Gather up your Rings and Things supplies and start creating for the 2008 Your Designs Rock contest. After all, you could win $750.00 in store credit at Rings and Things if you are the Grand Prixe winner! There are also $250.00 prizes available for the six category winners.
Bringing you all the dirt and drama from the beading blog world...
Humblebeads has re-invented herself and opened a re-designed website. Heather's beads are drool worthy - the Van Gogh cuff featured in today's picture is a favorite!
About.com Jewelry Making
Do you like two tone metal jewelry? Are you a metal clay jewelry maker? Tammy tells us about a new product to help you mix up metals using metal clay techniques.
Art Bead Scene
We are feeling groovy here at Art Bead Scene, as we celebrate our own Tari Sasser's recent press with her tie dyed beads. What trippy thing would *you* make with them?
Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi has a free book giveaway going on! You can enter to win a copy of "Crazy About Jewelry" simply by leaving a comment on this post! What could be easier?
Naughty Secretary Club
Thinking of selling your jewelry for a living? Jen has some tips on free promotion and suggested reading to get you started.
PearlEsq.
Check out the latest adventure of a rubber stamp that's made its way to Australia!
Savvy Crafter
Finding the findings is always an interesting experience in Candie's part of the world. This week she shares a couple of pictures from a trip to Hong Kong.
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Beautiful (...possibly even...sexy?) champagne coin pearl chandeliers by Jean!
The Impatient Blogger Need a dose of inspiration? Check out this video blog post by Margot Potter as she traverses a whole new dimension of bloggy goodness!
Did you read or write any good dirt on a bead blog this week? Leave us a comment and a link and tell us the latest scoop!
Lately in my clay studio I have been making lots and lots of my Wicked Trinked hearts! I have had two projects published in the most recent Simply Beads magazine (look for a post about it here next week) so I have been stocking up to get ready for Valentine's Day.Honestly, I never was very attracted to heart beads and charms. I feel like sometimes they are so literal and a bit sappy, or too frilly and romantic in an old fashioned way. Especially working in porcelain, where old fashioned frilly lace has a long tradition. I wanted to be Old School, not old fashioned. I really wanted to design beads that could use the heart motif in a more modern way, and I think I accomplished that with these charms. Now I love designing with them!
In my bead studio, I have been having fun playing with the heart charms in fun and interesting ways. My Wicked Hearts have a bit of an edge to them, they take me back to my punky days in my youth. I am currently working on a chain made of little black safety pins filled with beads and linked together. I think I am going to hang a few of the hearts in the center, maybe in a lariat style.
The question of the week is: Do you have any favorite heart shaped art beads or charms in your collection? Tell us about your favorites!
This week's prize is a single porcelain Flutter Heart charm from Earthenwood Studio. One random person who comments on this post will be chosen at the end of the week and announced on the next Studio Saturday post.
It's that time of year again, Bead Dreams is currently accepting online applications. Get out those art beads and make something spectacular! The deadline is April 4th.
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Can you just imagine what you could do with a few these!?! Thank you Tari and your Creative Impressions in Clay for helping us have some fun with this life we have been given!