The Bead Spot

These are the wooden beads I bought a few weeks ago at Dollar Tree.  When I got them, I had planned to make some more stretchy kids bracelets, but I've been having second thoughts lately. Because they're made of wood, I think they might look more cohesive with a natural cord versus the elastic string I had planned to use. Perhaps I'll try them both ways to see which works best.

After what seems like forever, I'm finally down to just putting the clasp on the blue herringbone bracelet I've been working on. With e verything that's been going on lately in my personal life , I haven't had much beading time. On Sunday, I had the chance to bead during my lunch break at work, but I decided to get some exercise instead. I walked a mile and a half, and it felt good. I need to find a way, though, to have time for beading and exercise.

I'm very close to finishing up my latest herringbone bracelet. It just needs a few final rows, and thankfully, it turns out I will have enough beads  after all. Yay! I'm a little up in the air about what I'd like to do next. I'd like to rework some of my children's bracelets since I found that most of them would be too small for girls about age 5 to 8, which is who I envision wearing them. Getting them redone before the next arts and crafts show I decide to set up with should be a priority, but that probably won't be until this May. I've been thumbing through my new book ,  "Traditional Indian Bead & Leather Crafts"  by  Monte Smith and Michelle Von Sickle, and I'd really like to try one of them. I have some leather that I bought several years ago, but I haven't done anything with it yet. Perhaps I can give a project or two a try.

Last week, I was still battling a sinus infection, and some of the medicine the doctor gave me made me sleepy. As a result, I got very little work done on the bracelet I was working on. I even spent a couple of my lunches at work resting. This week should be better, though. The sinus infection seems to finally be gone, so I'm down to taking just the antibiotics. Revamping Etsy I also haven't had a chance to make any changes to my Etsy store yet, but I hope to add more photos of the items I have for sale -- a black seed bead bracelet , a green seed bead bracelet and a kids bracelet -- within the next few weeks. I think all three items would benefit from me spending some time trying to get better photos, especially the kids bracelet. That photo makes the white beads look as if they have a reddish tint to them.

For years, I've wanted to bead on leather, so I bought a new book at Amazon with a gift card I had. The book is called "Traditional Indian Bead & Leather Crafts" by  Monte Smith and Michelle Von Sickle. I haven't had much time to go through it yet, but after just flipping through it, I think it will be a little heavier on the beading than I had hoped. I was mostly looking for info on the leather side of the crafts. Hopefully, it will have enough to get me going regardless.

Last week, I was feeling under the weather. I completed a little bit more on the blue bracelet I was working on, but not as much as I had hoped. I'm a little nervous on whether I'll have enough beads to finish it. If I can't, I'll just set it aside and move on to something else until I sell something, because I've decided I have enough beads for now. I don't want to shell out any more money for my hobby until I get something else sold.

This year, I'm going to do this blog a little differently. I'm only going to post on Mondays. I love writing as much as I love beading, but between the two hobbies and having a toddler at home, I'm having trouble getting done some key chores around the house, like, the dishes. Therefore, I'm cutting back on my blogging here. I still welcome comments at any time, and some weeks, I might have an extra post or two. I also plan to do a little "remodeling" on this blog, as well as on my Etsy shop, which I might close in favor of selling on StorEnvy instead. I haven't quite decided yet.