The bead forum that I'm a member of has a great program called "Beads For Birthdays" where all participants are assigned to be someone else's secret birthday buddy. My birthday was on the 1st, so on the 30th I received a big priority box that said "No peeking til May 1st!" I patiently waited until the day and opened it up, to find all sorts of wonderful packages big and small, popper bottles, a card, and even a bag of treats for the girls. Topher was NOT in the box, he just likes to be the center of attention.Hmmm... everything is wrapped in Scotty Dog paper. Could this be a hint as to my buddy's identity ;) I'll find out next January!
Topher says: "Baby, I'm all the present you need!"
A cute card, and an even cuter beaded wizard keychain! I attached him to my dice bag, much to the game master's amusement last night.
So many amazing goodies! Hmmm... Next time, books in back, beads up front! You really can't see what all is in this image, so in no particular order:Mastering Beadwork. I've been eyeing this book for a while but hadn't purchased it, and now I'm glad I waited! It covers a lot of weaving techniques, including some I haven't learned yet (like Dutch Spiral and Diagonal Peyote), and its convenient spiral-bound format means I can leave it open to learn from. Very handy!
Bead Embroidery by Yukiko Ogura: I just saw this book on Amazon the other day. Bright, well-illustrated book which shows how to do a lot of decorative bead embroidery stitches. I can see using these techniques to embellish some dance clothes in the future.
A flip-latched box full of cube seed beads and pretty silver-edged glass teardrop beads in lots of colors. I think I might use this box to store and transport my BFAC project, it's just the right size for that sort of thing.
Red Velvet Cake 3-in-1 Body Wash/Bubble Bath/Shampoo. Smells amazing, lathers up nicely, and even has a recipe for cake on the front! And I'd just run out of body wash, too.
Surgeon's Hands lotion. If it's good enough for doctors, it has to be great for this beader's battered hands!
A Turbie-Twist. Clearly my buddy knows of my long hair. Can't wait to see if it really does work better than a towel. Have to wash it first, Mr. Self-Centered Topher Cat assumed it was a cat pillow and now it's covered in his fur. *sigh*
Two packages of sparkly green square-shaped sequins. I'll have fun with these!
A doll form. She reminds me of a dragonfly faerie, but without wings, so I think I'll make some polymer clay dragonfly wings, Christi Friesen style!
Pearls! Pretty silvery-grey ones, faceted ones, and bubbly-textured ones. All gorgeous!
Cabs! Lots of pretty earthy cabs and stone focal beads that could double as cabs.
Cinna-Bun Spiral Beads. Pretty enough to string, flat enough to use in embroidery.
Stone chips: Earthy ones and amethyst ones.
Stone beads: A strand of green tube beads, and a strand of green and white stripes overlapping dimes.
Mystery Thread: Clear Japanese thread. I shall have to experiment with it.
PowerZap: I think it's one of those cool thread burners, but it might also be a mini-taser for keeping the gamers in line.
Shell beads: tiny, pretty shells that can be worked into embroidery or jewelry. Oooh, maybe I'll work them into a tribal bra!
So, thank you very much to my ultra-generous and awesome birthday buddy. I love it all :) Oh yes, and the puppies love their treats, too!
I think I know who your buddy is, she's a terrific gift giver! Happy Birthday AJ, I hope it was an amazing day!
ReplyDeleteWhether you're right about who it is or not, you're definitely right about her being a good gift giver :) I'm looking forward to creating with my new goodies!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome birthday present! Happy belated birthday btw!
ReplyDeleteFunky Monkey Girl,
Jolene
Apparently, your birthday buddy did just what mine did - wrap each present individually.
ReplyDeleteMakes for a nice build-up.
Nice "stash" - have fun playing with all your new goodies.
Only people who sign up are birthday buddies -- not everybody wants to do it! But that does look like a good batch of stuff! There's a name for the round overlapping beads, but of course, I've forgotten it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jolene!
ReplyDeleteDoris, it is fun wondering what is in each tiny little package. I might have to do the same for my buddy this year :)
Marilee, I meant each B4B participant rather than each AAB participant :) I was worried that I wasn't phrasing that right. Sometimes the overlapping beads are called lentils, or overlapping lentils. I have some tiny dark green aventurine ones that I bought almost 10 years ago and still haven't decided what to use them for.
Yes! Lentils is right! I have some really pretty stone varieties, but I don't string very often.
ReplyDeleteI keep finding words I don't know, but usually once I get them, I have them back for good.
Fortunately, my friends don't mind figuring them out for me.
Finding words for you is like a little puzzle-game sometimes!
ReplyDelete(in Chris's Wednesday game, we came across a creature that spoke in rebuses and I was solving almost all of them before anyone else)
Oh, neat! I don't know if I could do rebuses now. The speech therapist thought I had a good basic vocabulary by five days after the stroke, but she said I'd be finding words for a while.
ReplyDelete