Beads are flowing in my thoughts these days!

Beads are just flowing for me!!!

I have not been this prolific in my beading since I first started. It's like I had my beading excitement re-charged. I have so many designed in my head right now, that I can't bead fast enough to get them done!

I beaded for hours in the last few weeks and all the feedback I have gotten has been very positive. It's very nice to be able to spend my time with things that I really love doing.

I also love to have beady people around to share things with. It's as much fun seeing what they are doing as it is making the things I design. I'm headed to Nebraska for a beady trip and I can't wait for the beady inspirations I will have while I am there.

Getting away refreshes me and renews my energy for beading. This burst of creating new things is so much fun for me right now. It really started with my trip last year but changes in things at home have helped that bud that was started a year ago become a huge blossom. I have more ideas right now than I have time to bead them up and I have lots of beading time right now. I am working in colors that are out of my comfort zone these days too.

Back to the beads now!

Creativity

Creativity...

***I dedicate this to all the people who care about me and really do mean well...

I know how it happens for me, but almost every time I talk to most people about it, I end up feeling like a freak.

Ok, maybe I am a freak. I mean my beading comes from a place inside me that even I don't completely understand. I have had beads in my life as long as I can remember. My Nana had them and passed on her addiction to me.

I dream many of my designs. I guess that makes me weird. I tell people and then that makes me feel stupid... it's like I'm trying to share my soul and instead when I'm done, I feel like a freak.

Ya see it's like this...

I have the dream. It is generally pretty vivid when I wake up. IF I remember it, I remember it very clearly. I then attempt to make what I dreamed come to life, usually after making a little sketch in a book. So it comes from inside me. Then I talk to people, and many of them try to steer me in directions that just aren't in me. My beading is very much a part of who I am. In the colors - the choice of beads - the pieces I make and the pieces I wear are a direct reflection on me. I have never liked making things I didn't find appealing... One friend occasionally doesn't understand this and suggests things that will bring in money for me. But it's not about the money. Another friend tries to steer me in other directions in my work when I make affirmative statements about how the design is going to be done. It's when didn't ASK for them, and yet the offers for ideas come. Still another tries to get me to work in colors I don't care for. My mother seldom understands what I make or why I make the choices I make when I create. What none of them seems to realize is that it's all done in my head and until it gets completed - that piece won't leave my head. It's my design after all. I guess I would not be a good team player in a design group of any kind. I get tunnel vision. I have a goal in my head and I move forward toward it.

I do have people that help the beading flow. Sometimes they are the very same people I just mentioned. All are well meaning. All are great friends of mine and all only mean to give me ideas that I can build on. But it's inside me. Nothing anyone says will really affect the end result IF I'm clear in my head what I plan to make. These are the same people I can talk to when I'm stuck with a design. They can be the ones who help me get something to work that isn't. So maybe that is the confusion - they have become accustomed to me talking about things and needing input, so that when I don't want any - I am not clear in my communications... But then I had a situation where I was sent blown glass bubbles - and told that I should make hot air balloons from them and it was almost instant - the right inspiration at the right time, and I had it done in less than 24 hours. It has a lot to do with the timing too... See - typing out my feelings here isn't such a bad thing. Maybe I need to be more vocal that I have an idea in my head and I'm meaning to get it out exactly as I have envisioned... maybe that is it.

It comes out sounding very Zen and maybe it is... I mean I bead what I feel. I can't produce beading like an assembly line. I can make pieces in colors I don't like but I have to like the design first.

When I first started beading, I had a "wanna be just like you" roommate who started beading too. She was pretty good at the mechanics of it but she didn't really do much designing. She had a customer who wanted her to make a pair of earrings that by her own description, she HATED. So she spent 4 or more hours working on a pair of earrings that even she disliked when done. She then put them on a card with her name on it and sold them. When we talked about it, I told her that I would not have taken the order. Even back then, I had a feeling for beading like I never had for any other "craft" I had ever tried. I wouldn't spend my time making things just because someone was willing to pay me for them. I told her I would feel like I was prostituting myself if I made things just because there was money involved. She claimed I called her a whore. I tried to get her to look up the definition of prostitute... but she wouldn't.

The definition according to dictionary.com is:

pros ti tute n.
1. One who solicits and accepts payment for sex acts.
2. One who sells one's abilities, talent, or name for an unworthy purpose

I referred to the 2nd one for me. I didn't say she was to feel that way - I made a statement of how I would feel in the same situation. I simply would not have taken the order.

It's never been about the money. I'm not independently wealthy or anything but I simply can't get motivated to bead something I don't like. It becomes a chore when I make a piece I don't like. It's art for me. I'm not claiming to be an ahhhhhtist or anything. It's just an expression of me and I want things that reflect on me to be things that I like. It's a skill I feel comfortable with. I live beads! Right now I'm in a very fluid, flowing state of mind right. I'm trying to keep that going and get the things in my head beaded while I still am in the mood to do it. I could wake up tomorrow and be in a total beader's block. I have had it happen before. Beading great for a long time and wake up in the morning and I just can't get a bead to lay right or I make more mistakes than are worth bothering with - my thread is getting chewed up from frogging so much. So I move on to something else or even worse! Nothing else!

I guess what is happening is that things are flowing so well right now, that I don't want any suggestions to make it stop! I wake up and can't wait to bead right now. It's pretty amazing actually. I am in a zone and I want to do as much as I can to keep it going!

I feel that if I put my name on a piece whether it be a kit or a pattern or a finished piece, it's got to be something I find appealing in some way. It's that simple. I will not put a product out with my name on it that I don't like. And no matter how many well meaning people try to get me to do otherwise, I don't think that will ever change. It's about creativity for me. It's my ability to create and right now, I do that with beads. It's from inside me and it won't be changed for the all mighty dollar. It's the definition for create that is: To produce through artistic or imaginative effort. It's my effort and it has to be what I like. When it becomes a chore, I will quit beading.

Wow....

I just had a wow moment... in an otherwise uneventful day.

sort of surfing around today - cleaning out my Kim Kommando newsletters in my INBOX

I got a site of the day for http://www.caedes.net/

Cool wallpaper site. First on I put was fireworks.... I guess I should explain the way I like wallapaper. Generally something cool in the middle and lots of darkness framing the outside edges. I keep the middle clean and all the shortcuts are all around the center. I'm wierd. I know it - no biggie.

So I put fireworks up - I love fireworks but this particular picture is veyr much on the red side - the warm colors. So I look at it but am not thrilled, like I should have been. I keep looking and then I see a rosette nebula... blues and purples.... veyr appealing. I get it and the second I put it on the desktop I crack an automatic smile.

It's all about the comfort zone in life isn't it?

What makes you comfy, makes you happy.

ahhhhhhhhhhhh :-D

and I guess that's a wow for me right now.

Super Bowl Sunday

spent watching chick flick with SO, no football at all... Since I don't like sports, it's pretty important that he not be very into them either. Life is good sometimes!

I have several beady projects to work on when he goes to keep from thinking about him not being here.

Lots of beady things in my future.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all who don't play second fiiddle to sports.

Rejuvinated!!!!

New Year Rejuvenation!

It's a brand new year and I feel absolutely rejuvenated!

I have DSL and I feel like I am finally re-connected to the beading community like I was until about 2 ½ years ago. Trip I had planned to take got canceled and I decided to make it my time for revitalizing my beading! I have designing running through my head and I have started to bead them up. I designed a new ladybug earring and it came out really cute on the 2nd try! I have a love for netting and the Olaf books have a certain style all their own when it comes to netting in flat circles. There is nothing like it and I have come up with more designs in that style lately than anything else.

I can now get away into a fairly distraction free environment that fits my comfort zone and design to my hearts content, read e-mail and chat with my beady friends all at the same time! It is just a comfort level for me. I have almost always beaded that way. I thought it was a little ADD but someone else suggested it is just multi tasking. I can't seem to get into that groove of beading/designing without a bunch of things happening at once. I do them all and I bead.


I had some issues with a couple of my friends and they are ironing themselves out a little at a time. It's hard to tell someone how much you miss their friendship when you never have the opportunity to talk to them anymore. Then when you do - you don't miss it, so it doesn't come up that you just have a real yearning for that friendship. I have many friends on the Internet but there are a few especially close friends that I feel I am missing something if I have not had contact with them. With one person, it got to the point that I had to ask others if she was ok because I just had no way to find out any other way!

The pieces of my life are starting to fall back into place and I'm thrilled! It's going to bead a very beady year!

More end of the year babbling...

I don't understand people who insist on controlling a friendship. I mean isn't it supposed to be a two way street? Dictionary.com says that it's:
friendship n.
1. The quality or condition of being friends.
2. A friendly relationship: formed many new friendships over the summer.
3. Friendliness; good will: a policy of friendship toward other nations.
But I have known people who don't let it go both ways. They either take from me and give nothing or they run the whole thing. They choose when and how you can communicate with them. If they are not in the mood, then you have no choice but to sit in silence. They are the only one who can be a strong, confident person.
This year I will not let the bullies get to me either. You know the ones - fake sweet to you one minute and then using their power against you the next? Never know when they will turn on you? Bosses, relatives and friends, I have one in each category and it sure sucks when they pull that crap. They later apologize but who are they fooling? If I walked up to you and kicked you in the leg - said I was sorry and did the same thing every day for a week - how long would you think my apologies were sincere? Just because you are someone's boss, doesn't mean you get to treat people like they are nothing. Just because you are a friend or a relative doesn't mean you can kick the ones closest to you and get away with it, time and time again. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

I do have a few very close friends who are there for me no matter what. And that I am very thankful. It's been a long year and I am hoping for lots of good friendship in 2006.

To Do (And Don't) List For 2006

1) Bead more.
2) Keep some people close and others farther away.
3) Don't mix business with friendships - no matter how hard I have tried; it always bites me in the ass. The friends can't seem to keep the 2 separate. Business things are on their own and the friendship should be a totally separate thing.
4) Try harder.
5) Take better care of me.
6) Make sure the people who really mean something to me know it.
7) Be careful who I trust with my feelings, because they could just get thrown back in my face.
8) Don't suffer fools lightly.
9) Explore my bead dreams and make them come to life.
10) Know my mind and don't let others crush my spirit.
11) Don't let others bad moods effect me.
12) Love the ones who need it most.

I did it!

I beaded my first holiday themed project for 2005!!! Woo Hoo!!! Another beaders block thwarted!!!! I can bead!!! I can BEAD!!! It's a cool little Olaf project. I just love how it turned out too. This one is Mom's but I hope to make more. This piece can be seen on my web site: http://www.violetbead.com in the GALLERY.

I'm in the holiday spirit now!!!

Back to the beads!

Beading out.

To bead or not to bead... That IS the question!

Well so far in the last couple weeks, I have beaded very little. I have put kits together, worked on directions for kits and got beads in for kits. So I guess September was a kit month. I am planning to bead tonight, though I have no clue what I will bead. I had a nice dinner and I will have a peaceful evening. Should be ripe for beading.

I'm about to head away for 2 weeks and there will be beading done on that trip as well as working a bead show. Two weeks with people I miss will be a nice diversion.

Beady things just have to happen for me.

Hope they are happening for you.

Blocked and Bullied

I want to bead but I'm just blocked! I get ideas and before I get to the point where I try them, I'm off in another direction. Idea completely forgotten. This too shall pass. I have some hope of getting my beading going again - a real desk to use the computer at where I can bead while I chat or read e-mail. Maybe.

It doesn't help that I had a pissing match with a jerk about how I run my e-mail list. In the end - my expecting him to follow the rules constituted a power/ego issue. He simply couldn't see that he was breaking rules and that is why his post was not allowed through. When I told him that a man would think it was about control and power, he countered by accusing me of having penis envy... Ya right. In the end, I asked him to stop e-mailing me, he informed me that he could do what ever he wanted whenever he wanted and I filed a grievance with AOL against him. He could not see that sending me nasty e-mails after I asked him to stop was harassment. Male Bully behavior just sucks anyway. Odd thing was that AOL was putting his e-mail in my spam folder. Maybe they were trying to tell me they had nothing but CRAP in them? LOL Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person?

I also had a comment come from my site asking for a pattern that I designed that was not up but the inference was for it to be given. Why is it that there are beaders out there who want you to keep putting out new patterns but none of them expect to have to pay for them? They want us to stay in "business" with no income? Come on people! You will buy beads - you will buy books but come across a private designer you don’t want to pay them for their hard work? You would rather pay a huge publishing company for a book but not put dollars in the pocket of a designer directly??? This just doesn't make any sense to me. I would much rather buy a book or a pattern or a kit directly than to give a percentage to ANYONE else who didn't participate in the creative process.

Amazed and Confused

I run several bead lists. One to learn about beading, one to announce changes to my site, another for more advanced beaders among them.

For the learning list to be productive, most of the members need to participate. They are either there to learn or help others learn. This isn't a list to talk about your personal things - it's a bead list to learn beading on. It has to be give and take. In regard to my time that I use to keep the list going, I want it to be successful. I want people to share beading information. Share info on a new book. Share the new project you just made.

I went to the archives this morning and I looked at how excited we all were to have a list to discuss the mechanics of beading on. We need to have the ones who want to learn speak up and tell the ones who know what to help them with. The ones who know need to help the ones who want to learn. Anyone who doesn't participate is sort of doing nothing and gaining info but giving nothing in return. I thought that was pretty unfair. So I told the entire list that if you want to be here - you need to participate. I told them I knew it sounded rough but it was the bare bones of the situation. I simply don't feel it's fair for a big part of the membership to not give anything. Many people are on every bead list they can find and share nothing on any of them. They get the benefits and no one gets anything back from them.

So I'm amazed that people can't grasp the idea that for the list to work properly, we all have to put something into it. I give my time and I want it to work properly.

The part that confuses me is that people who are on other lists of mine left them as well. What's up with that? One in particular actually participates on the list, so I really don't know why she got her panties in a bunch, she was not at all who I directed my post to at all. So what if I'm upset with people who don't bother to participate on the list? What's it to anyone who does? Shouldn't they want to have something shared as well as do the sharing themselves?

I love beads but there are times when the people in the beading community amaze and confuse me.

Doh!

So I get my 10 inches done... only to find I did it all WRONG! No wonder it wouldn't assemble the way the book said... Doh! Just goes to show that occasionally too much beading experience hinders you from actually READING the directions - ALL of the directions and not thinking you know what she meant... Oh well - back to the beginning and I have about 3 inches done the right way this time. *sigh* Not the first time and not the last. I did however have a new beader here beading when I had to cut up that 10 inches, so it showed her that 14 years beading and I still screw up enough to have to scrap the whole thing and start over. Not entirely a bad thing :-)

The weather is cooler yesterday and today but I think that tomorrow it will be hotter again. I was just not meant to stay where it's this hot! I think 80 is hot enough and I don't need it to be any hotter. I love thick blankets - hot soup - hot tea - hot showers... all things that can get me warmer but there is really nothing that I can just do to make me cool enough.

Back to the beads!

Lazy Days

Lazy days... I will tell ya that right now I have the energy of a slug! Another sort of a vacation and I have no ambition at all! It's a stay at home sort - no one here but the dog and I should be getting all sorts of work done but so far nope! I have a project in the works... a beaded rose. I will tell you that the base of that rose is the most boring thing to me right now - 10 inches of modified flat peyote. Ordinarily this would be a cinch but this time it is as slow as slow can be getting there. I seem to measure every 1/4 inch thinking I am so much closer to my goal, but not yet. The book is fantastic - it's The Beaded Garden by Diane Fitzgerald. A book full of flowery goodies and I picked this as my first project. Boy was that a mistake. I could have picked a nice purple pansy but no, a Rose! I HAD to make this darned Rose! And still it sits there. I did pick up 3 beady magazines today and I have not peeked at them yet but they have only been here a couple hours.

So I have had what will end up being 3 vacations this summer and the 3rd should have been productive and I have 5 days left to make that happen

We shall see!

Warning - Rambling post.....

Well goodness... Love is the best drug there is huh? 23 years and I still feel this good when I am going to spend time with him. Not too much to complain about huh? I'm headed on another vacation! 2 weeks in LA with people that re-energize me. (and much cooler weather...) I got a cool new bead book - The Beaded Garden - and I'm not taking it nor any beads with me... I take them but never have time to play with them, so I'm not gonna this time. The book is wonderful though and I will make many of the projects in it I think.

Beads have been everywhere for me the last week or so though. Even little things like scanning a beady article for a friend or seeing beaded clothes at the store. I have been making these really cool crystal bracelets. Made one in Crystal AB
http://members.aol.com/violetbead/BEADWORK/SparkleBrac.jpg

then I had to make a purple one :-) Lilac Swar - Sparkle Sparkle!!! I'm wearing that one. The crystal one is a little dressier than I wear on a daily basis. Pretty though. There is a prospective beady student when I get back. I will see a couple beady friends when I am in LA if I get time. Spending time with people I love and getting a little break.... ahhhhh what a life!

I have been spending time with my nephew and his new wife. She had a little boy when they got together and I can see all kinds of great changes in him since they got married. Both the stability of 2 parents and him maturing into a pleasant little boy have to do with that. Fun and sun and family - a very nice summer indeed this year!

I have concluded once again that life is what you make of it. Got Lemons? Make Lemonade! No one is going to pick you up - you have to get up off your ass and make the first move yourself! The rest will follow if you keep a positive outlook.

I have to go have more fun now!

Unshelling the hermit in me

It's amazing how good I feel when I have been beading. I am energized for everything. It both enhances and interrupts my sleep! It's just an all around good feeling to be creative again. I have several ideas in my head and am working on getting them out and real. I'm getting back in the mood to be around people! What's up with that? A shopping trip with my brother for a couple hours of companionship that I feed on, broke part of the hermit shell. The hermit mode I was in was further broken Saturday. An unplanned visit with a friend brought me out of a planned hermit day - it was going to be all 3 Harry Potter movies - junk food and iced tea. No people allowed! Just Dogs! But the request came and though I REALLY didn’t feel like going out, I needed to and I did.


And then poured the beads. Two new rings in basically two days. Possible kit in the makings and revenue from creativity! Imagine that!!! Who came up with that idea? It's much more fun to have $$ to spend on beads and the bills. I am planning another vacation soon. This one will further remove the hermit shell and re-energize me with beading ideas. This has been a good year for ideas on trips.

No more Gloom and Doom!!!

Well I haven't written here for a while... Haven't had much to write about, mostly due to a pinched nerve in my back, that and feeding off negativity from people in my life. I try to be optimistic, it's my nature. While I have friends and family who are pessimists - my glass has been half full a good percentage of my life. I do have a temper but I seldom stay mad long. It takes too much energy to be angry all the time or to hold a grudge.

People don't realize that when someone asks you how you are, they don't want a run down of all your problems. They want something positive. If your life sucks, think about why and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! No one wants to hear all your aches and pains and complaints. Even the people who tell you they don't want you to feel sorry for them... they do too! Or they wouldn't be telling you all their troubles! My new motto is "You get from life what you put into it" (it's my old motto too) Horrible thing is that when I'm around people with complaints, I find that it's contagious! I find that I end up listing mine back to them! The less you think about your problems, the less they run your life!

So, I am coming out of my personal gloom and I have many beady ideas in my head soon to be reality IF they work! LOL I got to go to my fave bead show last weekend. It hardly seems like it was only a week ago... Now I'm beading and ordering beads. Kits have taken off to my shock and delight! So I have funds to order beads to make more new kits! The bead show was mostly fun and it has given me perspective on some parts of my life. ALL those beads!!!! And beady things!!! I got a bunch of size 11's and a few size 15's. A new pair of pliers with purple handles. But mostly I wished I was teaching the whole time. Seeing all of those student badges... *sigh* It’s funny how you are where you are because you are supposed to be, even when you don't know it. Knowing it gives you the lessons you are meant to learn from that and I did that on this trip. I met a couple beady internet friends which was very cool and I decided that I am going to teach beading where ever I can! All those students taking classes and none of them mine! Say it isn't so! I will also NEVER be anyone's punching bag - literally or figuratively. And that life is too short to deal with other people's baggage. You got baggage? That is YOUR PROBLEM! I end up being the venting board for several people in my life. Some I feel sympathy for and some I don't. It's wasted energy being sympathetic to someone who won't do anything to change their situation. Others just have a crappy situation that they are working to get out of - them I will listen to anytime because it's not all gloom and doom!

I saw so many really cool things at the bead show - mostly on other people! I'm going to post pictures of some of the pieces in the competition when I get time. I got the new Harry Potter book and it takes up all my down time! Back to the beads people! BEAD ON!

Vacation!!!

I am actually on my first vacation that has yet to involve beads. Staying with family and vegging for the most part. This has been a blast! Amusement park! Ren Faire!!! Enjoying the unusually cool summer days. Lots of very mellow music on top of all that.

But the beads keep creeping in....

In my dreams - wherever I am, I see beads! At the mall, the clothes are covered in BEADS! The jewelry is beady! Even the accessories are covered in beads! I saw a biz card case covered in them and if they had not been in colors I don't do.... I would have snatched it up! Makes me want to bead a piece to put on a similar case....

The beads creep in. I have design ideas and I can't wait to get home to try them out!

Rambling in the summer

Wow! I'm in a rambling mood today! Last 1/2 of the month will be a rambling time, so that might be why I'm in that kind of mood. I'm going to my cousin's for a week or more. My sweetie is coming to visit me. I have a few beady ideas in the fire. My web site is starting slow but steady. It’s raining right now and that is very unseasonable… but I'm enjoying it in spite of that! Rain is better than 100+ degree weather in my book!

I'm pretty excited to have a nice quiet couple days with my sweetie before I go on vacation. This vacation is already packed with fun things! Going to an amusement park and a Ren Faire!!! Spending time with family that I reconnected with last summer and this is a VERY good thing.

Beady possibilities are in the works. I really want to teach other people about beading. It's the most important thing for me. I want other people to get the pure pleasure I get from beads. So if all works out – that will be happening soon!!!

My web site is getting more visitors every day!!! All that hard work is finally paying off!!! http://www.violetbead.com It's my site - I get to have all the say and I get to charge less because I'm not giving anyone else a percentage of my money.

So I might be quiet for a couple weeks but that will mean I'm having fun! Have a great time this summer! Life is too short!

Fair Weather Friends

Egos get in the way in life quite often and it's really sad... In designing, there has to be some ego involved, but there is a point where it goes a bit too far. I took a beady class a long time ago from a pair of instructors who talked about a beady group they were part of. They got together once a week and beaded. Sharing ideas and information. I dream of having that one day, but every time I try to achieve that, the egos keep getting in the way. I get tired of it, so tired that I occasionally think I am wasting my time making beady buddies. It often comes to bite me in the ass. I want to have beady friends who are willing to share what they know as well as learn what I have to share. Instead, I often find people who have things but won't share them, however they want all I have to share with them.

Case in point this week, I had an acquaintance (My SO's term for this someone who was probably never my true friend in the first place) that had posted inaccurate information on a bead related subject to her blog. I have a real problem with this because there is enough wrong info out there, when it's something I can give facts about on, I try to get the facts out there. No matter how much factual information I handed to her, she kept pushing her opinion, which was NOT supported by the facts from one of the parties involved. Another party in the same beady circle asked me about the situation on IM. I gave my side of what happened. I am afraid that my comments may have been passed along... to the one who isn't mature enough to say something to me personally. It was also alluded to that I moderated the person in question on my bead list. True - she was moderated but the WHOLE list gets moderated when the topic can be volatile. It was not a personal affront: 98% of that list is moderated and it states as much on the front page of the list. I am guessing that due to this, she left all of my e-mail lists, since another party in that same group mentioned it. This is apparently supposed to wound me. Whatever!

It's not about being right - it's about being accurate. I didn't tell the woman I'm right and you are wrong - I told her - this is what the company involved said were the facts. It was the request of the owner of that company that I send her the information. She had closed the blog to further comment and he couldn't correct the facts there and he since didn’t seem to know who she was, he asked me to please make sure she got his information. One person said it was a disagreement and it was not. I didn’t disagree with her; I fed her information, which she refused to use. She then deleted her ENTIRE BLOG. How mature! It's "I can't post a simple correction to keep the blog accurate" - "I can't be wrong, so I won't have a blog at all!" Then she didn't RSVP for the bead meeting we have once a week, but I can’t read much into that because she didn't always RSVP in before all of this happened and seldom showed up at all.

A close non-beady friend pointed out to me that she just might have gotten all she wanted to get from me, that I am no longer of any use to her, so she just did things in the last couple weeks to create a space between us which will just get bigger and bigger and finally become a gap too big to bridge. After sleeping on it, I think my very intuitive friend was right. This person didn't always share the projects she had that I was interested in, however, I did share a couple of my personal favorites with her. On hindsight, I can see that now but I was naive enough to think she would eventually be forthcoming. It's sad but as my SO said - IF she was really my friend, she could take being given correct information and moved forward in this relationship. Maybe it was never a real friendship after all... It was only an acquaintance and it makes me sad that I so believed it to the more than that.

That said, I do have the blessing of a few beady friends, though most of them don't live close to me, who share freely with me. They are the ones I can bounce beady ideas off of. I can send my directions to and they will tell me where I screwed them up! I can vent my feelings to them and not get judged. They are the people I count in my blessings every day. Without them I would probably not be the beader I am today. They encourage me, set me straight, and smack me around when I need it. They are far from being fair weather friends. They are my friends when we agree and disagree. I guess I should focus on them and stop sweating the small shit huh?

Bring accurate isn't about being right

Something that gets confused often is accuracy vs never being told you are wrong. I personally have no problem being told I'm wrong IF the info is accurate. I would much rather have accurate info out there than to see people making choices based on opinions rather than facts. In the last month or so, I have come to realize that I am a fact addict. Being a beading designer and instructor, I hate to see inaccurate information out in the bead world.

• I hate it when Japanese size 15 seed bead gets called a size 14. When they are made in Japan, they are sized as a 15. They got called size 14 initially because of the Czech seed beads being popular in a size 14. They did it for marketing but when others tell beaders not to buy one because it won' go with the other is a bunch of hooey!
• I also hate it when people tell others that a little clear Krylon spray will make a galvanized bead stable. I have done it and it makes them awful. I just steer my students away from them all together!
• I hate it when a teacher is so strict as to not let the students learn anything in their comfort zone. Just because the teacher likes English needles, wax and working with short thread doesn't mean his or her students will feel the same way.
• I hate it when "the copyright police" tell people they can't sell or give away a pattern they bought over the internet. You bought it and once you are done with it, you can do whatever you want with is as long as you don't copy it.
• I hate that some bead authors out there publish their work and expect other to buy it - whether it be on the internet or a magazine or book and don't allow them to make and sell the designs. I want the people who spend their money on my designs to know that I have no problem with them selling pieces made from them. Please don't mass produce them but make bead money from them!
• I hate it when people get pissy on the internet and if they are somehow proven wrong, they unsub from the lists and delete things. Why not say - oops - I was wrong - no biggie - that makes me HUMAN just like the rest of the world! Being able to say I am wrong is one of the life lessons I learned from my first office job. My boss could be a jerk but he could also appologise for it. It isn't painful. How mad can someone be at you when you come to them and say you screwed up? Not very!

It's all about putting the accurate info out there and letting the people use their brains and make their own choices. Use the thread you like - use the needles you like - bead on what you like to bead on - wax if you like to wax.