Beads | Bead Happily Ever After

Beads and the Beach . . .

Posted on August 18, 2014 by crystal

These Vintage Czech Glass beads are among my favorites in our bead shop! They’re a spectacular lilac purple with a cool matte finish, which gives them the look of sea glass!

Beads this pretty can make a spectacular piece of jewelry but don’t just take my word for it – I have proof! 🙂

Look at this beauty created by jewelry designer, sallystevens

Her work reflects a love of nature, especially the ocean. She skillfully incorporates sea glass, natural gemstones, and other carefully chosen beads into gorgeous pieces of jewelry. I love how she showcased our lilac rectangles in this expansion bracelet.

You can find more of her collection by clicking here.

Hugs,

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Click the envelope to leave a comment or to read what the other kids are saying! 😀

It Just Makes My Day . . .

Posted on August 8, 2014 by crystal

Sir Beads and I agree that one of our greatest pleasures in running a bead shop is the chance to see what our customers create with the items they order. We can’t help but feel like proud parents whenever we see a finished piece of jewelry that features our beads!

So… you can imagine our delight when this photo arrived the other day. 🙂

These gorgeous earrings were designed by Meridy of TwoTreesStudio.
She has an absolutely amazing talent for “marrying” styles and textures in her work.

Thanks, Meridy!
Our Vintage Czech Glass Olivine Teardrops never looked so good.

Want to see more of Meridy’s remarkable eye candy?
Hurry on over to her etsy shop or facebook page!

Hugs,

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Click the envelope to leave a comment or to read what the other kids are saying! 😀

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. 😉