The Perfect Vacation Beach Jewelry

Thanks to everyone who has given me advice and well wishes as we prepare for the biggest move of our marriage.

I drafted this post a while ago and hadn’t gotten around to posting it. The stress of the last few weeks combined with the sunny weather of our last house hunting trip have made me wish to be on a sunny beach somewhere.

My husband and I work very hard all year so we can go somewhere near a hot beach every December. I say somewhere near because we are more often at the bar, in our room, or on a hammock while on vacation.

The first few years we went to the beach, I took some nice quality jewelry to wear to the cocktail parties and fancy dinners. I have gotten over that phase.

Nice quality jewelry has to be locked in the room safe or taken off before getting in the Jacuzzi or pool. Nice quality jewelry grabs the eyes of the beach vendors walking by who refuse to believe you have no money for their locally crafted goods (imported from China).

The best vacation jewelry can get lost, broken, wet, left in the gym locker or left on the bedside table while you are at the beach. The best beach jewelry can withstand a lot of sand, salt water, sunscreen and the occasionally splashed pina coladas.

The next time you pack for the beach, pick out vibrant beads to match your vibrant sun dresses and leave the gold in the jewelry box.

perfect vacation

The Good Old Fashioned Hold The Camera Yourself Picture

 

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Beadland in a Box

Half the fun of blogging is coming up with eye catching titles. This title was given to me by a coworker who has been pressuring me (in a friendly way) to sell on Etsy.

No, Beadland is not being sold. That would be equivalent to selling my husband’s man cave in the basement and one should not speak in such a way.

Beadland is my escape from all responsibilities and is the true nest I created for beading and everything jewelry.

This is the before picture.

Where the Bead Magic Happens

My Precious Beads

Before what? You may ask.

Before my husband and I both went crazy at the same time (this time) and decided to put our house on the market.

So while Beadland is not being sold, the room in which it resides will be sold.

For every one of you blessed souls who have moved before, I commend you. This is one of the most trying times and we chose to do it to ourselves. Shame on us. Next time we will just abandon a house instead of preparing it for the critical eyes of others.

Preparing includes days of painting, calling the repairman to repair things I have been ignoring for maybe a long time, steam cleaning mysterious stains out of carpets, sorting our many personal possessions for consignment, donation, auctions, or the trash.

Preparing involves list, more lists, lists on napkins at restaurants, lists on post its during work meetings, frequent texts or emails about such and such found in a closet, and calls to family to ask if they want back a dish I borrowed seven years ago.

Preparing involves the complete dismemberment of my nest. My nest has been carefully constructed over the last eight years. I started this nest before I ever found my husband online. Ok, ok, he found me.

Preparing involves the removal of the “MAN CAVE” sign from the basement door. Ouch.

Preparing involves (big deep breath without crying), the packing away of my beads. I spent nine hours on a recent Saturday carefully disassembling Beadland. I took frequent breaks. I got easily distracted. At one point I tried to leave the house but my husband caught me. I had to choose which beads and supplies were critical to remain within the house while all others took a short journey to a storage unit. That was a pretty tough day.

I persevered and this lonely room and desk are the result.

The Room Formerly Known as Beadland

The Room Formerly Known as Beadland

Look closely and you can find beads, however it really is nowhere near what it was. I do not even want to be in that room anymore.

My husband and I now hang out on the middle floor of our three level townhome while we wait for an offer of the house. With Man Cave and Beadland gone, we spend time in the living room.

Well….

Until the repairmen comes to paint the ceiling, dismantle the entertainment center that no one wants, and steam clean the carpet.

Then I guess we will go hang out in the bedroom, but try not to mess up the perfectly assembled bedding;)

To say that we are excited about a new home, complete with a new Man Cave, Beadland, and a bed we can keep messy all the time would be putting it mildly.

So for now, Beadland is in a box.

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Spirit of the Red Horse – An Airport Shop Review

A few months ago I had the opportunity to fly with my parents into Nashville airport. The trip was for a family funeral so the mood of the trip was sad. I had taken my jewelry journal in the event I had any inspiring moments regardless of the trip purpose.

On our way home, we got to the airport several hours before the flight so we had time to peruse the many shops.

For those of you who have never been to the Nashville airport, you are missing out on a lot of Southern and Country music inspired flavor.

Like any tourist targeted airport it takes advantage of local culture and this is one of the best airports at doing so.

A 3 foot long fur covered overnight bag is what drew my Dad and I to even enter the store. I had to see the price of the exorbitant creation. He had to see what kind of fur it might be of in case it could make good fly tying material.

My mother tagged along to see the blue suede cowboy boots in the window. She always has loved Elvis.

I got as far as the fur covered carry-on when jewelry caught my eye. I was a lost cause for the next 30 minutes.

The shop was filled with an inspiration of country and native american products.

Jewelry leaned towards turquoise, feathers, silver, boleros, painted horses, and a myriad of southwestern colors. A simple pair of beaded earrings sold for $36 and the fur carry-on was on sale for only $295.

Prices were true to the store purpose – targeting travelers spending time and money.

Customer Service was also true to form. Support was offered as soon as we touched the expensive carry-on. Two different sales people offered to answer any questions we had.

Variety – The store had an immense amount of product. Looking for handbag shaped like a turtle shell? Yes, they have it.

I will stop in there the next time I fly through Nashville. If only to see if anyone bought that bag.

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The One Thing Proven to Hinder Beading

I can bead on a plane.

I can bead on a train.

I have beaded in a hammock, at a bar, on the beach and in a pool (all in the same resort mind you).

I can bead fresh out of bed.

I can bead when feeling half dead.

What I discovered I absolutely cannot do is bead with blisters from painting.

Typing this was hard enough.

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Home Repair Advice From A Beader

I am not a home repair expert, though I do own manuals about plumbing, electricity, and I avidly watch HGTV (Home and Garden Television). Please do not take this as advice from an expert in any way.

Simply accept it as tongue in cheek recommendations from your favorite beader.

When Painting a room:

  1. Do not step in the paint you have dropped on the drop cloth and then walk on the navy carpet.
  2. Remove your wedding rings so when you drop a glop of paint on your hand they are not covered in beige paint that when dried has to be chipped or peeled off.
  3. Do not wear your most recent prescription eyeglasses. It isn’t like the old pair will prevent you from seeing the paint in front of your face.  Wearing an older pair means you don’t have to scrape off the paint spots before you go to work the next day. They can wait a while.
  4. Remove your watch and your earrings for the same reason as described in number two above.
  5. Just like jewelry, patience pays off. Don’t rush one or two coats. Settle in for the long haul, paint four coats, and appreciate the end result.
  6. It is okay to leave the powder room purple because your niece asked you to never paint it eight years ago.
  7. Painting naked saves you on laundry, but always okay it with your painting partners first.

Plumbing:

  1. Take the top off the back of the commode when it runs too long. Learn how it works. Take it apart, but always remember how to put it back together.
  2. A disassembled necklace someone gave you is a lot easier to put back together than the commode.
  3. Know when your garbage disposal has had too much.
  4. Ride out the long thunderous banging pipes in a shower you only use when your main shower is being repaired. It is just air in the pipes and it will go away.

General Repair:

  1. If you by chance rip out the phone jack in your kitchen when you buy the house, remember where you put the ripped out phone jack and more importantly, remember how to re-install it.
  2. Carpet steam cleaning agencies will also fix the mysterious bubbled ridges in your carpet.
  3. A bird will always take the largest poop you have ever seen on the window you only clean once a year. This tip also applies to cars if you happen to only wash them when your husband becomes completely disgusted with your idea of car maintenance and washes your car for you.
  4. The dead plant in the garden will not come back to life. Put it to rest and plant something new.

Just a few things I have learned over the years owning my very first home.

 

 

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Beige Paint

Our Real Estate Agent told us to paint our basement beige. She has been sellling homes successfully for many years so we obliged.

Do you know how many paint samples look beige? A LOT. But none of them say “Beige”. They say Camel or Biscuit. My husband and I stood in the paint section and stared at 100 feet of paint samples and displays. We almost ran away.

When we asked the clerk at the paint station for beige paint, he got that look on his face that you give the naive. A look that clearly told us he had seen our kind before. The kind of people told by their Real Estate Agent to paint their basement beige.

He then kindly showed us the section of samples with only 1000 choices.

I do not know what color we bought by name. We bought beige paint.

As soon as we finished dinner tonight we gleefully ran to the basement and our  brand new 5 gallon bucket of paint. The bucket is so heavy my husband has to move it around the basement.

Two hours later, two of the major walls had two coats of paint. Painting over a high gloss white means we may have to add yet another coat, but we don’t mind. It was such fun.

My friend Becky asked me to make her a necklace with small red, silver, and black beads. Red beads are not as difficult as beige paint, because I knew the right questions to ask.

Strawberry or garnet red?

She chose garnet.

Thank goodness she did not ask for beige.

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Where Did I put it? Missing materials

For about a month I have been trying to figure out where I put a vintage pair of robin’s egg turquoise earrings. I have searched high and low in Beadland.

I think about those earrings every time I turn earrings into pendants. I will stop doing laundry or stirring sauce on the stove just to run check one more place I may have “stored them for safekeeping”.

Every once in a while I will think of someone that I may have given them to, but after checking with them I find out I did not.

To make it more irritating, my current favorite necklace has a pendant made from a similar set.

Hmm. I wonder if they are in my own jewelry box…………..

missing

Where did I put it?

 

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Football Earrings and Joe Theismann’s Leg

When I met my husband I was very up front about my passion for American Football. He fell in love with me anyway. Lust can make you overlook so many things. Lust can make the most annoying habits appear cute.

When I was a little girl if you wanted to spend time with Daddy, you either went fishing with him or you watched sports. At any other time Daddy was either at work, helping someone with their math homework, mowing the yard (his only chance at peace with seven women and two female cats), or sleeping. As a result, I do not mow the yard at my house, I can tie flies for fly fishing, catch dinner from a stream if I absolutely was starving, and I love football.

I grew up in Maryland well after the Baltimore Colts had abandoned their city, so the only team to root for was the Washington Redskins. I liked them because they wore this lovely red colored uniform and they had Joe Theismann as their Quarterback. Joe Theismann was dreamy even to an eight year old.

Bear with me. This really does get around to jewelry.

On November 18th, 1985, Mom had finally managed to get Dad and I out of the living room for dinner with the promise that we could leave the television on in the other room to listen to the game. The Redskins were playing the New York Giants (those Yankees as my father may have called them).

I pushed my dinner around my plate trying desperately to make it look like I had eaten enough to be excused. Dad might havr been doing the same thing.

I knew something was wrong when the stadium noise from the living room got very quiet, but we could still hear the announcers. They were saying scary words like “hit” and “horrible”. I begged to be allowed to leave the dinner table (something rarely allowed until you ate all of your vegetable and biscuit). It was a race around the corner in socks on a hardwood floor. I huddled next to my Daddy on the old couch and cried as they showed replay after replay of Lawrence Taylor’s tackle that resulted in a  compound fracture of Joe Theismann’s leg. I had never seen anything so grotesque outside of the pictures we saw in National Geographic.

I was 8 years old that night. A quarter of a century later I can still see the replays in my mind. I still cringe.

People ask why I root for two football teams. To most sport fans this is unacceptable. One I grew up with and I carry the memories of watching their 1980′s and 1990′s games fondly in the Daddy file in my head.

Redskin Earrings

The other team that I support, I went to University near, the Baltimore Ravens. I attended my only actual in person football games at Raven Stadium in downtown Baltimore. It was very cold during those games and metal bleachers can freeze your nether regions off during a four hour game. I swore never to watch a game in person again unless it was the SuperBowl.

Ravens Earrings

So when I came across a display at The Harpers Ferry Flea Market with bottle cap earrings for every football team in the National Football League, of course I bought one pair for each of my teams.

A search online resulted in the techniques and tools used to make such frivolous pieces. Obviously the earrings are not sanctioned by the National Football League and the use of the team’s images are likely not approved. It was the flea market. There are no such rules.

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Bulk Supplies

When I go to bead shows, I like to hunt down the tables in the back.

This is where you find the vendors who are there to sell a whole lot of stuff to a whole lot of people. Note – this is not the curtained off wholesaler section. This section is targeted for bead addicts like me. The buyer who won’t commit to go behind the green curtain, but will commit to buying pounds and pounds of beads at once.

I am your enabler. I encourage you to search out those tables in the back. Purchase those two pound bags of pewter spacers. Commit to the bag of 50 lobster clasps and the extra bag of 100 lever-back earrings. You will use them all one day.

I bought the supplies below over a year ago. I have used them on countless pieces – long necklaces, earrings, bracelets. I don’t have to worry about running out before I finish a piece. Who needs that stress?

Today they still weigh at least 1 pound each. For the original cost, they have paid for themselves countless times.

bulk suppliesmore bulk supplies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happened to that bag of 100 earrings? Well, I don’t have the earrings anymore. I used 98 of them and the bag now holds beads.

Posted in Earrings, Learning How, Resources | Tagged as: , , , , | 3 Comments

Ingredients for a Necklace – A Followup

As always, when I say I will do something, I usually get around to it.

As a followup to my latest “Ingredients for a Necklace“, I used the following materials:

  • the chain of an ugly necklace
  • one gigantic post earring converted into a pendant
  • some 6 mm copper tone base metal beads
  • some more of the multicolored (brown, blue, green) glass rectangular beads that I spent way too much money on and am determined to get every penny worth

After taking apart the old necklace, I am sure the chain was copper. I was thankful since it matched the copper round beads I had chosen to place between the glass beads.

My end result:

My Marble Cutting Board Yet Again

The earring really was that big. I took a close up just in case you couldn’t see it. The colors were amazing.

Copper Earring becomes A Necklace

As always thanks for the feedback.

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