Okay, most of you would think the problem I have is a good one. Something to reveal in even. But not me. It’s a reason to start hyperventilating and anxiety attacks.
What, might you ask, could this be? Well, it starts off looking as innocent as this:
A seemingly innocent looking bureau. Nothing scary, right? Okay, let’s look inside.
Okay, so what? A few little containers. How bad can it be?
WOW, you say vintage jewelry. COOL, gimme, gimme, gimmee.
OOOHHHH, AHHHH Bead containers you say.
Swarovski crystals & beads & stones & glass seed beads – YUMMY you say.
WHAT!!!! FRESHWATER PEARLS BY THE HANK!!! You say. Tons of glass beads and findings like toggle clasps, lobster clasps, earring hooks, bead wire, crimp beads, spaces, etc., you say.
I say AAAARRGGGHHH SOB, CRY, MOAN. I have NO clue what to do with all of these! I haven’t even LOOKED in them for four years.
Yes, FOUR years since I went and looked at my beads. I love the colors, I know there are tons of beautiful beads projects in what you see, but I am at a loss. See, I had a bad couple of years. Spending helped. Spending on beautiful items helped A LOT. But now the same thing that brought me joy, now brings sadness too.
Then, you take a look at my Etsy store and say, “Well, you’re selling bracelets that you made”. Yes, I am, but those were grouped for me. Give me a group of coordinating beads and I can go to town. Give me a mish-mash like above and I can guarantee you an anxiety attack in 1 second flat.
So, dear friends, anyone want to play? Sigh……..Now I’m The Lone Beader too.
Until Later………………………….
oh my goodness- I would LOVE to come to your house and group beads for you- I am drooling on my keyboard! I just got a really cool beading book- I plan to do a project out of it in a couple of weeks but I have to finish a swap by a deadline first. If you are interested in seeing what I make I'll come back and let you know when I post it :) I hope you have luck with your dilemma- wish I could come help you!!
ReplyDeleteOMG I want to play in the beads all day, everyday. Love to make jewerly so much fun and my stress reliver.
ReplyDeleteAnn in Little Rock
I feel your pain. I decided to have a bead giveaway for this exact reason. I'm sharing parts of my large collection. Yet I look at your collection and I just want it too. Its an addiction.
ReplyDeleteI have all the supplies to create jewelery but I don't wear it so I don't have the desire to create it.
I just can't stop collecting beads.
I totally feel your pain! I made jewelry for several years before moving into polymer clay. I just recently parted with a large percentage of my beading stash. it hurt to sell it but I am happy to know that my pretties will actually be finding homes in wonderful pieces of jewelry now!
ReplyDeleteMy mom bought me a big box of beads for my birthday several years ago (someone was selling their stash at a garage sale). They stayed in my drawers for the same reason (that and I had a toddler and they were choking hazards.) I finally got them out at Christmas when I was in an ornament swop and the person I was swopping with had a mini-tree (so nothing big, like I had planned originally). And I thought of all those pretty beads, and used an earring thing a ma gig (a straight pieces of "wire" with a little nob like a tiny nail head on the end to keep the beads from falling off--I use them mainly for earrings). Then my children (the older ones) wanted to do it too so I let them dig in and they actually made some pretty nifty ornaments, which we gave to relatives for Christmas (and kept a few for our own tree). It was fun, and not as frightening as trying a whole necklace or bracelet.) I usually do earrings for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI've thought also of inviting friends over for a jewelery making party. If you wanted to make money off of it you could have people pay a small fee for the beads--or donate one half of the items they make to your store or something like that.
Oh, yes, I TOTALLY understand your plight. I have the EXACT same feeling with all my scrapbook supplies. Before finding my true home as a mixed media artist, I was Scrapbooker Extroardinaire. Now, I have so much WONDERFUL stuff that I spent thousands of dollars on that I'll never use. No way could I use it all in a lifetime. But I can't just GIVE it away. I'm too "thrifty" to do that. I DID organize a garage sale last year with some of my scrapbooking friends. I pre-packaged up a bunch of my paper, etc. and priced it all. I sold it dirt cheap, to make sure I moved it. But, I ended up making like $297 that morning (only 4 hours) by selling the stuff that wasn't even my "good" stash. Yeah, it was probably worth a lot more, but this was a win/win because it was out of my way (and sad sight) and I DID get $ to buy new mixed media stuff! It's a lot of work to do the garage sale, but totally worth it in my opinion! Wish I could just show up to help you sort it all out. It's always easier with a friend!
ReplyDeleteI'll gladly come over and help with the beads - and I LOVE vintage jewelry! I've got tons of "junk" in my basement, and if I look around too closely..it definitely gets a little overwhelming!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and entering my giveaway! Good luck!
Kathy
oh my! you are indeed in a pickle. but don't fret. there are SOOOO many wonderful things you could do with those gorgeous tidbits. when i feel overwhelmed with that to create out of my hordes of goodies, i don't look at it for a bit and dream up something specific. hmmm.... a cream and black necklace. black glass beads, freshwater pearls, one of those pretty cream flowers from the second photo of goodies... then just add stuff. that is the project my wee mind came up for you at least. i would love to play in your stash!
ReplyDeletei will email you shortly about banners, in answer to your question.
in the meantime, take a deep breath and look at all of this as a gift, rather than a stressful pile of treasure. ;)
Oh what treasures. Can you do a few at a time? Sometimes a huge project is daunting but if you break it up into little bits and bites it's not nearly as bad.
ReplyDelete