Fun With Beads . . . A Girls Night Out

A few years back (more truthfully quite a few years back), I decided I wanted to go back to school for graphic design. I loved creating things on the computer, mashing together images and designing cards, covers, and invitations.  It seemed a logical choice.  I was so excited.

It turns out, one of the very first classes you need to take is basic drawing.  When I realized this, I froze.  In grade school, I always hated art class, I never felt creative, and I certainly couldn’t draw.  Even my stick people were unrecognizable. However, in an effort to fulfiil my career dream, I tried to take a positive approach.  Sure, I can’t draw to save my life, but perhaps this would be a great opportunity to learn.  Maybe there are some tricks of the trade, some easy lessons on perspective, some way to make my stick people look less deformed.  So, I signed up, bought the supplies and headed for class.

Since I was working full-time, my art class was 3 hours every Monday night. Upon my arrival on the first night, I was horrified to find out I missed the first class (strike 1) so I did not have all of the supplies I really needed.  However, I am still welcomed in.  Our project that night was drawing shoes.  A large pile of various shoes sat in the middle of the room and we were supposed to draw by just looking at the shoes, not the paper.  My hands began to sweat as I looked around and saw others working.  They all seemed relaxed, casual, like they were having fun?!? Shoes seemed to come to life in the middle of their sketch pad.  The teacher moved slowly around the room looking over shoulders and commenting. I try to get something that at least looks like a shoe on paper before she gets  to me.  When she does get to me, it is obvious that I am struggling.  Though I am terrified, I also hopefully await the words of wisdom which will magically give me the power to draw.  Her next three words (which she repeated several times) were a bit of a let down. . . “let it flow”. (strike 2)

Needless to say, that was not quite the advice I was looking for (no matter how many times she repeated it).  At the end of class we had to display our work and have everyone critique it.  No, I don’t remember what people said when they came to mine, it was too traumatic and I have totally blocked it out. (strike 3).  I never showed up to another class.

Over the years this trauma has morphed into a general phobia of all things arts and crafts.  It even spilled over into fear of home decorating, and clothes shopping.  So, I thought I might be able to break out of this fear through a fun and relaxing girls night out.  And I was not disappointed.  I wanted to pick a fun craft that I thought would be kind of easy and where I would actually be able to use what I created.  With a little help from my friend Diana (The Internet Wonder Queen), I ended up settling on jewelry making at Buttercup Beads in Audubon PA.  So I got a small group together, and picked a date.  We settled on snacks and got some wine and headed on over.

It was a great choice!  They helped us through everything from picking out beads, to design, to finishing work.  It was such a great experience.  After we picked out our beads (they had a great selection), we all sat around the table while they gave us some design instructions.  Odd pairings look better, make sure you intersperse some shiny beads in with the glass, place a design on each side of your center point and see which you like better before you do the finished product, don’t stand up and drop your beads all over the floor (I did this of course).

Check out our designs below. It was a little nerve racking at first because everyone wants theirs to turn out just right.  But in the end, for me it was nice to realize that it wasn’t totally about the finished product but about having fun with a bunch of awesome gals and learning something new.

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