new materials means new projects to come

I've been away from the blog for a bit, busy celebrating St. Patrick's Day followed by a quick trip to Florida to visit my family and relax in the sun.  While I was there, I hunted down some bead shops to see if the selection would be any different than what I was used to at home. My parents were nice enough to drive me around town looking for bead stores throughout Ocala, Florida, where we were staying with my Aunt and Uncle.  It just so happened there were two in the same town, so we first went to the The Bead Strand and were unhappily greeted by a CLOSED sign (apparently they are closed on Mondays).  Judging from their website however, it looks like I missed out on a rather large selection. We ventured to the other side of town to Beed Time.  At first glance it didn't look like it had much to offer, but once I walked in I was pleasantly surprised to find what I was looking for and more!  The owner, Lydia was so friendly, helpful and extremely knowledgeable about all things beads and jewelry-making.

I picked up a variety of beautiful faceted Czech glass beads to use on my leather wrap bracelets, in a clear, light steel blue, fire-polished sage green and a fire-polished silver/clear that catches the light and sparkles just so.

I can find those Czech glass beads at most bead shops but the colors were so beautiful and the price was right, I just couldn't resist.  I also bought a few dainty silver buttons, to use on the leather wrap bracelets as well.

I found some really unique hand-made polymer Plumeria flowers from Spain, that I plan on using in a tropical inspired bracelet.  

The most unique purchase I made was on these tiny Czech glass beads that came in a collection of approximately 12 strands per color.

At first glance they look similar to seed beads, but they are even smaller as each bead is slightly faceted on one side, which catches the light and makes them sparkle.  I am not yet sure what I'm going to do with them , but they were just so beautiful I couldn't go home without them.  In fact I couldn't resist them, so I bought four different colors; turquoise, gold, silver and bronze.  I can't wait to think up a project where I can use them, ideas welcome!