Long Time No See...

It's been a long long time since I updated my blog. I wonder, does anyone still read blogs??.....If you do, would you mind leaving a comment so I'll know?

Anyway, I updated the Beading Tutorials and Patterns section with the latest tutorials (4 tutorials) and the Beading Kit section with a photo of another color for the Winding Path Bracelet kit.

I closed my Artfire shop a few months ago, so now I have my Etsy as my only online shop. You can find all of my beading tutorials, patterns and kits there  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SmadarsTreasure

If you'd like to see my posts more often, you can see them on my Facebook  or Facebook Page.

Keep in touch!


In the photo: my latest bracelet (no tutorial) made with Czech druk beads in beautiful seafoam green and fuchsia Swarovski crystals.

End of Summer Sale

30% off all beading tutorials & patterns

Coupon code: TUTO30

Valid August 29-31

Only in my Etsy shop

An Important Note הבהרה חשובה

Team in Action, Illustration by Frits Ahlefeldt, HikingArtist.com

I was recently notified, by a kind and caring person, that my tutorials are being sold on sites that I don't have any connections with.

I want to make it clear, that the only sites my tutorials can be purchased from, legally, are my two online shops: SmadarsTreasure on Etsy and SmadarsTreasure on Artfire . So if you come across a site that offers you a tutorial or pattern of mine, know that it is not permitted and if you purchase from them you are actually taking part in something illegal. 

The same goes for teaching my beading projects in classes - please read about it at the end of this post. 

הבהרה: 

ללקוחות מישראל התרשימים שלי מוצעים למכירה באינטרנט ואך ורק דרך החנות שלי באטסי 

.כל אתר אינטרנט אחר המציע את התרשימים למכירה או מפרסם אותם בחינם, עושה זאת ללא רשות ובניגוד לחוק.

בנוסף, בישראל, לאף חנות, גילדה, פורום, קומונה או מדריך/כה עצמאי/ת אין הרשאה ממני ללמד את הדגמים שלי  בסדנאות או בכל אמצעי אחר, ללא קשר אם בחינם או תמורת תשלום. 

כמו מעצבים רבים אחרים, גם אני מייצרת ומוכרת תרשימי חריזה לפרנסתי, וכל שימוש לא מורשה בדגמים או בתרשימים  פוגע בעבודתי ובהכנסתי מעבודה זו.

I have many wonderful returning customers, that appreciate the value of a designer's work, and I am so very grateful for their business, thank you, you are wonderful!. This post is not meant for them.

This post is meant for those who don't seem to care about nothing but the final product. I want to ask you this --

In most cases the pattern or tutorial will not be given to you for free, and you will have to pay someone in order to get it.

So why would you prefer to support a thief?  Why pay to those who are only interested in making money from you in quick, effortless and illegal ways ?

Why won't you support the original designer who invested a lot of time and hard work to create a design, make it work, take photos, illustrate and write clear instructions for you?....

We all need to make a living. So why not support the ones who is offering you their fruit of love and labor?.... 

And as for teaching -- teachers and/or stores who wish to teach classes of any of my designs need to purchase a license and get a written permission from me before teaching any classes. 

Any teacher or bead store who offers to teach my projects without a license (I provide a signed teaching certificate for that specific license), are hurting me and my income from my work. 

Please give the whole thing another thought. We are all linked on the same circle and we need to collaborate in order to keep it going...
  
If you have any thoughts or suggestions on the subject, I would love to hear them in the comments below or by emailing me.

Bead Happy!

50% Sale on Select Beading Tutorials

From today until the end of the month, receive a 50% discount on these 4 selected beading tutorials.
To receive the discount, please use coupon code: SPECIALOFFER6 . Sale ends on November 30.

(*To receive the $15 discount on the commercial use editions, please use coupon code: SPECIALCOM15 ).

Lazy Daisy Bracelet

Pearls of Faith Bracelet

Fan Pendant & Matching Earrings 

Sparkling Wreath Beaded Bead

Rosita Bonita Beading Project

A new beading tutorial is available - "Rosita Bonita". It is a versatile beading project, made with SuperDuo beads and Japanese seed beads. Make a bracelet, or a necklace in two versions, and there are other design options, too...
The tutorial is available in both my Artfire and Etsy shop (on Etsy the PDF file is available for instant download).

Reason for Celebration

Today I reached 2000 sales milestone in my Etsy shop, thanks to all my wonderful customers!!! This is a reason for a celebration, of course, so from today January 30 and until tomorrow (Jan. 31) I am offering all of my items at a 20% discount (*NOT including package deal tutorials & jewelries on sale).
Please use coupon code: 2000CELEBRATION when you check out. 

Free Pattern & End of Year Sale

End of year 2012, I can't believe how fast time flies! So many things on my to-do list remained undone...One of them is this Bollywood Belly Dance peyote bracelet pattern I created and wanted to bead (and challenge) myself. I guess that this too will have to wait...

Before 2013 starts, I want to thank all my customers and readers for making the past year a great one, so I am posting the free pattern as a Thank You gift from me to you! I hope you like it!


Also, for today,  December 31 only, I am having a 50% sale off all my beading tutorials and patterns, for both Personal and Commercial use, in my Etsy and Artfire shops. Use coupon code: 50end2012 on checkout.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2013!!!

May all your wished come true in the coming year!

New "Amulet" Necklace & Giving Thanks Sale

This is a new bead embroidered amulet-like necklace I created. It looks like amulet bag, but actually it has one layer only. I used non-uniform seed beads in antique silver and bronze in order to give it an antique look, and some metallic bugles and drops,  fire polished and pearl beads for a contemporary hint...  While working on this necklace, I was finally convinced that my next addition to my beading tools will be a Bead Spinner, because stringing of the same beads again and again can be very boring and tiring... ;)

Last week I received my contributor's copy of Mabeline Gidez new book "I Can - Right Angle Weave" published by Lark Crafts books. My Bollywood Glamour necklace is featured in the gallery section of this wonderful book, which includes Mabeline's beautiful projects in RAW stitch, showing the wonderful possibilities this stitch has to offer. I think it's a great book for everyone who wishes to learn RAW stitch in all its variations and levels.  

Thanksgiving is not a Jewish holiday, but I like the universal idea behind it, of being thankful for all the blessings and good things in life. So I figured it would be a good reason to have a sale... I am having a Thanksgiving sale - 25% off on all items - beading tutorials & patterns and jewelry -  in my Artfire shop. The sale ends on Sunday, November 25 at midnight IST.

Tendril Necklace

It's been quite a while since I last blogged... This is my newly finished project - Tendril Necklace, which is beadwoven with seed beads, fire polished beads and druk beads. I enjoyed designing this project, mainly because my muse cooperated excellently all way long  and offered me ideas for another two versions for the necklace... I love how soft the necklace turned out and how beautifully it sits around the neckline. A tutorial is already available in my Artfire and Etsy shops, in case you want to try it for yourself...

The winner of the Battle of the Beadsmith 2012 was announced today, and it is Alla Maslennikova from Russia. Congrats to Alla on winning the first BOTB! And thanks to Steven Weiss for arranging such  a great happening for the beading community! 
I was one of the judges in this years competition (I plan to participate as a contestant next year, and I hope my muse won't get intimidated by all those gorgeous works presented this year!... ), and I have to say that from the very first rounds, it was really, really hard to pick one work to move forward to the next round. But in the final round was almost impossible for me to decide who is the winner - Alla with her absolutely gorgeous Baroque necklace, or Ann Braginsky from Israel, with her stunning, artful and interesting New Age Valkyrie neck piece. I love both of the pieces and even though I had to pick just one (I voted for Ann's work), still - both Alla's and Ann's works are winners in my eyes! The two works are so different from each other, but each one is amazingly and beautifully designed and beaded!

Baroque by Alla Maslennikova, Russia

New Age Valkyrie by Ann Braginski, Israel

Lacy Clover Ribbon Jewelry Set

This is my newest project - Lacy Clover Ribbon - a design of a bracelet, 2 options for a necklace and matching earrings. I love the delicate clover shape that the drop beads create, and the whole design reminds me of lace ribbons. The jewelry are made with Twin beads (or Superduo beads), fire polished beads (or Swarovski crystal rounds, as in the silver set) and with Japanese drop and seed beads. A tutorial for this beading project is available in my shops.

I love working with those two-hole beads, but once again I experienced the downside of them - if you miss catching a bead with a blocked hole - you're in trouble! Luckily, in this project, it was easy to unpick the work instead of having to break the blocked bead, as I was forced to do in my previous Twin beads project. I wanted to start beading the design idea right away and I didn't want to select from a pile of beads before starting to bead, so the solution I found was to get myself used to stinging the needle in both holes of the bead to check if they're open before stringing it, and this somewhat-strange method seemed to have saved me a lot of time and and frustration... Try it! :)

Also, I am happy to tell that my Layered Loops Bracelet is included (and appears on the cover!)in the recently published Stitch Workshop: Herringbone Stitch by Kalmbach Publishing (click on the link to go to Amazon and preview the book). This reminds me that it has been quite a while since I beaded something in herringbone stitch... maybe it's time again... I love this stitch!

Mother's Day Sale

My kids forgot about Mother's Day, but I completely forgot, too... ;-)  But there's still time to celebrate!

I am having a special sale on both my Etsy and Artfire shops - receive 15% discount on any item you purchase (jewelry and/or beading tutorials & patterns; not including items already on sale). Simply enter coupon code: MOTHER15 when you checkout. Sale ends on Friday, May 18 at midnight (GMT+2).

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Visit SmadarsTreasure's Studio

SAVE 15% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

MOTHER15

during checkout.

Twin Spades Necklace and Bracelet

This is a new set of necklace and bracelet I designed with Twin beads. The pattern created by the arrangement of beads reminded me of the shape of spades, so Twin Spades is the name I gave to this project.
A tutorial for both necklace and bracelet is available in both my Etsy and Artfire shops.

I purchased some Twin beads not long ago, without knowing that actually there are two different brands of this bead with two holes - Twin beads, manufactured by Preciosa-Ornela and Superduo beads, manufactured by Jablonec (both are Czech copmanies). I haven't tried Superduo beads, but thanks to Sabine Lippert posting an image on Facebook, I learned that Twin beads are a bit non-uniformed, compared to the Superduo beads (which are much more expensive than Twins) and that there is a larger selection of colors of  Twins compared to Superduos.

I can tell from my experience working on this new necklace & bracelet project, that in a pile of 50 gr of Twin beads I found a few beads with irregular shape, but there were not too many of them - most of the beads were fine. But what really turned into a nightmare was finding out that I can't continue working and pass the needle through the free hole of one bead, simply because it was blocked! I tried to open the hole, but had not succeeded. So the only thing I could do was to break the bead using pliers and replace it with a new one. Breaking a Twin bead seemed to be a challenging task - I had to use great force and to try different angles before it finally broke. Then I had to re-fill the two spaces the removed bead created (that was the easiest part..).So I know that I will be sorting and selecting my Twin beads before I start the next project, in the hope that I will detect and take out any beads with blocked hole...

But except all of the above, Twin beads are really beautiful and fun to work with I love the texture they add to the beadwork!

It's Passover Eve today, so I wish all who celebrate it Hag Sameach! 

Passover means that spring had officially sprung!... I love the smell of spring and the warming weather is doing wonders to my energy. :) And to those who celebrate Easter - Happy Easter!

Beading Tutorials & Patterns Sale

Beading Tutorials & Patterns Sale

(including Commercial Use editions) 

20% off on orders of $20 or more

 March 15 - 31 

Use coupon code: 20MARCH when you checkout

Applicable on Artfire shop  

Fringed Rosette Earrings

I had everything but illustrations for the tutorial of these Fringes Rosette Earrings ready and waiting for over a month. Because the rosette part of the earrings has a domed profile, making the illustrations of it was a real challenge... But it's finally done and the tutorial is available! The earrings are made with glass pearls, seed beads, bugles and Swarovski crystal beads (the earrings can be made without the fringe, so without the crystal beads).

Another item I had finished in the past couple of weeks is the blue necklace below. I beaded this necklace especially because I didn't include instructions for the pendant in Dainty Filigree Rope & Bracelet tutorial, and many of you had asked for more examples of necklaces made with the same rope pattern (actually, the rope can be sewed or attached to any pendant). I managed to finish it in no time and I love how it turned out! (I didn't realize it till now, but it came out with the American flag colors.. :)

The pendant in this necklace is a flat, drop shaped blue & white gemstone, which I bought a few years ago. I liked the stone so much that I was willing to buy it without knowing what kind of a gemstone it was (the store owner didn't know, either), although I had decided long before not to buy any more unidentified gemstones..*sigh*

I think it is not lapis lasuli, because it doesn't have the typical vivid blue of lapis, but it's more of denim blue mixed with white -- could it be blue Chalcedony?, or is it blue Agate? If any of you can tell what it is, I'd appreciate your help if you comment and let me know... I so hate it when I can't tell my customers what they are buying...I promise myself not to make the same mistake again! ;D

Taking about mistakes, I already told you about the huge mess I created by deleting all the blog photo albums I had synchronized with Picasa & stored on my smartphone. But I didn't know how bigger - much bigger - problem it would be to go back to older posts and to find all the relevant images. Since I didn't always give names to the pieces I beaded (I usually feel reluctant when it comes to naming my works, but I'll leave that subject for another post), and since in my early posts I didn't write much or described the pieces ("my new bracelet" doesn't tell much, does it?), there were posts that I just had to guess which was the piece that belong to it, based on the date. In some other cases I had to leave that ugly exclamation mark that replaces the missing images, simply because I couldn't figure out what images I was looking for. I restored most of the images by now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I find two different posts from totally different dates showing the same "New Work" images. Now see the title name of this post? and how descriptive is this post? Lesson learned! :-)


And on a HAPPIER NOTE -- I have received some exciting news regarding my beading work, but I can't tell you yet about it. I have to wait until they are ready to announce...Yes, I know, I am a bad teaser... ;D And it's almost 4 in the morning. Bed time!

Dainty Filigree Rope and Bracelet

I felt honored when I was offered to join a group of more than 25 talented designers and bead artists from all around the world, and to design a few items using clasps from The Beadsmith's Elegant Elements clasp collection. These are very beautiful, nickel-free, high quality electroplated German made clasps. Of course I had to say 'yes' to this offer. Who wouldn't?... ;) The only problem was, that just as I got my clasps in the mail, I entered into a long beading rut, and for more than a month I couldn' find any idea of what to do with them... But all is well, and I'm beading again (this project is actually the first one I finished in 2012...).
A tutorial for Dainty Filigree  is available (rope and bracelet only, pendant is not included).

This is the first item I designed using this beautiful flower clasp. The curly detail of the petals in the clasp inspired me to create the flower pendant, and the design idea for the rope was born directly from it.

Flower Clasp with Swarovski Crystal Stone 

Elegant Elements Item #: CLSP89GP

BAO Color Challenge

I love beading challenges... they push my creativity. More than once I designed things that I probably wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the challenge. Challenges also force me to work on a project - from start to finish - within a time frame, which I find to be a good exercise for my concentration at work. If I had enough time, I would have participated in each and every one of them...There's the EBW monthly challenge; the ABG challenge and a few others that I don't recall now, but I really enjoy entering the Bead Art Originals color challenge.

Given a specific color palette to work with , I enjoy looking over my bead stash to find the right colors for the challenge. That way, I get to see (and use) different kinds of beads that I have long forgotten about their existence... It's fun, and it also sparkle up my creativity!

This bracelet was created especially for the latest BAO color challenge.
I really liked the spicy colors picked up for it (see photo below). I found leftovers of Czech pressed glass spacer beads in very dark chili pepper red that was perfect for the challenge, and designed the whole bracelet around them. With the tiny bit beads that were left, I created a matching button clasp.

Check out the BAO blog to see other member's entries for this challenge

The bracelet came out Xceptionally TeXtured (that's the name I gave it) - the spacer beads add texture to the bracelet and make a repetitive X pattern. I made one more bracelet in cold/warm colors for testing a shorter thread path for the tutorial I made for this design. New thread path worked just fine and much quicker, and I managed to finish the second bracelet in just two hours! :)

This Wednesday we are celebrating the Jewish New Year.

Let's hope that next year 

the wars & terror around the world will end;

poor people will have the ability to live decent lives they deserve 

to have as human beings ;

corruption will be eliminated; 

people will be more caring & nicer to each other;

and we'll manage to take a better care of our larger home - the globe;

 (yes, I know, it almost sounds like too far distant future...but it's up to us!)

I wish you all a very happy, loving, peaceful, prosperous and creative New Year!

Shana Tova!

*!שנה טובה*

Magical Magatamas

Last month at a wedding party, I met a few people I haven't seen in a couple of years. We chatted a bit and they asked me what job do I have and I told them that I am a jewelry designer. Then they were very surprised that I don't wear any jewelry (mine or others), and they said that I am a living example of  "a shoemaker who is walking barefoot" (it's an old Hebrew say). Funny, but true!... I stopped wearing jewelry long before I had started beading due to allergy to metals I had developed, and somehow I got used to being "jewelry-naked" (except for a watch, if that counts). I promised my relatives to show them some of my work the next time we meet, which would be next week in another family relative's wedding. I decided to wear a nice jewelry set to show off at the coming wedding... After all, my jewelry is made from glass beads, so there shouldn't be any allergy excuse... ;)

Luckily, my Muse cooperated and I managed to finish this new necklace and matching bracelet on time before the wedding (a tutorial is also ready & available). They are made with seed beads, glass pearls, Swarovski crystal beads and Miyuki long Magatama beads. (I take this opportunity to thank the people of Bogal, who are always very helpful and come to my rescue whenever I run out of beads before the project is finished... Thank you, Gloria and Avishai for an excellent customer service!).

Once again I had a challenging (read: annoying) designing process with those Magatamas (mainly because of their large, diagonal holes), but I love them, and I didn't want to give up on the texture they add to the beadwork. I am very pleased with the result! The necklace is laying nicely around my neck and the bracelet is softly draping  my wrist.

Now all I have to do is to find something nice to wear that goes with this set, which is another challenge for me! I never had to match the clothes to the jewelry - it usually goes the other way around, right?... ;D