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!

Me and my Ippy

Shameless self promotion -- you betcha. Haven't you been wondering what an Ippy looks like?

photo courtesy of William Zubak/Kalmbach Publishing Co.

Are you a visual learner?

If you're a visual learner, you'll love Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry. The projects are easy, the pace is great for beginners, and there are over 300 photos to guide you step-by-step. The book has 30 projects plus lots of bonus ideas, and teaches one step at at time. But, if that isn't easy enough, you'll really love the DVD version. The DVD takes the most popular techniques and guides you through each step. Plus, the first project from the book is shown, start to finish., I had to giggle when I looked the DVD up on Amazon and saw it was rated "G." Would you expect anything else from me?

Summer Days, Summer Nights

This month's Artbeads blogging theme was summer-time fun. When I think of summer, I think of sun, sand, and slowing down. These sunny day bracelets are a perfect way to capture the mood.


I love, love, love the Czech glass from Artbeads. My new favorite is the fire polished fuchsia and lemon. Just like a summer sunset! I combined the fuchsia and lemon with Ruby AB, Orange AB, and a mix of pink tones. I like using pre-mixed blends for bracelets like these, because there are always some unique colors I may have not found myself.


Whenever I went on vacation as a little girl, I would always pick a silver charm for my charm bracelet to remind me of my trip. Today, you can pick charms like these to represent a memory, or maybe just to dream about a vacation you wish you had! Check out all the charms here.

When I finished my sunny day bracelets, my thoughts immediately turned to summer nights. What better frame for this dragonfly charm than a twinkling of crystals, just like the first stars that emerge from the twilight?

I am still having camera trouble, but hopefully these pictures are clear enough to spark your imagination and inspire a little summer time creativity!

Disclaimer: The charms and Czech glass beads were provided to me free of charge from Artbeads. My review is my opinion and I have not been paid for my endorsement.

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.

Meredith's art show

Yesterday Meredith had her senior IB art show. Her theme was "Life is Beautiful." Here's my girl, with her work:

My Beautiful Baby Girl

My baby turns 15 today, and proud mother that I am, I just have to share some pictures...

Humblebeads...humble beading

I've been a huge fan of Heather Powers since I was first introduced to her work in the early days of BeadStyle. I love her beads, I love her style, and she's a super-nice person. When I was writing The Absolute Beginners Guide: Stringing Beaded Jewelry, I knew the bead glossary was a very important part of the book. I wanted to show as many kinds of beads as I could and help newcomers to the hobby understand all the choices they had. Heather generously gave me some polymer clay beads for this "visual dictionary" of beads.

Now that the book is finished, I wanted to make something special with the beads. I thought of all the things I admire in Heather's work: beautiful beads, natural elements, asymmetrical design, rich, earthy colors ... I must say it was a little humbling to approach this project. I wanted to showcase the beads, of course, but I also wanted them to be fully integrated in the work. Heather's beads are gems to be waiting to be discovered, not dominant focals shouting "look at me!"

So here's my little bracelet. Please visit Humblebeads to see more of Heather's work, or visit her Etsy shop for even more inspiration.

A room with a view

There have been many variations on the "old window as wall art" projects, but I just love the version I came up with.

All you need is an old window, a high-resolution photo, some foamcore, a staple gun, two eye screws, and chain.

First, I washed the window. Believe me, it was dirty. It had been sitting in our garage for ages. It's one of the only "old" things that was left in this house, so I had to do something with it.

After the bath, I let it dry for a few days. I wanted to be sure all the moisture was out of the wood. Meanwhile, I picked a favorite photo (I took this one last summer of the neighbor cows when DJ and I were on our morning walk). I ordered a poster-sized enlargement from Wallgreens.com.

I glued the poster to a piece of foamcore, and stapled the entire thing to the back of the window. Steve helped me with the eye screws and chain, and here's the result: