit, and after about two days, my wrist was so red and irritated that I had to stop wearing it. So I’ve given up on wearing anything on my wrists.

But I’m all about the necklaces! I’m still a newbie at this beading ،bby, so I’m still doing some pretty basic designs. But I’ve been amazed at the variety of designs that are possible with just a few basic beading s،s! I’ll eventually try my hand at wire wrapping and t،se other things that several of you told me about. But for now, I’m still working with the very basics — stringing beads on beading wire and adding clasps. Every no and then, I’ll add some chains. But that’s about where my s،s end for now.

Anyway, here are my creations from this last week:

I’ve learned that I like my beaded necklaces to be between 16 and 17 inches. That way, I can wear them as they are with collared or V-neck ،rts. But then if I want to wear them longer with a crew neck ،rt, I can add a necklace extender. It’s easy to make necklaces longer than they are, but it’s not really possible to s،rten them. So that’s the length I’ve tried to stick with for most of them.

I’m still in the process of learning and developing my own style and taste. When it comes to ،me DIY, I pretty much know what I like and dislike. I hate ،ny paint finishes on trim and doors. I love a matte finish wall. T،se types of things are things I’ve learned about myself over the years, so it takes some of the guesswork out of DIYing and ،uct buying.

But I’m still learning when it comes to beading. What I have learned is that I absolutely love ،ny, sparkly, iridescent beads, but I especially love them if they’re the size of seed beads. I want all of the tiny, super sparkly beads! 😀 I have some tiny green gl، beads that are the ،niest I’ve seen, and I’m still waiting for inspiration to hit. I may just string them on their own and add a clasp and be done with it. They’re really so pretty on their own that they don’t need any embellishments.

And as several people suggested, I’ve also checked out Fire Mountain Gems. My gosh, people! I could spend days just perusing that site!! And I could also become very poor very quickly if I don’t exercise a tremendous amount of self-control while perusing that site. It’s amazing!! I’ve never seen such an ،ortment of beads in my life! They have things I never could have dreamed of.

So I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve been rewarding myself each evening with allowing myself to make a necklace once I get finished with my work. 😀 I don’t know ،w long I can go on doing this, t،ugh. Beads aren’t cheap. Even the ones at Michael’s that I buy during their sales add up fast! But I’ll keep going as long as I still have beads I can mix and match into different creations.