Sharing the Love!!

So my local bead store owner is retiring, and closing her store forever this Saturday.

This means KILLER deals

I just bought $800ish worth of beady goodness for $250. (This is my early birthday present to me :) )

And, because I now have a bumper crop of beads, I'm sharing.

I will be giving away $50-$75(retail) of seed beads and other goodies.
Edit-I lied, I'm sorry...thats each...not total...


And here s the prize. In each set (I've tried to make them as equal as possible) there are Delicas, Delica 10/0 hexes, 15/0 Miyukis, Tilas, Drops, bugles, 11/0 Miyukis, 4mm cubes, 8/0s, Swarovski 6mm cubes, and Swarovski 4mm bicones (or rounds). Each set is a nice mix of staple colors and jewel tones. One IS a little warmer than the other, but I don't think that is a problem. :)

To enter, all you have to do is post a comment down below with an email address. Then, I will pick 2 names from said entrants, and split the prize between them.

I will do the drawing on Tuesday July 5th, so you have until then to enter.

Bonus entries:

-Mention this giveaway elsewhere, and link to the mention in the comments.
(more to come :) )
-Tell me about your favorite rollercoaster, or other amusement park attraction (mine is the Exterminator at Kennywood

Good luck and happy beading!!!

Is there a ghost?

So last night I finished beading this necklace. The pendant is a pattern from the Bead Pattern Book, It is called Okno bu Mu. (Also giant thanks to Kristen for posting about that site a while ago!!!)


I used black 13/0 Czech charlottes, delicas, and galvanized pink seed beads originally from Hobby Lobby(?). Perhaps my skin is acidic or something, but the finish started coming off on my hands, which irritated me until I remembered that I have a box of nitrile gloves. Score one for working in hazardous waste! Stopped the problem right there. I also used wine colored 4mm Swarovski crystals and size 8/0 glow in the dark beads in place of 3mm crystals. I HAD to do something to break up the pink and black.


The rope is a kumihimo braided thing, with 8/0s in silverlined fuschia, 8/0 black, 3mm drops in pink lined pink and black, galvanized pink 11/0s and black 11/0s.



It is amazing to me how quick Kumihimo is. Truly, it is astounding. I got some of those snap shut bobbins, 10 minutes with the bead spinner, a few minutes here and there, and poof, necklace. And it is SO supple. Go buy a disk. Right now! Seriously! Also borrow 2 bullet sinkers from somewhere. The ones I got are about 1/2" long. I string them on a scrap wire hook and put them in the center for the weights. You dont even need the snap bobbins or the bead spinner(although they do make life wonderful). I used tiny spools that I had procured from somewhere on the last rope I did.

You back? Right, after you finish reading this you should start braiding. Well, actually, you can probably read and braid. But I want your full attention for this...

Is there a ghost in my house?



Not really. I was trying to capture some glow in the dark beads glowing in the dark, and decided to snap a photo of my husband walking down the hall. I thought of sending it to one of those ghost shows, but nah. All that equipment would upset the cat.

One finished one finished?

I finished my Magic the Gathering cuff. I also figured out the name of the card I used for it: Recumbent Bliss. (Illus. Todd Lockwood)



Anywho, as I said before, I used roughly 20+/- different seed beads including 15/0, 13/0, Delica, rocailles, charlottes, cubes, triangles, drops, etc. 4 CZ stones, some labradorite beads, a sliding bar clasp etc.



I beaded the whole thing on black stiff felt with Fireline, and then backed it with a piece of soft black leather.




The second piece I have made draws heavily from Laura McCabe's embellished beadweaving.

It uses her pagoda forms, as well as partial instructions from her April Showers necklace instructions. The focal is all mine though, well the artwork is by Ron Spears, but the beading is all mine by golly!



I used a basic swamp card, in resin. I beaded around it with varying shades of greens, blues, turquise, grey and a hint of firey red, you know, for zest. All of that is attached to white felt(because I didn't realize I had a whole big chunk of black in my bead bag. Silly place for it if you ask me...) And that is attached to soft leather.



The pagoda forms, and the rings and rods are made using the same colors, and there is also some multicolored fringe.


I'm not sure if I'm done with this piece. I think it needs more "fluff" on the strap by the other fluff. The strap just seems a little too, well, little.

What say you studio audience? Should I fluff it or let it be?

Also, as an aside, I love Laura's McCabe's work. I am the first to admit, I'm a McCabe junkie, but she likes to find weird, difficult to obtain stuff. I guess that makes her works more special, but it's kinda irritating at the same time. Also, the April Showers necklace instructions for the strap don't say what size beads to use. The quantities for two different sizes are in the materials list but if one isn't weighing their beads, how does one know when one has used x grams of 11/0 Japanese seed beads? But maybe I'm just illiterate or something, but I re-read that section a half dozen times and still couldn't decide which she meant. In the end I used 15/0 under the pagodas and fringe and 11/0 in the main part of the necklace.

Also, I passed my PE! I am now a Professional Engineer. And I have a stamp. And an embosser with a seal on it. MY seal! My very own seal! I seriously almost peed my pants when I got the congratulations letter stating that I had passed, and that I could buy my seal and register it in the state of West ByGod Virginia!