I’m getting things together to start working on some bead quilt pieces for the Beaders Against Breast Cancer project I talked about in an earlier post. I know…… my first try is later than I had planned. (We just got moved into our new house!)

Anyway, I was just looking at the shanigansbeadshenanigans.com website and the first thing I see is mention of my birthday “August 22nd”. The woman behind this bead quilt project got it started to honor her mother. What caught my eye was a note next to a pattern saying she created it to honor her mother on what would have been her 80th birthday. So her mom’s birthday is my birthday. Kinda strange…but cool. It’s making me really want to try out the pattern more. Unfortunately it specifically requires Delica beads of which I only have one color and they cost a bit more than regular seed beads of which I have several of. I think I’ll try to figure out a way to use the Pink Delicas that I do have as the flower petals and then use use my 11-0 beads as an overlay to show the shape…..we’ll see if it works out. If that doesn’t work I’ll try something else. If I can remember to stop and take pictures while I’m getting started I’ll post them.

My little sister is getting married in just a few weeks!

Ever since she told me, I had selfish dreams about making her fun wedding jewelry and even told her I’d do it all for free! But when we got to looking into what she wanted to do, it was something kinda simple yet very purty and the prices we were seeing were good enough that it would probably end up a bit cheaper that way (as I’d have to buy whole strands of things instead of just a few beads) so she ended up buying pieces……..or at least those are the reasons I give my self when I feel sad about not getting to make ultra fancy wedding jewelry again like I did for my friend Faedra’s wedding a few years ago.

She and her mother were so awesome. She had an idea of something she wanted me to go off of and the three of us went to the bead store and picked out the components and they paid for everything, plus extra because they were really worried that I wouldn’t have enough. Some of the things were like packages of earrings, etc. which we only needed 3 pair or we ended up with an extra strand or two of some kinds of beads because we changed up the pattern after purchasing. I offered to pay for any materials not used in the wedding jewelry, but her mother turned me down flat. She said any extra was a thank you. I’m still getting to stare at those thank you beads as I haven’t had many requests for that type of jewelry and plus because I always hate to use them, I always like having some kinds of beads just to have them. (I know, I’m crazy) I’ve been drooling at the hopes of having more wedding jewelry to design so I can incorporate some of it or get to buy more and have additional leftover pretties to add to my collection!

Here is the set I did for Faedra. Swarovski Crystal and Swarovski Glass Pearls with Sterling Silver beads and bead caps. The set is made up of: A Two Strand Necklace, Bracelet, Earrings, and veil clip. This was a lot of fun!!! She had seen a piece done leaving open bead wire as a stringing technique and showed it to me and I made up my own design. I have to admit that at first I really had a hard time with it being “ok” to show the stringing material as usually the object is to hide it, but I really love the idea now. I ended up making a similar more simple jewelry set for myself using some of the leftover White Swarovski Glass Pearls, along with some Swarovski Crystals I already had and Man Made Black Onyx. That is now one of my favorite sets of jewelry…..plus, it’s black and white so it goes with almost anything.

This is the set I made for her Bride’s Maids. The earrings on the left were a test run of something more unique, but I decided the simpler ones on the right would be better for the occasion. The Bride’s Maids had a 1 Strand Necklace, Bracelet, and Earrings using the Swarovski Crystal Pearls, Swarovski Crystal, and Gold Filled beads and bead caps along with a very pretty pendant Faedra wanted them to have that they could remove and wear on a simple chain if they wanted after the wedding.

So, know anyone planning a wedding?

Note: Even if you’re not into beading, please click on the links throughout this post and share their information with others.

I don’t always end up reading the articles in my Bead & Button magazine unless I am working on a project that needs special inspiration, or need instruction on how to make something, etc. I don’t know why, really, because I always love what I read…..I guess I just like picture browsing.

That said, I’m learning that I really should be paying attention to what’s written in it. I’ve had the December issue for a few weeks now and just started to pay attention to the titles of the articles and began reading the stories on my lunch break today. The subject of one article in particular was about a project called Bead It Forward, a bead quilting project that when completed will be donated to Bead Artists Against Breast Cancer for their annual auction. The woman behind this project is not only a very talented beader, but also a very driven and caring human being who should be an inspiration to all. Her name is Jeanette Shanigan, and her website is http://shanigansbeadshenanigans.com/index.html . The bead quilt is not only for a great cause, but it looks a lot of fun to make. The link above provides detailed information on the project, rules, patterns, as well as pictures of submissions for this year’s quilts and the quilts from 2007. People are invited to donated 1 1/2 squares of a beaded quilt piece to go towards the finished quilt. Each donator is asked to submit 1 square and pass three fabric pieces out to 3 other beaders to complete. The deadline this year is April 1st, 2008. Of course more than 1 square is welcome. This year’s quilt theme is “Life is beautiful like the rose, but beware of thorns.” so all the quilt pieces are of roses.

I’ve never done a quilt piece before, and generally I am not fond of bead embroidery, but I’ve done things similar and I’m determined to contribute to this cause. I’ve made projects that seem much more complicated, and they have free patterns available for children, so how hard could it be for me? Right? Right! I really want to have a little craft party with people to make a bunch of these, NOW, haha. Unfortunately, that would be a little hard with the holidays coming right up, my sister’s wedding in December, and my husband and I’s move in January. Maybe I’ll be able to get together with a few people sooner, but I plan to do a big party with all the crafty folk I know once we’re settled in our new home. I’m going to look into the other kinds of bead crafts that can be donated, that way we can have fun creating all types of pieces to share. I also want to make a bunch of beads to donate to Beads of Courage, a program that gives beads to children struggling in the fight against cancer a special bead to track each hardship they have overcome.

This weekend I am going to make a visit to the craft/fabric store in search of the specific fabric that is supposed to be used for the base of the quilt piece, white pellon peltex 70 ultra firm stabilizer. I am already learning things from this project because I had no idea there was a specific type of stuff you were supposed to use for this kind of thing. I used stiff felt for the 3D hummingbird I made my grandmother for her birthday earlier this year (I have to go visit and take a picture so I can post it). I wonder what the difference is. I guess I won’t have to wonder long though since “this weekend” starts tomorrow, hehe!

I will post pictures of the quilt pieces I make as I am working on them, and when they’re completed. That way anyone who’s interested can see what the process looks like. This will be interesting considering they’re roses. I usually get stuck even drawing a rose, so I may need to have someone sketch something for me to work off of.

Wish me luck and Bead It Forward!

Haven’t blogged in awhile. I was holding off a bit so things wouldn’t be so old once the Gallery page got fixed up a bit. Thanks to the hubby for getting it all organized. The next step is being able to put additional info about the pieces (i.e. what they’re made) of underneath the pictures, but I’ll be working on that and keeping up the blog.

I honor of the holiday tomorrow here are the Halloween earrings I made a few years ago. They’re fun little ones made out of buttons and seed beads. The Dancing Skeletons are my favorite!

Happy Halloween!!!

It wasn’t until I was about done cleaning out and organizing my bead board case and my “recent” (haha) purchases that it dawned on me… [Read more →]

A good portion of my work is now available for viewing in the Gallery. [Read more →]

So, here it is, MandaMade.com the beading blog. Enjoy!! Love, kisses, and many thanks to my husband for putting up with my picky choices and getting the site all set up for me (and then redoing it when we found it wouldn‘t work quite like we wanted for people viewing with “normal“ sized computer screens)!

[Read more →]