Feelin' the need to bead :-)

I have a weird quirk (okay, one of many...) I do not like expensive jewelery. I appreciate the thought behind the expensive pieces that I have been given, but I would much rather wear vintage jewelery or make it myself. I do love it when I am given vintage or funky jewelry (wink, wink) My family has always given pieces of jewelery for milestones. We have christening rings and necklaces, pearl necklaces that were given to us for our 13th birthday, etc. I treasure those. I wear the ones that still fit. (Have you ever seen how tiny a christening ring is?) I treasure the diamonds from my grandparents...but I will never wear them. (I do wear the pearls) I never wear gold, the closest I get to it is antique brass fittings. When I was in college, one of the things I did to make ends meet (and feed my Haagen Daz habit) was make jewelery. In fact, I made a necklace for Shon before I even knew him. My roommate was dating his best friend. She was a sweet harmless flirt and kept mooning about our apartment talking about this cute guy from MT. She asked me to make him a necklace. I don't thing she ever mentioned his name, or if she did I didn't listen. I made the necklace and she gave it to him. Imagine my surprise months later, when we met and he was wearing it! Hmm...sounds like it was meant to be! Over the years I have built up quite a collection of beads. I love to open my beads up and create whatever look I want to go for. Several years ago, my sister in law Amy gave me this amazing display/storage case. Just looking at it inspires me! Sometimes I want to get fancy, sometimes simple is best. Unless it is from the 70's or older, I don't usually use plastic, I like to take pieces apart and recreate them. Sometimes as wall art, sometimes as wearable art. Here are some of the things I have been playing with....