A New Bead on Life

""Bead" - [noun] - a small, usually round object of glass, wood, stone, or the like with a hole through it, often strung with others of its kind in necklaces etc; [idiom] - draw /get a bead on, to take careful aim at.""


This seemed like an apt title for my new blog. 

Firstly, I'm a beading crafter - I enjoy making things with beads.  Secondly, I'm at a new page in my life and I want to make the most of things - take a new aim at a new life, if you like.

After a strange period of frustration / mid-life-crisis / feeling that there's more to life, I now have an amazing opportunity to do something different.  I've moved to America!  Quite a drastic action, agreed, but the move came with my hubby's promotion.  We've been here for 2 ½ months, and are settling in nicely.  So far, life in the USA is exciting, frustrating, enjoyable, scary, different and familiar all at the same time.  I'm hoping to share our experiences as we settle in.  More to follow!
 

Beaded Stocking - DewCatDesigns 2014

But beads are also my creative output.  It started with a chance encounter with embroidery and beads at a craft fair in Cardiff (where we used to live) a few years' ago.  I'm normally a cross-stitcher, but the sparkly silver-lined seed beads really appealed to my inner magpie, and it went from there!  I created some Christmas decorations with the sparkly beads, and loved the creative process.  Friends and family were complimentary, so I set up an Etsy site (www.etsy.com/shop/DewCatDesigns).  Over the years, the time I could dedicate to the site and to my crafting interests has varied greatly with work and other commitments, but my love of embroidery and beads is still there.  Now, with our new lifestyle, I have time to dedicate to exploring my interest further.


Wire-wrapped herringbone earrings - as made by me!

I have already tracked down a local beading-shop-slash-beader's-paradise-slash-place-I-could-happily-spend-hours-just-gazing-at-beautiful-beads...  ... ahem...  I've also started to attend a few of their workshops to expand my beading repertoire and see what else I can make with my own large (and growing) collection of beads (wire-wrapped beads, woven beads, 3D beaded shapes...exciting!).  And whatever other crafty initiatives take my liking!

 

Hopefully you'll stay with me as I share my crafty endeavours along the way, as well as an insight into our day-to-day adventures in the US!