New Year's Eve Sparkles!

Only 45 minutes until 2010....it's always amazing when this time comes, I don't know why, it's not like we don't see it coming! Sort of like winter, always a shock! Hard to believe Y2k was 10 whole years ago!


I wanted to show you some sparkly, new-year's-eve-like beads for a little bit of excitement!! :)

I was fortunate enough to experience a holiday-miracle with the early release of my book through Amazon.com this week...so, that has already made my year!!

I want to thank Tish of "Just a Tish Designs" for her review of the book that she just posted on her blog.


WOW! It's still an amazing thought that other people besides family members are reading it!!

A great reminder that life can thrill, amaze and boggle the mind with the ability to change direction in the blink of an eye!

Happy New Year!! Please enjoy the sparkles!! :)

A Touch of Gold

Today's beads are from the Tierra Cast line of products which were included in my recent surprise package from Rings & Things.

These are a beautiful, soft gold tone and I am picturing a delicate bracelet with the little frame as the focal piece. The catalog description for this piece reads:

"Approx. 19mm TierraCast® square picture-frame charm connectors with organic hatch-mark design on back. 1.8-2.2mm loops. 3mm thick, frame interior is approx. 1.8mm deep. Fits 13mm images."

I don't currently have any length of gold chain, but it would be very pretty, simple and delicate to use the frame as the focal piece. It is calling out to have a photo, image or colorful beads attached. I'll have to ponder this for a while, but as always, would LOVE some other ideas!! :)

Of course, it just wouldn't be the same without a nice dangle to balance it out, so the birdie will work perfectly hanging from a chain with a crystal or two wired on for good measure!!

I hope all of your holiday plans are going well and I look forward to seeing you all back here in the new year!! :)

FTC compliance disclosure, notice of material connections: the item in this post from Rings&Things was provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program for review or design purposes. More info about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program

Multipurpose Jewelry...From New Year's to Valentine's Day

I just love the community brainstorming that happens on blogs!! In yesterday's post, I mentioned these red and black party beads from Rings & Things and received some great ideas!

In fact, there was one word that immediately started my wheels turning....."harlequin".

As a fan of jigsaw puzzles I find myself drawn to harlequin patterns because they remind me of puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly. Now the question is, can I take the idea in my head and make it into a reality by New Year's Eve? :)

If not, I have a back-up!

When I first looked at these two filigree pieces from Rings & Things in today's post, I thought they were really pretty hearts that were meant to be wired together to form a hollow, sort of 3 dimensional piece.

Of course, once I held the pieces together, I realized it was the perfect size to hold one of the red faceted party beads from yesterday's post.

I love the look and think it would be perfect as a New Year's Eve OR Valentine's Day piece of jewelry!! It has a mysterious feel to it...

The funny thing is, it turns out the filigree "hearts" are actually spades!! Here is the description from the Rings & Things catalog:

Approx. 35x24mm domed fancy spade filigrees with top loop and 3 bottom loops. One sided. Gunmetal.

I better get busy!!

FTC compliance disclosure, notice of material connections: the item in this post from Rings&Things was provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program for review or design purposes. More info about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program

Fancy Red & Black Party!

I wonder why the colors black and red seem to go hand in hand with new year's eve in my mind. Maybe there is an idea in the back of my mind that this is a formal occasion and people often get very dressed up. Black, white and red seem perfectly matched for a fancy winter party.

I received a wonderfully diverse collection of beads from Rings & Things that I am in the process of studying (yes, bead by bead) in order to get an idea of how I would like to use them. These red and black beads seem so rich and fancy!

If you can get a close up look at them, you will find some of the following:
28-399-06-232 6mm faceted round - ruby; *28-000-001-252 10mm faceted puffed coin - red; *28-000-003-252 8mm faceted helix -siam; *28-000-002-252 8mm facted roundelle - siam; *28-000-002-021 8mm facted roundelle - black; *28-000-003-021 8mm facted helix - black; *28-000-001-021 10mm faceted puffed coin -black

I feel the need to make a big, chunky bracelet or very dangly pendant out of them. I would LOVE to hear some ideas because I still have a few days left to get something together!! :)

Please share if you have a minute!!

FTC compliance disclosure, notice of material connections: the item in the previous post from Rings&Things was provided as a promotional gift as part of the Blog Partner Program for review or design purposes. More info about the Rings & Things Blog Partner Program

Onward and Upward!

Here we go! On to the new year!! Wagons ho...! There's no stopping it now, so the best thing to do is embrace it!

As always, the inspiration I find from reading the following blogs is a wonderful treat as I gear up for the next work week.

I've only got 3 days to do, so I'm going to make the best of it and enjoy another 4 day holiday weekend!! :)

On to inspiration....! Have a great week!! I added a little bit of sparkle to help us along.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Eco Friendly Gift Wrap
Beading Arts Sweet, simple, and silly! Make a barrette that will delight a young girl in your life.
Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi makes huge resin baubles from an ice tray.
About.com Jewelry Making Yellow facted CZ fan pendants become gorgeous earrings with just a little chain.
Art Bead Scene It's the ABS annual 12 days of Christmas free projects. Twelve days of last minute holiday gifts!
Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy shares her favorite things this week. You might be surprised to find out what they are!
Strands of Beads Melissa shares some whimsical lampwork artistry by Debi Cogwell.
The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Using a drilled resin piece from Lynn Davis and some filigree, Andrew creates a necklace paying homage to the faeryworld sanctuaries.
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie makes a chunky, funky necklace with some unusual wooden chain and findings
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean offers a project called Supercool which features a great focal by Dustin Tabor!
Jean Campbell Jean shares a free sparkly necklace project, just in time to whip up for your New Year's Evening wear
Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei goes back in time to remind fellow Etsy sellers about Heart-o-Matic!

Icy Blue Sparkles!

Icy blue gorgeously faceted beads, ahhh! Very nice and refreshing!

Would you believe a coworker of mine handed me a little department store box last week which held the remains of a nice, long necklace which incorporated a pattern using these 3 beads.

They are extremely sparkly and I wanted them pretty bad. It took everything I had to say, oh no, I couldn't take those! Let me fix your necklace for you...

After some cajoling, I agreed to take them :)

I am still planning on making her something, but possibly a bracelet and earrings so I can make one of her friends a pair of earrings with them also. I am considering pairing them with glass pearls for a wintry vibe.

What do you think? Silver accents would work nicely too!

Red & Green

For those of you celebrating Christmas today, I hope you had a wonderful day! There sure is a lot that goes into the holidays from seeing friends and family to gifts and an abundance of food!

I was able to actually give at least one jewelry gift of red and green today which always makes me happy! After all of the hubbub and preparations that go into an annual event, there must always be an end to the excitement.

We are fortunate that we have another part of the family to celebrate with next week, so we have more fun and togetherness to look forward to. I will probably stretch my red and green jewelry wearing till the end of the year and then move on. Sort of a reminder of the cycle of life...

It's good to remember in the moving on, there are lots more fun and exciting things to come in the future!

Newsflash!

Oh my goodness! Thanks to Tish of "Just a Tish" for letting me know about the email she received from Amazon.

My upcoming book is arriving early and now shows on Amazon.com as being in stock on 12/28/09, WOW!

The inside cover, concept pages, table of contents, index pages AND back cover are now available to view on Amazon as well. Yay!!!! :)

I just had to share that with you here!! It is difficult to express my level of excitement!! At times surreal and other times over the top disbelief!

I am so thankful to the publishing company, F&W Media/North Light Books, and all the wonderful staff that I have worked with over the last two years to make this happen.

It has been an amazing experience, completely positive!! There has been nothing about this that has even remotely teetered on negative, isn't that unbelievable?

Thanks so much to all of you for sharing this ride with me!! I hope you will email me any time with questions/comments, etc. I feel like I have exponentially expanded my circle of friends and am thrilled! I would never have predicted this in a million years!

I hope you are all having a great week!! Take care!!

Cool Black Metal Toggle Clasp w/Gems

Today's bead is technically a "finding", but certainly deserves its own post! It is first and foremost, "cool" and rather unique not only due to the color, but it is substantial in size AND if that's not enough, both pieces are covered in sparkles!!

I was surprised to find this on a quick trip to Joann's, but wasn't surprised to find that it is a Blue Moon product. The only description on the packaging is "metal clasp".

I believe the original price was $3.99, but I had a 40% off one regular priced item coupon AND a 10% off the entire order coupon which was good news because I bought one for myself as well as a fellow friend/beader.

For anyone else who is heading out to do some last minute holiday shopping, may the force be with you! :)

Have a great evening!

Coppery Glass Rounds

Today's beads are pretty faceted rounds with a coppery finish. Each of these sizes came on its own strand and was located on what I call the Joann Etc. "strand wall".

I believe they were 30% off the regular price, which meant I couldn't use a coupon, but I had a whole page of coupons for 40% off one regular priced item that I was able to use for other purchases, so it's all good!

The original plan was to use these faceted glass beads in conjunction with yesterday's "holiday green" open square bead. I haven't found the successful combination yet, but am continuing to strive for the magical formula! :)

I hope you are having a nice week so far! One more work day for me and then it's a 4 day holiday weekend, YAY!!

Holiday Green

I found a strand of these Blue Moon beads over the weekend at Joann, Etc. and thought it would be fun to work them into a non-conventional holiday bracelet.

After a little trial and error I have found that I want the square to remain empty so I will run a copper toned headpin through the hole from inside to outside the bead, with the head of the pin flush against the inside of the bead. Then I can either add a bead and make a loop with the remaining wire or just make a loop with the wire.

This is as far as I have gotten on the design and yes, I probably should have started thinking about this weeks ago, but I think I like the pressure! :)

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

Here we are, the weekend is coming to a close...

The first thought that comes to mind as I search for a silver lining to this situation is that it is time to take a run through all our friendly, happy, cheerful and interesting bead blogs!! Yay!

As always, if you are looking for inspiration, this is a good place to start! Have a great week and if I haven't said it before, I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!!

I thought I would add a few wintry beads here for those of us experiencing cold temperatures and ice or snow!

This helps remind me to see the beauty in the natural sparkles of the season! Enjoy!! :)

Carmi's Art/Life World One shrunk sweater equals felted beaded mits for

me!
Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Cindy explains why she chose Lee Krasner's painting "Untitled" for this month's Art Bead Scene Challenge.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Would you like to investgate a lyrical book which explores all areas of your imagination and challenges your creativity? Try Lisa Crone's!

Strands of Beads Melissa shares a cute find - sterling silver elephant clasps.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Thinking deep thoughts, Andrew offers up a sumptuous bracelet and adds a new bronze charm to his shop.

About.com Jewelry Making Sparkle plenty with this endless knotted red crystal necklace project!

Art Bead Scene It's the last ABS monthly challenge of 2009. Are you running out of ideas and inspiration? ABS has just the antidote!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei tested out some cool chain from Rings and Things.

Beading Arts If you can string stone nuggets onto wire, and if you can crochet a simple chain stitch, then you can make this pretty necklace.

New Year's Eve Bracelet (Hearts & Sparkle)

For this week's project, I had new year's eve in mind! I enjoy making black and white jewelry and I have been wanting to use these velvety covered hearts. I just went through all my bead boxes, collecting pieces and parts along the way.

I have discovered there are some similarities to the bracelet I posted yesterday AND a couple other bracelets I have posted over the last couple years. Interesting!! What does that mean?

It reminds me of the people in Close Encounters when they couldn't get the shape of that volcano like structure out of their heads....(this is where the theme song from close encounters or even the twilight zone comes in!)

I like to put a good sized dangle on bracelets like this that are only covered across the top of the wrist with heavy beads. The dangle will help stabilize it along with the chain being form fitted to the wrist.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Friday Feature: Craft For Health

This week's Friday Feature is not about one particular jewelry artist, but about a website called, "Craft for Health". Kathy Peterson and Barb Dehn are the creators of this site and together they work to encourage people to share their stories about how crafting inspires, improves health, provides encouragement and sense of accomplishment along with being an economical and fun way to enjoy life!

Here's a little more information from their site: At Craft For Health, design & craft expert Kathy Peterson and Nurse Practitioner & RN Barb Dehn, The Craft Practitioners, join forces to share empowering anecdotes, inspiring stories and crafty tips about the therapeutic benefits of crafting. Creating handmade health is our specialty, no matter what ails you. If you’re interested in having The Craft Practitioners speak or make a special appearance at your event, please contact us.

I have seen some familiar names in jewelry designers here as well as talented artists, paper crafters, quilters, etc. The floor is open to anyone wishing to tell their personal story about what crafting means to them.

This is such a great way to share and encourage others who might be going through a similar situation or just looking for a new way of expressing themselves.

What a nice reminder about how expressing your creativity can feed your body, mind and spirit!

Thanks to Kathy & Barb for putting together a warm and friendly place for people to share their stories!

I've added a few of my own favorite projects that have provided me with moments of happiness, laughter and cheer! Have a great weekend!

Bead Mixes Are FUN!

Bead mixes come in lots of shapes and sizes! You can buy them already made at the craft store or bead shop.


I love when bead shops throw a bunch of miscellaneous beads in a tube and call it a mix. That's the beauty of a mix, it doesn't really need to have much rhyme or reason. If it is pleasing to the eye, that's the only requirement!

Here are a few of my favorite fun bead mixes. Each of them is special in its own way!

Small bead mixes that include seed beads are fun to incorporate into bead crochet projects. It's been a while since I made a bead crochet bracelet, but I love making them!

This is a good reminder to me that it's time to work on a crochet project!

If you have never tried it, there are some great books out there with exciting and interesting projects in them.

They might look intimidating at first, but if you know how to chain stitch a single crochet, then you are well on your way!

The larger bead mix would be great randomly wire wrapped together.

Of course, the crystals are so gorgeous, it's easy to get distracted and drawn to them! I love this random combination of crystals here.

Either simply strung or right-angle-woven (?) into a project, it will be a hit for sure!

Hope you are having a great day!

Versatile Wooden Beads

It just dawned on me that wooden beads have endless possibilities! They can be used as they are in many jewelry and craft projects or they can be painted, sparkled, embellished with wood burning tools and can even be used as gift wrapping embellishments.

I just love this blue and brown ribbon and am thinking of using it on some packages with some of the large wooden beads, fun!!

I have painted and decopauged on wooden beads that I have used in jewelry projects, but wouldn't it be fun to use a wood burning kit to "carve" out designs and patterns? I never thought of that before and now I wish it wasn't too late to run to the craft store to get one.

I've always thought they would be fun to use, but didn't think I'd have much use for one. Hmmm... What do you think? Is the bead thick enough for that?

Hopefully I will soon find out! Have a good one!!

P.S. I wanted to say a quick "THANK YOU" to the fabulous Jean Yates who is the first person to receive an advance copy of my upcoming book, A Bead in Time!! She posted a review on her blog that left me speechless!! I am constantly amazed at the wonderful community of beaders in the world who are so encouraging and kind!

Last Year's Reindeer

As I was breezing through "my pictures" I noticed this reindeer bead from last year and it is just way too cute not to bring back for a repeat post!!

This was actually run on 11/24/08 and appears I was getting ahead of the game and had the holiday spirit even before Thanksgiving!! :)

I guess there is nothing wrong with that...it would be nice to have the holiday spirit EVERY day of the year!! I sincerely try to do that every day when I step a foot out of bed, however, some days I am more successful than others.

After reading the post from last year, I think this would work great as a lapel pin. Possibly using a swarovski headpin through the loop which would be very simple. You could also attach this to a pin form and cover the form with red and green crystals. How fun!

I hope you are all having a great time this holiday season, especially when it comes to arts & crafts!! It is a wonderful time to get creative!!

I Received a Special Gift Today!!

You are not going to believe what I received as a gift from a friend today!! Ready?....

SHRINKY DINK EARRINGS!!

Seriously, these were tied together with a red ribbon and layed on top of a handmade card that accompanied a festively wrapped gift from Bath & Body Works in red celophane!!

Oh my gosh, I had a split second thought of , "wow, I'm not worthy!"... Then it turned into, "wow, I feel really special"!

Unbelievable!! My friend used the "real" shrinky dink brand white plastic and die-cut out the snowflakes, punched a hole, baked them and turned them into earrings. Aww, that is just so sweet.

If you are reading...THANK YOU MARY, you are truly one of a kind!! :)

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

What a fun list of blog posts!! I am so excited to see all of the hustle and bustle going on out in the beading world. What a great time to share! I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

I wish there was one more day each week set aside just for crafting!! i guess that means we have to plan well to use the time we have wisely!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

About.com Jewelry Making Thinking of making some beaded ornament covers? Then you'll need to know the size bulb to use too.

Katie's Beading Blog Katie's making tons of earrings this season. Here are a few fun ideas for your own last-minute gifts!

Jean Campbell Jean shares 3 easy tips for making holiday gift production a little less stressful.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! When you check out this ornament kit which is available for you to make, it will REALLY put you in the spirit!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Each representing a different spectrum of lampwork glass, Andrew shares the new additions to his bead collection from two different artists.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei is saying Thank you and Merry Christmas by giving away a gift certificate to artbeads.com!

Art Bead Scene It's the first day of Art Bead Scene's annual Twelve Days of Free Projects!

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Barbe gets all steamy over the new Steampunk Style book!

Beading Arts Cyndi shares a new tutorial featuring one of Earthenwood Studio's fabulous new pendants!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi wonders if anyone else is working on Spring.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva Inspired by Grandma's necklace, Cindy creates an edgey look with CZ's.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie shows a sneak peek of a pair of earrings she made for the upcoming book Steampunk Style by Jean Campbell

This Week's Project: Happy Holidays Bracelet

After yesterday's softflex wire post, I took a few minutes to dig up the red and green wire so I would have it on hand when it was time to wrap a gift.

Well...I thought it would be fun to make a random bracelet with red and green beads. I wanted something fun, festive and simple, so I decided to just crimp on some beads allowing a good bit of the colored wire to show.

It seemed a little bare once the beads were all attached, so I added some sliding dangles. I started to laugh when I put it on and that's a good sign to myself that I have made something fun that, when worn, will lift my spirits.

That is ALWAYS a good thing!! I hope everyone had a chance to create some fun today too!!

Featured Designer: Jamie Hogsett & Softflex Econoflex

When I saw the guest blogger post by Jamie Hogsett on "Softflex Girl" Sara Hardin's blog this week, I was thrilled!

I enjoy wrapping a gift and embellishing it like crazy, especially with unusual or interesting materials. However, I never thought about using the softflex econoflex wire and as soon as I saw it, I thought, "OF COURSE"!! It made complete sense to me!! I don't know why I didn't think of it myself!

I was especially happy when I realized I already have the spring green, cinnamon red, autumn brown, black and steel blue on hand!! Yay!!

You can't beat the price and can find it in a number of places such as local hobby lobby stores or the Softflex website.

I can't wait to get wrapping!

Great stuff Jamie and Sara, thanks so much for sharing and allowing me to post these ideas!!

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Collage Jewelry

During the holidays I like to collect all of my festive beads and put them in a container together so I can make some standard gift jewelry quickly.

I have a tendency to want to create symmetrical patterns with beads, but if I push myself a little, I find that I enjoy making "collage" pieces.

This does involve "making a mess" with your beads, but it is well worth it!

Just make a pile of beads and get a clasp on a wire for a necklace or bracelet and just start randomly stringing them.

I like to use some kind of tiny toho seed bead in between beads just to help set each of them off a little better.

Memory wire bracelets are the most fun because you can easily do more than one strand AND they are "one size fits all" which is wonderful for gift giving!!

I hope you are all having a great week! :)

Huge Cubes!

Last Tuesday I posted some "green" ceramic raku cubes from Joann, Etc. They actually seemed a little more turquoise, but were really cool and interesting.

I also bought a strand of this much larger brown cube because I liked the variations and watery look of the colors.

At a glance, the green/turquoise raku bead seemed to be the same bead as this one, but in a different color.

The tag on this strand from Blue Moon Beads reads 7 in ceramic bead strand (STR BD CERA 7" SQ DK BRN). There isn't any mention of "raku".

What do you think? They seem so similar, I would be surprised if this was not a raku bead, but I honestly don't know how to tell the difference.

What I DO KNOW is that these are very earthy, yet sophisticated at the same time and that is very cool!

17 Velvet Hearts

Would you believe this strand of 17 large velvet heart beads was on clearance for $.98? This is the other find from the clearance wall at Michael's over the weekend! These hearts are soft and furry AND a whopping 24mm!

These are from the Lost & Found Collection from Blue Moon Beads and the packaging reads: STR BD VLVT HEART 24MM BLACK

These would make great key chains and what a fun zipper pull especially on a red coat or sweater.

My first thought was to use one of these as a focal bead in a necklace or on a choker, but then I was thinking you could make a long, dangly pendant using several of them. That would certainly make a statement.

Imagine pairing these with some seriously sparkly crystals for a fabulous new years eve eye-catcher!! How fun!!

The Annual Reindeer Bead

I can't seem to pass by beads in the shape of certain animals and reindeer always top the list this time of year. I noticed that each year I seem to find a new reindeer bead to add to my collection.

I didn't intend to buy this package of 3 metal pendants, BUT...they were on the clearance wall at Michael's! The original price was $3.99 and the clearance price was $.98! These are part of the Lost & Found Collection from Blue Moon Beads.

Now that I have gotten a close up look at these metal beads, I am wanting to add some paint accents on at least one of them. YES, a red nose came to mind!! :)

Maybe just hints of color around the eye, nose and antlers. I'm sure it will come to me when the time is right!

I hope you are finding great deals on beads too, it certainly makes holiday craft shopping LOTS more fun!!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

So many beaders are in full holiday swing with craft shows happening all over the place, even one in my work building atrium on Friday.

If you have ever done an arts and crafts show you know all the work that goes into not just the jewelry making, but the design and setup of the table as well!!

Many of our fellow bead bloggers are also in full holiday swing! I love hearing about others' experiences with holiday jewelry making as well as holiday shows.

I went on the holiday craft show circuit for several years and loved every minute of it, including the hard work. I learned so much and had a wonderful time hanging out with crafty people!

If you have a chance, I hope you will join me on a quick breeze through the links below.

Have a great week! :)

About.com Jewelry Making Give a beaded jewelry gift that gives twice.

Art Bead Scene Be Inspired! Think about creating jewelry that tells a story.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts Artbeads Crystalized Elements!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi is selling jewelery in a show for the first time and is trying not to "jinx" her favorites!

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva Meet the newest addition to the Through the Looking Glass Nugget Charm Family - Alice Blue!

Jean Campbell Jean discusses how Steampunk jewelry design fits into a larger "Poetic Couture"

Jewelry & Beading Cyndi is sharing a series of Gift Guides for handmade jewelry lovers!

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Taking ya back to the Open House 2008! Now stay tuned for pics for Open House 2009 on Dec. 5!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! The ever breathtaking beadmaker Kim Miles pulls out all the stops for the Holidays and gift giving. But that is not all! If you have the "secret word" on the secret day" every week, you get a fab discount!