Bead Arts

So, I’ve managed to end the year still on schedule! I spent the month of December thinking about how the word beaver makes me giggle in a very juvenile way, and realizing that I really didn’t want to do an actual portrait of a beaver on my beaded page for November’s Beaver Moon.

What to do, what to do? A friend had shown me how to do simple needle felting, and I ended up using that technique to create a log that had been “gnawed off” by a beaver. It was fun to try something completely new. I used an off-white pipe cleaner for the armature of the log, and letting the ends stick out does look somewhat like chewed off wood. Ok, that’s a stretch, but I’m happy with it!

You can find links to more of the Bead Journal Project’s participants on Robin Atkin’s blog.

You can also click on “Bead Journal Project” under “categories” in the right-hand sidebar (of my blog, that is!) to see the past five months’ beaded journal pages. Here’s a link for last month’s page.

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Keeping my eye on you

This is just the beginning of Rebecca Brown’s amazing work!

You can pick up inexpensive seed beads, or even the micro “beads” that don’t have holes, at any craft store. Don’t use expensive beads for this project…the idea is for the frame to be encrusted. Mix several colors together to get a wonderful impressionistic look. Not only is this project really fast, but it will make the gift of a framed picture into something really special for your giftee! Another great project from DIY Network!

beads, beading, tutorials, picture-frame, mixed-media

Here is an extremely clever idea to dress up a photo that you might want to give as a gift! Instead of a frame, this holder can be used to swap out pictures quickly and easily. You could make up a bunch of these really quickly too! Great gift idea, thanks to Ben Franklin Crafts! Even though they’re suggesting it for Mother’s or Father’s Day, I think it’s a great idea for any holiday.

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Thank you to Tammy Powley over at About.com’s Jewelry Making site! Tammy has compiled links to 8 different beginner projects, at least 5 of which would be fun for Christmas and other winter holidays. One of the projects is a simple ornament cover…once you try one of these and see how they work, the more complicated ones will not seem quite so daunting!

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Make Art Monday

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This is beautiful! Just think of all the ways you could dress up a basket using this method. Note that the trim is the pre-beaded variety, so it won’t take as long to make this as you might think!

You’ll find the list of materials and instructions for this gift idea at PattieWack.com

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Kate Ferrant-Richbourg provides the directions for these clever cuff bracelets. You can make them as many tiers wide as you want, which makes this an extremely versatile gift idea. If you’ve never done wirework before, you can still probably master these bracelets. You might want to check my archives for online help with basic wirework before you start though.

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Maybe you could make beads with all those holiday catalogs that every company insists on sending you?

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This card is so simple, but so cute! I’m sure you could make it a bit more elaborate if you wanted to, but I really like the simplicity of this design. Combine your card-making and your beading manias together…what could be better? Thanks to HobbyCraft for this idea!

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Make Art Monday!

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This tree looks a bit like the old German feather trees that you see occasionally in antique shops! Don’t wait until the last minute to make this one, because it’s going to take a bit of effort and time to wire all the parts together. Is is worth it? I think so

Donna Dickt came up with this beautiful heirloom project. Thanks Donna!

beads, beading, wired-beading, tutorials, mixed-media

I call this piece Champagne Bubbles for its fun, festive bounce and style. You can find my instructions to make it, and I think you’ll be thrilled to see how super-simple and fast it is. Mostly you just need to make sure that you’ve got enough small sized crimps on hand before you start

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Belle Armoire Jewelry, published by Stampington, is now a quarterly magazine.  The deadline for submissions for the next issue is January 15, 2008.   From the website: If you’d like to share your inspiration and detailed how-to instruction for creating beautiful jewelry with readers, we want to hear from you. Belle Armoire Jewelry covers a broad range of mediums, from art clay to polymer clay to found object to fiber to wire to beads and much, much more. Whether you are a creator of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, pendants, rings or other jewelry, we welcome you to submit your artwork for consideration of publication.

Please read submission guidelines before sending your submissions to: Stampington & Company · C/O: Belle Armoire · 22992 Mill Creek, Suite B · Laguna Hills, CA 92653

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These are so cute! You don’t have to stop beading with just the handle…it would be wonderful to bead up some of the fabric before you glued it to the box too. Or think about having beads dangling from around the top. All kinds of possibilities here. Thanks toDena Fishbein, show host at DIY Network for such a fun and fast project! You could make one of these for every woman on your holiday list…

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