Sparkling Ice Crystals

I’ve made a ton of beaded snowflake ornaments over the years. This year, I thought I’d try something a bit different,  and do something a bit more dimensional.

“Sparkling Ice Crystals” is a beaded ornament design that I got from the family fun website.  It’s easy to make and is fairly straight forward.

The instructions call for iridescent pipe cleaners, clear tri- beads and starburst beads, which I used for this particular ornament. My children branched out a bit and used silver pipe cleaners and a wider assortment of beads when they made theirs.  At 11 and 14, this beaded ornament was extremely easy for them to make. But you know what? It’s still awesome to sit around the table and chat with them while push beads on to pipe cleaners.

The beads are just pushed on to the pipe cleaners. I really worried that my precocious toddler was going to have a field day pulling them back off, so instead of hanging them on the tree where she could reach them, I suspended all three (at varying heights) underneath the light fixture that is hanging over my kitchen table.  It has sort of a funky, retro look, especially when coupled with the crystal wreath that is hanging in the window!

Thank you everyone!

Thank you so much for pinning my photos on pinterest. It brings me great joy to know that others out there are enjoying the things that I make.

I’ve got a few things in the works at the moment. For starters, I’ll be moving the site to a new server sometime next week. For the last several years my ex-husband has been gracious enough to host it for me, but I think its time to take things out on my own. I’ve requested that the transfer happen during the night and I’ve been assured that the site shouldn’t be offline for more than half an hour.

Also, I’ve reacquired my holiday craft site. I’ve stripped it down to the bare bones so that I can start with a relatively clean slate. Interestingly, some of the holiday crafts on this site (like the button tree ornament) were originally written for the craft site. Once I get the relevant content moved over, I’ll be working on new stuff. My kitchen counter is currently brimming with paints, holiday paper, glitter and chocolate. (yumm!) So be sure to check out my other site  Crafts for Holidays sometime soon.

Regal Square Stitch Bracelet design by June Wiseman

Penelope Learns a new Stitch

Pin It

I’m playing catch up with some of my bead projects.

I picked up the  Regal Square Stitch  Bracelet kit at the same time that I purchased my monster bracelet.  I was walking past the Tapestry beads booth and this bracelet  caught my eye. I adore the color scheme. I just simply could not take my eyes off of it.

I spoke with Jill and she told me that the stitch is so strong, that you can cut the bracelet in two between the rows of beads and the beads will not unravel. This is very much true. I’m not a particularly detailed oriented person so I made several mistakes in the pattern.Unfortunately I didn’t notice them until I was quite a few rows up. I undid a few rows on several occasions and at one point I restarted the bracelet in its entirety.  I did cut it in half though just to see and it is an incredibly strong stitch, so pay attention when you’re making it.. you don’t want to have to undo it. Trust me.

Regal Square Stitch

The square stitch itself is a remarkably easy stitch to learn how to do.  I’d go so far as to say that this particular project is a good beginner beading project. Not only that, but it is a show stopper and is reasonably priced to boot.  If you aren’t lucky enough to catch the Wiseman’s at a bead show, you can oder a kit directly from them through their bead site.

Making a Beaded Ring? Here’s a Useful Tip

This tip is going to be short and to the point.  When you are making a beaded ring, if it is at all possible, you should bead the shank separately. If you need to re-size the ring as my Boyfriend did with the  Peek-A-Boo ring it is much less time consuming.

I like to make my rings comfortable and that often means I’ve added more beads to the shank than the pattern called for.  If the shank of the ring breaks, having the forethought to do two separate pieces will mean that you don’t have to rework the more time consuming top part of the ring.

If the top half of the ring breaks, you will still have the shank in one piece, which means you can use it as a visual guide for sizing, just count the beads and make them match.

However, If the pattern allows for it, you may still be able to salvage the intact shank. If you look at the side view of the Peek A boo ring, the shank could have been attached to the fire polish beads that comprise  the base ring of the top. With careful planning an experienced beader might be able to just re-attach the shank in the appropriate place when re-constructing the top of the ring. Of course, if that’s you… then you probably didn’t need this tip in the first place!

I’m currently working on Jean Campbell’s “Carmen” ring , from her book “Creating Glamorous Jewelry” and she uses this method as well.  I’ve broken my thread three times while constructing the top of the ring. It’s totally my fault as I’m pulling my tension too tight. The last time it happened I was thinking to myself how happy I’d be if I never had to make the top again, and it prompted this post. I love the design though.

I’ve  got photos from several projects piling up. For some I need to go through and pull out the books that I’ve found the patterns in, and others I am trying to decide what to do with them. I finished my “Cleo” earrings and I accidentally clipped my thread too short. I love the pattern, it goes together so quickly but I’m not sure I’d wear them. I’m contemplating turning one of the earrings in to a necklace.. in which case I don’t need to re-make the one I clipped to short. Decisions, decisions.

Happy Beading!  I hope you found this tip useful.