Making jewellery is one of my hobbies that I’ve had for the longest period of time and over the years, I have spent a lot of money on beads and other materials. What I do like about the hobby is getting a good deal on my supplies so I don’t pour all of my money into the materials that I need. Here are some of my bead buying tips:

Craft stores and craft departments for general shopping needs
When I was 12 and going to stores to buy beads, it was difficult for me to go find non-plastic beads in places other than stores dedicated to selling craft supplies. But since then, the interest in making jewellery has grown and many other people make jewellery too. Craft departments in department stores have some pretty good selections for seed beads. General crafts stores (like Michaels) do carry decent bead selections. I also like to check out the clearance sections – I’ve bought strands of glass beads marked down from $10 to $1.50. Good deals can be found, if you’re willing to search for them as well as using coupons (they can come in weekly fliers or online).

• Always check out the clearance section/aisle for more good deals
• Join the mailing list on the store’s website for coupons, if they have them available

Some of my favourite beads have been found at craft stores, especially after my local chain craft store was given a makeover. Now I purchase freshwater pearls and turquoise beads when they come up on sale. I never pay full price on the beads that I buy at the craft store, never. I even bought my pliers with 40% off coupons at the same store. It’s a great resource and there’s no excuse to be paying full price at chain craft stores.

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The Kay Blue earrings were designed and created for a friend’s birthday gift. They feature light blue curved, foil lined glass beads, silver tone eyepins, silver tone chains and sterling silver earring hooks. They measure over 3″ in length.

“When the Stars Go Blue” is named after a song. The necklace is made with a upcycled wire-wrapped star with curled wire and glass translucent blue seed beads as its focal point. Silver plated spacers, blue rounded bicone glass beads, silver plated eyepins and chain were used for this piece. A decorative silver plated toggle clasp was used to finish off the piece. Total length is approximately 22″.

The Princess Pea bracelet is a beaded link bracelet which features pea-green pearls, light pink shell beads, silver eyepins and a lobster clasp. The bracelet measures approximately 7″ (including the clasp) and was designed  for and gifted to my mom.

I made these back in February, took photos of them on April 1st and got around to uploading them a few days ago. And posting them now. Because it takes a few seconds.

I picked up a vial of mixed beads at a store a while ago. I was debating between sorting them or just using them as is – I decided against sorting. I poured out the beads into a tray and picked up whichever ones were closest and just strung them on and this is what I ended up with. I forgot to do measurements before writing this, but they’re probably approximately 2.5″ in length, without including the fishhooks.

Materials: base metal jump rings and crimp tubes, nylon coated wire, antiqued silver fishhooks and multi-coloured plastic and glass seed & bugle beads.