I'm Lesley and I'm a bead addict...

Every so often I impose a bead shopping ban on myself. This usually happens after going through my bead stash and realising I've got beads I'd completely forgotten about. The aim is to use some of these beads and sell the jewellery before embarking on my next bout of retail bead therapy. Alas it doesn't always (often) work! there is usually someone out there making beads that I just can't resist...actually there are lots of you and I'm beginning to believe in conspiracy theories!!!

So, to ease my conscience I thought I'd share some of my latest purchases with you - sharing is a good thing you see and you can't feel guilty about good things can you?

This purchase is so recent I don't even have them yet so I'm still drooling over the picture! I just love the rustic, organic nature of Outwest beads and I've developed a real thing for the south western colour palette. There is such a mix of beads in this set It will be great fun working out what to do with them and I suspect I may struggle to let them go!

Caroline Rhodes of Beadbug only opened her Etsy shop in June and she's already got me well and truly hooked. She uses lots of Frit and enamel on her beads and produces designs that combine organic (you might have noticed I like organic!) patterns with beautifully vibrant colours. Caroline has also achieved a major breakthrough in getting me to buy pink beads, or pink anything for that matter...I'm just not a pink girl, but who could resist?

These fabulous  beads are by Marieke Van Esveld and you may have seen similar in my work before - I'm very fond of this type of tribal design and Marieke translates them so well into great colour schemes. You may notice a bit of a theme developing here...I am sooooo into tube beads at the moment. They work really well with the copper bangle/bracelet designs I've been developing and have a nice contemporary feel.

This is another stunning set from Julie Nordine and I've really gotten into this type of big hole bead as they combine beautifully with multi-stranded leather cords to make great bracelets - another favourite design of mine at the moment. These also illustrate another, somewhat shocking theme that has been developing of late...a love of orange! I say shocking because I have absolutely loathed the colour since the age of about 14 when I outgrew an early adolescent passion for orange bedroom walls but had to continue living with them..! In my defense it was the early 70's and 'tasteful' wasn't the watchword of the decade!

And finally, some of my favourites of the moment... a selection of stunning etched heart focals by Kaz Baildon. I adore these - Kaz uses glass shards to achieve the wonderfully ethereal swirling pattens which I think give them a mythical, mystical feel. I've already used a couple of these in my designs and they look great with chunky copper and silver wire - just gorgeous.

So there you have it...I'm Lesley and I'm a bead addict. If you share my plight I hope this little therapy session has helped you too and maybe you'd like to share some of the causes of your addiction...?

Bye for now.

Lesley