I'm already excited about my new life...

I have LOVED being the Queen Bee of Ornamentea. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it.

But then, one day, I realized I wanted to do more.

I was struggling to write new projects.

I was forcing myself to get excited about classes and events.

I was faking it.

After having a job I LOVED for so long, the faking and pretending and half-assed work was killing me. It was time for me to move on to something new (I STILL don't know what that is, exactly*) and for the shop to close.

So I wrote a note to my customers and hit the 'send' key and then stopped pretending. I was, suddenly, free to say what had been hidden in my brain for so long. I was able to admit that I wasn't endlessly creative in a retail sense, that I needed a recharge, that I needed a change.

And the floodgates opened.

I'm already designing new kits for the 'next' version of Ornamentea. It's an online-only (mostly?) version that will leave me with more time to be creative in a more personal way.

This will be one of the kits:

Well, not exactly this. It needs a tweak or two. 

The basic ingredients are as follows:

• 4 strands of 3 mm fire polished beads
• 1 strand of fancy hematite beads
• 5 tassels
• 5 jump rings (I used 5 mm)
• 1 strand hematite cross/plus beads
• 1 strand hematite star beads
• 1 card of #2 or 3 or 4 silk

I started by putting the jump rings through the tops of all the tassels. Close them securely, and twist them so the split in the jump ring is hidden inside the tassel.

String about 2 inches of one of the beads onto your silk. Then add a star or a cross. Then switch colors and repeat. Keep going. When it's about the length you want, add your first tassel instead of a star or cross. Repeat to add 5 tassels. Go back to the bead-star-bead-cross thing for a while. Then, when it's long enough, knot it super tight and glue that knot. 

I swear, the kit will have better directions. Come in to the shop this weekend and I'll help you pick out the parts for your very own version of this necklace. 

xxoo-C

*I really don't know what my full-time thing will be. I'll do the kits and projects for Ornamentea.com, but that's only a bit of what is in store for me. I do know that the world is big and there is something out there I need to try. So I am going to do it. Yep.