Retreat wrap-up

This will be the last post about the Loose Bead Society retreat, which was this past weekend.  If you missed any of it, you can catch up with the following posts:

Packing for the retreat
Spring retreat day 1
Stamped domino class at the retreat
Home from the retreat

As you can see, the retreat was a big deal, at least to me.  :)

I lost a lot of beading time due to the class I taught.  It was a lot of fun, but I should have taken that into account when I packed.  Yesterday I showed you the blue cuff keyboard innards bracelet that I finished, and I mentioned that most of the rest of the projects I worked on were quick projects given to us during the retreat.  Out of the 1000 (give or take) projects I packed, I only worked on two others.  I could have packed all three of those projects in my purse.

The first project is a purple/black/gray version of my Quadrille design:

Looks great, doesn't it?  I love the colors, and I want to make this one of my kit colorways.  Here's how the other end looks:

Crap!  I didn't buy enough of the large beads that are in the "swoops".  If I finished it off where it currently is, it would fit most people, but I want this one for me.  Damn these mutantly large wrists!  Ah, well, a trip to Knot Just Beads is in order.

While there, I'll be searching for Rizos, 15/0 seed beads, and 4mm beads (the "swoop" ones I'm missing) for other kit colorways.  I picked up some supplies at our Funky Hannah's shopping trip, but I couldn't find everything I needed for two out of the three Super Duo colors I chose.  I fell in love with one type of 4mm bead for a blue colorway, but they only had 2 strands, which would be enough for one bracelet/earring kit and a color sample.  Amanda will see if she can get more of them.  I hope so - those beads are gorgeous!

Most of the other supplies I bought are colors to match the 2014 Bead&Button Show commemorative bead.  My only impulse buys were a Lo-Lo bar (a moisturizer that is supposed to be excellent - we received a sample, and I really liked it - you can read about it here) and some new O beads so I can play with them.


On Sunday I made one brick stitch earring to match one of my early samples:

The only other things I made were from the "daily surprises" that we received at the retreat.  Two of them were quick pendants made with materials by Craft Fantastic.  We received bezels and glass, and we could choose images to sandwich between.  You can see one of their kits, which is similar to what was at the retreat here.  Basically you glue the image to the glass, trim when dry, and adhere the glass to the bezel.  You only have to wait for the glue to dry.  Everything else is super quick.  It was fun, and I loved the sense of accomplishment I had in completing two beautiful pendants in a short amount of time.

Another project we received was a kit to make Celtic Knot earrings:

Those were fun, and I was introduced to a new tool by Judy!  I took a lot of pictures with it, and on Friday I'll have another tool battle like I had with the split ring pliers.

I had a few extra crystals, so I made a pair of teeny dangle earrings:

I may add something else to those, but I'm not sure yet.

That's it for the retreat!  Wait - remember the pink cube/rondelle set I made and said I was going to donate to the Cinderella project if it was appropriate?  Not only was it appropriate, but Sue put it up on the sample board so others would know what kind of jewelry to make!  Yay!!