Weekend Inspiration

What a great way to start the weekend...with bead blogger inspiration! 

Thanks to our friends below for sharing bits of their beading lives with us!

By the way, if you know of any beaders who are posting updates from the Bead & Button show, please let us all know so we can follow along. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with living vicariously through others! :) 

Have a great weekend!

Beading Arts
Cyndi is working on what to do with all the beaded motifs she's making...

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Giveaway for Kristal Wick's fantastic book, Foxy Epoxy! Sign up on Jean's blog! USA only, thanks!

About.com Jewelry Making
With the crazy cost of metals, now is a good time to look at preciouse versus base metals.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Phoomph. Not just a word, but a new surface to create with! You have to see the new necklace I made with fabric and rhinestones and Phoomph!

Resin Crafts Blog
A little glitter and mica are used to fashion these fabulous resin glazed tags.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Want to win a copy of Kristal Wick's new book, "Foxy Epoxy"? Now you can! Three books are up for grabs! Andrew shares where you can win this fun book!

Art Bead Scene
Take our monthly tour of art based upon our challenge piece!

Christmas in June?

How early do you start on holiday jewelry? I'm guessing lots of crafters get busy with projects for gifts and craft shows throughout the summertime.

I wanted to let you know I'll be telling you about a new line of Cousin Corp beads, charms and components that are coming out in a couple weeks...so, get ready for Christmas in June! :)

Reminder & Jewelry Kit Bracelet

I hope your work week is off to a great start!

Just a quick reminder about the Cousin Corporation shout out for 5 new Jewelry Making Ambassadors.

The deadline is June 17. I'm happy to answer questions if you are considering it. Just email me directly. :) blcrone123@sbcglobal.net

I also wanted to take a minute to share this ultra cool bracelet from a kit that a coworker and her young daughter put together.

I can see how easy it could be with simple instructions, but it does look complicated.

What do you think? Have you ever used a jewelry making kit like this to get kids involved in jewelry making?

By the way, I took this pic on my cell phone, but I think you can get the idea.

If you have any other kit suggestions that I can pass along to my friend, please let me know. :)

Peace, Love & Bead Blogger Inspiration!

 I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend so far!!

Here's some fun inspiration to keep things rolling along. We're kicking things off with Leah C's fab bracelet!

So bright and cheerful, thanks Leah!

Art Bead Scene
Check out Leah C's gorgeous bracelet, inspired by this month's challenge piece!

Resin Crafts Blog!
Have you tried the new specialty film Jewelry Attitude? It transformed an old beaded necklace!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Have you heard about the Prayers For Richie Fundraiser? Andrew spotlights this very worthwhile cause created by Kathy Van Kleeck.

Snap out of it, Jean! There's Beading to be done!
Jean got a Beading Pal from Ezel Findings and wants you to know how GREAT it is!

About.com Jewelry Making
Load up with three brand spanking new earring tutorials!

Beading Arts
Wire Month continues on Beading Arts, which features a simple project to wire up some button earrings for yourself! 

Special Project Update - Bead & Button Show

Have you ever become attached to a special jewelry project?

The Cousin Creative Circle Ambassadors were given an ultra fabulous assignment earlier this year.

We haven't shared our projects with you because they are going to be on display in the PrimaBead booth at the Bead and Button show that starts next week in Milwaukee, yay!

Prima Bead is the sister company to Cousin that is specifically a retail catalog outlet. You can find Cousin products at LOTS of craft stores as well as Walmart, Meijer and many others. But, if you want to order from Cousin directly, you must have a wholesale account.

Prima takes care of the rest of us who may not currently be in a business situation. :) They will be in booths 733 and 735 if you happen to be checking out the expo vendors at the Bead & Button show.

So, back to the project...We were given a pretty good sized budget to create a fabulous attention getting necklace for display. It was really hard not to share it with you, but local friends put up with me showing them pictures on my Kindle Fire. Yeah, I've become one of those people.

I missed the project so much that I decided to use a few of the leftover pieces and parts to make a reminder of it in a ready to wear necklace and bracelet.

These pieces are about as minimal as the B&B project is extreme, but they are perfect for my everyday wear and remind me of the excitement AND fear of having the opportunity to make something special to represent the company as an ambassador for all to see (choke/swallow/breathe into a paper bag).

I hope you will let me know if you happen upon it at the show. Please give it a little "hello" from me if you get a chance. :)

What's Everybody Working On?

Just checking in to see what everyone is working on.

I've got a bee in my bonnet right now about using some awesome colorful chain in blue, pink and purple.

AND, these awesome connectors in the same colors. This is capri...yum! These are from Primabead.com.

For some reason I keep getting distracted with new ideas.

Everything seems to look good together, so what I need to do is commit already!

So, back to what YOU are working on.

Please jump in here and let us know what is happening on your beading table, even if it's actually your lap or your coffee table. :)

Feel free to leave details and/or a link...Especially if you have a messy work table, it would sure make me feel better. :)

Bead Blogger Inspiration

I so enjoy catching up with what other beaders are doing by checking out blogs and websites.

I love that everyone is so eager to share what they are up to and what they are learning along the way!

Here's some inspiration to end the weekend on a fun and creative note!

We're kicking things off with Carmi's rubber stamped clay pendants...nice! :)

Resin Crafts Blog!
Making textured, colored and rubber stamped pendants is a breeze with Jewelry Clay! 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
It it National Children's Book week! Jean has a giveaway on her blog for a children's book written by a famous author, Elizabeth King Gerlach, which Jean herself illustrated! Come over and sign up! It is adorable!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Using the Now That's a Jig!, Andrew made some fun earrings for a local musician!

About.com Jewelry Making
A new "frame" necklace tutorial up that incorporate some amazing mirror crytal beads.

Art Bead Scene-Color Cord Mixes and a Free Bracelet Project
Are you looking for a place to start on a jewelry design to enter into our Art Bead Scene Monthly Challenges? Lorelei has been creating color cord combinations inspired by the art piece chosen by the Art Bead Scene team.

Beading Arts
Cyndi has worked out an easy way to hang odd-shaped pieces from wire!