Earthy Spring Vibes with Summer Wind Art

Earthy Spring Vibes: 

By Ashley Bonney-Summer Wind

I have been playing around a lot lately with mixing different elements in my jewelry. When I was designing this piece, I wanted to have some fun bright elements, but I also wanted to keep it earthy. I found that adding leather cord to the end and some natural stone beads kept it nice and grounded. 

When I am adding leather cord, I like to take a long piece, fold it in half and then use a crimp end to secure it. I then add a lobster clasp and jump ring for the closure.

I really like using Vintaj Brass Findings because they age really well and are very easy to manipulate. You can see in the picture that I just linked the stone beads using eye pins and jump rings. I'll be sure to post the sizes at the end. 

The wood beads on this necklace were tricky, because one hole was very small and the other was larger. I find that wood beads do best when they are secured with twine or hemp. I have tried using eye pins in the past, but I experienced more movement than I like, so I switched to twine. In this case, because the smaller wood bead's hole was much smaller, I had to actually take the twine apart so I had a nice thin piece. I then just made a loop and the top and knotted between the beads and at the bottom. 

I hope you got a little inspiration from my post, I am always so inspired by all the ladies that post to Art Bead Scene. I have soooo much to learn, as far as techniques go, and I am so glad that we have so many talented artists here. Hope everyone has fun creating! 

Ashley Bonney

Summer Wind Art

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SummerWindArt 

Supplies:

Twine-I used Baker's Twine from Lima Beads

Leather Cording from Micheal's Craft Store

Stone Beads, any earthy color or shape

Wood Beads- Summer Wind Art

Findings:

Vintaj Natural Brass

CE20 - 9mm Crimp End

CL0003 - 12mm Classic Lobster Clasp

JR60 - 15mm Smooth 15ga Jump Ring

JR40 - 7.25mm Smooth 16ga Jump Ring

EP1 - 1in Eye Pin

Beaded Harvest Napkin Rings - Free Project

Create a special set of beaded napkin rings that would make a wonderful hostess gift or for a Thanksgiving celebration. You could change the color combination to fit your decor or season. 

This project was first published on my blog, but as turkey day approaches I thought it was worth another look!

Supplies:

4 copper disks from Humblebeads

4 silver 5mm flat spacers

4 copper 14mm coin pearls

Nickel seed beads

Bronze bugle beads

4 gunmetal headpins

4 gunmetal headpins with balls

10" green wire mesh ribbon

Bracelet memory wire

Instructions:

1. Cut 1 loop of memory wire, cut at 1/4" after the loop overlaps.

2. Use round nose pliers to create a loop on one end. Use flat nose pliers to close the loop completely.

3. Randomly string bugle beads and nickel seed beads to cover the memory wire, leaving a 1/4" at the end. Use the round nose pliers to create another loop to close the wire.

4. String the flat spacer and disk bead on the ball headpin. Trim wire to 1/4" and create a loop with the round nose pliers. Attach to one of the memory wire loops.

5. String a nickel seed bead and pearl on a headpin. Trim the wire and create a loop, attach to the other memory wire loop.

6. Cut 2 1/2" of wire mesh ribbon, tie around the headpin loop of the disk bead. Twist the ends of the wire mesh to form a point. Pull the middle of the ribbon to open in the shape of a leaf.

Repeat to create 3 more napkin rings.

They look like a little pumpkin patch don't they? They almost make me want to go buy a set of cloth napkins. (I just happen to have one that I used as a back drop for something!) Ah, I will probably give this set as a hostess gift, I don't throw many fancy soirees.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas: Art Bead Bookmark

Books, books, books! Who doesn't love books? No one around here, that's for sure. This beaded and braided bookmark is my holiday gift for family and friends this year. What a perfect time to share my project with you! 

Handmade bookmarks make quick and easy gifts for just about any reason or season. I made this one in less than 30 minutes. They look great holding your place in your favorite novel OR even better, your favorite beading book!

Materials:

1 daisy ceramic lentil bead

1 blue/green “mermaid” ceramic bead

120 yellow transparent size 8 seed beads

11’ of orange 4-ply Irish waxed linen cord

Tools:

Scissors

Ruler

Macramé board and T-pin

Tip: Pin your work to a Macramé board to keep even tension on the cords as you braid.

Directions:

1: Cut the linen cord into six 22” pieces.
2: Form an overhand knot at the end of 1 cord. String 20 seed beads. Repeat step for the remaining 5 cords.

3: Bring all six cords together and form an overhand knot after the seed beads. Use all six cords to string the daisy lentil bead; form an overhand knot after the bead.

4: Pin the last knot to the top of the macramé board with the T-pin. Separate the cords on the board so that you have 2 cords on the left, 2 cords in the middle and 2 cords on the right. Braid the cords for about 11" and remove from the board.

5: Use all six cords to form an overhand knot. Use all six cords to string the mermaid ceramic bead and form an overhand knot. Trim ends to ½” and fray.

Resources:

Daisy lentil: Golem Studio. Mermaid bead: Gaea. Linen cord: Ornamentea. Seed beads: LBS.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas: Holiday Tree Garland

Materials Needed:
1.5cm-2cm felt balls in assorted colors
1.5cm-2cm wood beads in assorted colors
Size 6 seed beads in assorted colors
Upholstery thread
Needle
12" 18 gauge craft wire

Instructions:
1. Cut the craft wire in to two 6 inch pieces.  Make two wire scrolls with a pair of needle nose pliers.These     will be the hooks to attach the garland to the tree. Once made, set them aside.
2. Leaving your thread on the spool, thread the needle and pull about 12" of excess thread through the hole.
3. Begin by stringing a felt ball onto the thread. Next string approximately 7 inches of seed beads.
4. Continue by string a wood bead, follow with another seven inches of seed beads, and then a felt ball.
5. As the thread fills up with beads, unroll a little more thread and slide the beads further down the thread. Follow the previous pattern to string as long of a garland as you would like.
6. Tie the needle end of the thread to the end of a wire scroll. Slide the strung beads up so they are snug against the wire. Tie the remaining end of the garland to the second scroll. Trim any lose threads.

Enjoy!
Jennifer Jangles

Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the Art Bead Scene's Annual Ornament Blog Hop!

We have a great group of beady bloggers who have put together ornaments to share with you today.  Be sure to visit them in the links below.

Holiday Beaded Ornaments

by Heather Powers

Supplies:

10-12" 19 gauge blackened steel wire

3-4' 26 gauge silver craft wire

30 grams seed bead mix (purchased or mix your own)

14mm polymer clay disk bead

10mm pewter bead cap

6-8mm accent bead

(optional: 4-6mm accent beads to embellish the beaded part of the ornament.)

Tools:

Chain nose and round nose pliers

Heavy duty wire cutters

Bead spinner

Directions:

1. Form the steel wire into your ornament shape.  For the round shape you can use your hands, for a geometric shape use flat or chain nose pliers. Wrap one end of the wire around the top of the shape to secure it. Wrap the other end around the wire heading toward the center of the ornament, pull the wire straight up and string on the disk bead, bead cap and accent bead.  Wrap a wire-wrapped loop.  Wrap the rest of the other wire under the disk bead.

2. Put your bead mix into the spinner and give it a stir.  Make a tight loop at one end of the 26 gauge wire, so the beads won't fall off and slightly curve the other end of the wire into a hook shape.

3. Place the curved wire into the bead spinner and spin the beads onto the wire.  A 4" round ornament takes about 3 1/2' of beaded wire.  If you run out you can add another piece of beaded wire to finish your design.  Leave a 6" tail of wire.

(Optional: you can add in a few larger beads while you are adding beads to the wire for some texture and color.)

4. Wrap the end of the beaded wire around the steel frame and pull the wire across the steel frame to the other side.  Let the beads slide down on the wire and wrap the end on the other side of the frame two times.

5. Repeat wrapping the steel frame with the beaded wire until it's completely covered.  Trim the wire and tuck in the end with the chain nose pliers.

6. Create a spiral hook with 3" of steel wire.

 Once I pulled out the bead spinner, everyone in my family become keenly interested in this project and we spent a few nights this week whipping up a whole collection of beaded ornaments. 

My 13 year old daughter came up with the Christmas tree.

My husband created present shapes and the ornament shape below.

Now 'tis the season for giving, so we are going to give away a Bead Ornament Kit shown here and a $30 gift certificate to Humblebeads!

To enter: Spread the news about the ornament hop today on one social media site or more: like facebook, twitter or your blog.  One entry per person.  Leave a comment in the link below to let me know you helped spread the holiday cheer.

Grab a candy cane and a cup of cocoa while you meander through the blog hop: 

Humblebeads 

Suburban Girl Studio

Spirited Earth

Garden Path Beads

Life in the Lyon's Den

Blog by Salla

It's Been a While

Sue Beads

Artist At Work

Modern Nature Studio

WireWorked

Too Aquarius

Artfully Ornamental

Gem Rose Designs

Jewels by Ine

BeeTree by M.E.

Islandgirl's Insights

Angela Lund-Logan

Gem's PC Corner

Summers Studio

Sandy Volpe

The Next Bend

Skye Jewels

Janina Grigore

Elysian Studios

Jeannie's Blog

Art Bead Scene - you are here!

Join us on Monday for our annual 12 days of Christmas with free projects for the Art Bead Scene contributors!