Art Bead Scene
The Art Bead Scene announces their next monthly challenge, a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Think fairies, woodland/forest or starry nights for your next jewelry creation and enter to win over $100 in art beads!
   
Bead Arts
Using some turquoise that she picked up at a recent bead and gem show, Cyndi shows you how to make a simple summer necklace.

Katie’s Beading Blog
Looking for inspiration? This week, Katie blogged about helping her friend make the perfect wedding jewelry.
  
Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean shows off a fantastic sterling heavy guage Byzantine link with lampwork pendant necklace which she made to wear to Links book signings! 

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Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Mother’s bracelets are true classics! Jean was comissioned (by her husband Jim’s pal, Rob) to create a very pretty one for his wife, due in October. See what they created together by phone, and find out if the mother-to-be liked it or not!
     
The Impatient Blogger
Margot whines about her “stupid thumb” and shares “fabulicious” photos and trend spotting thoughts from this year’s Summer CHA Show. Yipee!

Art Bead Scene
Show off those art beads with a free earring project.   

Bead Arts
Robin Atkins has started a year-long Bead Journal Project. Here is Cyndi’s contribution for the month of July! 

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Bead therapy

However, I’d like to take it a step further and suggest that it is also a way to feel good about yourself, especially if you have any sort of career related to bead and jewelry arts, and especially if you still have the “day job.” Granted, we’d all like to do our beading full-time, but even to dabble in it as a career or do it part-time, I believe, is a great way to explore our creative side while we feel confident in our abilities.

I thought about this yesterday after receiving a nasty email from one of my on-line English students. I’m teaching a summer class now, and while 20 of my students are well into the swing of things after the first week, there’s always a few stragglers. After an email reminding them that we only have 6 weeks so it’s time to get with the program or drop, one student who is a week behind decided to tell me that it was my fault she was behind and that if she didn’t get the grade she felt she deserved she would complain about me to the school.

Yes, very unnerving. I tried to remind myself of all the past and current students who appreciate my help, but I couldn’t help but also think about why I teach English in the first place? Is this really the direction I want to continue in? Will I even get a chance to so so?

All these doubts started in my head…I’m sure you know…been there and done all of that sort of thing…But then I felt later in the day, that hey, even if it all goes down the you-know-what…I’m not just and English teacher. I have way more going on than that. I’m a writer. I’m a jewelry designer. I could stop teaching how to write a thesis sentence tomorrow, and I still have plenty of career opportunities. Jewelry and beading are always there for me, and it is another place for me to belong, a place that I feel good in and rarely threatened.

So, yes, the day job sort of thing sucks, but then again consider the fact that some people aren’t as lucky as we career-beaders who have something going on the side that they love to do and feel confident about doing.

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To find out what the heck a podcast is and what it could possible have to do with jewelry maker, click on the link below.

Click Here for Podcast to Play

Here are a few other links you might find interesting in your podcast explorations.

How-Tos on Podcasting:

Podcasting and Audio Blogging

GarageBand.com

How To Create Your Own Podcast

Podcast Crafters:

CraftSanity

The Candie Cast

CraftyPod

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