Show Me Sunday - Word Beads with Rebecca of Songbead

Happy Sunday everyone! I have spent an extended weekend up on the beautiful Isle of Skye, off the NW coast of Scotland. What inspiration! I am not yet a driver, so I undertook the epic train journey up to Skye on Thursday - leaving my house in Manchester at 6.30am and arriving at my friends' house at 9pm that night! Long and tiring, but worth it.  

Here's the view from very near their cottage. They actually stay in one of the wee white building you can see across the loch. Just paradise, especially on a perfectly sunny day like Friday, when I snapped this photo.

I have returned with a whole load of jewellery - not only pieces I made on the train journeys up and down, but also because I stopped in at one of my bricks and mortar stockists and did a big stock swap. It was really lovely to see some of the pieces that Precious Sparkle Beads had yet to sell. Of course, it would have been fab if everything had sold(!), but it's like meeting old friends; reclaiming pieces I made, many of them over a year ago. Here are some of the pieces I left behind in a quick instagram:

{Precious Sparkle Beads is also an awesome gemstone shop! Check it out. I get almost all my gemstones from lovely Dawn!}

And now onto Word Beads! Share your wordy finds in the comments. I'd love to see some more beads that YOU have made! Share them on facebook too if that is easier. We want to help share your creations! 

First up, Melissa of BeeTree by m.e. shared her favourite word beads with us - these awesome paper (can you believe?) beads from Gillian McMurray. THANK YOU Melissa for your share!

I love these! They are just a little bit different, in a very good way. 

Megan of A Delightful Mistake has been making her own polymer beads for a while now, and has recently added 'word beads' to her repertoire. Here are some, showcased within a necklace, but convo her and I'm sure she will make some up for you to design with! What gorgeous, vibrant colours Megan works with. 

And Art Bead Scene team member Gaea also has a couple of fantabulous grab bags in her overstock shop. Move fast people! These are BARGAINS, and top quality. 

This one features five pendants on a spring theme. How cute are these?

And now the Bead Blogger Links. Happy Sunday, peeps!

A Bead A Day 
Lisa is making jewelry before work again. Stop by to check out her easy 1-2-3 bracelet. 

About.com Jewelry Making 
Tammy takes a look at a new book that incorporates epoxy in jewelry making. 

Art Bead Scene 
June's challenge piece, Jackknife Village by Franklin Carmichael, is revealed! 

Beading Arts 
It's Mixed Media Month on Beading Arts! Do you have some work you'd like to share?

Carmi's Art/Life World 
It is truly wonderful how tools in the papercrafting and sewing world can be sued for jewelry making. I have a new leather bird bracelet to share this week! 

Resin Crafts Blog 
A fast and easy UNICORN ring with pewter miniatures and Jewelry Resin. 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
Jean's review of the fabulous book Crystal Play by Anna Elizabeth Draeger, in case you missed it the first time! It is a MUST! 

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton 
Check out the Inspired by Reading Book Club blog hop for May's selection, "A Rumor of Gems" by Ellen Steiber! 

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer, currently living in Manchester, England. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.

June Monthly Challenge Color Palette

It's time again for our monthly challenge color palette, and this month, I've got two for you.

As I was looking at "Jackknife Village" by Franklin Carmichael, I was struck by just how many colors there were in it.Take a good look and you'll see all sorts of shades of purple, blue, gray, yellow, and browns. So. Many. Colors!

Naturally, I love them all, but it poses a problem when it comes time to make a palette from them. How best do I summarize just a select few to represent an entire painting? Some months, it's easier than others, but this month was tricky for me. I solved the problem by making two color palettes instead of one! You can't have too many palettes, right?

The top one is a good overview of "Jackknife Village", I think. It presents a full range of colors, from very light to very dark, and gives you lots of options when it comes time to pick out supplies for your challenge designs. I'm especially in love with the way the cool blues and warm ochers play off each other, and the touches of dark blue and dark orange you can find hiding in key places.

The bottom palette keeps things nice and airy. With more of a middle range of colors, this one highlights lots of soft, warm grays, with touches of purple, blue, and golden yellow. I love that the tones here are subtle, especially with the grays changing hues within the same area.

So, there you have it! Two palettes to choose from this month - which pulls at you more?

Down by the River - Free Earring Tutorial

June Monthly Challenge + Prizes

Our wonderful sponsors for the June Monthly Challenge. 

We will have 2 lucky winners this month.

Tesori Trovati

Erin Praiz-Hintz of Tesori Trovati makes wonderful polymer clay charms, pendants and jewelry.  Her "Simple Truths" pendants combine words and images. Design your own necklace with one of Erin's pendants or beads. Let her create something special for you!

A spot in her Simple Truths Sampler Club for 3 months ($54 value)  

OR A $50 gift certificate to be used in my Etsy Shop.

 Visit Erin on her website, etsy, blog and Facebook.

: : :

Too Aquarius

Elaine Robtaille of Too Aquarius makes wonderful polymer clay beads, pendants and jewelry.  These beautiful beads would be a great addition to your creations!

Elaine is donating a $50 gift certificate + free shipping in her etsy shop.

Visit Elaine on her website, Etsy, flickr, twitter and Facebook.

: : :

Submit photos of your wonderful creations using one or more Art Beads.

JackknifeVillage by Franklin Carmichael has with many different elements that can be used for inspiration: houses, water, mountains, shades of red, blue or yellow.

We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the art for this months challenge! 

Please remember to put JUNE ABS in the title or tag of your submission(s).  

Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and we always love to know all the materials you used. 
***Art Beads MUST be used in your entry.***

June Monthly Challenge

Jackknife Village, 1926

Franklin Carmichael

Watercolor on Paper

(Please note this art is copyrighted and is to be used only as inspiration.)

About the Art

In step with the fashions of the times, his work increasingly reflected the flat, simplified design popular in the 1920s.

During the late 1930s and 1940s, he branched out and worked on wood engravings and linocuts, all with the same precision and rhythmic quality of his paintings. 

About the Artist

Canadian artist, Franklin Carmichael, May 4, 1890 – October 24, 1945. 

The youngest and original member of the Group of Seven, Franklin Carmichael was born in 1890 in Orillia, Ontario. His father was a carriage maker. Carmichael arrived in Toronto at the age of twenty and entered the Ontario College of Art, where he studied with William Cruickshank and George Reid. In 1911, he began working as an apprentice at Grip Ltd. for $2.50 a week. He then joined Tom Thomson and other painters who were training to become serious artists, joining them on weekend sketching trips. He moved to Belgium in 1913 to study painting but due to the war soon returned to his native Ontario to rejoin the other artists. Carmichael was greatly influenced by Tom Thomson and shared space with him at the Studio Building in 1914. He was also on the fringe of the group because of his difference in age and was closely associated with the newer members of the Group of Seven.

Along with A. J. Casson and F. H. Brigden, Carmichael founded the Ontario Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1925. He also founded the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, which several members of the Group of Seven would later join. He taught at the Ontario College of Art from 1932 to 1945.

Famous for his watercolours, many of his paintings depict Ontarian landscapes.

Blog Tour

The Blog Tour deadline is June 26th.

Links must be added to the Art Bead Scene flickr page where you upload your entry. 

The Blog Tour will be on June 28th.

Monthly Challenge Winners

Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on July 1st.

Our Sponsors

Our Sponsors this month are Tesori Trovati and Too Aquarius.

Please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!

Featured Designer of the Week:

From all the entries during the month, an editor is going to pick their favorite design to be featured every Monday here on ABS. We want to give our participants more time in the spotlight! Our Featured Designer will be this Monday, so get those entries in soon.

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork. 

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply wire or cord will not be accepted.***

2. Upload your photo to our flickr group. Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group.

Please add the tag or title JUNE ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is June 30th. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.

What is an Art Bead?

An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.

***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.

Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.

June Monthly Challenge Winners

Congratulations to this Month's winners! 

We have 2 winners chosen randomly from all the challenge entrants.

Our first lucky winner is Ann Schroeder. 

She has won a $50 gift certificate from Gaea Handmade.

Our second lucky winner is SJ Wentling.

She has won a $50 gift certificate from Mo Martin Creative Glass.

       

        Gaea Handmade              Mo Martin Creative Glass
                 

Thank you Gaea Handmade and Mo Martin Creative Glass for being our May Monthly Challenge sponsors!

Winners, please E-Mail Tari, tari@claybuttons.com with your information (Name and address) so your prizes may be sent to you.

A Big THANK YOU to everyone who entered this month using "Vase with Flowers in a Window" by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, as your inspiration. 

We were so fortunate to have so many beautiful entries and experience such creativity from our wonderful readers.

Visit us tomorrow to see what June's challenge brings.

Show Me Sunday - Word Beads with Rebecca of Songbead

Well, I am so out of sync - last week, it didn't even occur to me that my next Show Me Sunday post might be the following month! And yet, somehow it is June. I'm not quite sure what happened to May......it's a busy month for me, June - I have two craft fairs, some shop/gallery restocking to do and alongside that, quite a few of my music students (I teach voice, as well as make jewellery) have exams coming up for which I have to prepare them for/whip them into shape(!). No rest for me.....

Anyway, back to Show Me Sunday. This month, I'd like you to show us word beads. Any medium, any words; single words, phrases, stories....whatever you find or create, put a word on it and we want to see it! Share your links in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.

 First up, Spinning Star Studio. You can choose your own words for these lovely beads!

Another choose your own, this time from Diane Hawkey:

Distlefunk (the best bead shop name ever?!) has this sweet heart available:

These hand-rolled paper beads from FastFoodJunkie are super fun :-)

Claire of Something to do beads has recently started making word beads and connectors:

And Pip of PipsJewellery has this unusual and very pretty leaf connector available too:

And I must finish this first batch of word beads with this sentiment from Heather of Swoondimples....

....and don't we all know it?!

And now onto the Bead Blogger links. Have a great Sunday

A Bead A Day 

Lisa's got a quick reminder for anyone interested in joining the Cousin Creative Circle. Applications are being accepted through June 17! 

About.com Jewelry Making 

With the crazy cost of metals, now is a good time to look at preciouse versus base metals. 

Art Bead Scene 

Take our monthly tour of art based upon our challenge piece! 

Beading Arts 
Cyndi is working on what to do with all the beaded motifs she's making... 

Carmi's Art/Life World 
Phoomph. Not just a word, but a new surface to create with! You have to see the new necklace I made with fabric and rhinestones and Phoomph! 

Resin Crafts Blog 
A little glitter and mica are used to fashion these fabulous resin glazed tags. 

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! 
Giveaway for Kristal Wick's fantastic book, Foxy Epoxy! Sign up on Jean's blog! USA only, thanks! 

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton 
Want to win a copy of Kristal Wick's new book, "Foxy Epoxy"? Now you can! Three books are up for grabs! Andrew shares where you can win this fun book! 

Rebecca is a Scottish jewellery designer, currently living in Manchester, England. You can read more about her and her work at her blog, songbeads.blogspot.com and see more of her jewellery at songbead.etsy.com. She also has a supplies shop at thecuriousbeadshop.etsy.com.