Deckin' the Halls?

Sorry for the delay in the winner of the last week's Funny Caption contest. I needed a break from the internet to get caught up here in the studio. I love you Humblebeads fans!

Without further ado, the winner is Joan Tucker. Congratulations Joan! Joan won a Cardinal Bird Ornament, pictured above.

And speaking of ornaments, check out the free $10 Tuesday project on the Art Bead Scene featuring my cardinal.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Humble-topia!

Tulip Lariat

Here is a lariat using these beautiful tulip bead caps, a few Humblebeads disks, pearls and gunmetal chain. For directions visit the Art Bead Scene's $10 Tuesday project. This is the $20 version!

To create it, complete 2 of the flower pendants and attach them to 30" of chain with small jump rings. It's that easy!

Last night I created a flickr group called Humblebeads Gallery for my customers to share their Humblebead creations. Join the group and share your photos that show off my beads! I'm always so impressed with your creativity.

Harvest Napkin Ring Project

I was inspired by the great napkin ring project from Jennifer's blog last week. Do check out her project and beads. She's awesome! These would make a wonderful hostess gift or for a Thanksgiving celebration. You could change the color combination to fit your decor or season.


Harvest Napkin Rings

Supplies:

4 copper disks from Humblebeads

4 silver 5mm flat spacers

4 copper 14mm coin pearls

Nickel seed beads

Bronze bugle beads

4 gunmetal headpins

4 gunmetal headpins with balls

10" green wire mesh ribbon

Bracelet memory wire

Instructions:

1. Cut 1 loop of memory wire, cut at 1/4" after the loop overlaps.

2. Use round nose pliers to create a loop on one end. Use flat nose pliers to close the loop completely.

3. Randomly string bugle beads and nickel seed beads to cover the memory wire, leaving a 1/4" at the end. Use the round nose pliers to create another loop to close the wire.

4. String the flat spacer and disk bead on the ball headpin. Trim wire to 1/4" and create a loop with the round nose pliers. Attach to one of the memory wire loops.

5. String a nickel seed bead and pearl on a headpin. Trim the wire and create a loop, attach to the other memory wire loop.

6. Cut 2 1/2" of wire mesh ribbon, tie around the headpin loop of the disk bead. Twist the ends of the wire mesh to form a point. Pull the middle of the ribbon to open in the shape of a leaf.

Repeat to create 3 more napkin rings.

They look like a little pumpkin patch don't they? They almost make me want to go buy a set of cloth napkins. (I just happen to have one that I used as a back drop for something!) Ah, I will probably give this set as a hostess gift, I don't throw many fancy soirees.

Metal Seed Beads

Yesterday on the Art Bead Scene Lynn Davis featured some of my work that incorporated seed beads. How could I not love seed beads? With Beverly Herman as my mom, it's in my blood! In fact she lives in New Orleans and when they headed out of town last week what did she take? 250 lbs. of seed beads traveled across country with her.

Lorelei had asked about copper seed beads so I wanted to share my source for metal seed beads, Charlene's Beads. Charlene happens to be a Bead Cruise sponsor and a very sweet person. I've purchased metal seed beads from other places, but Charlene has the best. I buy them by the 1/4 kilo and that's like 1/2 a sandwich bag full! I use them in almost every design. I love the antique copper and nickel the best. Neither changes color over time.

Okay, so your turn! Do you have a great source for your favorite bead or finding that you'd like to share? Post about it on your blog and add the link in the comment section. On Sunday I'll pick a comment from this post to receive one of my Chrysanthemum beads.

Bonus: directions for my dragonfly necklace that was first printed in BeadStyle and then made a guest appearance on Beads, Baubles & Jewels.

Budget-Friendly Bracelet!

To help with the pain of taxes and rising gas prices, here is a FREE project for a budget-friendly bracelet.

Woodland Waters Bracelet

Supply List

Teal Branches art bead (humblebeads) $10.00

Wood Beads (Hobby Lobby) $3.00

Flower Clasp (Hobby Lobby) $1.50

2 amazonite beads $0.30

5 bali-style spacers (Hobby Lobby) $0.25

Beading Wire $0.05

2 crimp beads $0.04

Total bracelet cost: $15.14

(Keep on eye on the Hobby Lobby sales flyer. I bought everything last week from there on sale - 1/2 price!)

Instructions:

1. Thread your beading wire through the flower part of the clasp, string on a crimp bead. Crimp using crimping pliers.

2. String art bead, spacer, 5 wood beads, spacer, amazonite bead, spacer, 19 wood beads, spacer, amazonite bead, spacer.

3. String on the crimp bead, thread through the loop of the leaf part of the clasp. Crimp the crimp bead, trim any excess beading wire.

New Kits & Beads

Being the busy beadmaker that I am, I have a whole collection of little goodies to show you.


Quick, go to Barnes & Nobles and check out BeadStyle Magazine. There I am right on page 98. I'm offering kits...



Chrysanthemum Beads in 5 colors...


Starter Kits...



and 2 limited edition Chrysanthemum Beads in Woodland and Mint Chocolate.

You can find them all here: www.humblebeads.com/dragonfly.html

Use promo code M2007 for free shipping!

Free Bracelet Project

Thanks to the good folks at Beads, Baubles and Jewels, you can download my cuff bracelet project, right here. (it's a pdf)

Carla of Cobweb Corner shared a wonderful tip with me. You can use a bead spinner to put the seed beads directly on the memory wire! She said it saved her lots of time, since stringing seed beads can be tedious work.

You can find bead spinners here.

Or if you are feeling crafty, here are directions to make your own bead spinners.

I offer kits for this bracelet in purple, teal, olive, blue, copper or black/silver.

I want to thank Polymer Clay Daily for featuring me on their website yesterday. What a thrill!