The Best Little Bead Box Visits Pennsburg Pa!

 Well, I came home from shopping with the kids the other day, and this is what greeted me on my porch!  The Best Little Bead box is now 5 large bead boxes!  I cannot even tell you how awesome this is!  They were almost as tall as my littlest guy!

So, being the last person was really wonderful, and really awful at the same time.  I feel like I took soooo much, because there was sooo much wonderfulness, although, honestly, it doesn't look like I put a dent in it.  There were so many awesome beads, by wonderfully talented people, and gemstones and crystals, oh my!  So without further ado, heres what I picked..........(don't judge me, I love beads;)

Here is everything together, but I will break it down.

I picked some cool wood and nut beads.

I got me some glass and crystal, since I don't have a lot in that department.

 I took these wonderful lampworked beads, because I thought they'd be great in some bracelets.

 This one tormented me.  It is gigantic, and wonderful, and it was in and out of the box many times.  I just love the asian feel of it, and so, I kept it.  It will be the most lovely chunky bracelet ever.

 Then my weakness, gemstones........

 Some little metal odds and ends....

 some pearls and cloisone...

 leather scraps and a hole puncher (I really needed one!)

 and last but not least..........some ceramic and raku!  Love the stars and the skull.

There are still sooooo many wonderful things in there.  Carol will have her work cut out for her, and I had to keep resisting the temtation to start organizing it by bead type, ect......These auction will be GREAT!


Ok- here is what I put in...........

Here is the whole heap of it.

A brand spakin new copy (with dvd) of Wire Style 2, with some aluminum wire.

 Some very nice beading cord in green and brown, a small wire jig that was opened but never used, some copper for stamping or etching, tape measure, bottle caps made for resin, gold plated chain, some duponi silk scaps, pewter pendant, rings for keychains and a bead scoop.

 some bronze, brass and silver plated charms, focals, and three feet of a great brass chain that I love!

 GEMSTONES!!!!!  Amazonite mix, black agate tear drops, turquoise mix, green crackle agate, shells, moukite, flourite, and three strands of focal beads, since they are my absolute favorite to work with.

 Some odds and ends, large lucite beads, mother of pearl buckle, shell charms, mother of pearl composite donut focal...

 MORE GEMSTONES........ prehnite strand of focals, picasso jasper pendants, blue crackle agate, brown gemstone and pearl mix, red jad, red jasper mix, labradorite focals, crazy horse stone focal, green jasper focal, MOP Butterfly focal, green jade beads, red agate pendant, hawk eye jasper (sooo pretty)....

 Some sea shell cabs, genuine sea glass to use in bead embroidery, and a wonderful sparkly drusy cab!

 Wood beads in black, a strand of purple crystal, a swarovski pendant......

 Two strands of pearls, fancy jasper, large gemstone pendant, mix of gemstone pendants, mix of gemstone charms, mix of stick and coin pearls..........

 Sterling silver pendants and large swirl focal by me........

 I didn't have much to give in the way of glass, but here a some, a wonderful black and white heart by Jane Perala, some boro disc beads by Two Sisters, and a couple of purplish lampwork discs.

 Then I dug into my ceramic collection.....there are some Artisan Clay pendants, some Lisa Peters Art Focals, and one Maku bead.

 These are some of my focals from the Artisan Accents Shop.  A bronze coin focal, bronze wings with a patina, and a large copper tear stained heart focal.

 I also added these two blue lichen charms from my collection, a blue colored bronze donut and a fine silver abstract pendant..........

 Then I threw in a bunch of my polymer hearts...........

 and some of my misc. polymer clay beads..............

And thats it.  Whew!  What a swap. 

I feel so blessed to be a part of this.  I cannot wait to see how much this raises for Beads of Courage!

The BLBB spends the first day of Spring in NC!

It was a gorgeous spring Saturday in central North Carolina.  My best friend Linda and I were headed 90 miles East to Raleigh for the Bead Mercantile Show.   We were looking forward to the drive since the recent warm weather had urged the trees into bloom about a week early.   All along I-40 I felt like I was looking into an impressionist watercolor of fluffy white Bradford Pears, frilly palest pink Cherry blossoms, hot pink/purple Redbuds, the first green tinged blooms of dogwoods, the deep red of the maples and the soft greens of the newest leaves.  And at the end of all this vernal glory…BEAD SHOW!!  It doesn’t get much better than that. 

Returning home again to Greensboro by mid-afternoon, I was blissed out with beads and blooms and was considering taking a nap, when what to my wondering eyes did appear but two boxes of beads and my husband’s wry sneer.  “Now whadja buy?” was the greeting.  I didn’t expect the Best Little Bead Box(es) for another couple days, so I didn’t prepare him, and he and our postal carrier shared some amusement at what could possibly be in those crazy heavy boxes.

My nap forgotten, my husband and two cats (Harry & Amelie) all gathered around the boxes and spilled the contents onto the kitchen table.  Oh, yeah…I was experiencing bead nirvana now!  Bead-topia, bead-tacular, bead-zinga, bead-gasm (can you say that on a blog? ;~).   And there was my husband in the middle of the loot acting like a kid in a candy shop (a wrestler in a folding-chair factory maybe?).  How awesome is it to have a husband (30 years!!) that is so genuinely happy for you and what you love?!  So he helped me gently unpack and open up all the packages.  Here Amelie meets Courage.

What I took...

Urged by the BLBB goddesses Carol Dean and Jennifer not to be shy about taking, I started my keep pile.  Seed beads are my weakness so I made a beeline for those (several strands of size 8 mixes, a tube of pink 11s, a bag of transparent green that I had just about run out of, beautiful rainbow crystal cut charlottes and a tube of very cute pink peanut beads!).  One can never have enough Czech glass anything, so I got some leaves, flowers, ladybugs, faces and crystals.  I grabbed a couple cuff blanks, a knot of gorgeous pink/red silk strands, and that cool color wheel (THANKS Sharon!!), as well as lots of gemstone cabs, pendants, chips and rounds.  I chose some really droolworthy lampwork glass, a vitrail rivoli, a gorgeous porcelain face, some charms, a sweet Czech button, some clay and glass pieces and two yummy pendants and beads by Golem.

What went in...

In anticipation of the BLBB, I began a “donate” box a couple weeks ago and started filling it with goodies from my stash and as instructed, I gave gooder than I got.  I have to tell you that my face started to hurt from the giddy smile I got while bagging and tagging my contributions, I think that was my favorite part!!  Again, I started with seed beads: 5 hanks of assorted 11/0 Czech seed beads, two hanks each of burgundy and dark navy Czech charlottes, a couple size 6 bead mixes, some big bags O’ beads in matte rainbow amber and purple, 9 tubes of assorted Delicas, some green rainbow triangle beads, and some assorted tubes of size 11 seed beads and one tube of fabulous size 15 Miyuki hex beads in antique bronze (oh the sparkle on those babies!).

 
 In the odds and ends category, I included a bag of assorted shell coin beads, some nylon gift bags, earring cards, wooden balls (for beaded beads), assorted glass, goldstone, hematite and metal pendants, assorted findings and threads, a few pieces of vintage glass and acrylic cabochons, some gold charms and puffed hearts, and some kicky clay bananas, budgies and hibiscus flowers that came off some old necklaces.  I’ve added an assortment of Czech glass leaves, hearts, flowers, crystals, pearls, fish, cubes and rounds and four lovely gold 14mm rivolis.  Three beadweaving books are also included.   Are we having fun yet?!!

In the naturals category, I’ve added lots of rocks: cabs, pendants, donuts and rounds in assorted agates and jaspers including some paua shells, picture jasper, and an amazing pietersite cab.  Cat’s eye (optic) glass rounds in several colors, a bag of olive green fresh water pearls, amethyst chips and several strands of shell








 
 The Grand Finale includes pieces from some of my favorite artists: two Golem Pendants, a bunch of lampwork glass beads from Gail Hanley, clay tiles from FiredandFused, several bits from Lisa Peters Art, two polymer clay pieces from TrinityDJ, a polymer clay sun/moon cab by CreationsbyAna, two Kenyan porcelain beads, a raku pendant from a local NC potter, a couple gorgeous dichroic glass pieces, and two fabulous porcelain slides by Marsha Hedrick.   



Harry and Courage supervise loading the boxes
Before I packed up the boxes and tucked in the Tiger for the next destination, the Courage Tiger and I took a little stroll to celebrate the first day of Spring in North Carolina!  He’s a frisky little guy and enjoyed frolicking through the flowers.  I’d turn my back for just a second and he’d scramble up a tree!  I think he was happy to be out in the fresh air after being cooped up on his long travels.  He even hung out on my deck catching some rays! 

 In the Cherry Tree.

 Catching rays on the deck!

 Scampering up the Redbud tree!

The Best Little Bead Box is now officially two LARGE flat rate boxes weighing at least 25 lbs each.  As I told Carol Dean, it should either be illegal or required to have this much fun!  I’ve enjoyed the entire experience, not the least of which has been getting to share this great cause with so many friends!