Now is a good time to buy beads

I’ve been shopping. I wanted to get more drop beads so that I can make a second necklace. Unfortunately, that was a bust. I had a difficult time finding two different sized drops in the same color.  I checked three local craft stores and one bead shop. I could have gone back up to the store that I purchased the pink ones, but I think I chose the pink ones because their selection was limited. I am going to have to place an order. But I did discover something else.

Right now Joann’s is having a pretty good sale in the bead department. A good portion of their beads are 40% off and that includes the more expensive crystal beads. I picked up a couple of tubes of toho beads in colors that I thought I could use. Then I ventured over to Michaels.

All of the crystal Elegance swarovski crystal beads are on clearance. If you are a *walk in to a craft store and buy it off the shelf* kind of gal, now is the time to stock up. They seem to be going fast though. I checked two different Michaels and they both had them on clearance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

They now have a new line of Crystal beads. They are very nicely packaged, I think I am just a sucker for new packaging. If you have lots of room on your peg board, you can take the paper off and neatly hang the little plastic container that is inside. It would be a great way to keep the beads from bumping in to each other as they would if they were loose in a container. I thought that some of the beads looked familiar, so I made a trip back over to Joann’s.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It appears as though Jolee’s has reinvented their packaging. I hardly ever buy the Jolee’s from Joann’s. The selection just hasn’t impressed me in the past. I do have to say though that the new collection at Michael’s is pretty impressive. The color selection is much more interesting, the packaging is more appealing and there are a lot of new components that I have not seen before.  Also, the new packaging makes the beads stand out a bit more. With the old packaging, I thought that the beads sort of all looked the same..which is probably why I never bought them.
 
 

On the bottom shelf of the display they had more of the tic tac style storage boxes. They are about twice as expensive as the ones at JoAnn’s BUT, the plastic looks clearer and they have this neat little storage gem.  The little container in this photo opens from both ends. Two of them fit in the space of one of the larger boxes.  So you can get four smaller compartments in the same space as one. There are ten larger containers and twenty of these tiny ones for a total of 30 little containers. What I love about these tiny, tiny containers is that I have quite a few beads that I only have one or two of. I don’t want to dedicate an entire container for just a few beads so they are pretty jumble together. With the smaller containers I can separate them. The beads will be easy to see and find, that seems like a win/win to me!

…And just because I was at the bead shop I had to pick up a few little treats for myself. I think this pair has potential for some pretty cool earrings. I also think that if I can find them in a smaller size that they might just work for that necklace. Unfortunately I managed to break one. (Don’t ask) So I am going to have to pick up a new one.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is a pair of vintage swarovski crystal beads. I thought they were interesting. I have no idea what I will do with them!

The last two weeks have been pretty rough for us. My daughter had a fever for 8 days, my son had his for 9. I sounded so bad, that after listening to me breathe my Dr put me on antibiotics because he was worried about Post Viral Pneumonia. Good Times. I am behind in just about every aspect of my life. The house needs a good once over and I still need to make that lucky goldfish for another site that I have. But, tomorrow I am going to bead.  I have so many neat projects that I want to try, tomorrow I am just going to do something for me!