Bead by bead

I got to check two whole things off my immediate to-do list. Yes, I have different levels of to-do. Something along the lines of:

• To-do before I die
• To-do before someone else yells at me
• To-do or I have to go back to having a day job
• To-do when I'm trying to avoid other to-dos

That Day Job threat one is the one I'm focused on for the short-term. It includes finalizing the color selection for the eleventy million new kits we're debuting in Tucson, getting the beads ordered, and getting the samples made.

I've spent more than 15 hours in the past week trying to get the kit colors ready for my new Parisian Lights kit. It's an important one because I'm teaching it at the Texas Bead Retreat in Temple next weekend, and everyone is going to go ga-ga over it if the reception it got at Nomadic Notions is any indication. I had two classes of 10 people there last quarter and both classes filled within a few hours of registration opening. Both classes ended up with waiting lists of another 10 folks ea. Crazy!

Now I have to agree with them - it's really a beautiful piece. And you could use almost any beads to make a pretty bracelet. But I think one of my important jobs is to make sure the colors I choose for the kits make it a FABULOUS piece. I need to do the work to pick out the unexpected...the hard to visualize...the spot on combos. Most of the time I don't have to work THIS hard at it, but for whatever reason, this bracelet was fighting me. It finally, thankfully, all came together tonight and I now have three kick butt combos that are worthy of kits. All three samples were made tonight (another reason to love this bracelet - it's quick!) and the beads will get ordered before I go to bed. I'll get photos posted tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I'll have to take those photos with my trusty old flatbed scanner, not my camera. Why? Because I killed another one. Mom will tell you that I have quite the talent for killing cameras by dropping them on cement. This camera was a replacement for the one I knocked off the kitchen ledge the weekend we tore up the carpet in our old house, right on the newly exposed concrete floors. Yesterday, I was hauling in a bunch of stuff from my car along with a very important Chik-fil-a Cookies & Cream Milkshake, and as I got to the front step, the whole pile of "stuff" went sliding...right out of my arms on onto the concrete front step. The camera still works! You just have to hold the battery door shut when you do it. Methinks it will be going to the camera hospital soon to see if it's a candidate for surgery. Moral of the story: Don't hand Jill your camera if there's concrete around for her to fling it upon.