While I was away a lot of beadmail arrived so I’m going to try to do a short blog post every day for a while. I’ve decided to put a few videos on, as I think they are a good way to view all sides of a bead, but let me know if you think the videos are helpful or not! First up today I’ve got the sweet little Lucky Monk (€45), from the German store Star Bijou. You can get it with a larger core so it will fit on Pandora bracelets if you want. I love their line of Asian inspired beads and in their words- ‘The Lucky Monk – Inspired by a Buddhistic character who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish and a compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings’.
Let’s take a look so we can see him all the way around.
Isn’t the little braid cute? He fits very nicely on a bangle with two Spiritbeads Lucky Dragons and two Elfbeads.
The Chinese Lucky Coin Silver Pendant (€39) is like the Chinese Lucky Coin. I did a blog post on it over here. The pendant is a bit smaller than the non-dangle version and really hits that sweet spot of dangling but not being too long. I love this length for wearing on a wrist to give a little movement, but it would also work on a necklace.
For my first bracelet I wanted to use some calming colours to reflect the serene look on the monk’s face, so went with the True Beadz Linen Beads. True Beadz are now also available at Star Bijou. The two flower beads are the Silver Sakura Spiritbeads and the other two silvers are True Beadz The Wheel of Time. To the right of the Pendant is a Treasure (sorry!).
I also made up a bigger bracelet and added in the Spiritbeads Daruma.
Below left to right are True Touch Castle Stone, The Wheel of Time, True Blossom Baby Pink, Spiritbeads Silver Sakura and True Touch Princess Kiss.
Below left to right are Lucky Monk, True Blossom Castle Stone, a True Treasure, True Taste Castle Stone and Spiritbeads Daruma.
Below left to right are True Touch Princess Kiss, Spiritbeads Silver Sakura, True Blossom Baby Pink, The Wheel of Time, True Touch Castle Stone and the Chinese Lucky Coin Silver Pendant.
So, I really think this Lucky Monk (and I don’t know why yesterday I kept on calling it the Happy Monk) is quite adorable and I absolutely love the size of the Lucky Coin Pendant. It’s so amazing what choices we collectors have these days with charms. I often get hardcore Pandora collectors oooing and ahhing over Beads from smaller brands like Spiritbeads because they are so delightful. Has anyone taken the plunge into this brand yet?
Coming up tomorrow will be the Redbalifrog Frog Lock and then the Spiritbeads Kokeshi Limited Edition Doll (and there are only a couple left, so don’t wait if it’s on your list—wait! They are sold out! Charm Bead Blog let me know late last night!) then the True Beadz Dragons bead.
Disclosure: For this blog I may receive some items as promotional samples.
Hi Martha, First I want to say that I love every bead on every combination you’ve done here! The True Beadz are a perfect compliment to the Spiritbeads and I love your choice of colors. You should not be sorry about using your Treasures! I find the videos very helpful. I’ve gotten a couple if beads now that have been way smaller than I expected so it’s nice to see them live. Daily posts you say!?…..Oh and I think the monk looks very happy!
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Hi Suzanne! Ok, I’m so glad you find the videos helpful. I think there are several for tomorrow. I love the little smile on the monk-he is quite calming in a way. Yes, I need to more than my usual twice a week posts because I have quite a few new beads (lucky me!) and don’t like to have them sitting around waiting, if that makes any sense. I don’t work in the summer aside from the occasional concert, so it should be doable, but we shall see!
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I love it when I have one of your posts waiting in my email! I can’t wait to see what you got…although it will probably cause me to add more things to my wish list! I’m going to the jewelry store near me that sells Trollbeads next week to get a bangle and see what they have. Believe me, it’s no where near like the stores you just went to!
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I can believe you because I’ve been to stores with just a small amount of beads to buy-like fewer than I have in my house. 😬How exciting you are getting a bangle though!
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Love your color choices! There’s a lot of harmony in each arrangement.
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Thanks April. I thought the monk looked happy and pleased with things, so didn’t want to disrupt that with any wild colours. 😬
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Cute little monk, love his braid. But I went WOW LOVE over those two wish Elfbeads next to him on your bangle. They’re beautiful. Which ones are they? True Beadz Linen is gorgeous as always. However, True Beadz Treasures are frustratingly hard to even see online in stores nevermind buy. Very frustrating, wish the more popular treasures could be made mainline so true fans could buy them. Even my favorite glass color retired so fast I didnt even have a chance to buy, Blue Mist.
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Faye, I didn’t have a clue as to what those Elfbeads are called, but I looked them up and they are Wish Blush Pure Beads. 😀 There is an Elfbeads distributor in my city so if I want to buy any I can go see them in person!
I understand the frustration of buying Treasures as I had to sit on my iPad in order to get the sweet dark pink one with the little flowers. It was an absolute mad dash and I remember it was lunch time and I was trying to help with the kids and so on. I will pass your thoughts on to Julia.
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