BTW: Bead Table Wednesday 10/12/11

Andrea's Table
On my bead table today is a strand of Czech seed beads, spelling out the word "bye", accompanied by a glass cabochon in the shape of a heart, and a sad face of Miyuki cubes with a chalcedony briolette for a nose.  It is with a very heavy heart that I have to announce my departure from Beadaholique.  Due to health issues, I have had to make the difficult decision to move back to my home state of Michigan so that I may be closer to my family.  However, I will very greatly miss my "family" here.  The past two years have been incredible; not only did I get to have my dream job, designing jewelry for a fantastic bead company, but also I have made SO many friends in the beading community.  I plan to continue beading wherever life takes me, and I will most certainly keep in touch!  Thank you, everyone, for two years of fun, inspiration, and camaraderie.  And thank you, Sarah, Chris, Julie, and everyone here at Beadaholique... for everything, from the bottom of my heart.  Love Always, Andrea

Julie's Table
On my bead table is the brand new Vintaj special edition Big Kick machine by Sizzix along with some of the stamping blanks I have already embossed and etched. I am having such fun playing with this new gizmo, I feel like a kid again and am constantly smiling in amazement at how easy it is to use and how great the results are. Tomorrow I will be making a series of 4 videos showing how to use the machine itself, how to etch, how to emboss, and how to add finishing touches to your pieces to really make the designs "pop". As happy as I am to be trying out the long awaited Vintaj Big Kick, I am so sorry to see Andrea leave. It has been such a delight to work with her and to learn from her awesome beading skills. We plan to stay in touch and I can't wait to see where her journey takes her! Lots of love and happy wishes to Andrea!