Look What Came in Today's Mail!

Living out in the wilds of western France, I don't have the kind of access to bead sellers that I had when I lived in Chicago, so I rely on the Internet. I stopped buying beads on eBay quite a while ago, because the photos were frequently unreliable, and it is so disappointing to open a package of beads and have them be duds. I have found a seller whom I like doing business with, so if you're looking for stones on line (and some other beads, but mostly stones), try http://www.mrbead.com/. This is my latest order, which arrived today:

It includes dyed chalk turquoise, which I've never worked with, but both the nuggets and the disks will look fabulous with black! The golden yellow Chinese topaz is paler than I thought it would be - these beads might be around for a while. I love the faceted opaline moonstones, and they might be a great pairing with the purple crystal rondelles, although that wasn't what I had in mind when I ordered them. The carnelian chips have lots of possibilities - hematite springs to mind, but I can see them with some autumn green agates and jaspers, too ... The pink and red lampwork glass beads were on sale, and I couldn't resist - I have a stock of odds and ends of Venetian glass beads in this style, and it may be time to mix them all together.

So now they are out of the box. They all get entered into my master Excel file, so that I know when and where I bought them and how much I paid (this is worth doing if you sell your jewelry!). Then I'll have to find space for them in my storage boxes. And FINALLY I can to start to play with design - I'll keep you posted!