Bead Hoarders Blog Hop.

Like most creative types, I have my own little 'hoard' of treasures.

Well, alright... actually I have several different hoards, since I have many creative interests... >.<

However, THIS is about one type of hoard in specific... BEADS. More to the point, those 'special' beads that were bought on a whim... or for a very specific reason or idea, but were never actually used. Those beads that get taken out and looked at, touched, teased by ideas of 'what if's' and 'maybe if I's, but always end up put away again unused. They usually reach a point where you're no longer sure if you 'can' use them simply because they've been a part of your collection for so long...

Lori Anderson of  Bead Soup fame, has challenged us to dig deep into our bead hoards and put some of those treasures to use at long last.  Luckily for me, this was a challenge that I've been trying hard to do all year long... and yet, while I've managed to use quite a few of my special art beads... most of them were newly acquired and barely had time to become part of my hoard >.<

For the past month I've been considering what ones to use for this challenge. I have a little set from Grubbi beads that I bought a few years ago with an idea ... that vanished by the time the beads arrived, and have since been in two different 'bead soup' possibles, and have lost out on going both times. I could certainly use them... have plenty in the colour palette right here within arms reach...

I could also definitely use some of my Skye Jewels treasures. All of the beautiful tiles I've bought form her over the past couple years, were all bought with a plan in mind... and yet only ONE has even managed to get used and move on to a new home.

.... and I can't seem to find where I put that picture... >.<   NEXT!!


Or my nice little Treewing Studio collection... of which I believe I've used all of two, and passed on one in my last BSBP to my partner, Audrey.

TreeWingStudio's Sleepy Critter Owl

In the one above, I even used some of my Czech flower hoard... yes I have hoards within my hoard.... don't you?

TreeWing Studio Owl.

Another thing I hoard... gemstone chips. I LOVE gemstone chips... I just rarely use them >.< lol And pearls.. another love to collect  yet rarely use.. and in the above piece I used both! so I dipped into THREE separate hoards within my hoard for that one :)


And of my Marsha Neal collection I've managed to use two ...

Marsha Neal Skull pendant, with some assorted gemstone beads

Both of the ones featuring my Marsha Neal treasures, also dipped into my gemstone hoard. Specifically, my black/grey section of that hoard... one of my smallest parts of that collection oddly enough despite the amount of black I use... that particular hoard should be bigger... don;t you think?

Marsha Neal Bat pendant with assorted gemstone beads

And I just shared some of the creations I made using some of my Marti's Buttons n' Beads, and MarlasMudd  treasures in my last post,  and I've got a whole bunch made using my Tori Sophia treasures, but most of those are too new to have been 'hoarded' very long, so I'll save those for a future post.

Now, you've seen all of those before here, so I suppose I should share at least one new piece made using some of my 'oldest' treasures...

Waaaay back when the Blogger/Non-Blogger challenge started at BSC, I won one of the rounds, and Robin Kae Reed sent me a massive pile of treasures as my prize. Most of that little treasure hoard I haven't used at all... so for this challenge I made myself dig into it. Among the treasures were some huge gemstones, some rough cut, some smoothed. I had no CLUE what to do with them to start with, since I hadn't begun to delve into wire wrapping just then. This is one of those stones; An amethyst just over an inch long. I've paired it up with some peacock pearls that I've been saving from my very first bead order. That gorgeous Sari silk there is the last bit left over from my latest BSBP soup.

Well, there you have it. If I do come across that photo of that dragonfly necklace I mentioned way up there, I'll edit it in here, because I KNOW I posted it somewhere... just gotta find it >.<

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my treasures put to use, and be sure to check out everyone elses!

You can find the list of participants here -> HOP LIST