Baublicious: December 2014

Friday, December 26, 2014

A Little Gift for Boxing Day - Acorn Earrings Tutorial

I created these little acorn earrings earlier this Fall for the Creative Spark, an online magazine produced by Hope Smitherman and Znetshows. I thought I'd share the tutorial here as well as a little something special for boxing day.

~~Download the PDF tutorial now.~~

The download link will only be active through January 2nd, 2015. You may share the link with friends and/or on social media through the 2nd.

After that, the tutorial will still be available in the Fall issue of Creative Spark magazine.

Happy Boxing Day!

Karen

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Sally Russick's Annual Ornament Swap/Hop

Back in late October, I received an invitation to participate in Sally Russick's Holiday Ornament swap. Between the push to finish Explorations and its book launch, I knew this fall would be busy well into December. But I couldn't resist saying 'Yes!!!!' to her invitation. As Sally said, "it's a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season to connect with a old bead friend or make a new connection."

The only 'rules' are that you make the ornament yourself and that your ornament includes an art bead.

This year, it was my fortune to be paired with Therese Frank, an extremely talented bead weaver and a blogging friend of several years. I was so pleased to hear I'd 'drawn' her name! Therese's package was a feast for they eyes - she'd even decorated the outer box (unfortunately someone in my household recycled the box before I managed to snap a picture - next time I need to have my camera ready before I start unwrapping).

Inside the box, this is what I found:

Such Treasures!

Therese created the puffed star ornament using a tutorial from Joy Harmon Designs, embellishing it with a clay snowflake charm by Linda Landig. It is so bright and cheerful, nestled amongst the lights on my Christmas tree. Thank you Therese! Once the tree comes down, after Christmas, this star will be moving to my studio to keep me company the rest of the year!

A couple of closer looks at Therese's ornament, along with a needlecase of her own design (she even filled the case with three John James sharps needles - my favorites!) and five polymer clay, cane beads that she had made. Therese also included the wonderfully jolly St. Nicholas from her collection and a beautiful assortment of beads perfect for freeform peyote.

Curious what I made for Therese? Swing by her blog, Therese's Treasures, to see (hint - it definitely involves freeform peyote, because let's face it, that's where my mind has been this season....)

Then continue on to see all the other holiday ornament creations - so much incredible talent!