Saturday 12 February 2011

Baubles, Bangles and Beads

Last night I was invited to a bead party. It was my first, but I've been to many similar evenings involving Tupperware, candles, kitchen equipment etc. I confess to mixed feelings about them. While I'm grateful for any opportunity to get together with friends over a glass of wine and a bowl of tortilla chips, the pressure to buy, no matter how downplayed by the hostess, invariably detracts from my enjoyment of the evening.

So I'm glad to report that last night was an unqualified success. It got off to a promising start with a glass of sloe gin and a bowl of chilli but continued to please even when we moved into the dining rooms to get down to business. The tables were laid out with an impressive selection of gorgeous glass beads and exquisite silver spacers with which we were given free reign to design our own bracelets, necklaces etc. There was no pressure to do anything more than have fun playing around with the colours and shapes.

Fortunately for my friend, who received 10% of the takings, I created, and bought(!) two St Valentine's Day presents for my daughters. For many years now I've bought them 'a little something' on the 14th of February. It's usually something less expensive,but they've both impressed me with their hard work and determination this year,and I think they deserve a reward, especially one they'll not be expecting.

7 comments:

  1. They're beautiful, I'm sure your daughters will LOVE them! And I sure like the sound of a bead party, I think I'd leave full of necklaces and empty of pocket!

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  2. Thank you for your kind words, but with such gorgeous raw materials all I had to do was arrange them.

    I'm tempted to host my own party to make a necklace for myself.

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  3. I do like the sound of those parties, it seems like fun. Very pretty results too Gai. I recently declined a kitchenware party having had my fill of all the usual ones you mentioned. I will have to keep my ear open for the beads (if you see what I mean).

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  4. The woman who organised the party had forgotten to bring any business cards but strangely enough she didn't work for a franchise as so many of them do. Her business is entirely her own, which was another point in her favour.

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  5. Sounds like it was a very nice time, and your creations are lovely! I'm sure your daughters will be very excited.

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  6. It's good to be able to support a small, local business and have fun at the same time.

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