Technique Tuesday!
Pick a large lightweight wood or plastic bead for the base of this fun project.  Since my wooden bead was painted blue, I decided not to fight against fate, but picked a good selection of blue beads in various sizes for most of the covering.  I also threw in some contrasting beads for fun!
Step by step instructions
Materials & Tools
Large wood or plastic bead to cover
Nymo 0 thread
Delicas and/or Czech seed beads in sizes 15/0, 11/0, 8/0, or even 6/0 as
desired
Beading needle

Technique Tuesday!
I mentioned yesterday that all the Swarovski Crystal Beads for this project were donated by ArtBeads.com so that I could create and share this project with you.  Thanks so much, guys!

Materials & Tools:
2 lengths of gold SoftFlex beading wire, 24 inches each
4 – 5 inches of chain
Gold hook
18 bicones, 6mm
6 cubes, 8mm
20 mm square ring
14 mm triangle ring
14 mm square ring
14 mm round ring
Star charm
Moon charm
11/0 Delica seed beads, color-lined mixed green/blue
Nymo beading thread, black
8 jump rings, 9 mm
3 jump rings, 7 mm
11 jump rings, 4 mm
11 head pins
28 crimps, size #1
2 crimps, size #3
Flat nose pliers
Round nose pliers,
Wire …read more

JewelryLessons
Let’s not forget that there are some wonderful sources online with instructions to learn specific skills or make specific projects. Not all of them are free, but if you’d like to get the very best instruction and can’t go somewhere to take a class, these might be just the ticket!
On the other side, these are also sites that you might be able to tap into for selling your own projects if you are interested in pursuing that line of business this year.  I just heard from Eni Oken yesterday, and she says that although her site is best known …read more

Love
Make Art Monday!
The bead embroidered necklace above took me a bit longer to make than the average project.  So I’ve raided the archives to come up with lots of fast and easy jewelry projects for Valentine’s Day.  There’s plenty of time to make one of these!

Antique heart filigree pin
Prom Queen earrings
Adjustable necklace and heart bracelet
Venice jewelry set
“Can’t Touch That” Venetian earrings
Knitting and heart jewelry
Heart gemstone set
Chunky Funky heart necklace
Tammy Powley’s favorite heart earrings
“Good As Gold” heart necklace
Colored wire & heart bracelet
Stunning Sterling Heart Earrings
Antique Heart Filigree Pin

Technique Tuesday

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to go somewhere to take a class. There’s so much to be said for classes…being able to see the technique demonstrated, being able to ask questions, mixing and mingling and meeting new people. It’s all good. But it just doesn’t work out for everyone.
Fortunately, there is the internet!
There are three categories of posts on this very blog that will lead you to lots of techniques, tips, tutorials, and fun new projects to try. There are also lots of new sources that I’ll be adding to these categories pretty regularly.
The Basics …read more