Beading Arts

Any Occasion Low Cost Gift Ideas to Make in Minutes  When you have a bunch of gifts to hand out and don't want to break the bank, think of something clever, funny, or thoughtful which will fit in a handmade envelope. Here are Eileen's Valentines for guy and girlfriends. Scrap Cat  What to do with all those yarn scraps? How about crochet a cat! Paintings That Recharge the Spirit Cherie works on paintings to help recharge her soul.

Bead Metamorphosis: Exquisite Jewelry from Custom Components by Lisa Kan Fiber & Cord Jewelry: Easy to Make Projects Using Paracord, Hemp, Leather, and More by Ashley Bunting French General: A Year of Jewelry: 36 Projects with Vintage Beads by Kaari Meng Creative Soldered Jewelry & Accessories: 20+ Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets & More by Lisa Bluhm The Crazy Quilt Handbook, Revised: 12 Updated Step-by-Step Projects Illustrated Stitch Guide, Including Silk Ribbon by Judith Baker Montano Technorati Tags: bead embroidery , handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

This year for the Bead Journal Project , I am going to be working on combining beaded crazy quilting with 3D forms.  I learned most of what I know about sculptural forms through C June Barnes's Exploring Dimensional Quilt Art .   Two weeks ago, I posted the first part of this tutorial, which focused on making the wavy raised circle form shown above.  The first line of beaded back stitch was added before the felt circles were stitched together with edging brick stitch around the middle.  The rest, shown below was added afterwards.   I used the bead embroidered forms of African helix and free-standing chevrons.  These stitches are taught in Bored By Back Stitch , chapter one.    After I finished the central beading, I used embroidery floss to add beaded blanket stitch around the outsides.  In a few spots, the black second layer of felt had to be trimmed a bit as there had been some slippage.   Bead Journal Project: January 2015 Copyright 2015 Cy

Ornaments aren't Just for Christmas Anymore Eileen made a bunch of decoupaged wooden hearts and hung them on a Valentine's tree. I Love Resin! This step by step shows you how to make big buttons new pendants with resin. Beads, Knitting, and Cuteness Lots of crafting in the latest Crafty Princess Diaries Podcast, including bead weaving, knitting, crochet, ending with a cute photo montage of finished objects. The Plans He Has for Us Cherie ponders a favorite Bible verse in her creation of art this week.

A post by Jen, of Jen's Findings I am the mother of four girls and have been married to my husband John for fifteen years. We actually met in a local bead store he used to own in the 1990s. I have been beading since I was a teen, but now I am mainly making necklaces and bracelets in my spare time (which is not often enough for me!). My fourteen-year-old has been making and selling jewelry for a couple of years. It's a hobby for her, but she has also learned some responsibility and earns extra spending money. Here is something she made a few months back.  She has a tutorial on our blog. I think my nine-year-old also has a terrific eye; she made this necklace last year. As far as the products that we carry in our store, people seem to really like some of our more novelty clasps, such as the heart clasp, the dolphin clasp, or the multi-strand flower clasps. The dolphin clasp is shown at the top of this post.

2015 Craft's Market: How to Sell Your Crafts and Make a Living By Kelly Biscopink Fons & Porter / F+W If you haven't looked at the Crafter's Market   for awhile, you'll want to look at it this year for sure.  It is packed with helpful business advice, articles written by successful people who are doing the very things that you may want to do.  [Note: I was thinking of the Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market books when I wrote this...this volume is the very first Crafter's Market !!] Besides some general all-purpose business articles, you'll find information on finding your niche, branding strategies, developing a social media presence, selling on etsy, improving your graphic design and photos, handling wholesale and consignment shops, pricing your work, and getting published in books and magazines. This is followed by the market listings, including industry shows, retail shows and fairs, online markets, book and magazine publish

I received some wider ribbons from Offray , and immediately thought, "Oh good...a canvas to stitch on!"  I wasn't sure at first how well the ribbon would hold up to being embroidered by a lot of beads, but by making a few adjustments, it worked out really well.  I'll be doing this again, for sure! Materials & Tools 3 inch wide Offray red satin ribbon Lightweight fusible interfacing Lightweight acrylic beads Size 11/0 seed beads Beading thread (I use Nymo) Embroidery floss Metal ribbon ends, 4 at 10mm Jump rings (if needed for additional length) Magnetic clasps, or clasps of your choice Measuring tape Scissors Iron Beading needles Silk pins Embroidery needles Chain nose pliers 1. Measure your wrist and cut a piece of 3 inch wide ribbon 1 inch longer than the exact measurement. 2. Cut a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing 1 inch shorter than the ribbon length by 1 3/8 inch wide.  Center it as shown on the lower half

Alphabet Letters and Picture Wall Cherie adds to a picture wall in her bedroom. Craft-Along Announcement! Catch up on the latest Crafty Princess Diaries Podcast, which includes the 411 on a Jan/Feb Craft-Along! I Love Resin This post features a step by step created after my resin clay and KLIK class at CHA over the weekend. Are You Ready for a New Year of Beading? Eileen certainly wasn't. In reviewing the year that was, she noticed that she hadn't been doing much. Here's why! Art Bead Scene Check out what talented reader Mihaela Georgescu of Extravaganza Beading has created in response to our January challenge - a stunning piece of wearable art!

Bead Metamorphosis: Exquisite Jewelry from Custom Components   By Lisa Kan  Interweave/F+W; $25.99  Either you are a fan of Lisa Kan's beautiful beadwork, or else there is something seriously wrong with you!  Sorry...there is no middle ground.  You may not want to make it or wear it yourself, but you absolutely have to see the artistry and attention to detail that goes into it.  Years ago, I reviewed Lisa's book Bead Romantique , and I know that her fans have been waiting (not so) patiently ever since for a follow-up.  Well, now they have it, and it's a beauty. What Lisa does in Bead Metamorphosis is to show you how to create precise components which can be altered and combined in many ways.  One of the signature pieces of the book, shown above, is the Encanto Necklace, which allows you to reconfigure it by rearranging the medallions, which also happen to be double-sided.  As you work your way through the book, you'll find components reappearing in diffe

It's time to keep your first New Year's resolution...to promote your work! Have you been wondering how the people who get featured here do it?  Well, most of them are just like you...they don't have a publicist or an agent, they don't have a contract with Macy's or Bergdorf Goodman (not yet, anyway!), and many of them are shy! If you'd like to share a piece you've made, all you have to do is shoot me an email to  cyndi @ mazeltovjewelry . com  (remove the spaces). Please put  beading arts  image to share  in the subject line. We love to read about things like what inspired you to make the piece and any challenges that you faced, so tell us a bit about yourself and the image that you're sending. I'll gladly share your website and/or blog link along with your image and description. If you'd like to consider sharing a more in-depth artist profile with us , just put  beading arts  artist profile  in the subject line. I'll check out your site

The first piece that I'm going to attempt for the Bead Journal Project this year is some wavy raised circles.  These probably have a more technical name, but I don't know what it is.  If you're a math-geometry person, will you please let me know? [ Note : my friend Paul Bishop tells me that the shape of this form is called a hyperbolic paraboloid !  Thank you, Paul.] The shape at the top of the post is my successful sample.  There were a few that weren't really successful until I figured out how exaggerated to make the shapes.  What I finally found that worked best for me was to cut the outsides as circles and both insides as long identical ovals.  The placement of the inner cut doesn't have to be precise, but the actual size must be exact. I know they don't look like circles in this shot, but that's just because I took it on an angle.  Trust me, the outsides are circles, the insides are identical ovals.  I used felt, and each piece was backed wit

Carmi's Art/Life World My super New Years news is a new blog dedicated to my resin work and all things about this amazing medium. I Love Resin! Turn Wine Glasses into Romantic Tea Light Candleholders Easy-to-make wine glass lampshades make romantic little candle lamps. Hats Off! The Crafty Princess reports some more knitting success as she works through a Craftsy.com knit class. I'll Live the Life Cherie gives a step by step in creating a mixed media painting.

Many of you will be familiar with Kaari Meng's work, fun, feminine, and whimsical designs that start with mostly vintage beads and charms.  Well, Kaari has a new book that is based on the jewelry that she constructs at her store, the French General.  The title of the book?   French General: a Year of Jewelry .   Kaari starts with a discussion on a little bit of what to look for in buying vintage and antique beads and charms.  She talks about some of her early prejudices, and how she moved past them into buying quality beads, but only what she likes!  It really makes sense; you don't want to invest money and time in materials that will flake and deteriorate, but you also don't want to buy beads that you don't like just because they are a "good deal". The basic techniques that are used over and over in the book are also up front.  Mostly you'll be working with chain, wire, memory wire, gluing, and some stringing.  The organization of the bulk of

At the beginning of each new year, I feel the need to start something new, don't you?  It's a great time for reflection and for setting goals...educational, business, artistic, whatever.  This year, I have two specific things on the brain: crazy quilting and 3D forms.  Yeah, yeah.  I know they don't seem to be related, but actually they are! A couple of years ago, I got all excited about making a co uple of 3D forms that I learned about in  C June Barnes's  book  Exploring Dimensional Quilt Art  ( here's my review ).  At the top of this post is a pyramid form that I made at that time.  At the last link is a tutorial for it as well, because June's book is not really a project book, but instead mostly covers the theory of how to create different forms.  So anyway, take a look at that pyramid up there.  See how the flat planes are joined together?  I didn't decorate the planes, but if I had, wouldn't it remind you of a crazy quilt...?  Just sayin&#

Robbie, Christine, and Eileen...you three are the lucky winners of a copy of Artists & Makers magazine !! Is everybody ready for a great new year of projects, reviews, introductions to new artists, etc etc etc???  I sure am...see you Monday :-)