April Bead Stash Favorites

Although there’s really no such thing as too many beads, it can be a bit tricky finding inspiration when there are so many wonderful baubles waiting to be stitched. I’ve really beefed up my bead stash recently, and now I just don’t know where to begin! Spring and summer inspirations are definitely having some influence, which is why these three bead picks are at the top of my list right now.

I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled lately for great buttons, particularly those that are metal free. This usually leaves rather expensive crystal, glass, and ceramic buttons, so when I saw these totally affordable beauties at Artbeads.com, I couldn’t resist. These hand painted flower buttons are made from coconut, so they’re really lightweight despite their size - 35 mm of flowery goodness.

The only thing better than a lovely, organic baroque pearl is a blue one! Although these beads aren’t always drilled ideally for bead weaving, I can’t get enough of the fun shapes. I'm planning to experiment a bit with any culled pieces and see if I can work them into bead embroidery in a satisfactory way. It's not good to waste such gorgeous beads, even if the holes are a mess. The dark blue color of these pearls from Fire Mountain Gems is definitely beach worthy, but I can see them just as easily in some Egyptian inspired pieces.

And finally, in my quest to find great seed bead colors to substitute for gold, I recently fell in love with matte mustard yellow from FusionBeads.com. They’re a little bit yellow and a little bit brown, and the matte finish gives them a wonderful earthy look. Although I usually stay away from matte finish seed beads - I find them far too crunchy for beadwork - I can't pass up a good shade of non-metal gold. I can’t wait to try them out with cobalt and jet black!

What beads are inspiring you right now?

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