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Beadaholic: I Know I Have a Problem



I love beads. Shiny, wooden, expensive, cheap. Take me to a bead store—the overhead lights bouncing off rows and rows of colors and hues, blinding me with their brilliance—and I’m in heaven. Do not get me started on gem and mineral shows, because I will have a beadgasm right now.

When I first started beading, my blingtastic friends warned how the beads would take up all of my disposable income. I laughed. But their warnings were true. Beads take up time, money, and lots of space—odd, considering how small they are.
Here’s where those bead merchants gettcha. Say you want buy a blue bead. Do you want Czech glass, Swarovski, acrylic, or gemstone?
For purposes of this little exercise, let’s say you want Swarovski. Once you pick your shade—you can’t go wrong with blue zircon—you need to decide on which coating you’ll want.
Regular? 
 



AB?


 2X AB? 


Ha! I tricked you. A bling whore would never choose. She’d get all three, of course.
Next we need to pick a shape. Bicone, round, flat back, rivoli, rondelle? And size? 3mm, 4, 6, 10? You’ll need them all. Eventually. Because you won’t be able to sleep at night thinking about that 8mm shiny blue bead you decided not to buy. You think I’m kidding?
Do you see the lure here? It’s a never-ending cornucopia of choices.   
And I love it. My husband—not so much. He simply doesn’t understand why I need another blue bead when I have so many. I’ve given up trying to explain it. I think you either have the bling gene or you don’t.
I made this little bracelet a few weeks ago, using glass, Swarovski, Malay Jade, and sodalite. I’ve been playing with asymmetrical stringing.
It’s up for grabs. Leave a comment below to enter. (Continental U.S. only.) I’ll announce the winner on Sunday, April 26th.  Good luck!

Comments

  1. Those are really pretty! Great giveaway!

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  2. Gorgeous!
    My daughter loves to work with beads.
    She can spend hours looking for just the perfect one!

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    1. Thank you, Susan! The picture didn't show just how blingy it truly is. Is your daughter addicted, too? :)

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  3. Eek, Terri,
    It's like you're inside my head! And that's a scary place to be when I'm beading.

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    1. Ha! I'm glad you share the madness, Ashlyn. We are bead sisters. :)

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  4. nice

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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  5. I love beads. My mother in law makes jewelry and I find myself just fascinated with all the shiny beads. I love bling and that's one pretty bracelet.

    sheryll1974@netscape.net

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  6. The beads are hypnotizing, Sheryl! :) Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

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  7. I went so far as to buy beads because they were this beautiful blue color (and yes, I have Swarovski crystal necklaces in that color as well, lol) but fortunately, that's as far as I have gotten! They are in my 'one of these days' pile...next to the scrapbooking supplies...

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    1. And once you start, E.L.F., you'll never stop. You've been warned! :)

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  8. I got bitten by the bead bug when the kids were small. It started out innocently enough with showing them how to string dried pasta and slowly grew into wood beads, etc. Of course, I needed beads of my own to create things while they designed with theirs. :)

    little lamb lst at yahoo dot com

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    1. That's how it starts, Lil! All innocent and harmless, the next thing you know, you're blinging the curtains! ;)

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