A Pile O' Earrings

Imagine...a weekend with no obligations, free access to all the past seasons of Game of Thrones, and a collection of twins, tilas, rizos, and other fun shaped beads that you've been wanting to play with....What might happen?

Well, if you're anything like me, you'll end up with a pile o' earrings.

This is just a part of what came off the worktable.

In all, I made over thirty pairs of earrings. And I caught up to date on Game of Thrones. Win/win!

Half Of A Good Idea

A lovely strand of faceted Czech firepolished glass in variegated soft colors called my name at a bead show.  So like any beader worth her salt, I bought that strand. And two of its identical twins.

We won't dwell on the fact that I just admitted to hearing beads talk to me.

The thought was to use them to make a netted rope necklace, kind of like this one.  Hopefully I had enough beads that I wouldn't run out halfway through (again...)

That was all well and good, until I actually started making the necklace. It was obvious that the beads were a little too big to let the necklace flow softly. Instead, it was going to make a rope about as big around as your thumb - a little chunky if it's solid around the neck.

So, plan B! Instead of a whole necklace, I made beaded beads.  

Oh, and it turns out it wouldn't have been enough to make a whole 16" or 18" necklace anyway. Gotta stop trying to eyeball bead quantities in the midst of the bead show floor.

But now I have an assortment of lovely sparkly beaded beads, and no clear idea of what to do with them. It's not the first time I've discovered that my great idea was actually only half of a great idea. Any suggestions for what might work with these?