Painted Beads

While living in Virginia I learned to really appreciate thrifting and recycling, not only for the household, but also in crafts, as I have said before.  There were great second hand shops in the city that I worked in which I still visit when I go to see our daughter who is in school there.  The people I worked with were also big into recycling and passing things along.  Which is a good thing as I worked for an environmental agency!  Every day you could walk into the break room and find a new treasure left by a co-worker.  Pottery, books, tea, coffee, craft items, electronics, wrapping paper....you name it.  Either myself or a friend of mine would take anything that was still hanging around at the end of the week to one of the area thrift stores. 

Remember the beaded seat cushions that used to be so popular.  Big wooden beads that you sat on.  Go figure.  How could they be comfortable.  I have to digress here.  My father-in-law had one of these things and it broke.  Before I could grab those beads he had spread them out over his lawn to let them rot into the grass.  AAHH!  Well, I finally got my chance because someone left one in the break room.  And a friend snagged it for me. 

I pulled it apart, as it was partially broken already.  You have no idea what a pain it was to remove all of those beads!  And I had no idea what I was going to do with all of them. 

Last weekend I was sitting in the backyard with our son while he operated his ham radio.  And I needed something to do.  I didn't want to knit outside as it was a bit windy and our neighbor's cats like to come over for a visit and I didn't want cat hair on any knitting due to my husband's allergies.  I wandered around the garage, where a lot of my craft things are stored, and found the bag of wooden beads.  I grabbed a couple of handfuls and my Sharpies and started decorating.

I don't know what I will do with them yet - maybe a big chunky necklace or bracelet, but it was fun just scribbling on these little wooden canvases.

Happy Crafting!

Kathy