Creative Beading Book

I am so happy! Today I received a heavy small package in the mail. A nice 'Thank You' letter was attached to a copy of Creative Beading Vol. 5 book, which is published annually by Kalmbach. TWO of my designs - Diagonal View bracelet and Hojas pendant - are included in it. I'm honored and excited! It's a really nice book with a large variety of beautiful beadwork and wire work projects.

I promised myself to try creating at least one wire project from the book. I fell in love with Lilian Chen's Modest Exhibition necklace project and it looks pretty easy to create...I think... Another project is Sharilyn Miller's Rosy Posy pendant, which will give me the chance to use the round WigJig tool I bought a while ago for the first time. I have all the materials needed for these projects, so there's no excuse for me really, except for the time...

EBW Challenge - Secret Garden

Voting on the Etsy BeadWeavers July Challenge, themed Secret Garden, has begun and will last until July 15th. Please visit the EBW blog to view all 24 beautiful entries and vote for your favorite.

My entry, number 3 on the poll, is the necklace shown in my previous post. My inspiration for this necklace came from the mysterious gardens of Pandora, as seen in the movie Avatar, and from the beautiful, unusual shapes and colors of the plants in this garden.

Bermuda Blue Bling

I am in love with this Swarovski color Bermuda Blue! Cobalt blue, sapphire blue, a hint of emerald green, blue zircon and gorgeous purple - all these beautiful colors are iridescently dancing in the light, mesmerizing... Outrageously beautiful! ;D

I created the pendant first and working on it went fluently and quite quick. But then I got stuck on the necklace design. After a few experiments (read: irritating construction failure designs; over 10 hours of work and half a spool of fireline wasted), I decided that 'simple', like in many other cases, will work the best for me... ;) So, embellished RAW necklace it is, made with just seed beads.

Dangling Drop Earrings in Perlen Poesie Magazine

These drop earrings are published as a project in the latest issue of Perlen Poesie German magazine. They are quite simple, easy and fast to make, so they can make a great project for beginners.

I haven't received my contributor's copy of the latest Perlen Poesei magazine (No. 5) , but I think it's on the market already... I am curious to see this European version of bead magazine and also to see the editor's take on my design. Hope it gets here sooner or later...

Anna Karenina Necklace - BAO Challenge

Bead Art Originals first ever Challenge was "A Novel Idea" - we had to create a work inspired by a written work or fiction. I chose Anna Karenina by Tolstoy and created this necklace for the challenge. I was inspired by a painting of Anna Karenina, wearing a heavy dress with high ruffled collar, which was very fashionable back at that time. I used plum purple beads and burgundy crystals and highlighted the necklace with gorgeous 3-cut rose gold seed beads. These 3-cut s/b really sparkle!

Please visit the BAO blog to see all other entries for our first challenge. You can leave a comment and place your vote until June 22. A random reader will be selected to win a prize.

You may also want to check out what some of BAO members created for the Color Inspiration - a color combination suggested by our blog readers - this time it was turquoise and brown.

The past week was crazy. Except these two BAO challenges, I also had to finish writing instructions for a necklace for B&B magazine, and another project for Beadwork magazine is still in the works. All these and the regular "challenges" of life, which makes me a crazy juggler... ;) The kids' vacation from school is only a few days away and I have to find a good way to keep them busy.. If they'll choose for themselves, spending long days on the computer and watching TV will be their favorite to pass the time, and I can't let it happen... Maybe we will do some beading together, or go biking again...we didn't do it for a long time. OK, now back to work!... ;)