Butterfly Challenge

Hi! I've just taken a new challenge. I've joined in Pepita's blog hop dedicated to Butterflies. If you are a fan of butterflies like myself, maybe you would like to join us too at Pepita's blog.

You'll have to create something on the theme of butterflies - it can be a piece of jewellery, an ornament or something else, and write a blog post about the final creation with the list of participants on the 11st May.

Some time ago I shared a simple necklace I've made using a butterfly pendant. You can read it HERE.

I'm not sure if I'll redo it in a more elaborate look or if I'll use some of the butterfly charms I have in my stash and make a bracelet fit for Spring.

I'm still indecisive whether I'll do something in beadweaving using one of the amazing patterns I've found on Etsy.

A pattern for a peyote bracelet - FLUTTERING BRACELET- from MigotoChou.

A pattern for a butterfly that can be used in a ring or lapel pin - from ButterflyBeadKits.

A beaded pendant - BUTTERFLY EFFECT - from mariposa8000.

I'll have to choose at least one. What is your favourite? 

Be(ad) happy!

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

Been Featured

Hi, lovely readers!

I am very happy because I have been featured in a design blog. Lovely Susan of Susan Newberry Designs has featured some of my jewellery pieces and some of my treasuries in her great blog. If you don't know her blog yet, you really must. It is dedicated to all things design - interior, graphic and fashion design.

Her latest post is about Pantone Spring Green for 2015. You can read it here. There are wonderful choices in this colour.

I have chosen some items from Susan's Etsy shop. I really have a thing for typography word art. I've also chosen a gorgeous set of floral prints. But there is an infinite amount of beautiful prints, calendars and greeting cards too.

Aren't these gorgeous flower prints something you'd love to have on your walls so that you could look at them when the days are dark and Spring doesn't come?

I'm sharing my two pieces that Susan has shown in her own blog. By clicking on the image, it will take you to the corresponding blog post.

Have a great weekend!

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanNewberryDesigns
Blog: http://susannewberrydesigns.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snewberrydesigns
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/snewberry55/

A Time To Stitch 6 Blog Hop Reveal

Hi! Today is the reveal of A Time to Stitch 6 Blog Hop. This is the 6th edition of the blog hop organised by Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller. A big thank you to the hostesses.

This time the objective was to use a graphed chart, a word chart or a picture chart for creating our beadwoven piece. You can read more about it here.

After I signed up for this challenge, I searched for a beautiful peyote pattern for a bracelet. I am attracted to small geometric patterns like those designed by Diana Costa (Etsy Shop), Anna a.k.a. as Anabel (Etsy Shop) and Carol Dean Sharpe (Etsy Shop). These are my favourite designers in what comes to peyote bracelet patterns. 

Nevertheless, when I laid my eyes on the Crazy Paisley from Fusion Beads, I said to myself, this is the one I'm going to make. As my bead stash is limited, I had to order new beads which eventually arrived, but then came Christmas and Christmas gifts. After that, I couldn't find the ordered beads anymore. They have gone astray. 

Printed instructions with bead list

So, plan B had to come in. Last year I had heard about Bead-It-Forward project and I had decided that I had to donate something to this charitable programme in favour of breast cancer research.

I have made two squares and I plan to make two more.  If you are reading this and you are interested in participating too, you can read the guidelines here.

Each year there is a theme and this year's theme is Animals - Wild About Finding a Cure. You can create your own patterns or use the ones already available. There are several I love but the one I chose (the two-drop peyote bunny pattern) was, by coincidence, designed by Therese. I have used the word chart instead of the graphed chart which was a surprise to me because I think I am a visual person more than a word person. Don't tell anyone but I've spotted some mistakes when comparing the two squares. I'll be remaking the flawed square this weekend.

I can't wait to see the creations of the other participants. This is the list. Enjoy!

1-Therese Frank  (Host)    

2-Christine Altmiller  (Host)

3-Cynthia Machata

4-Samantha Wescott

5-Karin Slaton

6-Wendy

7-LizE

8-Dagi (Kokopelli)

9-Lola

10-Paula

11-Karin G.

12-Becky Pancake

13-Ana Cravidao <---- you are here

14-Alenka

15-Debbie (Kepi)

16-Nelly May

17-LiliKrist

18-Sally Russick

19-Maryanne

20-Kim

21-Amy

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!