Interweave's Hurt Book Sale

Don't you just love a good book? And don't you love getting good books dirt cheap? I do! Check out Interweave's Hurt Book and Overstock Sale going on now!


More than 180 craft books will be deeply discounted and sold online only on a first-come basis until supplies last. This is a great time to pick up bargains on both hardbound and softbound books about quilting, beading, jewelry making, knitting, crocheting, felting, spinning, weaving, needlework, sewing, mixed-media and other popular crafts.

Hurt books are still in good condition but imperfect in quality and have minor dings such as a scratch on the cover or a bent page.

Pictured are my top 3 picks, if I didn't already have them I'd could have picked them up for 50% off. Hurry now, supplies are limited.

Bead Cruise 2010

Join us January 17th 2010 as we set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida for 7 nights of beads, friends and fun! We'll sail on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas to their private island along with stops in the Virgin Islands.

Instructors include Margie Deeb, Mary Hettmansperger, Barb Switzer, Beverly Herman and Melanie Brooks. All the fun of a luxury cruise combined with a great bead retreat. Classes, workshops, nightly open beading sessions, a cocktail party, gift bags, door prizes, a bead bazaar and more!

Visit BeadCruise.com for details.

The Bead Cruise is hosted by Art Bead Scene editor & founder, Heather Powers.

Findings Worth Finding

I have been dreaming up all sorts of ideas using these fun flexible beads that Mallory Hoffman had used with one of my Jangles beads back in March. I fell in love with the bracelet and the flexible beads. The company is called Bead Me a Story and the artist is Mary Soucy. She has all colors of tubes and rings. Check out here website for loads of ideas using the beads.
Have fun!
Jennifer

Bracelet by Mallory Hoffman

Featured Designer of the Week - Stories They Tell

Each Monday we feature the Designer of the Week. One of our editors pick their favorite from the Monthly Challenge entries.

This week Heather picked Stories They Tell, Lascaux Necklace. Heather noted, "I couldn't think of more perfect color combination for this month's challenge. I love Christine's polymer clay beads that are obviously inspired directly by the cave paintings. I love the combination of metal, shell and clay to complete the primitive look." To see more of Christine's work please visit her etsy shop.

Want to see your work featured on the Art Bead Scene? Our theme for the month of July is Lascaux Cave paintings. The deadline to enter for the monthly prize is June 31st! Create something that combines the theme with art beads and then send in your submission for the July Challenge.

Sundays with Cindy

Good morning Beady Readers!

Melissa Lee gets the prize this week for the most outrageous beads - check out her blog to see what they are:

Strands of Beads
Melissa wants to know what outrageous materials are in your beading stash?

Well, was it "ewww?" or "cool?" Let us know by leaving a comment :-)


The alchemist is coming out in several of our beady bloggers - Copper metal clay is all the rage for Cyndi and Tammy. Andrew is pressing coins in Bronze metal clay.
Beading Arts
Cyndi reports on her experiences with firing and finishing CopprClay pieces. This stuff rocks!

About.com Jewelry Making
Heard about copper clay or coppr clay? Find out more about this great new metal clay product and check out some new metal clay projects too.

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Stop by and say hello to Andrew in Charlotte, NC this weekend. Check out his new designs and some delicious new metal clay coins!
(Andrew's coins are pictured below - picture courtesy of his blog)




Carmi, Cindy and Lorelei are trying out something new:

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi tries Ice Resin and upcycles a greeting card into a necklace.

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy learns to make murrini and deals with mud. (Russ likes the murrini - photo courtesy of Cindy's blog)


Lorelei's Blog: Inside the Studio
Instead of continuing on with the tried and true techniques of jewelry design, Lorelei is finally ready to take the leap and try something new.


New designs and projects....
A Bead A Day
Do you love Swarovski Crystals? Inspired by talented jewelry designer, Lillian Chen, Lisa creates a Swarovski “sculpture” ring.

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Sometimes you need to have a jewelry makeover.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Even without a lot of time on her hands, Melanie finishes a clockwork themed bracelet using Swarovski faceted rings from ArtBeads.com.

Jean Campbell Ink: Eureka!
Jean gives a sneak peek of her next Beadwork magazine piece.

Katie's Beading Blog
Check out Katie's wire-wrapped dragonfly!



Heather of Humblebeads shares her Bead and Button buys....
Humblebeads
Bead & Button stash and Heather's inspired creations.



Jean and ABS get creative...
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean gets her cool stash from Use the Muse II, and muses about it.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene gets creative with the "Best of ABS."



Read any good beady news? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!

Studio Saturday - On the Go

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

Last weeks winner is Alice. Congratulations! You have won a Kandinsky button from Creative Impressions in Clay. Send Tari an e-mail with your address and she will get it right out to you.

Welcome to the Humblebeads mobile studio. I'm out and about this weekend. If you follow my blog you know that I'm in Michigan for most of July. Of course I packed more beads & supplies than clothes. This is a working vacation for me and I knew I'd have to make beads while I was here. I'm looking forward to working on some ideas that have been rolling around in my head, taking a break from production work. It's nice to not 'have' to make beads but to branch out with some new ideas. My vacation time is always a chance to refill the 'creative well'. (Above is a simple necklace I made to wear to on my vacation!)

Along with my fun beadmaking we are planning some adventures in resin and metal etching. The we is Rosanne from FabFibers. Rosanne and I have been stashing away supplies for the last few months. I have an awesome collection of bezels to fill from Susan Lenart Kazmer and Vintaj. I have been hunting used book stores for images to use along with tiny starfish, mica glitter and a sundry of goodies.

My mom and I did some bottle caps with diamond glaze earlier this year. It was fun, but I'm not crazy about the bottle cap things, so I've kept them under wraps. I used some of my canes that were baked and sliced. I plan to do that again for the new ones.

So I have to ask a question of you, if you had a free week to experiment or work on a new project what would you do? Leave a comment and I will send you one of my experiments from this week's beadmaking sessions.

Monthly Challenge Prizes

There are 3 different prizes again this month! We love our sponsors!

Please let us know if you have an interest in being a sponsor for one of our monthly challenges.

In keeping with the flavor of the Lascaux Cave Painting posted yesterday, Cindy Gimbrone is offering a selection of The Glyph Series beads, antique silver coated ceramic beads and a faux stone hand pendant.

BeadLady features Green Girl Studio's wonderful pewter beads is giving the 2 beads show to the lucky winner of the July challenge. April&Bruce are a husband and wife team who sell the full GGS line of beads in their Etsy store.

Evie's Tool Emporium will be giving the lucky winner a $25 Gift Certificate to be use in their Etsy Store! How cool is that! There are so many items to choose from; metal stamp sets, hammers, pliers, dapping block etc. It will be great fun choosing!

Get your Art Beads, Buttons, Charms or Pendants out and start creating! Lascaux Cave Paintings is an earthy inspiration for your creations!