Spreading the Craft-Night Fun

I have a huge favor to ask...

You might have read about the sort of-quarterly "craft nights" that I participate in with family and friends which usually consist of eating, drinking, crafting and being merry! (always at least one jewelry project)...

These earrings are one of the quick & easy jewelry crafts we made last weekend during our fall get-together.

My parents will be heading to Florida for the winter in January and there has been talk of a craft night taking place there among "other" friends. There might be someone there to teach a jewelry craft, but I would LOVE to be able to participate in craft night from Ohio.

So, here's the big favor.... Do you have any ideas on how to make that happen through web cam technology? Have you ever participated in a crafty "meet-up" via the web?

I don't think it would be difficult to pull off a web based craft night, and once we figure it out, we could invite lots of others, I am just not sure where to start.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!! :)

Amethyst Cubes

These cubes are 20x20mm flat glass beads in amethyst. They have some great colors in them from gray to pink depending on how the light hits them.

I bought these recently to see if I could decopauge some paper designs on them. Unfortunately, the paper designs are a little large so I need to scan them and shrink them down slightly.

The paper that I want to glue on is actually a paper wrapper from a fancy, nutritious chocolate candy called, "Xocai". I believe they are filled with antioxidants and other good for you things, but if you didn't know, you would just think it was a fancy piece of chocolate!

If you were a salesperson of these chocolates, wouldn't it be fun to be toting around a bracelet that looked like a strand of chocolate candies? Yummy!!

I'll let you know if we can pull this off!

Bead Trends Magazine Freebie!

I was getting re-energized this evening by scanning through bead blogs in the google reader and came across an interesting blog post by Bead Trends Magazine.

I just had to drop everything and share!! This is a magazine I see so many of my beading/blogger friends in. I just love the close-up photography that turns every jewelry piece into a fabulous work of art.

Bead Trends blog post:
"We are so happy to have so many new BeadTrends friends! For a limited time ALL BT FB Fans get a FREE 3 month digital subscription to Bead Trends! No strings attached. To claim your FREE subscription, simply visit bead trends on facebook, click "like" above and then send your Facebook name and email address to freesubscription@beadtrendsmag.com. Once confirmed, we will email you to let you know your subscription is active."

How exciting! I can't wait to see these magazines online! Hope to see you in the pages!! :)

Art Deco Vibe

What a cool, art deco vibe! This strand of beads came from Michael's and I love the vibe! These are the only ones I have left, but there were clear, jet, black diamond and light topaz originally.

They are just calling out to be in a right angle weave design with lots of dangles.

There was also a strand with a tear drop shape and many more facets. They were oh so sparkly. I'm afraid I took them all to craft night on Saturday and used them all up in our jewelry projects.

If you have a chance to get to Michael's make sure you check them out! If you are lucky, they will still be on sale! :)

Phase 1, Fall Bracelet Project

I have begun my fall bracelet project with my Artbeads.com crystals and memory wire. So far, I have completed phase 1 of the focal piece of the bracelet.

I have a few thoughts for the next steps and am looking forward to see if I can bring it all together as it is in my head. This is when it would be great to just connect a USB from my head to my computer and hit print! :)

I hope you were able to get some crafting in this weekend!!

By the way, I have a winner to announce for the Inspirational Beading Bracelet Tutorial Giveaway!! The lucky one is Nicole of "The Beadwright" blog. Yay! Thanks everyone so much for your comments!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Peace, Love & Bead Bloggers!

This post is a little early, but I am hoping to share a project for a later post on Sunday! I hope you are having a CRAFTY weekend!

About.com Jewelry Making For those who like immediate gratification jewelry, there's a new line coming to your local Michael's called Trinkettes.

Art Bead Scene The Art Bead Scene Carnival Bloggers write about renewal for September.

Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio Lorelei was able to watch a couple of cool videos from Ronna Sarvas Weltman, and reviews them this week on the blog

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews a VERY cool DVD all about metal work, which is super great for beginners AND super inspiring for old hands at this type of jewelry creating and designing!

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton Andrew has another great Thursday Giveaway! Find out how you can win a Halloween-themed Trick or Treat Trios set of flexible beading wire from Soft Flex Company!

Beading Arts Auntie's Beads supplied some wonderful faux sea glass beads for Cyndi to use in a new design!

Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi's new BELIEVE necklace starts out with a beaded embroidery.

Cindy Gimbrone, The Lampwork Diva To badly paraphrase Shakespeare, "the ring's the thing!"

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie mashes up two songs about school and growing up and uses it as inspiration for a mixed media necklace

Exciting New Beading Contest!

HAPPY FRIDAY! Yay!

Are you interested in winning gift certificates for beads?!

I know...seems like a silly question!! I just learned of a fun new beading contest from Mama's Minerals. Here are the details:

Mama's Minerals
We are having a beading contest! Our People's Choice Awards are an opportunity for you to showcase your best fall-themed beaded necklace, and to win some great prizes.

The public will have one month to vote online for their favorite piece from among a jury-selected pool of finalists. People’s Choice Awards will be given to 1st ($100), 2nd ($75), and 3rd ($50)place winners.

Eligibility:
Contest is open to all ages.
Theme requirements must be met (see below).
Applications must be completely filled out and include a photograph of artwork.
Final work must be entirely original, including the design (i.e. not from a magazine).
There will be a total number of fifteen (15) entries selected for online public voting.
The selection process will be juried. The jury will be composed of professional beaders/artists.
Only one total submission per artist.

GOOD LUCK!!! (and happy beading!)