Beading Frenzy

Oooh! Aaaah! Aren't these pretty beads. The other day after preschool (or after playing hooky from preschool, depending on the child) we met friends at the turtle place, and then visited our town's only kid-friendly bead store. While Carter and Will played in the corner, Carter's mom fondled the beads. Really she did - see!! The thing is, you would too! There's just something about touching the strands of beads.

This bead store is unlike any other I've visited. The owner actually invites the kids in to play and rewards them when they leave with a choice of baubles - usually Will chooses a piece of smooth glass or a bell. These are his treasures, and he does treasure them...until they are lost in the black hole called my van.

Will actually asks to go to the bead store, and having never taken him to any other bead store in (his) recent memory, this is the only one that will do. He also likes it because he can pick out colorful cord for making his own necklaces. I like it because Will can play with toys while I take my time going through the many drawers of beads looking for just the right ones. Then I can dawdle among the strands on the wall. Like Carter's mom, I have no qualms about stroking the strands! Once in a blue moon I'll allow myself to wander into the back room -this is where the most awesome mommy treasures are kept. The newer and really nice beads are laid out on the counters back there and oh, they are so hard to pass up!

Usually I do, only because I already have so many beads and I usually go in there with a particular type of bead in mind. This day I picked up a strand of light turquoise coins for a necklace I'm donating to the silent auction coming up at our elementary school. It's really quite a nice necklace (with earrings to match!) and I'm going to hate to see it go!

The girls and I worked through a good part of last night making jewelry. Katherine worked hard on her own creation, made with beads given to her by the owner of the bead store. Caroline helped me with my display of additional jewelry for the silent auction (isn't it nice that her shirt matches the beads shown above?!). Morgan made me a bracelet and earrings to match a necklace I had made last year. She did a beautiful job and when I wore them today, we received many compliments.

You'll just have to wait for those pictures though, because I left my camera at church today. At least I remembered to bring all of my kids home. OK, here are the extra pics, but the one of the necklace is not the one I described - so much for my memory! The one above is designed for a teenager - it was all I could do to keep Morgan from hiding it from me! The necklace only, not the earrings - that would require getting her ears pierced. If she ever does get her ears pierced she'll never want for earrings anyway!