Last Day of International Beading Week 2022

Hello, dear readers!

I was not able to participate in beading during the International Beading Week that ended today, but I did watch all the beauty of the beaded flowers, especially, the Flowers of the World that was the theme for this year.

If you are curious you will have to check the Facebook private group (here). 

Some years ago I beaded a gorgeous simple poppy designed by British artist Kerrie Slade. Her paid tutorial is here. It is an intermediate project. I had previously blogged about this project (here).

Other links: 

international beading week website

2022 BWG prize draw entries

free patterns

international projects

special offers for 2022

instagram - beadworkers guild

International Beading Week 2022 Has Started

Hello, dear readers! 

International Beading Week 2022 has started, and I am so excited!

There are free online events anyone can attend, there are free patterns to make, and the theme this year is flowers from all over the world.

The event is organised by Beadworkers Guild from the UK.

I will be joining the Prof.Sam Norgard's Triangle Love Global Project. She will be collecting beaded triangles from all over the world to make one piece of art.

The party is happening here:

https://internationalbeadingweek.com/

https://www.facebook.com/internationalbeadingweek/ (International Beading Week Facebook Page)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/311742002611734 (International Beading Week Facebook Group - it is a private group)

It seems the link for the Triangle Love Global Project is not available from the  IBW website, so I will link directly to Sam Norgard's website named Norgard Designs:

https://norgarddesigns.com/portfolio-item/global-project-2022-triangle-love/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1112988842759487 (Triangle Love Facebook Group)

Bead-It-Forward 2019 (Flowers)

Hello! First of all, thank you so much for your lovely comments. I greatly appreciated them.

This is just a quick post to say that I am participating in Bead-It-Forward 2019.

The deadline for the beaded squares to be received is 31st March.

If you can know more in this post of the Bead-It-Forward Blog: http://beaditforward.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-theme-flowers.html

I am sorry about the low quality in this photo taken with my mobile phone. I could not locate my camera.

I am using a pattern from a former event: 
http://www.facetjewelry.com/bead-buzz/projects/2016/10/bead-it-forward-flower-patterns


The beaded squares will be stitched to quilts and put on sale on Etsy, for instance. If you want you can contribute too by buying the finished quilts: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeadItForwardQuilts


EDIT:
These are all the beaded squares I was able to make this year. I had great fun in stitching them!

Merry Christmas

Hello, dear readers. Recently, I have made a pair of earrings to gift.

It is a design of Szidonia Petki. She shares how to weave it in a YouTube video. Click here to go to YouTube. This pattern is made with 8mm Rose Petal beads. You can also find this design tutorial for sale on Etsy.

There is a beadweaving design that I haven't shared with you and that I love a lot. It's the Poppy design by Kerrie Slade. These are my attempts. I've also made the red version but it's not in the photo. The purple poppy are now brooches. The aqua poppy is now a ring. It's smaller because I made a mistake while beading it.

Wishing you a

Some October Makes

Hello, dear readers! 

I would like to share with you my latest makes.

A set of four Swarovski crystal necklaces for a friend (I love crystals but not so much in jewellery)

My participation in the Operation Tackle That Bead Stash (I really have used only items in my stash) October challenge dedicated to Fireworks. It is the Fairground Attraction Pendant designed by the much talented Liz Reed, made in teal and green.

Three Beaded Squares for Bead-It-Forward 2017 whose theme is Fantasy. Isn't the elf the most adorable thing? 

What have you been making? Have you started thinking about Christmas gifts? Please share in the comments.

PS Maybe it's not an elf but one of the 7 dwarfs from Snow White. I'm not sure anymore.

Beaded Pendants

Hello, dear readers!

Today I have to show to you some beaded pendants. The Starburst Earrings that I've already shown you HERE, have been transformed to pendants that I've hanged from fine trace chain, The original design is by Deborah Roberti that you can find HERE and it's free of charge.

They have been added to my Etsy shop and I've already sold one - the simplest one, which is only silver coloured. I'm more and more attracted to simpler designs and colour schemes. The customer said it reminded her of lace. And lace is so trendy, right now, isn't it?

I've also made a dark blue and silver version. I'm so fond of these silver versions of the original design that I have made one for myself and wear it often.

Deborah's Starburst Earrings are definitely inspiring. I could say that I've experimented everything with them but one can not say that. Who knows what comes next?

Bead happy!

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.

Fascinated By Tiles

Hello, lovely readers!

Today I bring you a project that I started last year but I was not very happy with it because I was sure it was not perfect.

It was the Persian Tile motif, designed by Marcie Abney that I did for my friend Nan Smith's challenge on July. The blog post is HERE.

So, this time I made two more motifs using better quality beads. I replaced the Czech seed beads (I love Czech beads but the seed beads are not their best product) with Japanese Toho seed beads which are bigger and more consistent in size.

the imperfect tile from last year

the quasi perfect tile 

the perfect tile 

all of them 

I think I'm not over with beaded tiles. I'm totally fascinated by them!

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!

Starburst Earrings

Hi, lovely readers! Today I'd like to write about an amazing pattern by Deborah Roberti that I have been using a lot to make different colour combinations, and by doing that, the look of the finished product completely changes.

Original pattern 

This is the original pattern with Rizo beads that I've changed later because I think the Rizos (the spike beads) are loose, sometimes pointing to the front sometimes to the back. This a free pattern that you can find HERE. So, my change was replacing the Rizos by Mini Drops. You can see the difference in the below photo.

Changed pattern

Since I've made this replacement, I've been using this pattern a lot to make all kind of colour combinations.

Two coloured design

This is one of my favourite combinations.The superduos are just one colour and all the other beads are silver. The star is evident in this combination, more evident than in the combination above.

Two coloured design with picasso blue superduos

I love this one too. Lately, I have using lighter colours. 

Light blue and light pink versions

Do you like to experiment with different colours using the same pattern?

Most of these earrings are available at my Etsy shop. I'm having a sale right now. Everything is 20% off.

Have a great week!

Prize from a Giveaway

Hi, lovely readers!

I've entered a giveaway from jewellery designer Diana Costa and I was one of the winners! When I knew about the result I felt so happy because the prize was to spend 100.00 euros in Diana's Etsy shops: dicopebisuteria and DicopeSupplies

Look what I got, besides these three absolutely stunning peyote patterns:
Infinity Stairs Peyote Pattern for Bracelet
Fly fly butterfly pattern for bracelet
Chevron peyote pattern for bracelet

 An amazing set of beaded beads in blue, gold and white tones, polymer clay beads in purple and green, and my first polymer clay canes

Perfectly made beaded beads and stunning colour combination for the clay beads

Thank you Diana. This is a prize made in heaven!

Coin Band Bracelet and Amazing Czech Beads

Hi, everyone! This time I want to show you a gorgeous pattern I have found for the amazing square Czech glass beads that are the CzechMate Tile Beads. The ones I have used came from Bojangle Beads. This is a UK based on-line shop that I found last year. I have ordered twice from them. I love the variety of Toho seed beads, the gorgeous metal beads, the quality of their findings and last, but not least, the many shapes of Czech glass beads, like the Tile beads. 

choosing the seed beads for the bracelet

the bracelet with the chosen seed beads (brass coloured)

an overview of the bracelet including its clasp

another bracelet with Tile beads in a different colour, not much difference, actually, it's a pink brown

this bracelet still needs a clasp, I'll have to finish it

The finished bracelet is for sale in Etsy, HERE. It fits a small wrist, like mine, in fact, but it can be fixed.

The Coin Band pattern is a paid design by Deborah Roberti and can be found HERE. 

Which is your favourite bracelet? Do you use Tile beads? 

Have a great weekend!

Ana

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.

Barbara motif

Hi, lovely readers!

I've made a necklace using the Barbara motif, which was designed by Irene, a talented Belgium beader. You can visit her website HERE. You can use Google Translate to put the French text in your own language.

Barbara Necklace

Close-up of the necklace with three motifs

I adore it. I've used firepolished beads in blue and two sizes of Toho seed beads in bronze colour.

I've also made some earrings to match, adapting the pattern, but I find them too big. 

So, I've used the Flora Earrings designed by Linda Genaw to make a smaller version. You can access the pattern HERE.

My Earring version of the Barbara motif 

 Flora Earrings

Happy beading!

Azul / Blue

Fiz várias peças em azul, completamente por acaso. Umas para oferecer, outras não. Eu gosto muito de azul. Por que será que para tantas pessoas esta é a sua cor preferida?

I've made several pieces, all in blue, totally by chance. Some are gifts. I love blue. I wonder why there are so many people that have blue as their favourite colour.

Com esta pulseira participo no concurso de Verão de Diana Costa, uma designer de Barcelona.

This bracelet is my participation at the Summer contest hosted by Diana Costa, a designer from Barcelona.

Brincos em forma de triângulo.
Triangle earrings.

A última peça é de um livro. 

The last piece is from a book.