Giveaway and Sale - Two Days Left!

Only two days left in my tutorial sale and Artbeads gift card giveaway! All of my beaded bead tutorials are 15% off through my Etsy shop! Here's my newest tutorial:

I don't do sales very often, so this is a great opportunity to get a deal on a new design! The tutorials will reset to their normal prices at 11:59 PM PST on December 31, so don't delay!

I'm giving away a $25 gift certificate towards all kinds of beading supplies and tools, sponsored by my good friends at Artbeads.com! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on my previous blog post by 11:59 PM PST on December 31, letting me know what kinds of beading techniques you'd like to try in the new year. Make sure to either leave your e-mail address in the comment, or make sure that that your Blogger profile includes your e-mail address. Alternatively, you can leave a link to your Etsy shop and I'll convo you to contact you. One winner will be randomly chosen and notified via e-mail on January 1, 2010. The gift certificate will be delivered via e-mail directly from Artbeads.

Good luck!

New Ideas, Giveaway, and Sale!

At the end of the year I like to try new and different beadweaving ideas. I think it's because I spend so much time on my own designs that I don't have enough time to try other projects, but since I'm usually on vacation around Christmastime, I like to use this time to take a vacation from my own beading ideas as well. Last year I made a beaded box from a project in Julia Pretl's book Little Bead Boxes, a significant departure for me since I don't work with delica beads very often. This year I received Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence for Christmas, and I'm having a great time perusing this book for projects I'd like to do this holiday.

What kinds of beading techniques would you like to try in the new year? Between now and the end of the year, I'm offering two opportunities to broaden your beading horizons:

First, all the beaded bead tutorials in my Etsy shop are 15% off through December 31. New to beaded beads? Perhaps you'd like to try the delicate Light Clusters:

Or maybe you'd like to try a more advanced design? Perhaps you'd like the Teardrop Bubbles:

And then there's alway my newest design, the Squared Circles:

I don't do sales very often, so this is a great opportunity to get a deal on a new design! The tutorials will reset to their normal prices at 11:59 PM PST on December 31, so don't delay!

Second, I'm giving away a $25 gift certificate towards all kinds of beading supplies and tools, sponsored by my good friends at Artbeads.com! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog by 11:59 PM PST on December 31, letting me know what kinds of beading techniques you'd like to try in the new year. Make sure to either leave your e-mail address in the comment, or make sure that that your Blogger profile includes your e-mail address. Alternatively, you can leave a link to your Etsy shop and I'll convo you to contact you. One winner will be randomly chosen and notified via e-mail on January 1, 2010. The gift certificate will be delivered via e-mail directly from Artbeads.

I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone wants to try in the new year! Good luck!

Merry Christmas Ornament!

I make at least one Christmas ornament for my Mom every year. One year I made her an entire set of origami snowflake ornaments out of fancy textured paper, but lately I've been into making beaded ornaments. Here's this year's ornament:

This ornament features a Squared Circles beaded bead and a Circle Starburst beaded bead, both woven from medium-sized Czech glass lentils and fancy Japanese seed beads. It was hard to get a picture of it on the Christmas tree since the tree casts so many shadows, but I think this one gives an idea of how it looks in tree-context:

A tutorial for the Squared Circles beaded bead is available in my Etsy shop, and I'm currently writing a tutorial for the Circle Starburst beaded bead. I meant to get it done before Christmas, but I've found that the busy holiday season is not conducive to writing!

In the meantime, I hope you have a warm, happy holiday!

Season's Greetings!

Double Bubble Pearl Experiments, Revisited

A few months ago I reported on my attempts to incorporate freshwater pearls into my Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead. I found that drop pearls that are slightly larger than 4 by 6 mm worked best in the original pattern outlined in the Double Bubble Jacks tutorial, while using pearls that measured 4 by 6 mm or smaller resulted in a more squishy beaded bead.

In response to my findings, Gwen of BeAd Infinitum gave an excellent suggestion on how to better-fit the smaller pearls to the design by removing four seed beads from each pillar. I gave it a try with the same peacock pearls that I used in the second bead in my original experiments, and here's the result:

I'm happy to report that it works out great! The bead is much less squishy, and it does a better job of showing off the pearls!

This variation also works well with other smallish teardrop-shaped freshwater pearls. Here's a pair of earrings with some peach-colored drop pearls that I bought at the last Rings and Things roadshow:



Finally, I made a pair of earrings and a bracelet using this variation to match the Bubble Box pendant made with pearls in the same color scheme. Both of these pieces are available in my Etsy shop:





I can't wait to try this variation with some green pearls I bought at the BABE show! Much thanks to Gwen for the excellent suggestion!

Craft Show This Saturday!

I'm participating in a craft show this Saturday, December 12, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA! The show will feature about 10 local artisans, who will be displaying all kinds of crafts including jewelry, textiles, pottery, and papercrafts! The show will take place in the intimate knit-one-one crafting studio at 3360 Adeline Street, Berkeley CA, so it's a great chance to do some holiday shopping without the hassle and crowds of the malls.

I'll be bringing a wide selection of earrings, necklaces, and bracelets to the show, as well as some print copies of my beaded bead tutorials. In addition to the pieces available in my Etsy shop, here's a sneak peak of some of the items I'll have on sale at the craft show:

If you're in the area, I'd love to see you there!

SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway - Ending Tomorrow!

The SATeam promotion is ending tomorrow! Until 12/6, anyone who purchases an item from any of the participating SATeam shops will be entered in a drawing to win this beautiful charm bracelet, featuring handcrafted charms from over 25 individual team members!

A list of the participating shops can be found at the SATeam blog, and you can also find sale items by searching for SATEAMWRIST at Etsy. Remember that at my shop, this promotion is valid for each jewelry and tutorial sale. This promotion ends tomorrow, so search SATEAMWRIST without delay!

I'm a Bead Star Contest Winner!

I must confess: I've been keeping a secret for months... Remember way back in May when I announced that my Lavender Splendor necklace made the Bead Star finals?

Well, I'm happy to announce that this piece won an Honorable Mention award in the seed bead category! Better yet, it's now a published project in the 2009 edition of the Bead Star magazine, along with 44 other award-winning Bead Star designs! This is the first time that my beadwork has been published, and it's super-exciting to see my work in print!

The 2009 Bead Star magazine goes on sale in bookstores nationwide on December 8, but you can pre-order your copy at the Interweave online store. There are some seriously beautiful designs in this magazine. All the project use only simple techniques such as stringing, crimping, knotting, and basic wirework, so jewelry makers of all levels can enjoy creating the projects in this magazine.

Congratulations to all the winners!