The Bead Spot

My daughter had some spending money this past weekend, an early gift from her aunt and uncle. So the next time she and I went to our local Walmart Supercenter, I picked the groceries I needed, then she and I headed toward the toy section. But we didn't make it that far. As we came up on the crafts section, my daughter spotted an endcap full of these pottery wheels.  My daughter's new pottery wheel "Oh, Mommy! Can I get that?" she asked. I looked at the price, saw it was within the $20 she had, and told her that was fine. "But are you sure that's how you want to spend your money? Because that's going to take all of it," I told her. "Do you want to look at the toys first?" "I want this," she said. I must admit, I was pleased. I've had my eye on these pottery wheels for quite some time. Several years ago, I even toyed with taking a pottery class but decided against it because of the expense and the time it wo

1st snowman attempt using Beader's Canvas My daughter liked the jack-o-lantern necklace I made for her so much that I've wanted to create another glow-in-the-dark necklace for her for winter, and what better project, I thought, than a snowman? On Sunday, I tried to map out a snowman's head on Beader's Canvas , and after having done so, I no longer think that it will make a good necklace. I think a full snowman, using the glow-in-the-dark pony beads I have, would be too big, but if I create only a snowman head, I'm not sure people will get that it's a snowman instead of just some guy with a top had and a very red nose. I might still try it, but I think that ultimately, the project will just be a wall hanging.

A previous order from Fusion Beads Where I live, bead shops are few and far between, so most of the time when I buy beads, I'm buying them from a website. We do have some major crafts retailers — Hobby Lobby and Michaels — which don't carry the types of beads I'm looking for, as well as a few individual bead sellers, but the closest is an hour away, which means going there takes planning and taking a day off my day job. Therefore, most of my stash comes from websites. My top 3 go-to places: Fire Mountain Gems , Shipwreck Beads and Fusion Beads , but I'm always on the lookout for a new place. Here are the three sites I'd like to try: Harlequin Beads This site caught my eye mainly because it has Czech Charlotte beads, which I've used in projects such as the round earrings my grandmother was seeking . I love how Charlottes shimmer, and I can't find them just anywhere. It's been long enough since I've bought Charlottes that I don't know