Silver Shade Crystals

Today's bead is another that is new to me! A CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Element, this 6mm faceted round from the Rings&Things catalog is SO SPARKLY!!

The color is "Crystal/Silver Shade". I would love to meet the person who has the best job on the planet of naming the new swarovski crystal colors!!

I was having a silver and gold moment when I selected these beads. It must have been the drop in temperature that brought it on.

I thought the silver shade would go so nicely with the crystal/golden shadow rounds posted on Sunday.

Wouldn't they make a subtle, but festive wintery piece?

I-Heart-Spools of Chain!

I've never had my very own SPOOL of chain before! I'm not sure why that is... Probably because I usually try to buy just what I need. Okay, okay... that's not entirely true :)

So, it must be because I have never had a project that required more than a couple feet of chain. I'm very excited to begin using this and have a feeling I might go a little extreme with it.

This sweet looking silver plated chain is described in the Rings & Things catalog as:

"Drawn flattened cable footage chain, 1.1mm. Approx. 1.1x2.4mm links. Approx. 10-meter (32.8 feet) spools. This bulk brass footage chain is made of soldered links."

Are you getting the same feeling as I am that the possiblities are endless? Well, I better get moving and get my beads out!!

Have a great evening!

Curved Double Stardust Tube

Wow! Isn't this an extra-interesting bead? That's what I thought when I saw it in the Rings & Things catalog. The hard copy catalog has a cute bracelet design in it using these beads which is what made me want them!

I have a package of ten of these "Sterling Silver, Curved Double Stardust Tube, 15mm" beads. Just the word "stardust" is enough to make me want something!! I don't need the moon, just some stardust beads!! :)

I have a sketchy design idea in mind that seems to keep changing the more I play with the beads and lay them out. Hopefully you will begin to form some ideas too as the beads are posted this week. As always, if you do, FEEL FREE TO SHARE!!

This is one of the positive side effects of age...genuine interest in other perspectives and more willingness to collaborate. It's so much more fun this way!!

Hope you are having a great week!!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

Yay, it's time to take a peek into the crafty world of some other bead bloggers to see what they have been up to over the last week. I think Sunday is the perfect time to catch up. Weekend activities are coming to a close, but the work week hasn't yet begun. If only we could stop time for a little while longer!

As I mentioned yesterday, I received a new package from Rings & Things. I'm anxious to show you everything, but of course, it makes it more fun to post them one bead at a time! :) It is a great way to appreciate the special qualities each of them possess.

Today's bead is a 6mm swarovski round in crystal/golden shadow. NICE!!! There's just something very smooth about this color. It has just a trace of gold and is as sparkly as all good little swarovski crystals should be! I was using a book lite on my lap as the day light was waning and, WOW, the sparkle was gorgeous!!

So, here is wishing you all a great week! I hope you still have a few minutes to run through the blogs below for a little extra inspiration! Take care!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton The pace is picking up for Andrew and his BIG SALE. Check out where he'll be next and celebrate his birthday with a special 15% off promotional code!

About.com Jewelry Making Tammy is already thinking about and making Halloween jewelry so she can wear it next month. What about you?

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done. Jean reviews Big and Bold, a really pretty book of jewelry designs culled from BeadStyle Magazine

Strands of Beads Melissa shows off her new "Twilight" choker made with Swarovski crystal from Artbeads.com

Art Bead Scene Keep misplacing your ruler? Get one for free!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts 29 Days of Giving starts with a Japanese book giveaway.

Beading Arts So, what to do with all those left over seed beads...?

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi discovers Free Trade Kazuri beads from Kenya.

Cindy Gimbrone Cindy imagines a movie and writes a script.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie congratulates Jean Cambell and shares the beautiful piece she made for Beadwork Magazine using an Earthenwood face stone

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Check out the beads and goodies Lorelei bought on her recent trip to London, England

Amber Shell Bracelets

This week's jewelry project is an amber shell memory wire bracelet.

One of my favorite bracelets is this simple one strand made with memory wire and black rubber tubing. It is always in my purse so I wear it a lot!

It seems that planning jewelry to wear to work is always saved till the last 30 seconds, so out comes the good old stand by. It actually gets a lot of compliments! Something this simple!

So, I also have a similar one in white and when I saw the amber shell beads last weekend, I wanted to make one in brown!! I'm the kind of person that likes to stick with a sure thing. Having the rubber tubing on the underside of the wrist makes them comfortable to wear while computering/mousing.

After I made this week's bracelet using memory wire, I wanted to see what I could come up with using beading wire that would also be comfortable on the computer. Here is what I came up with. I used two strands of the autumn brown econoflex wire from Softflex and a cool, low profile, magnetic clasp.

Have a great night!

(By the way, I just received a box of beads from Rings & Things!! Tomorrow will be the first in a week long R&T's extravaganza leading up to my visit to their bead show that is coming through my area on Friday! I can't wait! :)

Featured Designer: The Beading Gem

This week's featured designer is Pearl (yes, her real name!) of The Beading Gem's Journal. I feel as though I have received a well rounded bead, jewelry, design, fashion, etc. education by reading her blog posts.

I am a subscriber to her Journal so I receive her posts as emails on pretty much a daily basis!! It is one of the highlights of my day, weekdays especially. When I am in work mode, it's great to take a lunch break and scroll through emails on my phone to read her posts. It helps remind me of the creative side of life in the middle of the hustle and bustle.

Pearl is part of a Bead Sisterhood and their work is available, by designer, on their website. You can also follow her adventures on twitter. She provides tutorials, history, info on giveaways and LOTS of focus on fellow artisans. (Where do you find all of this great work Pearl??!)

Here are just a handful of COOL things I have learned from The Beading Gem's Journal:

How to fry marbles and make crackle bead jewelry
String Art Pendant Tutorial

High tech crystal jewelry (I blogged about this previously because I ordered the USB bracelet the same day!)

Amazing Paper Quilled Pendant Tutorial

How to make and wire wrap briolette earrings

History of peace symbol jewelry a.k.a. Woodstock 40th anniversary

Pearl, you are amazing! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful information and insight!!

Square Cubes with Round Beads

Yes, after typing that title I was VERY tempted to make a reference to the Square Pegs sitcom again. Am I really stuck in the 80's? At times, possibly, but is that a bad thing??

Okay, out of curiosity, I searched to see how many times I mentioned that 1980's sitcom here and discovered it in only two posts! Oops, the theme song lyrics are now running through my head, I better get focused :)

I just recently saw the swarovski crystal color "silk" in real life. It's nice...subtle, with a very light amber tone with maybe just a slight bit of pink or something.

In the 4x4mm size, it's more on the light earth tone side. You might have guessed that I am thinking about combining these baby cubes into the amber/brown memory wire bracelet that I will post on Saturday.

Will the square "pegs" fit in with the round beads? Stay tuned! :)

Memory Wire Rubber Tubing

Hello! I mentioned yesterday that I was considering using the last two days of beads in a memory wire bracelet. By adding memory wire rubber tubing, it will be comfortable to "mouse" in.

I received a question from our bead blogger friend, Heather of Azure Island Designs, about the memory wire tubing, so I wanted to share the brown tones that I have on hand and get your thoughts on the best color to use.

All of them go nicely with the beads, so it will be tough to decide.

I ordered the assorted color pack from Fire Mountain Gems last year and have lots of it left in many cool colors. I would suggest that you find the largest diameter and I'm not sure the pack I ordered is the largest.

It does take a bit of patience and dexterity to use one long piece on memory wire. It is easy to use on beading wire, so that's another option.

Hope you are all having a great week!! :)

8mm Brown Ceramic Disks

I LOVE THESE BEADS! These shiny ceramic beads are too cute! I love the various shades of brown and the extreme shiny-ness of these beads.

They seem earthy while being shiny and sophisticated at the same time!

These will look great with yesterday's 25mm amber shell beads. For memory wire bracelets that will be worn often and worn to work, I like to use memory wire rubber tubing for bottom of the wrist for comfortability while mousing.

I have tan and brown rubber tubing, so I think I'll throw in a few crystals around the focal and ceramic beads and finish it off with the tubing.

Simple, but elegant and extremely wearable! At least, in my mind.... :)

Have a great evening!

25mm Amber Shell Beads

I was so happy to see these beads at Michael's over the weekend! I have the white and black/grey version, but had never seen them in brown. I grabbed them up immediately and wait till you see the beads I got to go with them! :) Another exciting find!

These are perfect focal beads for one strand memory wire bracelets that are simple, yet elegant. I promise you will not regret the purchase.

Seriously! You get 12 of these for $5.99 (regular price) and if you have a coupon, wow! You can now make 12 fabulous 1 strand memory wire bracelets for all your friends and their friends!

Always a great project for a beginning beader, memory wire does not disappoint! One of the students in my last class wanted two more of the focal beads from her memory wire bracelet to use as wonderful, dramatic earring dangles.

They were great! It makes it all worthwhile when a student tries something off the beaten path!! Love that!!

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

I spent quite a bit of time this weekend catching up with some great bead bloggers and continue to be amazed by all of the positive energy and fabulous designs!! It makes me so happy to be a part of it!

I sincerely appreciate you stopping by to share your thoughts and design ideas, it is what brings me back here every day to share the cool beads that I come across in my little part of the world.

I found a package of 3 ring forms at Michael's yesterday and used one of the flat ones in yesterday's project.

I hadn't seen these before and had heard through one of the bloggers below that the bead section in her Michael's store had been expanded and I wanted to check it out.

Aren't these cute?! :)

Speaking of bead bloggers, here's what some of them have been up to over the last week or so. Have a great week!!

About.com Jewelry Making Loving some filigree, check out these new filigree jewelry projects.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Barbe goes crazy over Mixed Metals book

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy makes more Through the Looking Glass Nuggets Charms that match perfectly with Frost Links.

Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene shows off her top art bead picks for this month's Kandinsky Challenge.

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmis creates a necklace using canvas and leather.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Bead cones can be used in more way than one and Lorelei shows an example!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie shares her uncertainty about a new dragonfly pendant design.

Jewelry & Beading Why wouldn't we talk about fashion on a jewelry and beadwork blog?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew announces his BIG SALE! Check out all the goodies!

This week's project: Bead Woven Ring

In this week's project I am FINALLY using the little woven flower-like piece in a ring I mentioned last weekend. I found an adorable little ring form at Michael's today which worked perfectly!!

I just broke out the black craft wire again and wired it down until I felt it was secure.

I have it on now and I have to say it is ADORABLE!!

Thanks for stopping by, I apologize the the short post and the lateness, but we just returned from the drive-in.

We're trying to pack in all the last minute summer activities before fall is actually upon us on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!! :)

Featured Designer: Mikki of The Beaded Carpet

Oh happy day...It's Friday!! It's a wonderful feeling to get to this point in the week! A moment of freedom at the end of a busy week and before all the weekend activities begin....

I have to tell you I have been anxious to share this week's designer with you because I was truly inspired after reading her posts.

She has taken risks to follow her passion and success is beginning to follow.

Mikki Ferrugiaro is the designer behind the blog, the Beaded Carpet. Her artfire shop, Mikki Ferrugiaro Designs has some fabulous and intricate pieces for sale.

She sells her beadwork kits as well as the specific seed beads needed to do this type of beadwork. If you are in Utah, you might have the opportunity to take one of her classes!

After reading her blog, I don't know how she does it. Seriously, a day's worth of beadweaving to her would have taken me a couple of weeks to complete.

Mikki's work is soon to be featured in a couple of bead magazines including Beadwork and Step by Step Beads!!

Thanks a bunch Mikki for allowing me to share your work!

Shell Bead Loops

These are some of my favorite shell beads. I've used these in the larger 20mm size, but think the smaller 15mm loops are ADORABLE! These came from Michael's, but I think they are also available at Hobby Lobby.

They are naturally sweet and dainty, but have the potential to be used in a variety of ways. Since they do have one hole going through the center, you can string these with a cool sparkly bead inside.

OR, for something fun, you could wire them together in different formations.

Colorful wire would certainly make them stand out as unique! How about red or purple wire?
You could also use headpins from the inside out to make a loop on the outside of the bead for a wire wrapped piece.

Many possibilities here! If you have other interesting ideas or if you have some designs to share, please be sure to leave a comment and/or link.

Have a great evening!

Flat Crystal Briolette

Today's bead is a 6012 Flat crystal AB Briolette Pendant from Jolee's Jewels. The size is 15x14mm and was found at Michael's.

I was surprised that these were packaged so tightly in a form fitting plastic case which was inside an outer plastic case. Definitely reduces the risk of breakage by about 100%!

This "pendant" is meant to be strung horizontally just below the top point. It makes me want to bead a necklace, but I'd like to try something unique and use them as a component in some kind of crystal "sculpture".

I'm thinking of combining this with some other sparkly crystals wired together to form a pendant for a chain.

I was surprised at the thickness of this bead and wonder if anyone else has used these before.

Beads or Snack Cakes?

Yes, these ceramic beads from Michael's are giving me a real snack cake craving!! :)

When I saw these at the craft store over the weekend and wrapped the strands around my wrist, my first thought was what a cool art-deco bracelet I could make with them.

It wasn't until I was photographing them to share with you that I realized they look VERY much like a chocolate snack cake. It almost looks like the cream filling is sort of spilling out of the hole and around the edges too!

I used one of these beads on either end of my recently posted wired-up bracelet, but I believe they are meant to be used together for the impact.

Please share any ideas you have and in the mean time, I'm thinking about a cool art deco bracelet. Have a good one!

Red Coral Cubes

Today's bead is a shiny red 8mm coral cube from Michael's. I've never bought a strand like this with such chunky cubes. I'll be you will never guess what my first thought was for using them.... :)

Okay, for those who know me, you are correct!! I'm thinking memory wire!! It is so much fun to find beads that are striking enough and large enough to hold their own on a one strand memory wire bracelet.

The greatness of memory wire lies in the simplicity of using it. Cut a piece any length, make a loop on one end, string on beads and make a loop to finish the other end. These beads will be perfect for 1 strand. Now I just need to dig up a nice sized funky focal bead.

I have plenty of funky focal beads!! I just need to start digging!!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

I worked a little bit today on incorporating this little wired up circle into a piece of jewelry. Thanks so much for all your ideas!

All these pieces are wired together and fit my wrist perfectly.I can't wait to wear it tomorrow and decide whether it needs to go another direction.

I am very anxious to use the other bead woven piece I posted yesterday in a RING based on one of your suggestions, thanks again!

Right now, it's time to catch up with our fellow bead bloggers to see what they have been up to. Here we go, I hope you will join me! Have a great week!!

About.com Jewelry Making Copper is hot right now! Find out about a new book review just posted concerning copper.

Art Bead Scene Art Bead Scene's September Challenge is Kandinsky's Improvisation No. 23.

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi uses chessboard crystals to create a floor for her ballerina necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy's obsession with bronze metal clay continues. She shows off her new Art Nouveau floral charms.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie shares a sparkly crystal and brass pendant that she unearthed while cleaning her studio

Jean Campbell Jean reviews the new Crystallized Swarovski Elements #5328 bicone

Jewelry & Beading Cyndi has finished another CopprClay necklace and wants to share the instructions!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is having fun using lots of Lynn Davis components in her designs this week!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean comes across her "Digg it" necklace--far out! She's like an archaeologist!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Matcha green tea from Matcha Source defeats the doldrums and inspires Andrew to create a new bracelet!

Saturday is a Great Day!

Hello! I felt like shoulting that from a mountain top, but from a blog is just as well! Saturdays are such perfect days because of the freedom for setting or not setting a schedule for the day.

I led a beading class today for a neat group of ladies from a large motor coach association. We had a great time, a lot was learned by all and there were even a few who left considering making this a new hobby. I love it when that happens!!

I was just playing around with the black rings and sparkly silver mirror beads I posted earlier in the week and thought I'd try wrapping the beads using black craft wire.

It was fun to do and when it was done, I found it interesting that it sort of resembled a bead woven piece I made quite a while ago (left).

NEITHER of these pieces are calling out to me as to how to use them in a piece of jewelry.

That is where YOU come in :)

Please let me know what you think!! Have a GREAT rest of the day!!

Featured Designer: Libeado

Happy Friday Night!! I was just thinking about today's featured designer and trying to remember how I came across her blog. Once you start blog-hopping it's difficult to know how you found yourself on a particular blog AND how so much time could have passed in the process!!

The song from my Time/Life Flower Power set of CD's called, "Does anybody really know what time it is?", came to mind. Yes, even though it's been a while since I rambled on about it here, I'm still hooked on this set of CD's and consider it one of the best purchases of my lifetime! :)

Here are a few lyrics from that particular song in case you need a reminder: "As I was walking down the street one day.....A man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch, yeah, ..... And I said

Does anybody really know what time it is.....I don't....Does anybody really care.....If so I can't imagine why.....about time......We've all got time enough to cry"

Today's featured designer is Libeado! I love the definition she has given this name in her blog header: "Def.- all of the instinctual energies and desires derived from beads"

Very clever...and hold on to your hat, these pieces are amazing! The first one I noticed was this brightly colored and super-cool "Coral Explosion" bracelet. WOW! The colors are wonderful and perfect!

Then I scrolled down and found this cool piece with the bezel holding a sparkly swarovski rivoli! I have a thing for rivoli's and was wishing I knew how to use this technique!

Are you ready for over the top sparkle? THIS IS GORGEOUS!! I imagine in real life the sparkle on this piece is amazing!

The good thing is, you don't really have to pick a favorite! I am so glad to have the opportunity to see such beautiful beadwork and creativity!!

The designer responsible for this work is actually Gretchen Coats of Saginaw, Michigan. You can check out Gretchen's blog or take a peek at her Etsy site for more inspiring designs.

Thanks a million Gretchen for allowing us to be wowed by your work!

Silvery Mirrors

As promised yesterday, today's bead is a very sparkly silvery mirror bead. This set of 46 beads came from JoAnn, Etc.

Both the silver beads and yesterday's black rings are "Beyond Beautiful" and when I saw them hanging near each other, they immediately seemed meant to be together.

I can't wait to create something with them. Thank you for yesterday's ideas, I hadn't even thought about earrings! For some reason, I seem to begin by thinking about bracelets 90% of the time!

My original thought was wrapping the beads around the black ring somehow. All outside, all inside or in-and-out, I'm not sure.... Might make a cute pendant!

I also think using some contrasting wire colors such as bronze and/or copper would be interesting....

Have a good one!! :)

"Wrought Iron" Links

Today's bead is a 22mm black round link. This appears to be an easy to open jump ring, but is actually very strong.

Since the ring opening does not close up entirely, we'll just have to make sure to connect it with something that is wide enough not to slide through the slot.

I thought these were very cool and wrought iron looking.

Wait until you see the sparkly beads I got to go with these!!! That will be tomorrow's post.

I left these all connected on the package so you could see the impact they make as a grouping. Very cool! I have several ideas for adding beads, but need to experiment a bit first.

See you tomorrow! :)

Pink Opally Beads

I hope you can see how adorable these pink opally beads are! There are a lot of beads here!! The packaging reads, "14 inch strand of lampwork glass beads" by Blue Moon Beads. This is the last strand of beads I found at Big Lots the other day for $2. I'm going to do the 12-bead-magic-trick with these.

The magic trick is also called the bead bauble. It's actually a simple right angle weave that connects the first few beads with the last ones to form a circle. Let me know if you would like the instructions.

I will probably just use tiny little toho seed beads to set these sweet pink beads off. The silver lined octagon seed beads will work perfectly and add some extra bit of shine!

These beads are actually so cute, you could use just one as a focal bead on a pendant if you are looking for simplicity. Pretty!

Cubes of Several Colors

NICE cubes! This is a $2 strand from good old Big Lots! They have a nice bit of sparkle to them and mixed with some swarovski crystals or other nice glass beads, I think they can hold their own! There are cubes in shades of yellow, gold, brown and green.

Another great color combo considering fall coming up around the corner! These are still light and bright, but still in the earth tone family. These would also mix well with earthy stones and metals.

I don't think I'm ready for the change in seasons yet, are you? Luckily, I think we have at least a month before the inevitable!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

It's so nice to have an extra day and have Sunday feel like a Saturday all over again!! We just made a quick run to Big Lots (no longer called Odd Lots). I believe there are certainly still some "odd" lots there, but I like odd, so it works for me!!

I have given into temptation at Big Lots over the last couple of months and bought quite a few multiple-movie packs on DVD. Over the years we have accumulated the 50-movie-pack of classic sci-fi, horror, mystery and drive-in classics. We had pretty good luck with them and found quite a few that we liked.

The "new" movie packs at big lots I recently purchased are the historic figure, detectives and family classics. (Not to mention the best of the Lucy show and Howdy Doody!)....I think it's time to put on the brakes...

Anyway, what I was leading up to was (as I mentioned one day last week) I found beads there too! I went tonight to find yarn or ribbon to tie onto some book marks I made and not only found some nice ribbon for $1 a spool (including Martha Stewart ribbon), I found more BEADS!!

I have seen this strand before at Meijers and Joann's, but for $2 at Big Lots, they were hard to resist!! Perfect timing with fall coming up around the corner.

And NOW, please join me in taking a trip through our fellow bead blogger's worlds to see what they have been up to! Enjoy!!

About.com Jewelry Making What's in a name, the name of your jewelry pieces that is? Here are a few tips to consider when naming jewelry you sell through the web.

Art Bead Scene Wondering how big 20mm really is? Here's a handy size chart to keep by your computer. It'll help you out!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Tool talk-this time its hole punching pliers & wire cutters

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi shows off her unexpected bead finds from a store in Little Portugal.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy brings some color to her new bronze floral medallions.

Jean Campbell Jean's got a cool job--check out what she's been working on!

Jewelry & Beading Cyndi shares another CopprClay project, which includes making your own mold!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio While in Philadelphia for Bead Fest, Lorelei met up with Andrew Thornton and he gave her some presents!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews Contemporary Copper Jewelry by the wonderful Sharilyn Miller

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew and Diana Ptaszynski of Vintage Blue Studio have a throw down! See how Andrew uses Heather Powers of Humble Beads' Polymer Bird-Head Pendant!

Designer Italian Glass

Today's "bead" is an adorable glass pendant that belongs to a co-worker. She bought this piece recently while on vacation in Italy. We didn't have a chance to talk a whole lot about her trip, but she asked if I could find a bail of some sort that could be attached at the top of the piece to slide a chain or cord through.

I looked at a couple of local bead stores as I shopped for other items and thought I found the answer through an online bead shop, but that didn't work out as expected.

This is a gorgeous piece with sweet, summery colors. I just love the silvery-ness and the bright, shiny aqua and turquoise shapes. VERY vacation-like! I photographed the back of the piece as well because of the interesting color that doesn't seem to be part of the design.

If you know of any specific products that would work with this pendant, please share!!! :)

Thanks and have a great day!!

Featured Designer: Little Glory

This week's featured designer is "Little Glory" of Bela Crkva. After checking with Google, I discovered that Bela Crkva is a town and municipality in the South Banat District of Vojvodina, Serbia.

The town has a population of 10,638, while the Bela Crkva municipality has 20,275 inhabitants.

I love the internet!! I am positive I would not be "meeting" such wonderful, interesting and fun crafters and designers without it!!

I was fascinated first with her sea anemone polymer clay designs. They really POP! and make me smile!!

There are many other designs that are very beautiful and skillfully done, it really makes me want to try polymer clay!!

I hope you will take a moment to peruse her blog and check out these cool designs!!

Have a great weekend!!