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.