Bead crochet is all the rage in my head. It's been a couple of months, actually. During the Christmas break from work, I had a dear friend over to play with beads - she has a small stash, and felt like she wasn't getting enough out of them.  I was thrilled to have a reason to pull mine out.  She wanted to learn bead crochet, but i started her on the peyote stitch, because my bead collection had been spread out, and it took me a bit of time to find all the bead crochet stuff.

We never got that far, she fell in love with peyote; but I remembered how i like to bead crochet, and off i went.

I'll share pictures of those bracelets, and my process and materials as I have time.
In the mean time, I want to share something else... beading of course.

Over the course of years beading, I have come to rely on the bead mats that are commercially available. The first time I found them, I was at my local bead shop - I have several available, but one favorite stands head and shoulders above the rest :)

I took home a 9x12 piece of vellux like fabric, and the rest was history. I'm a convert! Someone at the same bead shop even showed me how to fold the fabric to take it with me! However, I'm a klutz, and often in a rush. Taking the time to pack it up nicely didn't always work out.

When we were at Michaels on Valentines day (because who doesn't go to Michaels on Valentines day?), Brian bought me this:


Item is nice, well made, but the hinge is very very hard to open without jostling, and I fear that my klutz will send the bead flying - the whole purpose is not to do that!

I was determined to take the concept and make it work for me!  But how? I can't really manufacture small cases.  I started googling, and found this gem on Pinterest! http://itsallaboutcreating.blogspot.com/2009/11/portable-beading.html

Well the hunt was on! But it's very cold here, and I like to traipse around to various stores on warm days - so I decided to hit the Dollar Tree on the way home.

They didn't have any of the slim baby wipes cases - and I'm wondering if they have fallen out of fashion! So instead, I bought a screwdriver set with a case, and an Eyeshadow case.

Here is the updated Eye Shadow case:

I had to fill each of the individual pockets with a layer of vellux, and then i glued a large layer over the whole thing. It's still drying in the corners, but I am excited to give it a try.  I expect I'll make cases out of leftover or cheap plastic cases whenever i can find them. 

I'm still looking for slim diaper cases, so I posted to facebook to see if any of my mom friends could point me in the right direction!

Happy crafting!