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!

Easy Holiday Jewelry

This week's project is from last Saturday's holiday craft night. I took memory wire, beading wire and stretchy cord along with glass pearls, red CZ rectangles, 6mm green bicones, 4mm crystal ab bicones and silver lined toho crystal seed beads.

Everyone had an opportunity to choose as many of these beads as they needed to create something using this combination of beads.

We all had a great time and ended up helping each other get them finished. Some wanted earrings, so I helped them get those done too.

The bracelet shown here is the one that I made. The reason for taking these beads was so this year's holiday project could be worn with the simple piece we made last year.

Hopefully this weekend finds you in the crafting spirit! I have a crafting date with my 10 year old niece tomorrow. We are going to sparkle up some foam snowflakes!!

Have a great evening!

One More Glass Heart

Today's bead is the final glass heart that was gifted to me by a coworker. This is rather large and very sweet.

This pendant has glitter throughout the gold liner which would be perfect for the holidays.

You could use a simple cord or ready-made chain, but I'd love to see it hanging from a red choker wire.

With the addition of some large hole gold-dusty beads, I think it would be perfect!!

What do you think?

Simple Heart Pendant

Today's bead is one of the other heart pendants I mentioned yesterday. This glass heart, which was in a package from Joann, Etc., has black and purple accents and would look great in a number of designs.

Since time was limited and I needed a few gifts for the weekend, I used a black velvet cord with a clasp already attached and in a matter of 1 minute, had a nice gift to pass on!

This looks nice as is, but also looked nice with a knot at the top of the heart or with some large-hole silver beads on either side. I wanted it to be simple since I was presenting it to a fellow crafter who I thought would have fun adding embellishments.

Hope you are having a great week!! One more work day for me, yay! :)

Bright & Shiny Heart

Ooh, isn't this a wonderful glass heart "bead"?!! It's more of a pendant than a bead, but with unlimited possibilities, you never know where something like this could show up in a piece of handmade jewelry!

This colorful heart was a gift from a coworker who surprised me with 3 packages, each with a different heart pendant last week. She had previously brought in a stretchy cord woven bracelet of her sister's that needed repaired and considering all it took was tying on a piece of elastic and weaving it through a few beads, I made out!

I have since added a "bead-able" silver chain to this pendant and gifted my Mom with it. I thought she might have fun adding beads to the chain on either side of the pendant.

This heart is also bright and cheerful enough to pass as holiday jewelry!! We used red CZ's and white glass pearls to make a holiday bracelet last weekend and interestingly, the necklace matched perfectly!

You could also incorporate this heart, since it is rather small, into a woven hemp cord necklace with lots of strands and crazy dangles! I can't wait to show you the other two hearts which appear to have all come from JoAnn, etc.

Hope you are having a good one!! :)

Ceramic Cubes

I thought today's bead was a ceramic TURQUOISE cube until I just looked at the tag to get the exact description for this post.

The tag reads, 7" BD STRND RAKU SM CUBE GRN. These "GRN" beads are Blue Moon Beads from Michael's. I honestly did not think they were green, but see now that the bluish tint with the yellowing effect sort of creates a greenish color. Interesting!

I also just learned that the Raku ceramic technique involves firing in a kiln to a temperature of 1800 degrees farenheit and then placed in a container with a combustible material such as paper or sawdust causing it to catch on fire to create a unique effect. Wow, quite a bit of work went into creating these cool beads!

These are currently being used on some of the bookmarks I am making with my book cover on them, but I also think they would be great in a chunky bracelet or even as a single focal bead in a more delicate necklace.

These appear to be somewhere around 10 or 12mm and I also found some that are even larger in a great brown color. I just need to dig them up and post them here to show you.

Hope all is well and you are having a great week!!