Aphrodite bracelet by beadsmagic.com

Hi everyone,

Today I want to share with you a quick pattern. I found this beautiful bracelet on Pinterest and I quickly pinned it onto the FREE patterns group board for future reference. Today, however, a pinner signaled that the picture had a dead link (I hate daed links, so thank you very much!).

I looked for the original pattern on beadsmagic.com, where it was first published, but I could no longer find it. I therefore tried to figure out how to make this little beauty, and here is my interpretation of the pattern. I’m sorry it is not very detailed and professional, but since the creation is not mine, I don’t have many pictures and I do not want to take possession of an idea that was not mine.

Here are the quick instructions and the diagram below should be of help to understand the direction of the threads (if something is not clear, please leave a comment to the post):

• Row 1: RAW with 2 needles technique, creating picots of 4 seed beads: for each thread add 1 6mm fire-polished bead, 4 size 11/0 seed beads, pass again through the first size 11/0 in the same direction as before, add 1 6mm fire polished, repeat for the other thread and then cross the 2 threads in a size 11/0 (repeat for the entire length of the bracelet)
• Row 2: pass through the top seed beads of the picots formed in the previous round, adding 1 seed bead, 1 6mm fire-polished bead and another seed bead between one bead and the next.
• Row 3: pass through the previous round, adding picots exiting from the top beads of round 1 picots

Personally, I would use a thicker thread for the first round, since the beads are heavier and you pass through them only once. I hope you will have fun making this wonderful bracelet, and thanks to beadsmagic.com for creating and sharing the image!

Have a lovely day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

New RAW bracelets

Hi everyone!

Today  I want to show you  some brand new bracelets I accidentally created this afternoon. I say “accidentally”, because this wasn’t the plan! This morning I indeed started with the good intention to spend the day finishing ornaments for my Christmas tree. Everything however rapidly changed as I accidentally clicked on my Pinterest shortcut. After days of baubles, candle holders, ribbons and bows, seeing the beauties I had pinned on my jewelry boards, made me crave for beads, so I had to quickly take out all my supplies and start working.

I have to admit it was very refreshing and I am extremely satisfied of the result…so here are my two little beauties inspired by two pieces which you can see on my bracelets board. They both use right angle weave, but with extremely different beads and motives: the first one has as main feature some champagne 2-hole twins and 3mm bronze round beads creating little flowers, with size 15/0 bronze and pearl seed beads adding a frame finely decorated with tiny picots.

For the second bracelet, I instead used 6mm Czech fire-polished beads in 3 different shades of brown, all kept together by matte brown and metallic bronze size 11/0 seed beads. You could use 1 color of fire-polished only, but I think that combining different ones adds some interest to the pattern.

And here are the pictures! I hope you like them, and don’t forget to visit my Pinterest boards for more inspiration.

Have a lovely day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Pattern: Black lace earrings

Hi everyone!

These days I have been experimenting a little with the beautiful book Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan, so after the Autumn Sparkle and the Romantic Vintage earrings, I decided to create a new pair of earpieces using one more pattern from this amazing text.

This time, however, I based my creation on the instructions for making a necklace (the Black Lace Lariat at page 100). At first, I wanted to make one of the flower medaillons on page 102 and then simply attach it to a fish hook component but I soon realized that I did not have most of the beads suggested (and, after seeing such an inspiring project, I wanted to make the earrings right away!) so I adapted the pattern.

While the instructions of the lariat in the book are covered by copyright, my adaptation takes only a small part of the pattern, changing materials, bead counts and adding extra steps, hence creating a quite different pattern. I therefore felt free to share with you the step by step instructions of my variation. So, if you also would like to create these elegant lacy pieces, just follow the step by step tutorial and pattern below.

Time to complete the project: 1 hour

Difficulty: 2/5

Hope you enjoyed the pattern…if you did, don’t forget to leave a comment ;-)

Have a wonderful day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Tutorial: Autumn sparkle (variation of pattern by Lisa Kan)

Hi everyone! 

I am very excited to show you this new creation I made some days ago. It is the first time I use Swarovski Rivoli in a pair of earrings…and I love them so much, it will surely not be the last!  

The design was inspired by the gorgeous Netted Rivoli Chain pattern I found in the beautiful book Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan (page 24) (full review of the book coming soon). As you could easily guess by the lack of chain in my piece, I changed the design quite a bit. First of all, I decided to incorporate in the creation the charming green rivolis I recently purchased. I therefore substituted the red and golden colors of the original pattern with olive and dark bronze shades. 

I then also modified the pattern, as I wanted smaller pieces that could be used everyday…If you would also like to try this alternative design, here are step-by-step instructions on how to stitch you own pair of sparkling little treasures:

1. Complete the bezel as suggested by the book (finishing round 8).
2. Weave back, reaching round 6 and exit from one of the size 11/0 beads inserted in round 5.
3. Insert 5 15/0 rocailles and pass through the next 11/0 from round 5. Repeat around the pattern 9 more times, for a total of 10 picots. 
4. Pass though the first bead added in the previous round. Add 4 size 15/0 rocailles. Stitch back into the last bead added in the previous round and through the 11/0 bead next to it (you will add the erring finding in this loop you just made, so my advice is to pass through all the beads of this round once or twice more in order to reinforce it). 
5. Pass through the next 5 picots you created in step 3 of this tutorial, reaching the opposite side of the round. Then, pass through the next 11/0 bead and through the first 2 15/0 rocailles in the next picot. 
6. Add 1 size 15/0 rocaille and pass through the last 2 15/0 rocailles of the previous picot. Pass throught the 11/0 bead next to them and the next 2 15/0. 
7. Pass through the bead added in the previous round. Add 3 size 15/0 rocailles, 1 glass drop, 3 more 15/0 rocailles and pass through the bead again in the opposite direction. 

You can now weave back through the beads and close the work. I however decided I wanted to cover all the back of the rivoli adding some netted rounds. I tend to like this solution, because these crystals have a foil on the back and, even if it is very well made, after a bit of wearing, it might get chipped and the sparkle of the stone will get affected. I therefore like to cover it with beads in order to ensure longer durability. If you wish to do the same, just have to keep netting, reducing the number of beads you add on each round (see the last picture below). 

I hope you will have fun creating these small earpieces…and come back soon! 

Have a creative day! 

p.s. Your feedback is very precious for me, so if you are using this pattern, please leave a comment to let me know if you liked it (or not)! Thank you!

 

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Enchanted blooms

Hi everyone!

Today I want to show you one of my favourite necklaces. It is a piece I created for last march Beadaholique challenge, called Pantone Spring 2013, for which I had to use at least one of the shades in the season’s women fashion report. I have to admit it was very challenging to get started, because all the colors were incredibly inspiring and picking one was awfully complicated. After some thinking, however, I decided to apply one Chiara’s fundamental laws, upholding that “no matter what your problem is, browsing through your beads will give you a 90% probability of finding a solution”…

and it worked (I guess it always does)! I found a gorgeous grayed jade Lucite flower, which had been sitting in one of my drawers for a long time, just waiting to become the centerpiece of a blooming necklace. And what would have been a better starting point for a creation made at the beginning of spring, when all the colors and beauty of flowers fill our days of surprise and joy?

So I started working, combining the beauty of Lucite flowers with the elegance of pearls, the light of sparkling crystals, the cheerfulness of glass beads and the grace of gemstones and bronze tone findings to remind of all the beautiful facets this season presents us with. But not everything could be made with the components I had, so I decided to stitch some myself using delicas to create little bead caps and blooms…

and here is my wearable piece of spring. I hope you like it, and come back soon!

My favorite parties: Under the Table and Dreaming -  Between Naps on the Porch - Dwellings - Creatively living - The dedicated house - Rain on a tin Roof - Its So Very Cheri - DIY Showoff - The Stories of A2Z - Coastal Charm - A Stroll thru Life - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Stone Gable - Cozy little house  - Knick of time -Savvy Southern Style - Ivy and Elaphants - Green Willow Pond - No Minimalist Here - From my front porch to yours - Craftberry Bush  - The Brambleberry Cottage - French Country Cottage - Common Ground - The Charm of Home - The shabby nest - Romantic home - Sunny simple life - The cottage market

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Flower triad necklace

Hi everyone!

 

Today I want to show you a necklace I made for a contest quite some time ago. I still remember that day in 2009…ok, this sounds like a movie whose next scene will be in black and white…let’s try again!...

 

Some time ago (better!) I found out about  the Colorworks contest organized by Step by Step Beads. I was so, so excited! Just a few days earlier I purchased my first color wheel, a fantastic tool helping beaders to combine different shades (you can see it here). The challenge (calling for a creation made using the orange-purple-green triad) just gave me the perfect chance to experiment with it.

 

The deadline was very close, so I rapidly went through my bead boxes (yes, that was the time of few beads packed in a couple of boxes!) and I found out I definitely needed more stash (nothing has changed here!), but I had no time to buy it. I just had to be creative with what was there!

 

…determined and full of energy from the challenge, I started right away! I picked out some purple glass flowers, a few orange fire-polished beads and…wait, I had no center piece (ouch!)… I was quite discouraged…but suddenly, (eureka!) I remembered about a beautiful pattern by Jamie Hogsett which I saw in the April/May 2009 issue of Beadwork Magazine (page 32) and I decided to use it in order to create a large flower to place right in the middle of the creation. I got out my needle, thread, teal Czech seeds and I started stitching. Once the focal was done, I attached some glass beads and blooms on the sides using craft wire and headpins. To make the piece lighter I created a strand of white seed beads running behind the neck to connect the two ends and close the creation through a toggle clasp on one side.

 

And here it is…my old, colorful necklace!

 

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Romantic vintage earrings

Hi everyone!

Today I want to show you my first creation made from a pattern I found in an amazing book by Lisa Kan called Bead Romantique. 

I have to admit I love his author’s work. She beautifully combines all the elements I like to use in my own jewelry: flowers, nature, vintage look and elegant styles in subtle shades. I think this is the reason why Bead Romantique makes it with no doubt to the top 10 of my favourite beading books. 

But now, let’s talk about the pattern (I will soon devote a full post to the book review)! It is probably the simplest one among the stunning creations displayed: a pair of elegant, yet quick-to-make earrings called Bohemian Drops (page 54). 

I loved it so much, that I tried 2 variations: the first one uses  bronze-tone findings similar to the ones  presented in the book, with size 11/0 seed beads, 4mm bicone and rondelle transparent Swarovski crystals, 8mm fire-polished beads and a mother-of-pearl 10mm coin. 

For the second pair, which I created  to wear with my Snow Samoa necklace, I switched to silver tone findings, combining transparent with pearl-colored seed beads, substituting the fire-polished beads with glass pearls and using a slightly larger (11mm) mother-of-pearl coin. 

I love to use both of them, but which one do you prefer?

 

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Letter from Paris necklace

Hi everyone! 

I am very excited to talk about this necklace, as it was my very first piece to arrive finalist at a Beadaholique contest, in February to 2012. 

I still remember the moment in which I saw the name of the month’s challenge: “Love is in the air”. Yes it was…because I just LOVED that theme! My head started thinking about 1.000 words: love, roses, red, pink, romantic, love letters, Paris…but wait…how to synthesize everything in one necklace? I didn’t have a focal piece representing all of this, so I decided to create one! 

I started by composing an image with different graphical elements: a handwritten text, an Eiffel tower, a butterfly and a rose, Then I printed, cut and glued it to a bronze cabochon setting. Once the pendant was dry, I covered it with the amazing Ice Resin, making sure no bubbles were being formed. After 3 days, I attached it to a bronze chain, adding some glass and cherry quartz beads, a Lucite flower, a filigree component and a heart-shaped toggle clasp. 

As final touch, I crafted a small bow with size 11/0 pink delicas…and here it is, my little romantic creation, enclosing all the emotions a letter from Paris can bring.

Have a lovely day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Peach sparkle set

Hi everyone! 

Today’s creation has a long story. Once upon a time, a magic newsletter from Beadaholique contained a link to an extremely inspirational video (which  you can see here). Watching it, I was immediately captured by the beauty and sparkle of that peach color Swarovski rivoli, so I decided to buy one (and, thanks to my impressive self-control, I ended up buying 4, just in case). 

Once I received them, however, I realized that their edges were very thin and if I used them to create rings as the one shown in the tutorial, I would probably chip them after 2 minutes of wearing (definitely, the stereotypical Italian tendency to not keep hands still while talking wouldn’t help me to preserve them). 

The beautiful rivolis were therefore hidden in a drawer for a long time, until, one day, I was charmed by a gorgeous, perfectly matching filigree component.I decided to dust one of my little sparkling gems, cage it with a bronze-tone bead cap and join it with craft wire to the center piece. To add some interest, I attached freshwater pearls, 8mmm red aventurine beads and Swarovski crystals. 

Of course, no pendant can be happy all by himself, so I made a matching pair of earrings with the same types of beads, which I then attached to a pair of beautiful flower findings I bought on Etsy. 

Once they saw each other, the pendant and the pair of earrings fell in love and they lived happily ever after! 

What do you think? Don’t they make a lovely couple?

 

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Magical Forest necklace

Hi everyone!

Today I want to show you a very special creation, the first one I ever made in order to participate in a contest! 

It was a nice day in 2009 and (surprise, surprise!) I was browsing through beading websites and blogs, when I stumbled upon the announcement for a challenge by Stringing Magazine, called Magical Forest. I never considered participating in a competition before, but a theme based on nature just charmed me. I couldn’t stop my head from thinking about the hundreds of things I could do and I immediately found myself with needle and threads in my hands.  

I began stringing green glass seed beads, inserting some flowers, ladybugs and butterflies every now and then. But that wasn’t enough, so I knotted clusters of 8mm glass beads on a brown cord, to give the illusion of branches with leaves. Lastly, I created the central piece, by attaching glass blooms and foliage. I tried to use colors which would give a mysterious allure to the piece, making it look truly magical. 

And here it is…my little enchanted necklace!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Purple flower fairy necklace

Hi everyone!

A couple of days ago, I was browsing through some old graphics on my computer when I found this beautiful image of a flower fairy. I was dazzled and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I got out my Lucite flowers and I started working. 

I used some lovely bell-shaped beads I bought some time ago on Etsy as main elements and then I added sparkling crystals, shiny glass beads, lovely filigree bead caps and a couple romantic bronze leaves. To keep everything together, I created a frame with 18 gauge craft wire (using my round-nose pliers) and then I attached all the elements using jump rings and some 26 gauge bronze wire. 

And here is my creation…with big thanks to the flower fairy for being so inspirational :-) 

Have an enchanted day!

My favorite parties: Under the Table and Dreaming -  Between Naps on the Porch - Dwellings - Creatively living - The dedicated house - Rain on a tin Roof - Its So Very Cheri - DIY Showoff - The Stories of A2Z - Coastal Charm - A Stroll thru Life - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Stone Gable - Cozy little house  - Knick of time -Savvy Southern Style - Ivy and Elaphants - Green Willow Pond - No Minimalist Here - From my front porch to yours - Craftberry Bush  - The Brambleberry Cottage - French Country Cottage - Common Ground - The Charm of Home - The shabby nest - Romantic home - Sunny simple life - The cottage market

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Cream elegance earrings

Hi everyone!

I just finished this lovely pair of earrings inspired by a beautiful model called Sabina, which I saw on Beads Gone Wild (you can purchase the kit from their website here).

As you probably noticed by now, I am not a large and bold earrings kind of person. But this pattern was way too nice to leave it unused, so I took my beading needle and started working right away! Below, you can see my version of the design. Compared to the original model, I added two rows to connect the seed beads, therefore giving more stability to the work and I changed colors to make the final creation more versatile.

To complete the earrings, I used 4mm round glass beads in a cream color, 4mm transparent AB Swarovski bicones, size 15/0 gold luster miyuki rocailles, size 11/0 pearl Checz seed beads, and faceted crystal drops, all sewn together with a size B nymo thread.

And here they are! I hope they will inspire you as much as they inspired me! :-)

Have a beautiful day!

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Book review: Beaded lace snowflake ornaments by Sandra D.Halpenny

Title: Beaded lace snowflake ornaments 

Author: Sandra D. Halpenny 
Rating: 9/10 
Number of pages: 88 
Subject: Beaded snowflakes 
Level: intermediate 
Main techniques: Circular netting 

Beaded lace snowflake ornaments is a  very detailed and specific book. It mainly is a pattern paperback, with a small introduction on materials and techniques (7 pages), followed by 14 beautiful snowflakes (see more snowflake ideas here).

Each project is clearly illustrated with extremely precise drawings. They are so intuitive that I almost didn’t read the written instructions while stitching. Sandra D. Halpenny did an amazing job in making every step crystal clear and in creating an incredible variety on such a narrow topic.

The only downside of the book is represented by pictures of the finished items, which are not very good quality. Furthermore, there are not many  tips on how to use the creations or change effects by using different bead sizes and finishes (but you can find some in the next paragraphs :-) ). However, as I said earlier, this is mainly a pattern book and it does an excellent job at fulfilling this purpose.

I must point out that the text can be quite pricey, if you don’t find it on sale. If you are interested in few patterns, though,  you can purchase them individually on the author’s website here and then create a large amount of different looks by changing color, size and finishes of beads.

In the pictures below, you can see some examples: on the top left, snowflake #2 was made with size 11/0 Ornela Czech transparent and silver-lined beads. On the top right I used slightly larger silver lined and white beads with a pearl finish, together with Swarovski crystals and Czech firepolished 4mm beads to bring to life snowflake #4. On the bottom left, with the same beads (except for the crystals), I made snowflakes #7, while the last one (snowflake #12) was created with the same seed beads of the first, adding some 4mm firepolished beads.

Once you finish, you can use the snowflakes to make cute holiday and winter decorations: from Christmas tree ornaments, to gift cards and boxes embellishments; from festive earrings to icy wreaths…let your creativity fly!

…and have a wonderful day! 

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)