Two Stuffed Boxes... Oh, Yeah!

How did this happen?  Last Thursday night I started taking pictures of what I planned on adding to the Best Little Bead Box(es), knowing that I had plenty of time before they arrived on my doorstep.  The next morning, while I was sipping my coffee and Niki dog was staring at the front door anxiously awaiting the daily mail drop, the door bell rang.   Niki went ballistic and I knew, I just KNEW that there would be a treasure chest sitting on the other side of that door.  Still in my jammies, no camera at hand, there was no chance for me to get a picture of the postal worker delivering the goods.  Oh well, here are the boxes sitting on a chair in my kitchen…

I had to wait until later in the evening before I tore into them.  This day job thing really kills me some times.  But first, we had to eat dinner.  The best little pizza box...  

I don’t remember the last time I wolfed down a pizza that quickly.  After I cleared off the table, I was practically drooling with anticipation when I made the first incision with the box cutter.  I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning – and the rest of the world ceased to exist.  I tackled the medium sized box first.  I had beads and bags strewn all over the table!

No, the salt and cayenne pepper did not come from the bead box.  After forever, it was time to put back the goodies that I decided not to keep and get into the large box.  So many beads!  I know I spent well over 2 hours going through all the bags, carefully choosing the items that I just couldn’t resist, and making a list of what I took.  I know this because every now and then I took a breather and commented on my “bead box” status on Facebook.  But after 2 hours, I lost track of time.

Here’s what I decided to keep for myself.  I’m trying not to feel guilty…

The first thing that I grabbed was a hank of seed beads in a glorious indigo color covered in crystal clear.  I might even use them tonight to embellish my latest felt vessel.  Then from a bag labeled Miscellaneous Focals & Buttons, I snagged a porcelain face.  I’m going to have to make a rather large vessel to keep that beauty afloat!  I took two other items from that bag – a clay connector that has a couple of figures on it that look like petroglyphs, and an Artisan Clay pendant in a color that just screamed at me.  Then there was a bag labeled gemstones with a bunch of amber in it.  I took one little piece that has some inclusions in it.  And then a little bag of gunmetal round beads.  Time to take a deep breath!

I grabbed three little silver Lucite leaves because I just cannot resist leaves!  Then, because every girl deserves a little bling, I took the Swarovski cosmic ring donated by Lynne in what looks to be Crystal Chili Pepper.  Hot cha cha cha…  Lynne also included a rectangular clay piece with a large hole in it by Elaine Ray that will look wonderful on one of my felted creations.  Back in the face department, I just had to have a few more – two of Laura’s cabs just jumped right into my lap!  Speaking of Laura, her ammonites were sooooooo tempting – but I left them for everyone else.

Coming down the finish line - I now have a little rainbow moonstone briolette from Glass Addictions, 2 pieces of black coral, and a Lisa Peters heart.  There were several pieces by Lisa Peters, and they are so hard to resist - but I only took the heart.

And now for the “give” portion of my give and take.  I had to get a replacement box at the post office - the medium flat rate box has morphed into a large flat rate box.

First, I added several porcelain beads.  Most are Chinese porcelain, but the little pink strand with the painted decals are from Greece.  I also added a bag of pinbacks – 20 gold-tone and 20 silver-tone.  Continuing in the metal department, I put in several stampings – leaves, winged beetles, filigrees, and a beadable stamping from the local bead store.  Surrounding the stampings is a strand of recycled glass beads from Africa.

In other glass news, I included a small bag of miscellaneous glass heart beads, some Indian glass beads (and 10 beads that I think are polymer - sorry, they're not glass...), a bag of small etched glass beads, a bag of vintage glass beads, and some artisan glass – a wild glass pendant from Carol Fonda and Monty Clark, a fused dichroic glass pendant, and a strand of 6 lampwork beads by Calvin Orr (I LOVE those beads!).

There had to be leaves – a bag of Lucite leaves in various colors.  And then on to the rocks… a birch jasper donut, a peach jade pendant, some red jasper star beads, green something-or-other V beads, with some mother of pearl “sticks” thrown in for good measure.  Then I added two small strands of rainbow fluorite in 2 different shapes, and a strand of faceted Botswana agate flat rectangles.  Finishing up the rocks are 12 petrified palm wood beads, 6 large Dalmation jasper beads, a strand of blue tiger eye, a gorgeous strand of silver leaf jasper beads from Elan, and a wonderful strand of golden agate beads, also from Elan.

And there you have it.  Oh wait… I almost forgot!  I also included some of my own lampwork beads.  :-)

Here’s a long bead, a medium sized cone bead, and 3 chunky focals.

Then there are 3 etched beads.  The one on the right sports a murini by Lori and Kim that I left shiny, and the one in the middle has capped bubbles that I left shiny as well.

Here’s an organic lentil bead, and then one of my selectively-etched floral inlay beads.

And last but not least, I included 4 of my leaf beads.

Phew!  The boxes are all packed up and ready to head out to the next stop on their country-wide trip.  Stay tuned for more updates on this wild, wild journey…