Valerean

I admit, Black Friday and Christmas shopping is usually wasted on me. I try never to step foot outside the house during the madness after Thanksgiving, and I thrift or make most of my gifts for Christmas. This year I needed to boost my spirits after the bad news, so I decided to do a little shopping from indy sellers during December for someone who rarely gets gifts: me. These silver beads from LadyBirdBeadsCo are both new and vintage, and go nicely with the silver and garnet frog brooch I thrifted. I'll be using these as stitch embellishments next month for the first of my calendar project tote bags. These three mystery fat quarter bundles came from FlatWaterMuse . I (obviously) don't need the fabric, but I needed the mystery. Love all three sets. Now I'll just have fun with them. 14carrot, my favorite Etsy seller, really came to my rescue with a handmade pearl bracelet, three adorable quilt tags and two bags of charms and jewelry findings that I c...

While out wandering at the end of June we visited a couple of local antique malls, where I found another mystery bag. This one was cheap and marked with a hint of "Linens", which I couldn't resist, so I bought it. Turned out to have two old linen pieces packed in an embellished plant pot. Quite happy with that. There are antique dealers that harvest old beads and sell them; I got these four bags of seed beads, in colors that I always need. Most vintage hankerchiefs and napkins are also pretty cheap, and great for stitch practice. All in all, a day with lots of fun discoveries for just a few bucks.

These faux pearl-encrusted straps were the reason I bid on a scrap lot of jewelry, as I wanted a large quantity of fake pearls to try out an idea (but, as always, didn't want to buy new.) When I began harvesting the pearls from the straps I also discovered some crystal montees scattered among them. I love montees so it was like a bonus. I ended up with a decent amount of faux pearls, plus the bonus of sixteen montees, for my winter project. :)

I bid on and won a 4.2 lb. lot of scrap costume jewelry for some projects I'm planning for fall and winter; I get these so I can harvest beads and findings rather than buy new. Here's everything as it came out of the bag. I'm really pleased with the variety of beads, findings and even some wearable jewelry. My primary reason for bidding on this lot in particular were these pearl-encrusted straps. I was hoping the pearls would be easy to remove, and they are! To see more of the lot, go to my album here .

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to mystery bags and the like, so I picked up this mason jar of jewelry and beads in hopes of finding some inspiration (and wearable treasures.) As soon as I poured it out I realized it was about half beads and half jewelry, with lots of modern and vintage earrings and interesting pieces. Two necklaces (one broken), a set of five blister pearl sew-on montees, pendants, enamel charms, a butterfly brooch, and even a spare key. The beads are quite nice, with several crystal butterflies, glasss pony beads, focal beads and lots of seed beads. There are also seashells and a couple pieces of sea glass mixed in. The vintage gold and white leaf bracelet I found is wearable and very pretty. This rhinestone cluster was part of a belt buckle once. I think the jewelry were pieces the seller couldn't sell, because there are a lot of earring pairs. At the bottom left are two rhinestone shoe buckles, with one missing a baguette th...

This vintage cross-stitched piece, labeled as a dragon napkin, is one of four finds I made in May at our local antique mall. I love this one booth where the owner staples reproductions of old photos to bags of stuff. These blue buttons will embellish a lot of projects now and in the future. Have to support our local beaders, so I picked up this pretty bracelet for Kat. Finally I invested in a jar of jewelry and beads. Stop buy tomorrow and I'll show you what's inside.

Back in March my guy and I went on another road trip, stopping in Lakeland to check out the antique and thrift shops. It was there that I found this lovely old two-tier cake stand. I've been looking for one of these for a while -- they're table space savers with lots of uses -- and it kinda-sorta matches the cannister I'm using for my bagged tea. Another treasure was this small bag of beads. I found a lot of intact pieces in it, plus a gorgeous bunch of loose faux pearls and glass beads. The real eye-catcher for me was this petite point brooch. The outside needs cleaning but the needlework is in mint condition.

My guy and I are taking time each week to walk around the downtown areas of places we've never had time before to visit, which is how I came across a lovely fiber art supplies shop wth amazing handspun art yarns and hand-dyed embroidery threads from local artists. Fine silk embroidery thread is literally impossible to find in my part of the country, but not anymore. I also loved the amazing selection of hand-dyed flosses. I even found some tiny seed beads for my current project, and a gift for a quilter friend. While I try to thrift as much as I can for my art quilting and embroidery these days, I love the chance to support our my local weavers and dexters.