Spring Class Sneak Peek

Although there's snow on the ground and a chill in the air, I've been thinking spring as I design beginner projects for my local craft shop. Here's a sneak peek, and if you're in the area, the schedule opens up in January!

Stretchy bracelets with matching earrings:

Key to My Heart Bracelet and Necklace set (lots of loop practice!):

and my current favorite, Summer Sunrise necklace and earrings:



Here's wishing you a little sunshine, and a very merry, happy, warm and fuzzy holiday!

Big Day Giveaway!

In honor of my official book launch party tomorrow, I'm giving you a chance to win big. First of all, you can pick your own prize:

A book: Absolute Beginners Guide:Stringing Beaded Jewelry
A DVD: Stringing Beaded Jewelry -- Top Techniques
Jewelry: A bracelet from the book

You can pick how you play, and increase your chances with each entry:

* Comment on this blog , and tell me about the first piece of jewelry you made.
* Link to this contest on your blog
* Become a new follower of this blog
* Review my book or DVD on Amazon

If 10 people play, I'll choose one winner. If 20 people play, I'll choose two winners, and if 30 people play, I'll give away all three prizes.

Drawing will be held on August 15. Good Luck!

Yippy Skippy! I won an Ippy!

The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry won an Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal in the category How To - Crafts & Hobby. How cool is that?

It's also been getting some great reviews. Check out a summary, here. Just click on the "reviews" tab. And, if you're coming to Bead&Button, stop by on Friday morning -- I'll be signing books and demonstrating some easy techniques.

Look! Look! It's My Book!

The Book, bead spinning and bead soup

I got to review a galley copy of my book last week. The name has changed to The Absolute Beginners Guide to Stringing Beads, and the cover is a little different than the one you see on the right. Galley is kind of an old fashioned term, but what it means is the book is about 75% finished and this was my chance to "speak now or forever hold my peace." Can I say that I just love this book? I've had a nice vacation from the projects, and seeing everything laid out and beautifully photographed was a real treat. There were lots of little post-it-note questions from my editor, about bead counts, or materials, or specific directions. There was also a request for "just one more" piece of jewelry ... a seed bead project to demonstrate a beaded bail. I knew just what I wanted to make, but to save time, I bought a bead spinner.

Have you ever used one of these? I've seen them demonstrated many times. I made up my bead soup and started to spin, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. After I few tries, I dumped out the beads and strung them one by one. It felt a little more real, and here's the result (shh, don't tell my editor).

And I'm finished...

More than 30 projects, 18 alternates, and months of work fit into a suprisingly small tote bag and was safely delivered on time this morning. The new book is called Back To Basics: Stringing Beaded Jewelry, it will be available in the spring of 2010, and it's the first book in an exciting new series from Kalmbach Books. And, for sticking with me during this process, I think you deserve a sneak peek:

What do you think? The cover meetings start tomorrow, so as soon as I can share a copy, I will.

The final stretch

Well, it's a short to-do list, but the tasks seem large ... by this time on Tuesday everything will be safely delivered to my editor (hard to imagine right now!)

Book Report

Have I mentioned that I'm working on my third book (if you're my kids, insert eye roll here). Here's a peek at my workspace:






Nothing spectacular: magnifying glasses so I don't snip the wrong part of the wire, cell phone because I'm itching to hear from Meredith and I never know when she might call, coffee -- no explanation necessary, work in progress that regretfully needs to be done over...The most exciting part for me are the 17 bags in the tray on the left. They're completed projects, ready for my editor to look over and present at the cover meeting. Yup -- the manuscript isn't due for a month, the book won't be released until next May, but the cover planning and book design are well under way. I feel pretty great about the 17 finished projects until I remind myself that there are at least 12 more to do, and then the little extras I like to have, and then the bonus chapter that's still floating around in my head as a little more than a concept and then, well, I better get to work!