I started with the red lampwork ovals from the latest batch of beads, and I took photos as I went along in the designing process ... but someone has been playing with the camera settings, and the photos were worthless. Without using a thousand words, I'll say that I first tried them with old Venetian glass beads in black with blue and gold accents ... okay but not spectacular - too much from another era. Then I wrapped a strand of golden seed beads around the necklace - it looked great lying on my worktable, but around the neck, it was really unimpressive. So I switched gears and found these terrific pink puff beads in the pink-and-purple box, and I highlighted everything with orange. Orange, pink, and red together - that has some punch!
I'm getting ready to do a couple of shows around the holidays. I straightened up my workspace, which will stay neat for about a week, but it is satisfying to start out with things in order.
I enjoy reading about how other beaders organize their beads and their work area ... I have all my beads in boxes, originally sorted by color. This technique is splendid, but it's only really useful when you're getting started. No matter how you arrange things, the day comes when you have no more room in the red box for red beads, so they have to go somewhere else, and eventually, there are boxes of mixes of all sorts! The rolling cart holds tools, threads, wires, tubes of seed beads, etc., and it's a great place for the laptop to live (it's an old computer - Windows 95 with no possibility of upgrading - but it's all I need to keep track of inventory and sales).
Then there are the books and magazines ... when I first started beading, I owned every book on the market, all 7 or 8 of them. I think Amazon has over 300 today! Ditto with the magazines. I let my subscriptions lapse last year, but I think this year for Christmas I might ask for one or two - I keep up with what's new on line, but the computer really does not replace poring over a glossy magazine.
The last clean-up task was what to do with the pile of broken beads. We recycle everything in our house, and these beads are no exception! One of my high school classmates does miniature furniture decorated with a variety of techniques. I selected all the glass beads, and I'm sending them off to her for whatever she is inspired to create. We'll do an exchange ... I'm looking forward to creating something just for her, too! 
Judy, will you come organize my work spaces? PLEASE! Try as I might, my office keeps getting these little stacks everywhere. Mr. M just shakes his head when he walks into the room. Hopefully after the 25th some order will return to my life. :-) Looks like you are having fun! Thanks for sharing the thought process for the design. Keep on beading.....Sarah
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