A Fun Night Out

My husband, Josh and I enjoyed a nice "date night" out recently at his company party. It was held at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Ma. The museum is just a few blocks away from where we live, so there were no excuses not to go. We booked a babysitter for Nora, got all dressed up and off we went!

I wore a new little black dress, high-heel black pumps and these earrings I made a few months ago for just such an occasion...

silk and crystal earrings

A wonderful time was had in a beautiful, elegant setting. One of the highlights of the evening was this fun, rented photo booth they had set up in the lobby with silly props, hats, and feather boas to use in your pics! What fun! I love how the photos came out, so I thought I'd share our fun and sillyness from the evening with you...

 Photos are from www.smilebooth.com.

Sweet Slide Bracelet TUTORIAL

 Sweet Slide bracelets

Check out my free tutorial on how to make a sliding knot adjustable bracelet at Art Bead Scene! So hip, so chic, so EASY! You will not want to miss this sliding knot technique. I hope you enjoy the tutorial! If you make one of these bracelets or use this sliding knot adjustable closure in a piece of jewelry, please do share. I want to see what you make!

Here's what you need for the Sweet Slide bracelets:

6mm ceramic rounds by Elaine Ray

Brass 3mm cornerless cubes

Dark brown 1mm premium waxed cotton cord

To make your bracelet, cut a piece of cord about 24 inches long. String and/or knot your beads on as desired, making sure to leave at least a 4 inch tail on each end of your bracelet.

Now, you're ready to create your sliding closure!

1. Cut a separate 12" piece of cord and fold the cord back onto itself about 4". This will be your "working" cord.

2. Place the left and right bracelet cords parallel to each other with the ends in opposite directions.

 

3. Place the working cord on top of the bracelet cords. Hold the folded end with the short tail end in the opposite direction.

4. Loosely wrap the working cord around the bracelet cords and the tail of the working cord.

5. Make 5 wraps, moving towards the tail end of your working cord.

6. Insert the working cord through the wraps you just made, exiting the folded end.

7. Pull the ends of your working cord tight, but not super tight or you won't be able to move your bracelet cords back and forth. If desired, add some beads to the working cord tails and trim.

8. Add a few more beads to the bracelet cords, knot, trim and you're done! Be sure to leave the bracelet tails long enough to slip your hand through when the bracelet is all the way open.

I hope you enjoy the tutorial!

7000 Bracelets for Hope

The 7000 Bracelets for Hope Campaign is to help raise awareness for kids living with rare diseases and also to show support for the family members caring for the children. The Global Genes Project is asking jewelry designers, beaders, crafters and artisans to donate hand-crafted, blue jean-inspired bracelets for the cause.

To give you and idea of the theme for the bracelets, 

here are a couple of design examples I've made:

Blue Jean Baby Bracelet

 Owl Button Bracelet

Click on the link to find out more details about the 7000 Bracelets for Hope campaign and to sign up to donate a bracelet!

There are two lovely ladies in the bead blogging community hosting a blog hop for this year's bracelet campaign, Erin of Elysian Studios and Christine of One Kiss Creations. If you'd like to participate in the blog hop, you'll have to hurry! Today is the last day for sign-ups!

Click the button below to be taken to Erin's page to sign-up for the blog hop!

I can't wait to design a new bracelet to donate this year! I better get working on it soon, the blog hop is coming up in two weeks! See you all there on Saturday, February 25th.

Spring Stringing

The Spring 2012 issue of Stringing is now available for download.

If you have to have the latest beading magazines as soon as they come out like I do, you'll be happy to know you can already download the Spring 2012 issue of Stringing magazine! Just click the cover picture above to download your copy from the Interweave website. 
I have two bracelet designs in there. Also, an ad for our upcoming book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords appears in this Spring issue. That was exciting to see!!!

Art Saves

Torch-ured Heart by Painting With Fire on Etsy.

The kind and very talented Barbara Lewis of Painting With Fire, is guest curator this week over at the Art Saves blog. Today, she is sharing one of my blog posts that she found moving and inspiring. I feel honored that she chose to include me along with posts from some other wonderful folks for her special event. I enjoyed reading some of the posts she highlighted from others and I will go back again and finish reading the rest of them. Some folks are new to me and some are friends I visit on a regular basis. Head on over and check out Barbara's feature at Art Saves and all the bloggers she highlighted from this past week!

African-Inspired Cuff

I made this beaded cuff bracelet last night. It reminds me of intricate multiple strand beadwork made by women in Africa. I love channeling the inspiration of other cultures into my jewelry designs! It's kind of like armchair traveling, but with beads. Bead traveling...I think that's one of the things I find the most fulfilling in my work.

Here's a few photos of how it looks on. I love it!

I think I may do a little tutorial on how to make this bracelet. Keep an eye out for that soon!

Bohemian Knotted Earrings Workshop

 Bohemian Knotted Earrings Workshop

Bead Fest Philadelphia August 2012 
Saturday, August 18th 8:00am-11:00am

Registration now open!  
Click here to go to the instructors page and scroll down to find my name.

YAY! I can finally announce my BIG, huge news. I will be teaching this Bohemian Knotted Earrings Workshop at Bead Fest Philadelphia in August this year! I decided I wanted to start teaching again. I miss it. I've always had wonderful experiences teaching. I used to teach lots of beading classes when I worked at the Riverwalk Bead Shop and Gallery when we lived in Amesbury, Ma. I always had such awesome students in all my classes. I miss that interaction. I miss seeing those faces light up when they are having a great time creating something. I miss being apart of that fun. It's been over a year since I taught a class. I've been away too long. I really do love sharing the joy of beading and jewelry-making, so I'm going to return to teaching....And apparently, I'm going to eeeeease myself back in by jumping right onto the national stage. Eeeeek! It's only January, though. I have plenty of time to teach some smaller classes in between now and then. And speaking of that, I actually will be teaching this same class next month, Saturday, February 11th from 10-1pm  at the Riverwalk Bead Shop and Gallery! If you are local, check out the class schedule and come see me!

Anyway, back to telling you about the workshop. For months, I worked hard developing these original earrings designs and now, this class for you! The earring projects for the class are based on and inspired by an earring project I made for our book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords. Each student in class will make 3 different pairs of earrings using various knotting techniques. Colorful gemstone rounds are knotted onto artisan-made copper and silver components by MISS FICKLE MEDIA!!! Yeah, a big thanks to Shannon for making me all those rings and ear wires for my class!

Class description:

Learn simple knotting techniques to make a trio of bohemian chic earrings! Using waxed linen cord, you will learn 3 different ways to attach colorful beads to a ring component.

Students will learn basic knotting techniques to make three pairs of stylish earrings. Techniques covered in class will included: lark's head knot, half-hitch knot, overhand knot and how to use knotting tweezers for precise knotting. Using waxed linen cord, students will learn 3 ways to use knots to attach beads to a ring component. Students will have the following color choices for each pair of earrings: red, orange, green, turquoise and blue.Variations on the three designs made in class will also be discussed, so student will be able to expand on the techniques they have learned. 

I'd love to see you in class! Hope to see you there!