Peace, Love and Bead Blogger Updates!

Happy Friday! Is there anything better than a rhinestone peace sign to get in the proper weekend mood?

I'm getting ready to see what some of our blogger friends have been up to this week. Join me if you have a chance! :)

About.com Jewelry Making
Say good-bye to summer but not your flip flops with this fun flip flop earring tutorial.

Art Bead Scene
Check out Brandi's colour palettes drawn from ceramic beads from Pajego Art House - yum!

Beading Arts
Cyndi shares information on finishing metal clay pieces with a great patina.

Resin Crafts Blog
A simple resin bird mold becomes a wonderful piece of jewelry.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
Jean shares a great free guide to etching jewelry by Jewelry Making Daily ! It is great!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Chevrons are trending now and have found their way into one of Andrew's bracelets!

In Search of...Kumihimo Stories

Look what I got in the mail!!

How exciting! I've always wanted to learn the Kumihimo braiding technique.

Yay, thanks Cousin Corporation!

I noticed the Primabead.com site is focusing on Kumihimo right now and providing some great ideas with free patterns.

I learned the tubular peyote stitch many years ago and remember how exciting and fun it was, how all I could see was endless possibilities.

I got very hooked and then crashed and burned.

I haven't practiced it in several years so when I received the Kumihimo board and some really bright and cheerful supplies, that old feeling began to stir!

I hope to take it out of the package this coming weekend to give it a try. In the mean time, I'd LOVE to hear your stories about learning Kumihimo. Make sure to leave links to designs you want to show off!!!

AND, any encouragement you might want to share or little helpful tips to help me over any typical learning curve bumps and bruises. :)

Thanks so much!

Happy Weekend Bead Blogger Inspiration

Yay, time to get creative...thank you weekend, you are right on time! :)

Here's some inspiration to get things rolling! Enjoy!

Carmi's Art/Life World 

Do you have a charm bracelet? Wear it again as a necklace!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew was (subconsciously) inspired by the color palette of his shirt when working on this brick stitch bracelet.

Art Bead Scene

Check out Erin's big news - she will be presenting a webinar on Fibre Findings and Finshing Techniques for Jewelry for Interweave/FW Media!

Resin Crafts Blog!
A vintage Parisian frame and a very old dried flower makes this new resin filled object special.

About.com Jewelry Making
There is still time for some summer time earrings.

Beading Arts
Cyndi has been experimenting with CopprClay again!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
Jean reviews the 10th Anniversary Collector's Issue of Bead Style Magazine and it is GREAT! See Jean's blog! 

Stainless Steel Elegance

Today is new product sharing day, yay!

Yes, having your own blog is sort of like being mayor of your own city.

You can declare special days any time you like. :)

Cousin Corporation is coming out with so many new product lines right now, I want to make sure I don't miss sharing any of them with you.

I'm excited to share that they have a great new line called Stainless STEEL ELEGANCE!

I started taking things out of packages as soon as my creative circle ambassador package arrived. I love the fact everything is hypo allergenic AND there's a great magnet clasp!!!!! My favorite finding!

I know not everyone is a fan, but the idea I can get a bracelet on both wrists and a necklace on in a few seconds flat before heading into my building for work every day makes me VERY happy!!

There are a couple of rhinestone earring pieces I also have to draw your attention to...they are really special. Pictured here is the Rhinestone round earring post. LOVE it! I have to admit it sort of says bridal, but it would also make a great base for a great pair of earrings worn every day.

I'm getting ready to use the post right now and will share once I figure out what I'm going to dangle from it. :)

Check them out on the Cousin.com and make sure to watch their Facebook page for weekly giveaways!

Holidays & Bead Bloggers

Yay, the weekend has arrived! I haven't had beads out for at least a week and I am feeling the pull!

My next Cousin Corp project is going to be holiday related! How fun!

Back in June they had a brand new collection of Christmas beads out in the craft stores, so I created some fun dangly decorations. But for this project, I can choose any holiday I want...hmm..what would you choose?

Halloween is always fun, here's a pic of one of last year's bracelets...but I do love sparkly new year's pieces. I need to decide pretty soon, but would love to hear your thoughts!!

For now, here are some fun updates from our bead blogger friends to kick off a creative weekend. Happy reading and creating!!!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean reviewed... and even more exciting, has a GIVEAWAY of the spectacular new book, Marcia DeCoster's Beads In Motion ! So do check out the review and consider yourself invited to enter the giveway while there is still time!

Beading Arts
Cyndi has collected a wonderful group of resources and tutorials for those who want to try working in metal clay or who wish to expand their skills!

About.com Jewelry Making
Love, love, love some Venetian glass jewelry projects!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Working with polymer clay, wire, and assorted accent beads, Andrew creates a very tribal statement necklace.

Art Bead Scene
Check out Gaea's Etsy finds for this month's challenge!

Book Review: Sweet and Simple Jewelry
Want to branch out from beaded jewelry alone? Or you sew, do embroidery, felt and would like to add jewelry to your work. Charlene reviews the perfect book for you.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Always looking for a way to use up her stash, Carmi creates a button and fabric wearable.

Resin Crafts Blog
Under the dome is a new ring made possible with Jewelry Clay.

What I Made on Summer Vacation

I've got some more fun things to share with you this month, but before moving on, I wanted to share the last few brand new Cousin Class-in-a-Box products and my little off-road designs!

I made these while on vacation last month. It was perfect timing to receive all four of the new kits so I could take them with me.

I have to put a shout out for the 3 in 1 tool that comes in each kit. When I first had a chance to use the tool last year, I pretty much used it just to try it out and liked it. This time around, I made sure to use only this tool while creating these projects.

I just realized how comfortable it is in my hand and how efficient it is to cut wire and go right to looping instead of putting down a cutting tool and picking up a round nose plier. Nice!

So, here are the Casual, Classic and Natural Class-in-a-Box kits.

I really loved opening all the packages and putting the beads from each kit together in one big baggie. A baggie made the most sense since I was sitting in a state park resort lounge area for a good bit of the time while other family members read books, puzzled or scrolled around on their Ipads. On the go arts and crafts...so fun!


I'm not sure I have a favorite, there was something in each kit that I really loved. From the bright silver and turquoise beads in the Casual kit to the sweet wooden flowers in the Narural kit.

I'd love to hear if you have seen these in your craft stores yet. By the way, between me and you, this is the time to use your 50% off coupon and that makes it an even more awesome value!

Sparkly Summer Choker

I love a good beading challenge! As mentioned in Monday's post, I recently received 4 brand new Cousin Corporation "Class in a Box" kits.

Each kit contains a variety of beads and components in a different style and color palette.

An instruction guide comes with each kit, but the real fun is knowing you have all those beads to make anything you want.

When faced with this situation, it's not surprising that I went directly to a right angle weave design because it's so easy, but appears a little more complex. This is the "Shimmer" class in a box...what a great name!

The colors are so fun and with limited amounts of each, it's exciting to put together something that I otherwise would probably not have thought to create.

Since each of the four Cousin Ambassadors all received the same materials, make sure to check out their designs too.

I have no doubt we'll all have our own unique results.

This is a great way to unblock your creativity if you are feeling blocked!