Yes, it's true that the internet is possibly the world's greatest time-suck.  I go on it to look at one thing and one hour later I gain consciousness, don't know what I've looked at for the past hour, and can't remember what I got on the computer to look at in the first place.  But fortunately, it has some redeeming qualities too - like on-line shopping, otherwise known as "a new mom's best friend."  And it provides endless sources of inspiration.  Sometimes in unlikely places.  Like when I was perusing Rae's blog, but instead of falling in love with one of her many sewn garments, I fell in love with her necklace and given that I have mastered the art of stringing seed beads with a sleeping infant on my chest, I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to try to make a similar one.

Of course, since I'm a necklace-making-newbie I used the beads left over from the one and only thing that I've ever made and I used all the same techniques as well (you know, since I don't actually know any other techniques). Fortunately, it all seemed to work out in the end and I am now in love with this necklace.  It's certainly not the most practical thing to wear when you have a baby strapped to your chest or a baby who is slowly learning to reach up and grab things, but practicality be damned!

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

Have I ever told you that I want to be just like Jess when I grow up?  Well I do (even though I'm 99% sure that she's younger than me).  She sews like a mad woman, designs amazing dresses for her adorable girls, and made her own version of this cute necklace (original tutorial here).

So in my attempt to be just like Jess, I obviously needed to make one too (we'll just ignore the fact that I've never made any type of jewelry before and spent about a half an hour in the beading aisle at Joanns trying to decipher what everything was - all the while praying that the baby wouldn't wake up and start screaming).

Allow me to present to you my first beaded project ever.  And dare I say that I might be just a bit hooked - mostly because stringing beads is one of about three activities that I can do while trapped in a  chair with a sleeping baby on my chest (the others being listening to endless hours of NPR and reading book after book after book - you get the point).