I’m slowly but surely working on my studio, and I hope to have progress to share with you tomorrow. But in the meantime, I wanted to share a wonderful gift that I received from a reader (who didn’t share her name!) that I got in the mail on Friday. If you follow my Instagram or Facebook stories, you’ve already seen these, but you haven’t seen what I did with them yet.

When I got home Friday evening and checked the mail, I found a package in the mailbox with a return address that I didn’t recognize. I didn’t remember ordering anything that size, so I was anxious to open it and see what it was. And when I opened it, I found a whole bag of beads. There were a couple of necklaces, some earrings, a few bracelets, and some loose beads. None of it was new. A couple of the bracelets were broken, and the necklaces and earrings had tarnished. But the beads! Oh my, there were beads! And I was so excited to go through them and see what was there, and dream about what I could do with them.

I won’t show y’all everything (I showed most everything on my stories), but I do want to share my three favorites and what I did with them.

First off, there was this necklace with large orange faceted glass pieces on it. At least, I think they’re glass. I actually didn’t do anything with this. It’s beautiful just as it is!

These next two were my absolute favorites. First up is this ombre-style orange necklace. I was so excited to see this! Those beads are so pretty, and I love that it has four shades of orange that go together so perfectly. I forgot to take a photo, so here’s a screenshot from my Instagram stories.

I basically redid it in the exact same style, but now it has shiny new chain, clasp, and head pins. I also rearranged the beads so that the darker ones were right in the middle, and the color gets progressively lighter on both sides. Y’all know how I am about my symmetry. 😀 This is one of my favorite necklaces I’ve made so far. I can’t wait to wear it!

And then this was my other favorite. It was sent to me as a bracelet, but I don’t wear bracelets. But oh my goodness, look at those beads!!! They are so sparkly and shimmery, and they’re the most gorgeous colors. I wish y’all could see these sparkle in the light!

Since I don’t wear bracelets, I knew it had to be a necklace so that I could use every last one of those beautiful beads in the most impactful way. So I turned it into this necklace. Oh my, the sparkle! I wish y’all could see it sparkle. This is probably my favorite necklace I’ve made so far, and I’ve made about 90 necklaces. So this being my favorite is quite extraordinary.

Anyway, I know I said I wouldn’t turn this into a beading blog, and I still have no intention of doing that. But when a reader gives me such a beautiful gift, I can’t help but share what I’ve made with y’all. So to my mystery bead benefactor, thank you! My two favorite necklaces came from your beautiful gift.

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.