Hoarding - but not quite buried alive

So I've been hoarding handmade beads from fellow artists that I found through my blog hopping.

Here's some shots of my growing stash:

There's ceramic components, polymer clay beads, lampwork beads, wood tiles...

I love using these beautiful pieces in my work - but just as one part of the whole picture. I still want most of the components to be either made by me, and incorporate mainly gemstones; it's part of wanting the pieces to represent me. Although the other artist's pieces were selected by me among the thousands on offer, so I guess in a way they still represent who I am.

Take these earrings for example. Very pretty, heh? Made with Kristi Bowman triangles and Radiant Mind lampwork beads. Yes, but what's mine about them? I just took some commercial earwires and wrapped it all together. Although of course I'm still the one chosing which pieces to use for the final result, in the end who's to say they are "Quimera" earrings?

But with this necklace I'm using the beautiful components the way I want to: integrating them into my vision for the final piece. There's a house charm from Menagerie Studio, flower bead caps and bead from ChelleV2 and a ceramic flower from Captured Moment. Hope this one takes the wearer to her happy place when she needs it.
Now the downside of this: Africa, I love you, but you have a serious post problem. I currently have 4 packages missing - 2 from December, 2 from January. Yes, I have waived them bye-bye, don't expect to see them around this parts ever. Which is a serious dent in my budget. Plus they were pieces I really loved and was so looking forward to using.

I only contacted one of the artists of the missing packages to see if there was a way to track it. There wasn't. And although I didn't expect her to replace the items or take responsibility for it, I also didn't expect the cold shoulder I got. Lesson learnt: do not order from that artist again.

Ok, off to make more stuff with the items that did make it across the Atlantic, the african continent and landed on this patch beside the Indian Ocean.