A Bead Swap with a Goddess!

Hello Goddesses! It's Kimberly! I just wanted to show you what an awesome swap I found.  If you're a beader, please go to Facebook and join the Bead Soup Cafe group.  I have met some very cool people and found some very awesome deals and gorgeous beads! Not to mention....beautiful ideas!  The people there are so friendly and knowledgable.  I am a beginner beader.  Shauni taught me while I was visiting her last September.  I'm still learning slowly and as a challenge I joined a bead swap they were having on the Bead Soup Cafe.  Here's the link to the Cafe -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeadSoupCafe/

Let me show you what I received from my swap partner, Julie Anne.  She makes some of the prettiest things.  I love that she re-uses items she has found in some unlikely places or thrift stores, etc.  You can find her blog here.  http://thepeacefulbead.com/

I sent Julie Anne a package that contained hues of dark green, white, a light colored rainbow fluorite, some white cat's eye in a small round (probably 4 mm or 5 mm), I sent her a light prehnite in a "barbell" shape and a vintage button because she makes her own clasps.  I also sent her a clasp in a pewter metal in case she didn't want to make one herself.  The focal piece I sent her was mainly a pink stone with some dark veins running through it that were brought out beautifully by the green stones.  I know there was more but I was silly and forgot to take a photo.  I lamented for days on what to send.  This is my first swap and being such a greenhorn at beading I was actually intimated.

Now, when I got Julie Anne's package in the mail, the packaging was so pretty.  It alone made me smile.  When I unwrapped everything and checked out the beads, I wanted to cry.  Everything is so pretty and way more than I expected.  I felt like I needed to go back and dig through my stash and send Julie Anne more stuff!  Now, I didn't take anything out of the bags because everything is labelled so nicely and I want to know where everything came from.  When I open it actually work with it, I'll take more photos.  So, here we go Goddesses, let's look at some gorgeousness!

Overall photo: Center - Focal piece in center of plate GORGEOUS!

Do you see up at the top of this photo in the center? That is a bag of vintage rosary chain and glass beads! They're so delicate and beautiful.  That bag itself inspires! Right next to it on the right are the freshwater pearls.  They're this gorgeous deep blue that have a sheen on them.  

You can see the faceted sapphire beads on the left right above the HMB Studio blue glass lamp work beads.  In the center now is the lava rock from joyofbeading.com.  Can you see the gorgeous colors in the fusion beads? The colors are complimentary to the focal piece and everything else.  She really put a lot of thought into my package.

This is that GORGEOUS focal piece and some fresh-water pearls up and to the right.  The light blue glass lamp work bead is one of a set of two Julie Anne sent from HMB Studios on Etsy.  They're a beautiful matte bead that reminds me of sea glass.

In the center next to the beautiful focal bead are some gorgeous Fusion beads.  Below those are some faceted sapphire beads that are stunning.  To the left of those are some beautiful encased glass lamp work beads that are breath taking.  AND! Right next to those are some fabulous lapus lazuli beads that are 6 mm to 8 mm in size.  Howlite from a piece of jewelry she found in NYC (something I love to do is reclaim beads from older pieces!) and then 9 mm x 5 mm LAVA ROCK beads from joyof beading.com.  We can't forget the vintage MOP buttons.

I was so lucky to have been paired with Julie Anne and I can't wait to get started on whatever it is I am going to create with all this gorgeousness.  Please, go visit Julie Anne's blog and see what she made from her last bead swap.  It is inspiring.  Of course, I'm going to give you the link directly to the page where she talks about what she made with her swap items! http://thepeacefulbead.com/?p=240

There are some truly talented people in the world and I count myself so lucky to be able to learn from the likes of them.  You know the gorgeous bookmarks we give away (the beaded ones), Krafty Max is the lady that told me about the bead swap and I want to thank her for everything she's done for Shauni and me.  She's been an awesome friend!

I also would like to think my bestie, Shauni, for starting me in such an amazing "hobby".  She's such a creative person and I can't wait until she has the time to join in a bead swap herself.  

Keep Reading Goddesses OR in this case....Keep Beeding Goddesses!