Pillowcases and Another Sneak Peek

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How’s your weekend going?

Mine has been busy, busy, busy. In addition to the usual stuff (cleaning, watching TV, family stuff, etc), I managed to find time to do a second entry for Crystal’s bead challenge at Beadhappilyeverafter. http://beadhappilyeverafter.com/blog/?p=18920

Here’s the Sneak Peek…

I can tell you that it is a necklace. Light blue is a color I usually bypass. But I like it. Will try to use it more in the future.

Now that my challenge entries have been submitted, it is back to sewing.

For the next day or two I will work on these.

Pillowcases. I will tell you more about them later. Who they are for and why I am making them. I think those fabrics will make up cute.

What crafting are you doing? Have a great weekend (what’s left of it). 😀

Taking A Timeout For Beads… And A Sneak Peek…

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You should see my craft room. It looks like a tornado ran through it and left me trying to figure out where everything goes. It’s a mess!! But it is a wonderful mess.

I took a timeout from sewing/quilting to create my beaded entry for Crystal’s bead challenge over at Beadhappilyeverafter. http://beadhappilyeverafter.com/blog/?p=18920
This is her 3rd challenge. They are fun to enter and you can win great prizes. I won’t show you the finished item… yet. Crystal gets first look. All entries must be submitted by 9pm Saturday, May 12. But I will come back to do a show and tell after she posts the challenge results on her blog.   

Here is a Sneak Peek of my entry.

I haven’t decided on a title yet. I thought of a few.

• Madame Butterfly (but with a happy ending)
• Winging-It
• Spring Bling
• Spread Your Wings
• Beads and Butterflies
• Come Fly With Me

I have to admit it was nice spending some quiet time just sitting for a couple days working with my beads. It will be hard to store them away until the next time. 😦

OK… now back to sewing/quilting. A new handbag and zippered bag coming up soon. 😀

My Week With Seed Beads

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Inspired by this wrap bangle bracelet I made for the Bead Soup Blog Hop, I spent a full week working with my seed bead stash.

Yep, I actually did not pick up my rotary cutter for a whole seven days. Just sat and sat and beaded.

First I made this bracelet.

And then this one.

I had Brides and the “I Do” Season on my mind when I created this one. Even dragged out my button stash.

Next, I circled back to the bracelet that started it all. I added a second peyote bail to it. Loving it even more now.

I think I was probably into Day 3 when I created this red, white and blue one. Still not ready to go back to sewing/quilting.

And more…..

BTW, you won’t believe the number of empty bead vials I ended up with. There were even more but I tossed a few.

I made little containers of “bead soup” by combining my 11/0 seed beads by colorways. Whatever I thought would look good together got emptied into the bowl. What a great way to use up leftovers from other projects!!

After making this green, gray and black bracelet, I had an idea for a necklace.

But I couldn’t decide on how to end it. What type clasp to use. I chewed on several ideas and one day when running errands, I remembered these barrel tube clasps I bought a few years ago but never tried.

Bingo!! It worked. I am just thrilled to pieces how this came out. No matter that this necklace and bracelet took 24 hours to make. I love it!!

As it turned out, My Week With Seed Beads ended with that necklace. I had a crochet order (which you saw) that I needed to work on. So sadly, I pushed my beads aside. Now, observe how I said that. “Pushed” aside. Not PUT AWAY.

If in a week I don’t have a desire to bead something, then I will dust cover my bead supplies until the next time. Hopefully it won’t be for too long. Need to show all of my crafts some love from time to time. 😀

After all, these pearls and jade beads are waiting to be made into a necklace.

My favorite. Yellow.

Hubby’s favorite. Bronze.

I had fun designing and creating them.

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These wrap bangle bracelets and wrap necklace are This Year’s Dozen originals.

Please respect Copyright Laws. Do not distribute, copy or post on the Internet without written permission. Thanks.

Tila Beaded Bead and Wing Nuts

Since I already had all the beads still out from making my bracelet, I decided to try my hand at some matching earrings.

Instead…

I ended up with a Beaded Bead. What a nice surprise!! I can make up a bunch of these for stringing a necklace or bracelet. This isn’t the best photo but you can see the design is like the bracelet. But first, I will make earrings.

Here’s what I have come up with for the wing nuts. So far. This is just temporarily strung until I decide whether to soften it up more. Seed beads in between the larger beads. Or silver spacer beads. I have an idea for the clasp. Hope it works.

I only bought enough for four sections like this. I may go back to Home Depot to get enough for two more. And I hope they have smaller ones. Earrings to match would be cute. Wing nuts dangling from your ears.

Well, off to sleep. I was in bed but couldn’t sleep. Not with ideas spinning around my head.

Here’s My Take on Working With Tila Beads

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh….

I do that a lot when I am designing jewelry. I don’t plan to. It just happens. Every time I have to UNTHREAD and RETHREAD my needle.  It’s my least favorite part when designing and creating something from scratch. No pattern. Just working from a vision in my head.

And designing this Tila bead bracelet was no different. Lots of sighs.

But, finally, it is done.

You can add it to my December completed list.  And it came out about 99% as I envisioned.  I did consider several other buttons and different types of closures but kept going back to this olive button. I even thought of exchanging it for a slightly larger size. Glad I didn’t. This one is just the right size.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like working with Tila beads. Since I had already labeled them as “problem” beads based on what I had read on the net. Supposedly, they needed to be handled with kid gloves. Be careful unwrapping them. Be careful handling them. And so on and so on. Diva beads.

BUT…. turned out that wasn’t the case at all. I enjoyed working with them.

Here is my REVIEW of Tila Beads.

• 2 hole design makes alignment easy
• large holes allow for multiple passes with ease
• use fine or extra fine beading needle for best results
• no breakage, cracking or chipping
• can even pull thread tight without worry
• horizontal, vertical or diagonal possibilites
• picks up lint and anything else airborne

That last one was about the only dislike I found. I frequently had to go wash my hands. I couldn’t believe what the beads picked up as I worked with them. Dust, lint, fingerprints. I felt like hosing them down every 30 minutes.  😀

I highly recommend them if they are on your To Buy List. Yes. Do. Go. Buy. Some. You won’t be disappointed.

I LOVE MY BRACELET!!!

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There are free designs for Tila jewelry on the net. Here are the ones I know about. If you know of any others, let us know.

http://aroundthebeadingtable.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-free-tila-bead-bracelets.html

http://beadwork.about.com/sitesearch.htm?q=tila+bead&SUName=beadwork

http://aroundthebeadingtable.blogspot.com/2010/10/free-tila-bead-pattern.html

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This is a This Year’s Dozen original design. Please do not copy, distribute or post elsewhere without my permission. Thanks.

Day 2: Tubular Herringbone Bracelet, A and B

Now there’s an A and a B bracelet.

I was tickled to finally learn the Tubular Herringbone stitch. And as I mentioned yesterday, it’s an easy stitch to learn. So I wasn’t even disappointed that I had to ditch the first bracelet and start on a second one.

As I was adding the loop clasp part, I realized the color placement was all wrong. The green beaded toggle bar would be on the “purple” end. 😦 I didn’t want to pull out all that Fireline. So I just started from scratch.

This time I plotted out exactly where each color would go. The toggle bar will be green. Just need to decide on which color beads for the toggle loop. Crystal or green.

I have an idea on what to do with the mini triangles. Have to try it and see.

Be back tomorrow with Day 3.

Making Pretty Triangles

Have you had your fill of me making AND TALKING about the flat spiral stitch? Oh, go on, tell me. It’s OK. 😀 (But I really do love that stitch. See, Crystal, what you started.)

So… it is on to triangles. Pretty 3 sided shapes. A solid piece. Some with holes. Solid colors. Many colors. I will make a few. Until I get bored.

I made two so far.

I think I have spent more time on ways to create something than on the actual beading time.

I am still in the book, More Seed Bead Stitching by Beth Stone. On page 53. Working my way through it, picking out what catches my eye.

How To Make Flat Spiral Stitch Earrings

Here’s an easy project for you. I made the complete set. Necklace, bracelet and earrings.

To get you started… You can make just the earrings.

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Supplies Needed To Make One Pair of Flat Spiral Stitch Earrings

• 11/0 seed beads (black, red, white)
• 4mm black bicone crystals (6 per earring)
• black round glass beads (5 per earring)
• pair of ear wires
• 3mm CLOSED jumprings (2)
• Fireline beading thread
• beading needle size 10 or 12

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Step 1

Cut 1 1/2 yards of Fireline, leaving a 7″ tail. Add a bead stopper. Pick up two (2) round black beads. Drop beads down to the bead stopper.

Step 2

Pick up 6 black seed beads, one 4mm black bicone, 6 red seed beads. Drop these down on top of the two black round beads added in Step 1.

Take thread up through the 2 black round beads. Thread should exit the top one.

Pull tight. This creates the “black/red arch”, working bottom up. Push arch to the left.

Step 3

Pick up 6 black seed beads, one 4mm black bicone, 6 white seed beads. Drop these down on top of the black round beads. Take needle up through the two black round beads. Exit the top one.

This completes one complete arch. Black/red on the left. Black/white on the right.

Step 4

Add one black round bead. Slide it down to rest on top of your beadwork.

Step 5

Pick up 6 black seed beads, one 4mm black bicone, 6 red seed beads. Drop these beads down on top of the black round bead you added in Step 4. Take needle up through the 2nd from bottom round black bead PLUS the one just added.

Pull tight. Push “black/red arch” to the left. Thread should exit the top black round bead.

Step 6

Pick up 6 black seed beads, one 4mm black bicone, 6 white seed beads. Repeat the same steps as used for the black/red arch.

Now you should have two complete arches done.

Step 7

Repeat Steps 4, 5 and 6 once more to add the 3rd complete arch. Start by adding one black round bead. Slide down.

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That completes the arches. Your beadwork should now look like this. Make sure the black/red is on the left and black/white is on the right. Pull tight.

OK, now ready for the last step.

Step 8

Pick up two (2) black seed beads, one black round bead, one black seed bead, one 3mm CLOSED jumpring. Drop down.

In reverse order. Go around the closed jump ring. And down through seed bead, round black bead, two seed beads. Continue down through the center of ALL black round beads. Exit bottom round bead.

Make your way back up the center of the black round beads. Back up to the top to loop around the closed jump ring. To secure it. Do this a couple times. Pull thread tight. Do the same with the tail thread. Bury it up the center. Cut thread. Add ear wire.

And done!! Now create the 2nd earring.

Enjoy!!

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Here’s the necklace and bracelet.

Have You Tried The Flat Spiral Stitch Yet?

What are you waiting for!!

It is so addicting.

For this one, I gathered up my “green” supplies. Light green, mint green, hunter green and olive. Sparkly, shiny and matte. Even though nothing seemed to match, I made it anyway. I know I said yuck a few times. In my head. But kept going.

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Next I tried pearls for the core beads instead of crystals. I used turquoise and aqua seed beads for the side arches. 5 of turquoise and 5 of aqua. I didn’t notice this until I was finished. The bracelet is reversible. Wear it one day on the turquoise seed bead side. Aqua side the next. An unexpected surprise!!

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This next one, I am using brown, burnt orange, olive and light beige.

I like creating my own beaded toggle bar. It becomes part of the bracelet design and creates a seamless look. Just have to make sure it is thin enough to easily go through the toggle circle. String 14 or 16 seed beads and peyote 4 rows works best for me.

I love these Swarovski crystal circles. Pricey, but I still love them.

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Every once in a while, I dust off my bag of wire. It has the “good stuff” I bought when I took a couple of wire making classes. It also has inexpensive colorful wire. Artistic wire. I would rather work with the cheap stuff and just toss my mistakes. I don’t work with wire enough to get good at it.

So… I guess I will forever make stuff like this.

Inspired By Crystal To Make This Crystal Bracelet

Inspiration comes from many places. Something you read. Something you saw.

For my new bracelet it was both. Something I read AND saw. At Bead Happily Ever After. Crystal’s blog. She makes really pretty jewelry. She’s the one I told you about with the jewelry giveaways.

Anyway, she posted this blue crystal bracelet on her blog a week or so ago.

(I stole this image from her blog.)

Isn’t it beautiful!! So sparkly and delicate looking. You want to just look at it all day. Well, I wanted to do more than that!! I wanted to MAKE MY OWN.

So…. off to You Tube. Anything you want to make is on You Tube. Found this video on the Flat Spiral stitch. Demonstrated by one of Auntie’s Beads designers. Easy to follow along. Watched it twice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiB_PID3sC4

Gathered up my Swarovski crystal stash. Didn’t have enough of one color so I went with multi-color crystals.

And created these. Bracelet, earrings and ring.

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BRACELET

First off. Started with the bracelet. It was easy to make. I ended one side with seed beads to loop around the toggle bar.

Other side I made a peyote bail to loop around the crystal ring.

It is so light on my wrist. I could wear it all day. Even though these are crystals, which shout dress up, you could wear this with your favorite jeans. Dress up. Dress down. Goes with anything.

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EARRINGS

OK. I told you the bracelet was easy. Earrings. Not so much. I made them 3 times. And took them apart 3 times. Just wasn’t coming out the way I wanted. First time. 2 crystals dangled under the bottom. You can imagine anything you want here. LOL!! And I wanted the direction of the seed beads to arch UP on both sides. Not down on one and up on the other. Which meant I had to “turn” my work in the middle. Tried it. So-so. Not balanced when I folded the ends up.

Next day. 3rd try. Still not right. But getting there. Finally on the 4th try I got it to look like I wanted. I ended up NOT adding crystals to two of the beaded arches under the bottom.

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RING

By now I knew to “turn” my work in the middle so arches would match up on both sides. Also knew what to do to create the peyote band from making the bail for the bracelet clasp. So, the ring was easy.

I really love the flat spiral stitch. I know. I know. You have heard it all before. I guess there isn’t a beaded stitch out there that I don’t like!! Try it. You may love it too.

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Go here to read all about Crystal’s bracelet. Leave a comment while you are there to be entered in her giveaway. Maybe you will win something. Good luck!!

http://beadhappilyeverafter.com/blog/?p=13070