So many ideas, so little time

 It's been over a month now since I started working full time.

I seem to have less time to blog!

I still think I can manage my free time better, so I hope to blog more often...

I haven't run out of ideas, and things to blog about, just time.

This past week, I got a package of beads from Fire mountain.

I got a lot of gemstone beads, things I can't get at the local craft stores.

I also got this $5 bag of random beads.

It's just odds and ends, but it can be inspirational.

Or just bizarre. It looked like some one started carving an angel out of red-brown ceramic.

First I sorted out the large beads.

These were mostly wood and plastic, and can be used as focals for pendants.

There were also some pieces of chunky stones.

This left behind some medium sized beads, approximately what I expected to find.

Finally in the assortment were all these metal findings:

I really love to sort things, so that part was fun.

I was also very inspired by the other beads I picked out, and I began making things right away.

These black beads are called Spinel.

This string of Garnets was already sorted by size:

I added gold colored spacers to make the string look longer.

This is Lapis Lazuli:

These stones didn't really need much, to enhance them.

I was especially excited by these polished Pyrite beads. 

Usually pyrite is kind of crystalline in appearance, so  it was neat to see rounded beads.

I mixed them with silver and gold colors, to make a mixed-metals look.

I work every other Saturday, but this weekend I had free.

I have made many other things, besides...

I hope to make more than two blog posts per month!