Stash Busting Beadalong Progress 1.

Gosh that week has gone so quickly! I hope you have all been enjoying the earring reveals, I know I have, such gorgeous work and more to come!

I am happy to have some great progress to report and also a new goal from Gloria! Check out the pictures below.

Gloria is joining this week and this what she has to say about her goal - I was lucky enough to get a place on a Laura McCabe workshop held in Scotland during September. The workshop that I attended was for Laura's Treasure Necklace. This is a really special necklace made up of 9 beaded lockets - each of which open up to reveal a small box. Techniques include herringbone and peyote stitch with embellishment. I didn't get much done during the workshop - I was enjoying the company too much!! The OTTBS progress blog has given me all the inspiration I need to actually finish this piece - thanks!


Catherine - Here is the first week's progress on Laura McCabe's Stargazer bracelet. I have a full time job and a son of 13 so bead time can be a bit sporadic. I'll often go for a 'quick fix project' so I have a finished item fairly quickly, but component based projects like these are also good! Where I usually stall is in the 'joining up and finishing', so I may need more encouragement there!


Sarah - I furiously beaded last weekend while watching Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor and was surprised by how much progress I made. I have completed most of the focal, this weekend I will make the Pagoda embellishments and the focal will be complete. I have made a few adjustments to the colour way as I go along, but I am pretty happy with it so far.


Jo - Not much beading time but stage 1 is complete! 4 sparkly bezelled rivolis. The next step is to bezel the points which is something new for me so will try and get that done this week!


Check back with us next week!

Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stash Busting Beadalong!

This week I have been flicking through my copy of Laura McCabe's fabulous book Embellished Beadweaving and deciding that it really is time for me to actually make something from it. I decided and I would try the April Showers Necklace using stash beads and that I would set myself a goal of finishing it by Christmas. I mentioned this on our Facebook group and luckily a couple of our members have decided to join me and have set goals too, we will post our progress on a weekly basis, hopefully this will keep us motivated!

Here is a photo of the April Showers Necklace and the beads that I have chosen, I don't have a huge selection of size 15's, as I really don't like using them so I am using 4 colours of those instead of 5 and I am using drops instead of magatema's. The colour combo isn't one I would generally choose but I do think it will be very rich and a great Christmas necklace.



Jo is making this lovely Orb Kit and says "I actually have 2 of these gorgeous orb kits as I requested a different colourway from the usual goldstone and the lovely Laura McCabe kindly gave me several to choose from. The custom cut points in the kit are Norweigan Moonstone and they have iridescent flashes in them similar to labradorite. They have been matched perfectly with the monotone palate of beads that Laura has chosen to compliment them. I've only had this kit for around a month but it was already languishing in my bead box which is hidden away in the understairs cupboard. Hopefully by agreeing to keep Sarah company on this Christmas project my lovely necklace may even get worn this year!"



Catherine says "Here's a picture of the Laura McCabe bracelet kit I want to complete
for my Mum by Christmas, it's the class I did in September called Star Gazer. I haven't even opened the packets yet, as in the class I was working on a different version for myself. I know I CAN complete this, but need a little encouragement to keep me going to completion. The colours in this are Mum's favourites so I hope she will like it although she rarely wears jewellery that isn't rings or earrings. It should be really sparkly. I am going to be sneaky when I see her next to get a wrist measurement"



This beadalong has turned into a bit of a Laura McCabe-along! I can't wait to see the progress that we make. Thank you so much to Catherine & Jo for joining in!

Happy beading!

Sarahx

July Goals - Sarah

So, that really organised list of goals that I posted at the beginning of June? Didn't work out so well! In fact I didn't achieve any of them, so I have decided to take it one goal at a time for July as this has worked well for me in previous months.

My 1st goal is to complete the necklace that I started in June with the bronze & white beads and bronze wire. I have done quite a bit of it so this should be easily achievable as July promises to be almost as busy as June. A little teaser for you, I have made my own chain for this and it includes love knots which I just learned to do, I love them.

Keep tackling that bead stash!

Sarahx

Bead Stash Beaded Eggs...

With Easter almost on it's way I wanted to be sure that I made some beaded eggs this year. So I thought what better way to use up some of my Bead Stash. I used the flower motif for one and added some daisies. The other is just free form. I do still want to make a few more before Easter if I find the time, but here's a couple of them for starters.
Guess what? I just realized that this is my third goal/project already completed in "Operation Tackle that Bead Stash"! It's actually coming along quite easy and pretty fast now and I'm so happy that I'm trying to tackle my Bead Stash and make beadiful and useful projects and pieces!
This evening I'm going to start on another cabochon, I wonder what I'll come up with this time. I had found I had quite a few topaz colors and I want to use as many up as I can of those this evening.




I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day, thanks for stopping in! So until next time please don't forget, "Operation Tackle that Bead Stash" and Bead Happy!
Hugs and happy beading...
Bobbi

March Goal 2 Complete!

When digging around in my stash on Friday night I came across 2 tubes of bright red bugles, in real life they actually look like plastic. I bought these about 3 years ago to make a gift for a friend but ended up making a bracelet instead of the necklace that I had planned because the stitch I used was taking forever.

I had been flicking through Beth Stone's book Seed Bead Stitching and found the tri stitch, which I have used before but only the circular version for ring tops and medallions. The flat version whipped up ridiculously quickly so I decided to just make 2 long strips (each one is 1 tube of beads) and tie them together to wear as a lariat. For such a simple idea I think it worked out great! My summer wardrobe is based around white and navy, so this bright red little number should work really well.

A note about working with bugles: I would normally recommend using a seed bead either side of a bugle to protect your beading thread from the bugles sharp edges. I haven't done this here as I am using K.O. which is quite a new thread to me and I want to see how long it holds up! I don't mind experimenting on a piece that took just a couple of hours but would hate for the thread to break and ruin something that had taken a long time.

2nd Goal/Project Completed...

Moving right along this week for Operation Tackle that Bead Stash I've now completed my second goal/project! I had come across various black beads that I wanted to start to use up. I also had come across while looking thru some of my Bead Stash some of those golden/brown seed beads and also those gorgeous brown beads. So, last night I started another cabochon. Keep in mind that these cabochons are something very new to me and that I'm in the process of teaching myself some stitches.
In this cabochon I feel that I accomplished quite a bit. Not only towards my goal/project for Operation Tackle that Bead Stash but to learn more about these wonderful cabochons! I actually taught myself 3 new stitches in this piece. I'm quite pleased that not only did I use up some of my Bead Stash but learned something in the process. I call this piece, Earthbound.


I hope that you have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping in! So until next time please don't forget, "Operation Tackle that Bead Stash" and Bead Happy!
Hugs and happy beading...
Bobbi

Beading Kits...

I have a very bad habit of buying beading kits and not finishing them or not even starting them. I know that I have 3 right now that I've purchased and they're just stashed away waiting for me to bead.
So, what better way to help Operation Tackle that Bead Stash is to also use up my Beading Kits that I have! Within the next 2 months my goal is to have all of those kits that I already have made! Plus, while still tackling my other Bead Stash and working on beautiful beadiful projects for my Bead Stash that I have.
Here' a picture of each of the three kits that I will be beading over the next 2 months.



Do you also, like me have any kits that you purchased and couldn't live without but when the kits arrived to your home some how it's now just managed to become part of your Bead Stash? If you do you may want to go and find those kits and bead them up, maybe for you to keep, a gift for someone special or even to sell.
So until next time please don't forget, "Operation Tackle that Bead Stash" and Bead Happy!
Hugs and happy beading...
Bobbi