Big Star Small Star

Hello, dear readers!

One of the patterns I have been working on is the Starfish pattern. A blogging friend of mine, the highly criative Fatima Menser-Potter has made one design for a big starfish pendant that you can hang from a chain. I have followed the instructions and made a pendant in sand colours.

I have used Japanese Toho seed beads in 8/0 and 11/0 sizes and Wildfire thread 10lb. I am very happy with the result even if it is not as curved as the ones in the photos of the tutorial. 

The best results, according to the author, are achieved with Toho 8/0 and Miyuki 11/0 (I don't have Muyiki in this size) and Fireline 8lb (I don't have this size). 

You can buy this tutorial at Fatima's ETSY shop named She Walks in Crystal where you can find kits, tutorials, beaded jewellery, and so on. The link to the tutorial is HERE. 


This is not my first starfish. I had previously made a smaller one. 

For this one, I've followed the instructions from a YouTube video made by Gena Hopkins. It is a double-sided small starfish and it's gorgeous. I prefer small scale objects to bigones. You can find the video HERE. I have entered this creation in the Operation Tackle That Bead Stash challenge dedicated to the beach. You can see all the entries HERE.

Latest makes in beadweaving

Hi! I'd like to share my latest makes in beadweaving. All of them are designs by Ruby Lockwood - a talented Canadian lady that you might know from the YouTube as she has more than 150 videos just on beading. 

This teal and silver bracelet was made using the Roman Hugs and Kisses design. This is not properly a recent make, I made this bracelet last year for a blog challenge. More information about it can be found HERE.

With this one I entered the challenge Operation Tackle That Bead Stash last June. An earth tones palette had to be used in the finished piece. You can see all the entries HERE. Almost forgot to tell that this is the Evening Love design in case you want to look for it.

And this is the last but not the least. The Simply Simple Bracelet design uses the Pondo stitch. It is made with three main colours. 

Happy beading!

Winter

Today I'm sharing my participation in the November challenge of Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. The theme was Winter. Isn't this an inspiring photo?

Icicles by Paul Van Der Werf

I have made a pair of earrings using Twin beads in the Winter Wonderland Snowflake Earrings design by Kelly Dale.

This is a Free tutorial that you can find in my Pinterest board dedicated to Christmas. According to the instructions I've just read on Pinterest, an embedded pin should be displayed here. As things aren't working properly, I'm providing the link to the video from Kelly Dale HERE. If you prefer the written instructions, there is a PDF tutorial for sale on Etsy.

O que tenho feito/ What I've been doing

Hi, lovely readers! 

I haven't been making much. I've been exploring Etsy where I have a shop now. I've been getting familiar with the way things work there. 

Some time ago, I made a peyote bracelet in pink, purple and grey colours for the Operation Tackle That Bead Stash August challenge.

This geometric pattern from Diana Costa is so beautiful that I've made two bracelets in a row, one in blue and one in pink. You can see the blue version HERE.

I've joined a beadweaving challenge for January 2015. It's called A Time To Stitch 6, as always organised by the talented Therese and Christine.

I really look forward to it. It's great fun. It will be my third time participating. You can read about my first participation HERE and my second HERE.

Be happy!

Criações de Abril / April Makes

Últimas criações / Latest makes for

Beading Friends Forever

Operation Tackle That Bead Stash

Helmiq Spring Show

Para amigos / For friends

Para mim / For myself

Desafios / Challenges

Desafios para os grupos Beading Friends Forever e Operation Tackle That Bead Stash.
Challenges for Beading Friends Forever and Operation Tackle That Bead Stash.


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If you're looking for the Monthly Challenge 2014, my post is HERE.

Borboleta / Butterfly

A borboleta foi o animal que escolhi para criar a minha peça de bijutaria para o Operation Tackle That Bead Stash do mês de Setembro. Se eu contei bem, é aquele que aparece mais vezes. Vejam as entradas de todos os participantes aqui. Algumas são excelentes.

The butterfly was the chosen animal to create my piece of jewellery for the September challenge of Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. If my counting is right, the butterfly is the most represented one. You can see all entries here - some of them are excellent.

Colar curto de contas de vidro e separadores prateados com pendente borboleta

Short necklace made with glass beads and silver spacers featuring a double sided butterfly pendant

Amanhã será lançado um novo desafio baseado em combinações de cores. Quais serão? 

Tomorrow there will be a new challenge using a colour pallete. What colours will be chosen?

Colares tropicais / Tropical Necklaces

Olá a todos! Mais uma vez aceitei o desafio do grupo Operation Tackle That Bead Stash, que neste mês de Agosto, que termina hoje, tinha como objectivo criar uma peça com quatro a seis cores dentre as seguintes: amarelo, laranja, vermelho, verde lima, azul turquesa e roxo. De uma missão que inicialmente me parecia impossível, acabei por fazer dois colares. Um com contas de vidro e acrílico e outro com muitas missangas? De qual gostam mais? Não se esqueçam de espreitar aqui as outras participações neste desafio.

Hi everybody! Once again I accepted the challenge from Operation Tacke That Bead Stash to create a piece using four to six colours among these: yellow, orange, red, lime green, blue turquoise and purple. At the beginning I thought it would be an impossible mission, but I've managed to make two necklaces:  one has mostly glass beads, the other is only made of seed beads. What's your favourite? Don't forget to check out all the entries in this challenge, here.

Colar Hot Tropical (versão missangas) / Hot Tropical Necklace (seed bead version)

Colar Hot Tropical (versão com vidro) / Hot Tropical Necklace (glass version)

Colar / Necklace

A minha última participação no desafio de Julho de Operation Tackle That Bead Stash - adoro este nome - consistiu num colar com o tradicional Coração de Viana que decorei com as cores da bandeira de Portugal. A corrente que suspende o pendente foi feita com mais de 200 argolinhas de 6 mílimetros utilizando uma das técnicas da cota-de-malha (chain maille).

My participation in July challenge of Operation Tackle That Bead Stash - I love this name - was a necklace using Portuguese traditional Viana Heart charm that I decorated with the colours of the Portuguese flag - red and green. And they say that red and green can never be seen, I'm not so sure of that. For the chain, more than 200 jump rings size 6mm were weaved in flower chain maille. 

Esta última foto é uma brincadeira - podemos ver os contornos de Portugal continental no mapa.

In the last photo you can see Portugal's borders as if it were on a map.

Turquesa e rosa / Pink and Turquoise

EDITADO/EDIT

Viva! O desafio do grupo Operation Tackle That Bead Stash deste mês consistia em fazer uma peça onde fossem utilizadas as cores turquesa e rosa. Vejam o que fiz com esta combinação, tenho de acrescentar que o rosa não é uma cor de que goste muito. O que pensam destas minhas criações? Até à próxima!

Hi! The challenge launched by Operation Tackle That Bead Stash this month was to design a piece using only pink and turquoise. What do you think of my creations? It was a challenge indeed because I'm not very fond of pink. All earrings are going to my "shop" that you can see at the other page of my site. See you!

Desafios de Março / Challenges in March

No mês de Março participei em dois desafios, um lançado pelo grupo Operation Tackle That Bead Stash que todos os meses faz um sorteio entre os seus participantes, o outro pela loja norte-americana FusionBeads que sendo Março o mês do Artesanato sugeria a criação de um projecto de bijutaria de acordo com um calendário diário.

O desafio do grupo Operation pedia que se utilizassem cores claras em tons pastel. Criei uma pulseira num estilo boémio-chique em tons de azul, verde e rosa. Como estava inspirada fiz ainda uns brincos a condizer.

No desafio da FusionBeads a minha participação foi mínima. À sugestão de criar um par de brincos no dia 1 de Março - cada dia a proposta era diferente - fiz esta peça com apenas três componentes: uns anzóis, um berloque coração e uma flor em resina. Com um alicate e uma cola foi um projecto rápido.

Dos três, qual é o vosso preferido?

In March, I  took part in two challenges. One challenge by Operation Tackle That Bead Stash, that every month is giving away a prize among their participants. The other challenge was proposed by FusionBeads: being the month of March Craft Month each day one should create a piece of jewellery according to the prompt.

As OTTBS challenged us to use pastel colours I designed a kotting bracelet using blue, green and pink beads. As I was inspired, I also made a matching pair of earrings.

I only took part at FusionBeads challenge on the 1st March. To the prompt to design a pair of earrings I made this from a pair of hooks, a heart charm and a resin flower. Using a pliers and some glue, it was a quick project.

Which is your favorite?

Participação no Desafio de Fevereiro / Participation in February Challenge

Mais uma vez participei no desafio mensal do grupo Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. Desta feita, era obrigatória a utilização de contas em azul e castanho, dois tons que, na minha opinião, vão muito bem juntos.

Elaborei um colar de três fiadas com contas azuis turquesa e discos de madeira castanhos, numa técnica que queria experimentar há muito tempo: as contas ao invés de serem enfiadas, são presas no fio por meio de nós.

Podem ver as outras participações deste desafio aqui.

 

This month I took again the challenge of Operation Tackle That Bead Stash group to make a piece using certain colours, namely, brown and blue, that in my opinion really go together.

I have made a three strand necklace with turquoise blue beads and wooden brown disc, using a technique I intended to experiment for some time: the beads are not strung but rather tied with knots.

You can see all other participations here.

Colar Peacock / Peacock Necklace

Elaborado para o desafio de Janeiro do grupo Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. Era necessário utilizar contas nas cores roxo, azul, verde e dourado. Utilizei a técnica do crochet de missangas e inspirei-me no modelo Posh Necklace da loja norte-americana FusionBeads. Eis a minha participação com muitas fotos.

Handmade necklace for the January Challenge of Operation Tackle That Bead Stash. The challenge was to make a piece of jewellery that included beads in purple, blue, green and gold. I used the bead crochet technique and I took inspiration in the Posh Necklace from U.S. FusionBeads bead shop.