Hurray for Fall Sale

Hurray for Fall Sale

Just because Fall is my favorite time of year and I appreciate my customers
so much, I'm having a "Hurray for Fall" Sale.

Randomly selected patterns will be on sale from now, September 22 until the full moon, September 30.

These items may stay the same for the full sale period or other items may
take their place at any given time.  I'm nothing if not inconsistant! LOL
Have fun shopping.

http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com/index.php?cat=40&shop=25

Oh, by the way, the new bracelet I posted about yesterday is one of the sale items and it will definitely remain on sale the full period.

Windmill Bracelet

I love fall. The air is crisp and fresh in the morning and it's not too hot or too cold to be outside any time during the day. Even though it's the ending of the growing season it seems to be the beginning of my creative season.

This bracelet is the result of my creativity from last year. Yeah, I got sidetracked. Sometimes a design just won't come together in peyote/brick stitch and I have to go to loom/square. The problem with loom/square stitch is 1)I don't have a loom. I've thought about buying one for several years and I've found one or two that I think I'd like but always have other things to do with the $50 to $75. And then of course there's the learning time. I don't know how long it would take me to get the tension even on every row and get over that feeling that I need a third hand.
2)Square stitch is tedious and fiddly any way you approach it. I have instructions from several different sources that use a couple of different methods but I find the thread build up in the beads with all the back stitching makes it hard to run a stabilizing thread through the 2 last rows like the instructions all say.

Finally on the last half of the last repeat I decided to try something I hadn't tried before and hadn't seen any instructions for. Pick up 1 bead, pass back through the corresponding bead in the previous row pass forward in the bead just added. The row you're working looks a little wobbly at this point. When you get to the end, pass back through all the beads in the previous row and forward through all the beads in the row you just worked.

I find that even with Delicas, the beads are various thicknesses depending on the finish. To help keep my rows even, I put a needle through the last row, (make sure the needle is not bent)then ran my thumbnail between the last two rows while pulling the slack out of the thread. Still fiddly, but it went much faster and I didn't have as much problem keeping the edges even.

The pattern for this bracelet is finished and is available in my Craftsy Shop.

Think COOL Make a Snowflake

Folks, it's HOT here on the high plains of Texas and I've been doing whatever I can to stay cool, including using the power of suggestion.

My last post I showed you an initial trial at my first beaded Christmas ornament of the year. Well it's been tweaked and refined and worked in a number of bead types. It's finished and the pattern is available, so get your bead stash out and keep cool making a snow flurry!
Twin Snowflake

BeadPatternsBoutique Big Summer Sale

I'm passing along BeadPatternsBoutique newsletter.

It's that time again! From today through Tuesday, save 15% off at BeadPatternsBoutique. Enter bpb15 at checkout.

What's better than savings? How about 2% virtual beady cash back on every purchase. No gimmicks, no waiting periods, no expiration! All you have to do is become a registered member of the Boutique.

As a Registered member, you will have complete access to your purchase history, profile, wish list AND immediate download! No more waiting for that receipt to arrive, just sign in before you shop and you will be immediately re-directed to the download page as soon as checkout is completed.

We only send out 1-2 newsletters each month and that's normally to announce a sale. If you do not want to receive the letter, just opt out during sign up. Not receiving the letter will have no affect on your ability to shop or receive your receipts. You can change your preferance at any time by signing in and visiting your profile.

Please note that you do not have to be a registered member to use the code to receive your 15% discount. If you prefer not to register, just enter the code when you check out. You'll receive an e mail with a password to download your pattern.

First Snowflake of the Year

Well it seems my near reclusive life has become a whirl of activity the last little while. I find myself saying I'll get to the bead table for most of the day today, and then finding myself spending the day on things totally non bead related, but it's good to shake things up some. Hopefully things are going to slow down by next week and I can go back to being a hermit and only communicating with people via computer.

2012 First Snowflake

I love working on Christmas ornaments this time of year. It's 100 degrees before noon and I'm suffocating. Working on snowflakes helps me cool off. Yes, I AM very susceptible to suggestion.

Here are a couple of pictures of my first prototype this year. Still needs some tweaking, but I've got a good start on it. The first picture is backlit only so the white beads look dark, but you can see how the twins and 6mm catch the light.

I started the pattern this morning and am stumped at the beginning of round three. I'll have to work the first two rounds again so I can see where to go from there. I know I've taken the third and fourth rounds out numerous times to get the effect I have now and I'm still not 100% satisfied with it.

Well now it's back to beading and drawing. Hope to have the pattern finished by Wednesday or Thursday.

Double Cross Ring

A few weeks ago I started out trying to devise a design for an oval ring. It never happened. What did happen was a single pattern that can be executed in various ways with just a minor adjustment here and there.

I call it Double Cross because, depending on how you look at it there is a cross running both horizontally and vertically.

After completing three different rings I was still not happy with the band that looked like it had been added as an afterthought (which it was) instead of being part of the design.

On the fourth ring, I did some experimenting in two different areas. I'd worked the first three with Toho seed beads, but knowing relatively few of my customers use them, I thought I'd better see if Czech seed beads would work just as well. I also wanted to rework the band to be a little more aesthetically pleasing. Black ring with purple and green super duos is the result. As you can see it is a slight bit smaller, but the Czechs work up beautifully with the super duos.

I also combined super duos and carefully selected twins in one of the rings. Can you tell which? If I didn't know I wouldn't be able to tell. I just wanted to be sure they could be used together. My finding. . .as long as you cull the twins well, they can be used in the same piece as the super duos.  Ahhh, now if I only had some pretty hands to model them on.

The pattern for Double Cross can be found on BeadPatternsBoutique, The Bead Coop and in my Zibbet Shop.

New Design on Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you're all having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend if you're in the US and a good day where ever else you may be.

I'm still having fun with the twins/super duos. I published the pattern for this Basket Weave Twin bracelet today. I haven't put a clasp on it yet. I have a toggle picked out even though that isn't what I wanted to use. I wanted to put a silver slide lock on it, but I can't find one locally and don't have a big enough order for any online shops to warrant ordering one.

I found some super duos at Glass Kingdom on Amazon.com. They are located in The Czech Republic, so I don't know yet how long it will take my order to get here. I ordered on May 22. I'll let you know how that goes.


This pattern is now available at BeadPatternsBoutique.  Everything at the Boutique is 15% off through Tuesday the 29th.  Just use the discount code bbp15 when you check out.

Patriotic Flower Bed Bracelet

I've been playing with the new Super Duo beads I told you about in my last post. This bracelet worked up surprisingly quickly once I got the thread path set.
I knew I was going to make something resembling the American Flag, with some stripes and some white "stars" on a blue field. When I started doodling I found that outlining the super duos with size 11 seed beads make them look like flower clusters and the bracelet design was born.

The pattern is now available at Bead Patterns Boutique, Zibbet. and The Bead Coop.

I've included a graph to help you with color placement. You can make any of the sections longer or shorter to lengthen or shorten the bracelet to fit. Some say it looks complicated, but once I got this thread path going, it worked up much faster than peyote (one of my favorite stitches) or brick.

Super Duo Two Hole Beads

You may remember in November I wrote about the New Preciosa Twin Beads And later shared my Bracelet and Earring patterns.

Recently I saw some "Super Duo" two hole beads that looked like the twins and the only difference I could see was the colors and finishes seemed to be different, but then I read a review on them. One person said they were very uniform and even called them the "Delicas" of Twin beads, so I had to order some to see for myself. I'm planning to work up some patterns for Independence Day, so I ordered red, white and turquoise from Gail Devoid of Need For Beads. I got them today. The red ones are Super Duos and the green iris are Twins. Laying on the mat you can't tell much difference, but when I strung some of each color, you can definitely see how much more uniform the red ones are.

I'm really looking forward to designing with these Super Duos, but I have another project to finish first.

I have an 1897 (the year my father was born) Morgan silver dollar.  It has been closed up in a plastic case since my sister and brother in law gave it to him 35 or 40 years ago.  I got it out and put a bezel around it and spruced it up a bit.  Before I even got it finished I had a request for a pattern.  Here's a picture of the original, but it needs a little tweaking.  You can't see the irregularities, but I know they're there and need to smooth them out before I make a pattern, so it's back to the bead table/computer and work, work, work.  What was I thinking? I'm supposed to be getting ready to put up a booth at Pow Wow this year.

BPB Pattern Sale

Good morning everybody!  It's been a while since I posted.  Sorry I've been so quiet, but I just had to let you know about this great sale at Bead Patterns Boutique. Here's Marie's message.

It's that time at the Boutique again. A time to save, a time to bead!

With this code: SeedBead4  You can save 20% off any purchase at the Boutique for the next 3 days. (This discount is effective February 16, 17, 18 only)

New fully tested patterns are being loaded up every day. If you haven't seen the Boutique lately, you haven't seen the Boutique! Eye candy galore is ready and waiting for you. Take a trip through the Boutique and view all the wonderful pieces that the Team has created for you to enjoy. Grab a cold drink, get comfortable and let the adventure begin! Click here:  http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com

Don't forget to sign in before you shop! When you are signed in, you will be immediately redirected upon payment to retrieve your downloads. No waiting for a receipt or having to sign back in! Let's not forget one of the best perks of all as a site member. All registered members that sign in before they shop receive 2% virtual cash back that can be used on any future purchase through the Boutique. No gimmicks, no games, no waiting periods, it's yours to use when you want to use it. Best of all, it never expires! You can even use it in conjunction with sale prices and with coupons.

So if you're not a member, sign up now!  Click here:  http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com/signupform.php

If you're not sure how to shop or download patterns, stop by our "How To Shop" page for detailed information on exactly how to use the Boutique to make your shopping experience a wonderful one!  Click here: http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com/faqs.htm

Have an awesome beady day!

Hugs,
Marie Starr