ArtBeads New Products

It's definitely Monday!  I love Mondays.  I wake up with my head full of ideas and plans.  The only problem is sticking with one idea long enough to finish it.

I do have something great to share with you.  ArtBeads has a lot of new products for all their creative, beady customers.  Check out their new additions to Czech pressed glass, floral beads, Swarovski elements, new colors of Tila beads ( I have been drooling over these since I first heard of them) and many many more.

Don't forget to shop the weekly specials.  Follow their blog for updates and the latest news from ArtBeads.

Thanks for stopping by.  Now it's back to the drawing board.  The item I'm working on went together relatively smoothly, but drawing the pattern has me really frustrated.  Hmmmm.  I wonder what other kind of distraction I can find.  NO NO, I must finish that pattern.

 

Cubic Flowers

I don't know if Spring is here to stay or not, but the warm, sunny weather has certainly gotten me into the mood to celebrate spring.

After working this design about half dozen different ways, I finally came up with a cute cubic flower. It's Cubic RAW stitch with a little side trip and some embellishment.

I've uploaded the earrings and pendant to my ArtFire Studio.

You can find the pattern for these bright sparkly little 1/2 inch jewels at BeadPatternsBoutique and TheBeadCoop.

BeadPatternsBoutique SALE!

One Sweet Deal at the Boutique! 2/14 through 2/16

• Posted on February 13, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Savings of 10% off site wide will be going on at http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com. Great savings on every pattern throughout the store! With 13 fantastic designers and new patterns being posted all the time, you are bound to find something you like. Your discount is applied at checkout. Enter the discount word “Sweet”

If you haven’t been to the Boutique lately, then you haven’t BEEN to the Boutique. There are some wonderful changes that I’m sure you are going to just love!

Register for a profile with the Boutique:

• Access to your purchase history
• Know exactly what the Boutique knows about you
• Sign in before you shop so you can take advantage of our new express check out and immediate download
• No more waiting for that receipt with the password, just log in, go to history and your patterns are right there.

Did I mention 2% Cash back on every purchase?

No wait time, no gimmicks, no games! It’s yours to use whenever you want!

Are you ready to register to become a Member of www.BeadPatternsBoutique.com?

Just click here:  www.BeadPatternsBoutique.com/SignMeUp

The Boutique will never share your information with anyone, we hate spam just as much as you do. If you do not wish to be notified via email of sales, you can simply opt out in your profile.

You do not have to have a profile to shop or take advantage of our sale. Once you have gone through checkout, simply check your email for your download receipt. At the bottom will be a link, a password, and username to be used to retrieve your patterns. Click the link and scroll to the bottom of the page and enter the  information you were sent.

Sale effective 2/14/11 through 2/16/11

New Project/Frozen Brain

I've been working on a new pendant/bracelet pattern for the past three days.  Every time I think I've got it going my way, I think of a way to make it better, and of course, it's always something that has to be changed at the beginning, so I end up taking the whole thing out and starting over.  I don't know if my brain is too frozen to plan a design one step ahead, or if I'm just in that ol' second guess myself , , ,nothing's quite good enough mode.


I'm definitely ready for spring and this design will be bright and "springy" if I ever get it to the point I'm satisfied with it.  The temperature dropped 30 degrees in an hour or so yesterday and never got above freezing today. I know much of the nation is inundated with snow and ice, so below freezing temps may not sound too bad, but we rarely have weather this cold and this old body (and brain) just don't adapt well any more.


Hopefully I'll thaw out soon and get this design finished.  I'm really excited about it because it's not like any I've ever done before and I'm very anxious to show it off.

ArtBeads Winter Enchantment

I finally finished my project for ArtBeadsWinter Enchantment. I got the closure finished yesterday and have been trying all morning to get good pictures. I might as well have been trying to capture a falling snowflake, but here it is.
The bezel around this 30X40 cameo uses 3mm Swarovski pearls and 3 colors of size 11 delicas.

The double fringe, used to simulate ice cycles, uses the same three colors of delicas, more of the 3mm pearls, 3mm crystal AB druks and 4mm Swarovski crystal AB bicones.

I used crystal AB and pearl white AB delicas with 3mm crystal AB druks to make the snake chain strap.

 I had ordered two opals to transition between the cameo and the strap, but when I got one bezeled and set it beside the cameo I felt like the fantastic pink and gold fire in the opals overwhelmed the cameo, so I bezeled some opalite coins to add to the chain and to make the closure.
The Three Fates now dance merrily in the snow above a frozen waterfall, oblivious to the freezing cold.

The opals and opalite coins are items I haven't used before.  I found the fire in the opals fantastic as I mentioned before.  The opalite coins are very regular and have little to no chipping around the holes.  The holes are smooth and pose no snagging or cutting threat to the bead thread.

The Swarovski components, as always, are beautiful, regular and add fantastic sparkle to any project.  Although I haven't used delicas for bezels before because their cylindrical shape doesn't lend itself to curving around the cab, I found that with a little tweaking of my method they worked great.

I do not receive payment for blogging about ArtBead supplies.  ArtBeads supplies beads and beading material of my choice, free of charge,  from time to time for evaluation.  These statements are my honest opinion of all supplies described.

Simply Unique

  Curated By: TheBeadDoodler

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

ArtFire

Did you know you can sell your handmade items on ArtFire.com with no listing fees and no commissions? ArtFire offers a basic seller package that is completely free!

Of course the pro members have many more promotional tools at their disposal for a small fee per month. Paying a monthly fee instead of listing fees and commissions allows you to build your shop inventory over time without having to pay relisting fees when items expire.

Experts say shops with 100 or more items do much better than those with just a few items, but sometimes getting that much inventory done can take several months, and the relisting fees can exceed the pro membership monthly fee at Artfire.

ArtFire has excellent support forums to help you build your shop exposure, and a special forum link to help you get started. If you sell on Etsy, you can import your entire Etsy shop into Artfire and with just a few key strokes have your ArtFire shop set up.

We all know exposure is the key to sales. I was a little hesitant about opening an ArtFire studio with the same inventory I had on Etsy, but it wasn't a problem.

Get your pro membership at ArtFire now and lock in the $9.95 per month rate. Hurry. Rates are going up soon.