I promised that I wouldn’t turn my blog into a beading blog, and I won’t. But I figured since it’s Saturday, and y’all usually don’t get a post from me on Saturdays, today is a freebie for me to share my latest beaded creations.

I’m still hooked on making necklaces. I haven’t ventured out from there yet, but I did buy some fish hook-style things for earrings. Maybe this next week, I’ll venture beyond necklaces and try my hand at making some earrings. I probably won’t ever make any bracelets because I don’t wear things on my wrists. I don’t wear bracelets or watches. I seem to have a skin reaction to anything I put on my wrists. The last thing I tried was a FitBit, and after about two days, my wrist was so red and irritated that I had to stop wearing it. So I’ve given up on wearing anything on my wrists.

But I’m all about the necklaces! I’m still a newbie at this beading hobby, so I’m still doing some pretty basic designs. But I’ve been amazed at the variety of designs that are possible with just a few basic beading skills! I’ll eventually try my hand at wire wrapping and those other things that several of you told me about. But for now, I’m still working with the very basics — stringing beads on beading wire and adding clasps. Every no and then, I’ll add some chains. But that’s about where my skills end for now.

Anyway, here are my creations from this last week:

This first one is made with three sizes of dark wood beads and some rough “gold nugget” beads. I love the contrast between the dark wood and the gold.

I’ve learned that I like my beaded necklaces to be between 16 and 17 inches. That way, I can wear them as they are with collared or V-neck shirts. But then if I want to wear them longer with a crew neck shirt, I can add a necklace extender. It’s easy to make necklaces longer than they are, but it’s not really possible to shorten them. So that’s the length I’ve tried to stick with for most of them.

For this next one, I used the leftover red stones from the red necklace that I showed y’all last time, and then added white matte seed beads (which I’ve learned are one of my favorite go-to beads) and gold.

On this next one, I used a chain necklace that I already had (but never wore), and turned it into something that I will wear. Again, I used some leftover beads from another necklace that I previously showed you (the black and white one with the butterfly charm), and I added a “K” charm to this one.

This next one is probably my favorite of the week. Again, I used a chain I already had (but never wore), and I added some super shiny and sparkly orange beads, along with some matte white beads, and then separated all of them with a little gold bead.

And finally, this green and gold one is another favorite of the week. The tiny gold beads are so shiny and sparkly!

I’m still in the process of learning and developing my own style and taste. When it comes to home DIY, I pretty much know what I like and dislike. I hate shiny paint finishes on trim and doors. I love a matte finish wall. Those types of things are things I’ve learned about myself over the years, so it takes some of the guesswork out of DIYing and product buying.

But I’m still learning when it comes to beading. What I have learned is that I absolutely love shiny, sparkly, iridescent beads, but I especially love them if they’re the size of seed beads. I want all of the tiny, super sparkly beads! 😀 I have some tiny green glass beads that are the shiniest I’ve seen, and I’m still waiting for inspiration to hit. I may just string them on their own and add a clasp and be done with it. They’re really so pretty on their own that they don’t need any embellishments.

And as several people suggested, I’ve also checked out Fire Mountain Gems. My gosh, people! I could spend days just perusing that site!! And I could also become very poor very quickly if I don’t exercise a tremendous amount of self-control while perusing that site. It’s amazing!! I’ve never seen such an assortment of beads in my life! They have things I never could have dreamed of.

So I’m having a ton of fun. I’ve been rewarding myself each evening with allowing myself to make a necklace once I get finished with my work. 😀 I don’t know how long I can go on doing this, though. Beads aren’t cheap. Even the ones at Michael’s that I buy during their sales add up fast! But I’ll keep going as long as I still have beads I can mix and match into different creations.

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.