The International Gem and Jewelry Show is in town.  It’s been so long since I went last…I haven’t needed any more beads with all of the beads I have stock piled here (sound familiar?).   However…. one of my sons will be making his First Communion this Spring and I realized I had better start looking for the right beads now.  The last time I was shopping for rosary beads, I had fun looking for them in person at Bead Fest Wire.

So on the way to school Friday morning, I handed my son a Fire Mountain Gems catalogue to look over bead types and colors.   I especially recommend this catalogue to beginners who are just learning the names of bead shapes and types of stones, as FMG is happy to send out a free 400+ page print catalogue – what a great reference (you can order one here).   I told my son that if he saw anything he might like for his rosary, to fold down the corner of the page and put a big X on the picture.  Later before I headed out to the bead show, I opened the catalogue to see what my son had chosen.

Let’s see,  shiny green coin pearls were circled…

Carved carnelian beads…he did tell me he liked carnelian in the past.

I wasn’t surprised to see this.  A few weeks ago he told me he was thinking of “limestone” beads because he likes limes. 🙂

Oh, okay.  Horses!  His Aunt would approve of these beads…..

But wait.  Shark teeth??   Okay, he is a 7 year old boy.

Needless to say I left for the bead show not really sure what color or type of stone to look for.  There’s still time to get to the bottom of it.  I did have a blast at the show, taking my time persusing the beads. Usually I’m in such a rush, or it used to be that I had a baby in the Baby Bjorn with me (and they sure get heavy after a few hours!).  I enjoyed spending time chatting with Tracy Statler while there.   It is really neat when I get to visit with people from our online community in person!

Would you like to see what I brought home?  Oh, and for the first time in bead show shopping history, I didn’t buy a single piece of sterling silver – not a single bead.

Both Tracy and I scooped up strands of natural turquoise.

Strands of natural Labradorite and with Aurora Borealis finish

Lots of brightly-colored accent beads

Thanks for coming along bead shopping with me!

– Cindy