Please help with my addiction!

So, I've been a bad blogger.  No posts for a week.  I have been really busy.  Not making jewellery, listing it and selling it.  Just buying beads.

Not beads, but shells.  Still part of the addiction though!

By now, I must be officially an addict.  Practically my waking thought is 'another day, I could look for some beads'!  It's always been a bit of a problem, but it's got worse recently.

Gemstone chips?  Still beads, really

Partly, I blame the OH who did mention that after April we'll be a bit worse off, so I should 'stock up a bit'.  Then there are the customers.  Every time I have a sale that just encourages me to buy more to make more things.  Also, as it got towards the end of the financial year, and it looked like I'd do slightly less badly than I predicted in last year's tax return.  So, it's all a vicious circle.


So what's the problem?  Well, for one thing, we live in a really small house. Instead of being confined to my beading table, gemstones and findings have spread throughout the living area, and some stray ones were recently even found in the bathroom!  Plus, now I seem to have too much choice.  Just can't decide if I've got the right combination of my vast stash to commit to making something.  And there the normal guilt of spending money, of course.

Even small animals get caught up in the bead obsession!

I've compensated a bit by making and selling more items for charity which is a win-win as far as I'm concerned.  And I know I'm lucky to have the money to indulge my passion - I can still remember the time when we were fishing for pennies down the back of the sofa to scrape together enough for a tin of beans - so it still seems a bit of a wonder that I can afford a hobby at all.





So, what to do?  Any suggestions welcome.  As well as anyone wanting to help form a support group ;-)

Please help with my addiction!

So, I've been a bad blogger.  No posts for a week.  I have been really busy.  Not making jewellery, listing it and selling it.  Just buying beads.

Not beads, but shells.  Still part of the addiction though!

By now, I must be officially an addict.  Practically my waking thought is 'another day, I could look for some beads'!  It's always been a bit of a problem, but it's got worse recently.

Gemstone chips?  Still beads, really

Partly, I blame the OH who did mention that after April we'll be a bit worse off, so I should 'stock up a bit'.  Then there are the customers.  Every time I have a sale that just encourages me to buy more to make more things.  Also, as it got towards the end of the financial year, and it looked like I'd do slightly less badly than I predicted in last year's tax return.  So, it's all a vicious circle.


So what's the problem?  Well, for one thing, we live in a really small house. Instead of being confined to my beading table, gemstones and findings have spread throughout the living area, and some stray ones were recently even found in the bathroom!  Plus, now I seem to have too much choice.  Just can't decide if I've got the right combination of my vast stash to commit to making something.  And there the normal guilt of spending money, of course.

Even small animals get caught up in the bead obsession!

I've compensated a bit by making and selling more items for charity which is a win-win as far as I'm concerned.  And I know I'm lucky to have the money to indulge my passion - I can still remember the time when we were fishing for pennies down the back of the sofa to scrape together enough for a tin of beans - so it still seems a bit of a wonder that I can afford a hobby at all.





So, what to do?  Any suggestions welcome.  As well as anyone wanting to help form a support group ;-)

Wordless Wednesday: Red Nose Day earrings

Carnelian beads and sterling silver earwires.  Only £5 on Folksy, with a donation of £3 to Comic Relief for every pair sold.

Wordless Wednesday: Red Nose Day earrings

Carnelian beads and sterling silver earwires.  Only £5 on Folksy, with a donation of £3 to Comic Relief for every pair sold.

VOTE FOR ME! I've Been Added to Great Finds

I would appreciate your support by voting for me on the Great Finds - On Fire for Handmade. My dainty pink anklet was chosen and I would just be ecstatic if I were to win. The prize is a month of free advertising. 

Vote on the lower left side in the grey box. Just click Finding Charm and submit vote - that simple!


Have a great Tuesday!

Beautiful Blogger Award

I was surprised to learn that I have received the Beautiful Blogger Award from Honor Crowned Creativity.  I think this is a creative award because it's not just about the blog, but about the person who blogs.

I get to pass the Beautiful Blogger Award on to other fabulous bloggers.  There are two rules when given the award. I tell you 7 things about me & choose 7 blogs to receive the award.

7 Things about me!

1.  I love cars. I think they're an expression of who we are. With that, I name all of my cars. When I was sixteen I shared the family car which was blue, so I called her Blue Belle.  Then I got a maroon car I called Cherry Blossom.  Then I had a jade colored car, named her the obvious, Jade. And then my latest is Gus. I drive a black Pontiac Aztec and it took me a few weeks, and all of a sudden, it stuck. I call it the identity crisis car. I thought they were ugly, still do, but when you get inside you forget that ugly box you're driving. I refer to him as a person. I'll tell someone "I'm taking Gus to the shop for an oil change." A little odd I know. But sometimes cars have personalities too!  Please don't report me to the loony bin!

2. I'm originally from Kansas City, Mo. About a year and a half ago, I moved down to Dallas, Tx. I came by myself and knowing no one. I moved for a job. I'm told all the time that I was brave to do that. I'm a little too independent for my own good sometimes. I love Dallas, and I'm glad I finally got the chance to live here. But I know I'll end up back home. Miss the Midwest and their way of life.

3. I am enamored with the sea. Went sailing once with what I now call the renegade cowboy sailor. Sailed from Miami heading to Nantucket. Only made it to Savannah, GA. The steering broke and I was not happy with the guy taking us out over 250 miles into the gulf stream. Huge Freighter radioed us and cussed us out for being on such a small boat too far out to sea. I knew then, I was in trouble. Didn't help that I got tossed around the cabin and went head first into the stove and split my nose open the first 2 minutes out to sea. Now I have the scar to remind me of my crazy adventure every day.

4. I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon since late grade school. I wanted to help people like my dad who had trouble with their joints and back.  But then I couldn't get through my first month of physics in highschool. At the same time, I was excelling in a position on the school newspaper as advertising director. I was recommended for the job. I won an award at the Missouri State Competition. So before I knew it. I dropped Physics and added more journalism courses and switched to advertising/marketing as my profession. I even won a scholarship in a late students name. What an honor and I think of it often. So here I am now, a marketing manager.

5. I love to read. Some of my fun reads are John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell. Like a good mystery. Makes me think and I like that. My shameless obsession is Danielle Steel. So much fun. And yes, I even cry sometimes. I've been known to throw a book too when I was done. But my literary favorite is Edith Wharton. She wrote the Age of Innocence and Ethan Fromme. Her writing is full of symbolism and expressing the dynamics of women and men.  She's a classic and I recommend her. She's a 1900's turn of the century author.

6. I was a nanny for 6 kids for 11 years. I was brought on board when baby number 4 was to be born. The oldest siblings were 3, 2, 1.  I stuck around for 3 more babies! I'm extremely close to all of them. I think since I was able to get my bluff in them at such an early age I'm not exactly a babysitter. They have said I'm like a mom, but much cooler. I thought that was funny. Veronica 15, Sean 14, Molly 13, Jack 11, Jamie 9, and Vaughn 7.  I would say I'm a patient person. And what's important to me is that they still talk to me and now it's the bigger important things in life for the older ones, but they feel comfortable enough because "I remember what it was like to be a kid." That means a lot to me. The 3 younger ones are so attached to me. When I go up for visits there's a big fight on who spends time with me first. It's so nice to feel loved. I adore each and every one of them and they keep me grounded. 

7. I'll keep this one short because I can go on and on with details.  I went sailing once from Miami to Nantucket. But the steering broke some 250 miles off the coast of Georgia. We were able to jimmy rig an elbow like thing to the main steering column below the floor. I steered that boat 250 miles to Georgia, while the "skipper" slept down below. Took us 2 days to get to shore. We anchored in Savannah, and I got on the first plane out.

The Seven Bloggers I am awarding the Beautiful Blogger Award to Are:

1. The Frugal Designer

2. Dean Designs

3. Do-rah! Designs

4. Elle's Beads

5. The Sassy Pack Rat

6. PepperPi

7. Sugarberry Sensations

Folksy Friday - A little crochet

I love the retro look of these Folksy finds!




This crochet satchel by The Sunroom reminds me of some great summer sunsets and the crochet handbag by Eva B Designs is so pretty and practical!


This top (made to order by Blue Fish Handmade) is a great summer colour, I think,and the table ware by Marti Rich Creations has a lovely traditional feel.


Proving that crochet goes beyond the traditional is this great bouquet arrangement by Chez Penny and I couldn't miss out this spectacular scarf by Victoria Jackman in the most amazing colours!

I wish I could crochet but my stitches were always too tight or too slack...

Which is your favourite?

Folksy Friday - A little crochet

I love the retro look of these Folksy finds!




This crochet satchel by The Sunroom reminds me of some great summer sunsets and the crochet handbag by Eva B Designs is so pretty and practical!


This top (made to order by Blue Fish Handmade) is a great summer colour, I think,and the table ware by Marti Rich Creations has a lovely traditional feel.


Proving that crochet goes beyond the traditional is this great bouquet arrangement by Chez Penny and I couldn't miss out this spectacular scarf by Victoria Jackman in the most amazing colours!

I wish I could crochet but my stitches were always too tight or too slack...

Which is your favourite?

Tired but Crafty

It's been a long week and I haven't gotten anywhere near as much done this week as I would have liked! Thank the migraine monsters for that. Good news is we think we figured out what I was reacting too so hopefully I'll be going uphill from here again :)

I had all sorts of things I want to do and then post about today - but between the migraine, running errands, and doctors appointments, I've run out of time and energy! The good news is that one of those errands was to a craft store to buy the yarn for my nephew's baby blanket. I'm so excited! John and Becca are the type of family you chose, not that your born into, and I love them to pieces :) Becca is due at the beginning of May and she's having TWINS, so Mom and I are making matching baby blankets, just in different colors. I'm having so much fun with this!

Last Bazaar of the Season

Yesterday was my last bazaar of the Christmas season! I didn't think I was going to get to go because of my sprained ribs, but my wonderful Mother in law offered to come along and help out with carrying and setting up, so we went for it! For some strange reason I didn't get a picture of her though :(

La also came with us this week - and she was sitting there writing when bored :) Oh yeah...um... we were bored a lot. There were hardly any customers!

This was La's table. She's one of the people who really inspired me to start following my dreams and start selling my jewelry. She's a great friend/sister and we have a lot of fun!

This adorable little fairy that you see on my table is named Lira - and she's my crafty muse :) My dear friend Meri over at Elbit Enterprises made her for me as a Christmas present :D During the normal week she sits on my desk next to my laptop (Jack) where she watches over my work. And then she went with me to the bazaar - and she'll be doing that in the future too!

I also FINALLY remembered to put a sign up sheet for my newsletter this time! Hopefully that will be a regular feature from now on. I only got one sign up - but hey - that's one more reader!

I really need to learn to sit down and let other people help when I'm hurting! Even though my mother in law was there to help I still did too much yesterday - so my ribs are rather mad at me today. Oh well. At least we all had fun (and a couple of sales) and I got a bunch of crafting done :P

Dreaming and Scheming

This weeks Etsy Bloggers Carnival had two choices:

1. Now that spring has sprung, it's planting time. If you're into gardening, what would your dream garden look like? What flowers/bulbs/herbs would you plant? What about garden doodads or statues?
2. Your Own Space: describe your dream studio (or if you already have one, give details!). Decorating, supplies you wish you had, size, etc.

Let me just say I do NOT have a green thumb. It's more like a black thumb! Ok, I did manage to keep the plants alive at the last two places I house sat, but the fact remains that I'm not really a plant person! Besides, I've been dreaming for a long time about my crafty space. 

Now some of my awesome bloggy pals found pictures to go with their descriptions. I thought about that, but I'm not feeling well today, so you'll just have to make your own mental pictures. Deal? Good. 

I have two separate dreams for craft rooms. One is more practical and obtainable, and one is truly dreaming! You see, right now, just about anything would be better than what I have! Because my hubby is a full time student, and I have limited resources because of my health problems (not to mention the bills the health problems cause), we have to live as frugally as we can right now. So we live in a one bedroom apartment.  

We manage the space by taking the living room (which is relatively big) and splitting it in two. We have a futon that my evil twin loaned us and that splits the space giving us a small living room space, and the other half is computers and my crafty stuff. 

Because of this my very first dream is simply to move to a bigger apartment! I would love to have a two bedroom apartment with our bed and stuff in the smaller bedroom, and all our computers and crafty stuff in the master bedroom! I'd keep the computers in with the crafty stuff because my hubby spends a lot of time on the computer and this means we'd still sort of spend time together, which is pretty much what we do now in our small space! 

Now for my ultimate dream. Well, I've been dreaming of my dream house for a long time.  The one feature that is KEY is having a full library room! Can't have my dream house without that. If you know me, you know I love books! 

Now I'm thinking that the entire second floor of my dream house would need to be a studio. Oh we could have our computers in there, and a tv would be could because I like to watch things while I craft, but the majority of the space would be for crafty stuff! I'd have a big work desk that would be in a V shape in one corner. This would allow me to easily rotate between the computer and my current project. One side of the desk would extend far enough to give my hubby his own computer space so he'd still be up there with me! 

There would be a full set of shelves (or two!) for beads. I already have 21 different organizational boxes piled up on my table - give me time and I can't even begin to imagine how many I'll have in a few years! Then of course I'd have to have some storage space for the finished products and display items for when I go to craft fairs :)

Now I'm not just a beady woman, I like other crafts and have many things I want to learn! So there would a table for a sewing machine, shelves for fabric, shelves for yarn, and shelves for whatever else I want! Plus of course a book case (yes I know I have a library, shhhh!), for books and magazines to use for resources! 

No I'm not obsessed with creating things and books! What ever made you say that?