Swarovski Obsession

Did I ever mention that my sister in law is the one to blame for starting my obsession with Swarovski crystal beads. She started making a bunch of simple stretchy bracelets and earrings, which were totally darling. The thing about starting out with Swarovski, though is that you get spoiled. No kidding, you get what you pay for. Cheap crystal beads are not all uniform in appearance or color, the facets are not as brilliant, and sometimes the beads aren't even all the same size. The other thing is that once you become interested in doing more than stringing beads, there are a LOT of other Swarovski components to experiment with.

Since I also sew, I love flatback Swarovski crystal rhinestones. Haha, it's not like having a Bedazzler, I swear! Well, I guess if you got carried away it could look like that, but I digress.

Coincidentally, I got an email from the Artbeads Blogging for Beads folks on my birthday, saying that their latest promo involves Swarovski crystal beads and components. They're sending me a goodie bag of stuff I got to pick out, including some of these super cool shaped 12mm Cosmic beads, pictured here. (I can't get over the really neat asymmetrical shape!) Pretty nifty, huh?