Beading Arts

Many many thanks to Jocille , who emailed me with the suggestion that I think about combining my purple shibori silk pansy with something brilliant ORANGE .  I don't usually go for that much contrast, so the idea really took me by surprise.  Not only did I end up making some additional flowers in orange to accompany the pansy, but I also chose a background fabric which I had marbled years ago that has some orange dyes included. I promise a tutorial soon!  Note - this one is how to assemble the parts.  Here is a link to making the shibori silk flowers and leaves themselves. Here are the rest of my Bead Journal Project  pieces so far: January February March April May June July August Copyright 2014 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: bead embr

Carmi's Art/Life World The summer goal of hand sewing twelve crazy cuffs was met with this salute to the fleur de lis! Mini Canvas Making Cherie's working on some mini canvases to decorate her office. Artist Profile: Photographer Taerie Kelly Taerie is a good example of how people can find their way from being crafters to accomplished artists. She has her first solo show starting this Friday!

Beading All-Stars: 20 Jewelry Projects from Your Favorite Designers (Lark Jewelry & Beading) by Lark Crafts Creative Beading Vol. 9: The Best Projects from a Year of Bead&Button Magazine by Editors of Bead&Button Magazine Peyote Stitch for Beginner and Beyond by Sheila Root Beautiful Jewellery with SuperDuo Beads: 20 Delightful Projects for You to Make by Teresa Morse Technorati Tags: bead embroidery , handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Faith and Art Cherie muses about faith and painting and growing in your craft. Winter Note Card Made with "Joy" and Homemade Glimmer Mist This card uses the prettiest glimmer mist Eileen has ever seen. Where can you buy it? You can't. You make it yourself for mere pennies! Giveaway & Baby Box Goodies Catch the latest Crafty Princess Diaries podcast and get a chance to win a wonderful new beaded bracelet book. The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton See what Andrew and the rest of the talented participants made for the Festival Lights Challenge. Resin Crafts Blog It is amazing what you can cast in an ice cube tray...check out my super hero weapons! A Bead A Day It's craft night and Lisa's looking for inspiration! If you have an abundance of quick and easy ideas, check out her post.

Remember my Bittersweet Wrap-sody cuff that I shared a few weeks ago?  Couldn't stop at just one... This new cuff, Bliss, is featured in my new e-book chapter, Textured Surfaces , which is chapter three of Bored By Back Stitch . [ New for 2016!!  Chapter 3 will be free with the purchase of the first two chapters, even if you don't buy them at the same time.  Upon confirming your purchase, I will email the final chapter to you at no extra cost!  Ok, the last chapter won't be an instantaneous download like the others, but I promise to send it to you just as quickly as I can :-) ] In fact, I was walking through the grocery store, minding my own business, when this purple bag of milk chocolate came hopping right into my cart.  Seriously.  I'm a dark chocolate girl, so I bought the bag just for...well, the BAG!  (Don't worry, milk chocolate fans.  I made cookies from the bag's contents.) The center-piece is a bezeled oval bead, surrounded by one

Bored By Back Stitch now has a third, and final, chapter!  Introducing Textured Surfaces ! New for 2016!!  Chapter 3 will be free with the purchase of the first two chapters, even if you don't buy them at the same time.  Upon confirming your purchase, I will email the final chapter to you at no extra cost!  Ok, the last chapter won't be an instantaneous download like the others, but I promise to send it to you just as quickly as I can :-) First we turned the most popular bead weaving stitches into bead embroidered motifs and explored ways to combine those stitches into more complex designs, so now it seems only logical to turn our attention to other ways to add texture to our beaded wearables and non-wearables, to add some new stitches to the repertoire, and to try out four new bracelet projects too! Because of the textural complexity of the beaded stitches, it often seems sensible to leave larger areas of the foundation unbeaded than is the case with pu

Carol , who writes Beads and Birds blog, is the winner of these terrific buttons!  Congratulations Carol :-)

Jewelry business tips: The secret to my amazing jewelry photos by Shirin How to reshare old content without annoying your followers by Adrienne Erin Opportunity for resin jewelry makers by Carmi Cimicata Calls for entries from Stampington Saul Bell design award Jewelry making tutorials: Inside loop earwires  and Heart earwires by Rena Klingenberg How to pour resin into an open space by Carmi Cimicata (three parts) Gilded geode necklace by Lindsey How to make jewelry look vintage by Stacie How to bead a circle by Robin Atkins Twisted herringbone ropes by Jennifer VanBenschoten Golden leather leaves earrings by Sonya Nimri

Awhile ago (quite awhile ago now!), I asked for your input on a project I was considering, consisting of the pleated shibori silk ribbon flowers shown above and which fabric to choose for the background .  Well, I chose the brighter fabric, even though it was a busier print, because I couldn't get past how the marbling pattern picked up touches of the orange flowers. Anyway, my next dilemma came when I was trying to figure out what sort of leaves to make for my fantasy orange calendula flowers.  Their leaves are actually more spiky than they are ferny, but hey...they're my flowers, right? I found these brilliant little fern shapes in Melissa Grakowsky's book I Can Herringbone   (my review is at the link).  With several color modifications, I think they're going to work out really well.  Time to finally start tackling putting this piece together! Note - here's the link to the finished embroidery piece with tutorial . Copyright 2014 Cyndi Lavin.

Blue Glass Sculpture Cherie makes a blue glass sculpture for her home. Snap out of it Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews the wonderful new book by Jamie Cloud Eaken, Bead Play with Fringe, Techniques, design, and projects. Is There a Clay Recipe Suitable for an Essential Oil Diffuser Pendant? A reader was looking for a clay recipe to make essential oil diffusers. Read Eileen's answer. Ornament Prototype Crafty Princess is planning ahead for the holidays with this super simple sewn felted ornament project. Resin Crafts Blog Halloween and resin go hand in hand if you shop in dollar stores! Carmi's Art/Life World The summer project of creating a dozen crazy cuffs is right on track. Number eleven is elephant themed. A Bead A Day Did someone say Sparkle? Lisa's come up with a new mantra: sparkle, sparkle, sparkle! Join her as she obsesses over shamballa beads.

Do you remember the soft wrapped cuff bracelet I made last month from the buttons I received from The Bead and Button Company , UK? Well, they were very generous, much more generous than I will be capable of benefiting from all by myself! I have some more ideas for using some of the buttons, including more embroidery projects and maybe some wrap bracelets, but I thought it would be really great to be able to share the wealth with someone else, so.... GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!  Would you like to win these pretty painted lightweight wooden buttons? Here's what you need to do... please read this carefully . Leave me a comment here telling me what projects you would do with the buttons and include your email address. If I don't see your email address, I won't be able to contact you. No contact, no win, and I simply have to go on to the next person. You are welcome to spell it out if you'd prefer, for example, cyndi at mazeltovjewelry dot com. If you tweet or post on

Here's a little project that used up some leftovers from quite a few previous projects!  In fact, the materials come from 4 different suppliers! Materials & Tools Round leverback ear wires Twisted round jump rings Czech glass beads ( The Best Beads ) Head pins ( Rings & Things ) Lightweight chain ( Michaels ) Chain nose pliers Round nose pliers Wire cutters Ruler 1. Cut two lengths of chain, each approximately 3 inches. 2. Attach the beads to the chain by creating wrapped loops with the head pins.  Attach leaves with large jump rings, and add a few decorative jump rings to the last link of the chain. 3. The small loop on the bottom of the leverback ear wire opens, so you won't have to add any more jump rings to the top. 4. Make the second earring to match (or contrast if you prefer!) with the first. Copyright 2014 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out

Guitar String Jewelry Video podcast episode 4 including some "rockin" jewelry and a little fiber too. Where to Find Cheap Unique Craft Supplies I bet you have your own sources for inexpensive craft supplies. Here are some of my faves. Do you have any others? Resin Crafts Blog A good experiment in resin layering results in some one-of-a-kind "cubes of resin." A Bead A Day Ready for a crafty weekend? Lisa just discovered a crafty necklace project that inspires creativity! Mini Canvases Cherie makes some mini canvases for her office.

Eleven beading superstars, 20 gorgeous all-new projects (not reprints from other books!), how could you not want this book, Beading All-Stars ?  This is a Lark Book, so you know the photography is beautiful and the attention to detail is superb. Do what exactly are the details?  Each designer has a brief bio, and then right into her projects.  Rinse and repeat.  At the back of the book is a brief glossary and several pages of basic techniques that are used by the various designers.  This allows them to get right to the point in their own instructions, but if you are a beginner, you will need to read through the appropriate parts of this section first before attempting the projects.  In my opinion, it's a good way to do it, because intermediates and advanced beaders don't want to get bogged down, but beginners need this information! The book's level is really aimed at more experienced beaders, but don't let that stop you if you're determined to bead like a s