Along the way we all find that one (or few) things that helped so much that we can't bead without. To us it's so obvious, but it may not even have crossed anyone else's mind to think of it. What do you have that you cannot bead without? I thought if we shared that something then maybe we could make someone else's beading life easier and more enjoyable.

Guys, as I've said, I'm babysitting my 8 and 6 yr old grandkids this week while their mom has surgery. I am stressed and exhausted and my anxiety level has been a 10 all week. 2 days to go! They are making stretchy bracelets for Mom, I've never really done them, so what's the trick? I'm tying the knot really tight and then putting a drop of super glue. Cutting the ends, but the glue is also hitting the first bead, preventing the knot from going through it. Any stretchy bracelet masters out there? 😀

since most of the community are foreign women (and very kind ones), what do you think about someone who is learning English and communicates with you, but makes spelling mistakes or has a general weakness in the language? In fact, I’m not fluent in English, but I understand everything you say very well. My struggle is making sure that what I write is free of grammatical mistakes (I have many errors and I find it hard to use tenses correctly). So I read your posts, understand them without a translator, then write my reply. After that, I check it using AI and ask it to correct my mistakes. I’m afraid that you might look down on me or think less of me 🥺, and that sometimes makes me feel shy about participating. I’ve even started trying really hard to make my writing completely error-free just so I can feel like I’m like you. I’d really appreciate a reassuring answer from you 🤍 And if any of you has gone through a similar experience, or has interacted with a girl whose first language isn’t English, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences ✨

Every few months, I have to have the "SPAM" talk with you guys. 🥰 Skool is focused this year on identifying and deleting spammers, but they are a fact of life. Especially in a free community. As this community grows, it becomes a bigger target for spammers. How do you identify a spammer? Obvious signs: 1. They will create a post offering to build you a web site or give free business advice. 2. They will send you a chat with the same offering. If you see a post like this, hit the 3 dots in the upper right of the post and report it. If you get a private chat that is not related to beading, send me a chat to let me know who the offending party is. More subtle approaches: 3. They will create a post that wrenches at your heartstrings. "Once, when I was a little girl,.... 4. They will respond to your posts/comments with "Hello, how are you?" Please, do NOT like or respond to these types of posts. They are trying to get enough likes to get them to level 3 so that they can then send personal chats. Again, report this type of activity. Let me decide if they are on the level or not. We recently had someone responding to posts/comments with AI generated content that looked like it was sincere and valid. after the second post it became obvious it wasn't. Another guy recently posted a picture of a simple bracelet he downloaded from Pinterest and tried to pass it off as his. To the spammers lurking in the group: I have my eye on you!

Hello everyone. Still working on the ornament. It's taking some time since I don't have a lot of time to bead. I hope everyone is having a good time with their projects. I am in Ohio and it's getting ready to snow some more. I hope where you live it's nice weather.