More beading!

So I started off beading by making stitch markers. Then I made earrings. Most recently I made many necklaces as teacher gifts for my kids' teachers:



But when I was doing some spring (winter) cleaning, I found a working watch face that I bought at Michael's so yesterday and today (I had to keep remaking it to make it fit) I made this:





The only problem is that tonight it broke! I got a bit worried when I was buying new beading wire and it suggested #2 crimp beads or #1 crimp tubes or something like that, and I thought maybe my crimp tubes were too small, so I bought new ones. I don't know if I'm using the wrong sized crimp tubes or if I'm not crimping them right. So far (knock on wood) my necklaces haven't broken, just the watch. Any suggestions?

Beader to be!

I finally have a picture of my son beading! This was so long ago that he made these bracelets (and a few rings). I think they're still floating around somewhere.