Happy Bead Mail

So yesterday I was having a really bad day with my anxiety and depression. I tried my usual things to try to help; including the PlayDoh my therapist gave me. But nothing was helping at all, but Mr Postman kindly delivered some Happy Mail that I had forgotten about.  I was really suprised as I only ordered them at the weekend, so very fast delivery indeed, and they gave me a bit of a lift. When I am struggling with my depression the online shopping starts. I hope I'm not the only one?

You others in the crafty world will know that feeling when we either 'stalk' our Postman or that happy feeling when he brings goodies as well as the bills!


So what had he delivered? A heavy package of lovely bright beads and charms. I ordered them thinking over the summer holidays me and Harry could make some bracelets as he always loves that sort of thing. But I also thought about making some planner charms and bookmarks with them. I have some more charms and cord on order, but boy did all these surprise me. I was not expecting all of these, plus the Jo, the seller, so kindly popped in two bags of freebies which are gorgeous (and the little magpie that is my son has already been eyeing them all up.)

So what was inside? Well I ordered what is called a 'bead soup' of 200g of flower / seed / spacer beads. I ordered these thinking there would be a good mix and bound to be plenty for Harry and me to make bracelets. But I was so amazed when I unpacked them, there are many more beads than I had expected but the quality of them was so high. Previously I have purchased cheap little bags of beads from Poundshops for us to craft with but these are of a much better quality and variety than we have had in the past. The little magpie in me also will be going though the beads before I let Harry loose on them; there are some beads that I really love and want to use for my planners. Selfish hey?

I also ordered a 60g blue bead soup as blue is one of our favourite colours, plus they just looked so pretty on the ebay listing! I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw them that they are in fact glass beads. They are really pretty, vibrant and luscious so I shall be ordering more of these as they will definitely be used on my planner charms and bookmarks, rather than crafts with Harry. I know naughty Mummy but I have so many ideas of things to do with them already.

The final thing I ordered was a lot of 50 mixed Tibetan silver charms, which I had thought would look lovely on my planners too. When I opened these up I was again so pleased with the mixture that I got. I was so surprised that every single one was completely different. I had expected to get at least a few duplicate charms, but nope I was astounded again! I am itching to get making with them but I am still waiting on the cord to get to making. But the weight of each of the charms, even the tiny ones is a lot heavier than I thought it would be. They will hang lovely from the bottom of my Travellers Notebooks as bookmarks; as well as a little bit of eye candy.

As I said earlier Jo added in two bags of freebies too. Harry has already claimed the little bag of colourful bead / charms as his own. He is wanting to make key rings or bracelets for his friends at school and some members of family already. I wonder where he gets his planning genes from? The second bag of silver charms / beads was also such a welcome surprise. She popped in a lovely note on the back of her business card too. She is such a lovely seller and I will definitely be ordering from her again; Harry has given me a list of beads he would like too!

So I hope that this post gives you fellow crafters ideas of somewhere to get your beads from. As well as those Mummy and Daddy's out there some ideas to do with the children to keep them busy. I know thatI have the school summer holidays fast approaching and am trying to get ahead of the game so I don't get the "Mum I'm bored" too early on in the holiday.

Please head over to Jo's shop on ebay and let her know I sent you.

Until next time keep crafting,

Vicky