Today is my first day of teaching and I catch the bus out to Beads By Blanche. This is my third time teaching here and as always I am amazed when I walk through the door. Not only is the shop full of just about every beady or jewellery-making item you would EVER want to purchase but it is full of inspiration and the friendly atmosphere fills the space.

One thing they do, that I especially love, is lay out colour selections for different projects. It can be for the class being taught or for a project in a magazine or book. This is such a great idea and I don't know why more stores don't do it. Obviously it takes time and effort but whenever I have been in the shop I've always seen many people buying up the colour examples and I have done so too. So many people find colour so hard so it's easy to see why this is such a good selling tool for a shop, and a huge help for a beader. Having someone else lay out a wide variety of colour options can also make you look at a project in a different way and make you consider one you may have dismissed before.

Today I'm teaching my pentagon bangles and am pleased to see both new students and those I have met on past occasions. It is especially lovely when Yoshi Marubashi, a designer I greatly admire, shows me a triangle bangle she made after taking my class. What great colours she used.

The day went well and it was lovely to see all the different colours people used. By the end of the day I was tired and had an very early night in preparation for class the next day.