Beads | Bead Happily Ever After

For the Love of Beads

Posted on March 26, 2012 by crystal

Before I became a bead seller, I was a bead customer!

As a customer, I’d occasionally receive free beads with my order but – more often than not – they were disappointing.

It usually seemed obvious that these “free” beads were “seconds”, or were the leftover styles and colors that hadn’t sold.

I used to think: “Why bother? I don’t need the rejects. It would be so much nicer to receive a little gift I could actually use.”

Once I became a bead seller, myself, those early experiences served me well. They helped me to formulate my own policies for appreciating my customers.

If you’ve ever shopped with me, you know I LOVE to include a sample of our beads with every order. It’s fun for me to select something I think you might enjoy!

How do I decide which beads? Well, sometimes, I have a new item in stock that I am excited for you to see. Other times, I look for a clue to your preferences in the beads you’ve just purchased!

It’s always a special treat for me to see what you eventually create with our beads. Recently, a customer sent me photos of jewelry she made with a sample of these beads, which I had tucked inside her order. . .

Look at the pretty set she designed!

Earrings

Necklace

She tells me that she has fallen in in love with Vintage Lucite Beads and I can totally understand . . .

In her own words:

“I love vintage plastic beads because they are lightweight and durable. The designs are striking and the colors are vibrant, which makes these 40+-year-old beads a pleasure to work with. I have to hide them from my kids (ages 1.5 and 3.5) because they are convinced I have boxes full of candy!”

Be sure to stop by and take a peek at AvocadoEggroll’s delightful jewelry shop!

You can find it by clicking here.

Hugs,

Worth A Thousand Words

Posted on February 28, 2012 by crystal

Sometimes a picture really can be worth a thousand words.
In these photos, I see many of my favorite things . . .

Tea, bone china teacups, flowers (especially pansies), the act of making jewelry, (and jewelry, itself!), bracelets, BEADS!, the color purple, aurora borealis . . .

Not too long ago, I spent an afternoon making this bracelet.

It was a welcome break during a particularly busy week.

What are you up to lately?

Hugs,

Crazy for Clay . . . Beads!

Posted on June 16, 2009 by crystal

With a website called Bead Happily Ever After, it’s probably pretty obvious that I LOVE beads!

I‘ve been collecting and designing jewelry with both vintage and contemporary beads for years now. More recently, I’ve begun to sell beads on my website and also on etsy.

My specialty is vintage beads, but I am crazy about all kinds of beads including those created by bead artisans – both in glass and polymer clay. There is such joy in making something special with beautiful beads!

Here’s a set I’m working on that incorporates some fabulous clay beads. Notice the lovely layering of shapes on the pendant.

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Aren’t the coordinating diamond-shaped clay beads pretty, too?

For accents, I’m using genuine amethysts (the rectangles), and Swarovski crystals (rounds and bicones).

As you can see by the tape on the ends, I’m still pondering the style of clasp I want. The little ziplock bag on the left holds the exact beads that I’ll use to make matching earrings. Gathering those “earring beads” in a bag is a tip I learned the hard way. It’s so much easier to do it when designing the necklace – in case there will be a delay between finishing the necklace and actually making the earrings. Trying to find exactly what you need later can be difficult, especially if you’ve cleaned up the worktable in the meantime.

Making A Memory

Posted on November 3, 2008 by crystal

My daughter and I made a necklace the other day…

She’s all grown up now and currently lives in Europe, but last week she popped in for a surprise visit.

She and I have always shared a love of sparkly baubles, and I’ve designed several pieces of jewelry for her over the years. But after breakfast on Thursday morning, while we were perusing my collection of vintage beads, she decided that she would like to make a little something herself.

During that afternoon, we giggled as we spilled bags of beads all over the kitchen table in a myriad of glittering piles.

“A loooong necklace”, she declared, while experimenting with various colors, shapes, and sizes.

I should mention that this girl of mine was born a fashion maven, and although she hasn’t had much opportunity to make jewelry in the past, on this day it was immediately apparent that she was about to create something gorgeous!!!

Her Dad would have to dine later than usual that evening. At dusk, the table was still blanketed in beads! He said he didn’t mind though, as he shot us a tolerant smile.

When all was said and done, the necklace was breathtaking – a unique treasure, much like the young woman who created it!

Later, I realized that the thrill of viewing the finished piece and the fun we had during the process was only part of the experience.

In the end, the most important thing that my daughter and I made that day was a memory . . .

Captivating Cameos and Cabochons

Posted on October 14, 2008 by crystal

Because I love all things vintage, these magnificent little treasures really caught my eye.

Aren’t they breathtaking?

Vintage Cameos and Cabs

We’re so excited to currently have them in stock in our online bead shop! Depending on their style/shape, they’re called cabochons, cameos, or intaglios.

This collection showcases designs that were used in the costume jewelry of yesteryear. What you see in the photo is called “old/new stock”, which means it was made years ago but has never been used. Technically, these are not beads, as they have no holes for stringing, but they look gorgeous when you incorporate them into your beaded jewelry designs!

To use them as pendants you can carefully drill a small hole at the top, or you can wire-wrap them, or mount them in vintage metal pendant frames, or my favorite – you can create a beaded bezel around them using delicate seed beads! The beaded bezel gives them an elegant old world look. You’ll find an excellent tutorial on beading around a cabochon, here.

In the photo, there are both glass and resin pieces. Some have smooth rounded surfaces, some are particularly three-dimensional, and some have beautiful beveled edges. All of them have flat backs. The colors are soft and the details exquisite. In addition to making a bold focal point for your jewelry, these pretty cabochons would definitely lend themselves to other uses, including sewing/embroidery projects, home décor, altered art, greeting cards, and scrapbooking.

Of course, there’s always the option of simply “collecting” vintage jewelry components just because they’re beautiful!

Whether you use them in jewelry, put them on display, or keep them in a box to pull out and admire from time to time, there’s a bonus when you collect tiny treasures . . . storage space is not an issue. J