Gingerbread Star!

Seems like a long, long time has passed....wait...it's already 5 months since my last post!!!

Haven't been beading lately, but experimenting with patterns. And with my life.

Since I got a job in a big store in September, and I also continued with the German school, it's been impossible for me to do anything else. But I found some volunteers that tested my latest pattern and...

Without further ado...

What do you think?

The actual beadwork and the pic are from April Barnes, a customer that turned this last month into a helper and adviser, and I have to say it is good to be a little pushed from someone who likes your work.

Gingerbread cookies are really popular in Austria, their name is Lebkuchen and taste amazingly. You can't see all the details here, but a pattern will be soon released... just in time for Christmas!

Twin Tab earrings

As promised, here are my new can tab earrings made with Preciosa Twin Beads:

I call them Twin Tab, to make it shorter.

I'll try them with Super Duo beads to make some Super tab earrings...I think the different shape might be more suitable to this kind of construction.

Why beadwork is better: UNIQUENESS!

If you're still wondering why buying and gifting beadweaved objects is better...the "Wow effect" is the answer.
You will always have the "Wow effect" with something beaded.

Beads are everywhere, but beadweaved object are not.
Thousands of people can beadweave, but only few of them show it to the world on blogs or have online shops.
Many of them make really big, complicated and expensive jewelry which are not affordable by anyone (even though EVERYBODY would dream about buying one!).
Simple and original beaded objects are not that common. Finding an artisan who can make something personalized to give might be the best occasion to make a wonderful present spending less than you would ever think.

An examples:
My first sale ever on etsy was this turtle keychain.

It was december and this guy bought it telling me it was a surprise for his girlfriend, who was about to receive a lot of turtle-themed presents for Christmas.
He was so excited about something so small, because it was unique.
He might have found turtle-mugs, t-shirts or toys, but beaded turtles?
Mine was the only one.

Another example are beaded dolls, that you can shape to look like the recipient (as I did with a swap partner) or a cartoon charachter.

Just a small pendant you can attach to a key-ring, to a USB pen drive or to a cell phone can be a beautiful present. Something you'll never find anywhere else.

Glitter is back

Deep inside, we all love glitter.
It's just we don't want to admit it.

via Pinterest

Glitter is our connection to our childhood, when we wanted everything to be sparkle and bright...but we still can indulge with a little glitter even as grown ups!
So which season could be more perfect (except for Xmas) than summer to have a little bit of glitter, and of course I'm talking about earrings

A glitter coating makes anything look better, even those can tabs sadly looking at you from the stash box

And you might want to use the same coat on your nails to brighten up your day!

Beaded dolls - the tutorial

I finally made a tutorial for my beaded dolls.
Just listed it on Etsy...my eyes are tired, but I'm so happy!

Been wanting to make one for a long time, but there wasn't enough time to draw all the graphs (all those tiny beads! argh!) so I kept on procrastinating.
My first doll was a copy of one my grandmother brought from one of her trips to Spain when I was about 10.
It was the classic Indian doll (don't know why it came from Spain!) and was attached to a beaded necklace which started tearing apart very soon.
Fortunately this gave me a chance to look at the "anatomy" of both necklace and doll, and -being already handy with tubular peyote- I decided to give it a try. And then they came...

Possibilities are huge, I hope people will have fun as I'm having!

Mint pitaya earrings

I bought the golden loops, very simple since the pitaya beads are already pretty bold...couldn't find my pliers to shorten the wire, so I just left them this way...

...and I kind of like them.
Just bought a top in the same color and I'm pretty happy after so many black clothes and silver earrings to finally move towards some lighter colors!

Lions, Tigers and Bears, OH MY !

The poll for the Etsy Beadweavers September challenge is open, it took me 1 second to vote since I already had a favourite piece in mind!
Here are all the entries:



Loved this theme so much! Would have liked to make a bigger piece for the challenge, but it seems like you never have enough time when you really like a theme.

I'm planning to bead more and to make some rule in this house (do I sound serious????). I'm neglecting not only my beads, but also the house and every other thing I like.
So next week I'm going to sign up in my old gym and start kick-boxing again, hoping that will make me feel better about a lot of things that are going wrong lately. Punching something is always a great remedy for almost anything!

I'm also very happy 'cause I've just discovered there's a yoga center right in front of my house and it's really cheap too! I'm going to have a trial day next tuesday.
I find the combination of yoga and an aggressive sport to be perfect to heal everything that has gone bad during the day: you learn both how to relax and to boost yourself out.

Have fun with the challenge and don't forget you have time to vote until 15th of September!

The Road to Oz

I remember watching "Return to Oz" movie when I was a little girl, it scared me so much!
I had never watched the original Oz movie (shame!) and didn't really understand all the yellow brick road thing. Then I read the book, and decided I needed to watch the gorgeous Judie Garland, and I started to love the wonderful world of Oz!
So even though I didn't have the time to make what I had in my mind, I really wanted to partecipate in this month's competition:



I decided Toto was "my animal": it's because of him if Dorothy's been carried away with the whole house!
This little button seemed perfect, and I love beaded dolls very much, so it came out naturally.



Please remember go on EBW website from 9 to 15 September to marvel at the beauties you will find there!