Adding Crystals to my life.

Recently I ordered some Swarovski crystals from Artbeads.com so that I could play with some new stuff and to try out some of the crystal that my LBS doesn't happen to carry. I made a small order and wanted to choose things that I could relatively quickly turn into finished pieces with the crystal and supplies I already have.

Artbeads.com has a pretty impressive collection of Swarovski Elements and keeping the order reasonable was pretty challenging since I wanted some of everything. One of the nice things is that they have free shipping on all orders in the USA or $1 to Canada. (More money to spend on crystals.)

The photo above is my order all wrapped up in purple tissue paper which I think I will have to use in a collage once my studio is up and running. The photo below is all of my goodies laid out. What did I order? 100 each of the 3 mm and 4 mm Crystal Heliotrope bi-cones, 12 mm rivolis in Crystal Copper and Crystal Vitrail Light, 14 mm rivolis in Amethyst, 10 mm rivoli buttons in Crystal Meridian Blue, 2 of the brand new Fish Pendants in Crystal Golden Shadow and 2 of the smaller 16 x 26 mm leaf pendants in Topaz.
So what do I think of all of my new pretties and what are they getting made into? The bi-cones were a no brainer for me since I had previously purchased that color. Crystal Heliotrope is a hard color to find so I was thrilled when I saw they had it. It looks sort of grey with flashes of purple and blue so it is perfect when you want something refined with a bit of fun. These and the buttons are going into some spiral rope jewelry. The buttons are a a neat blue with flashes of pink and orange and other colors depending on the light and make great clasps.

The rivolis are all going into wire wrapped rivoli earrings which is one of my newer classes that I am offering at Bead Boutique. All of the colors are gorgeous. I've worked with both Amethyst and Crystal Vitrail Light before, the crystal copper is a new color for me and I really impressed with how rich it looked. I have loved the leaf shaped pendant since they came out with it but only recently had purchased some in the clear crystal for some winter leaf earrings so I was really looking forward to the topaz ones since I knew they would make wonderful fall earrings. Last but far from least is the brand new fish pendant which is one of the new Fall/Winter shapes from Swarovski. They looked cool online but in person they are so much better. They have such depth and facets to really catch the light. I may have to try more of these in some of their other colors. Fish earrings here we come.
With my order I got a Share the Savings Card that I would like to share with anyone who would be interested in checking out Artbeads.com for themselves. Although I just purchased crystal this time they have lots of other goodies. With the code I am including you can get 10% off your order through the end of the year. The code is SCF10P-ARTBEADS-0424. Now to figure out what I want to get next? Maybe some seed beads for next years Bead Journal Project which starts in January? MMMM.........

Come back in a few days to see what I have done with all of these yummy crystals.

Disclosure...As a reviewer of products at Artbeads.com, I received the Swarovski crystal elements above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Artbeads.com for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.