Book Review - 'Beading with Cabochons'

'Beading with Cabochons' by Jamie Cloud Eakin. I just got this book, Santa often comes early to our house. It's been out awhile, but I wasn't interested in off-loom stitching then. Now, there are just SO many things I want to try stitching.
The book is filled with eye candy, ideas, inspirations and instructions for a lot of projects. Available on Amazon at a very reasonable price. Don't miss this one.

Triangle of Joy

Triangles are fun and easy to do. And you can make a lot of things with them. This one will be an ornament. If you have never made a triangle want want to see it done, let me know and I'll post photo's. I'm making a second triangle like this one and then will be stitched together. Maybe some jingle bells or bows to embellish.

See how tightly Delicas fit together? So much nicer than seed beads. This is done with Delica 11/0's # 602 and 605. Both are silver lined and a little hard to photograph. I've included one with flash and one without.

Beaded Ornament Cover #2

Different pattern this time. I had a lot of these 11/0's silver lined green beads, so this one is loaded! These are Czech beads though and really gave me a new appreciation of Miyuki beads.
Czech beads really are NOT cheaper if the vary so much in size and shape that you end
up culling so many out of a package. What a waste.
The top is done in herringbone. The bicones are 6 and 12 mm and some white pearl drops.

Second Contest Giveaway

I'll be counting up the beads in the First Contest Giveaway and will announce the winner tonight.
I continue to de-stash some beads and here is the Second Contest Giveaway.
This is not a newly purchased item. I bought this several years ago. It's called Bead Bucket by Beadalon. It makes a handy little traveling container, but I quickly - quickly - outgrew it.
Besides storage inside the bucket, there are 5 detachable, storage boxes. You will win the container and all the beads show.

Your challenge, should you decide to accept it, is to guess the total number of beads in all 5 boxes.
Please read rules below and for those at the HIVE, guesses must be made here on the blog, not at
the HIVE so all participants can see the guesses.

1. First person to guess the exact number, (or comes closest without going over) of beads in this container wins.
2. Leave your guess in the comments below. First guess.
3. Become of a Follower of my Blog and leave a Second comment stating so and a Second Guess at the number of beads in the container.
3. If you blog about the contest on your blog, return here and leave a Third comment that you have blogged about the contest, a link to your blog, and leave your Third Guess in that comment.
4. Each Guess must be in 1st, 2d or 3rd separate post. If you read this on the Hive, you must
visit the blog and post comment here under this post. Guesses made on the Hive and not the actual blog will not be considered.
5. The contest will end on Dec 4, 10pm and winner announced within 2 days and mailed within 2 days from announcement. Any guesses made after
Dec 4 will not be considered.
6. Open to USA mailing addresses only. Sorry shipping anywhere else is just too darn expensive.

Good Luck

Alphabet R - Z

And here is the last of the alphabet. Give it a try. Here's wishing everyone a great Thanksgiving Day. Our forecast is for cold,windy and possibly snow flurries. Great day to stay inside and eat and eat - lol Enjoy! Enjoy!

Alphabet I - Q

If anyone makes use of these, I'd love to see photos of what you make.
I've got some teeny tiny jingle bells to work into a design next. Good thing
I bought lots of red and green seed beads last month.

Alphabet A - I in Peyote

Here's the start of the alphabet done in peyote. These are just small letters so they are good for personalizing a bracelet, ornaments, craft items and such. It is easy and works up quick.
Pattern created on the BeadCreatorPro program.

Christmas Ornament Cover

Here my dated Christmas Ornament Cover. I'll try working on an alphabet this weekend in case you'd like to try names on your. This is a pretty simple cover done in netting and swags. The center, of course, is peyote stitch. This one is done in 11/0's seed beads. I used #10 Silver Lined Flame and #284 White Lined Crystal AB (both Miyuki) and white pearl fringe beads. The little green holly leaves, I found at Michaels.

Christmas Bracelet Interchangeable

I made this last year, but never pictured the whole piece here. I made the bracelet in Herringbone stitch in frosted white delica beads (11/0's) with a touch of silver here and there. Then I made the snowflake and Christmas tree separately. Both the Christmas tree and the Snowflake feature Herringbone stitch. Each has a loop on the back, and each can be slid off and on the bracelet for two bracelets.

Cuff Bracelet Update - Cab Pt 5

Just an update - I have almost finished the right side embroidery. Just a bit more to fill it all in.
The left side will mirror the right and the center will be fill in also. Then it will be sewn over a 1 3/4" metal cuff bracelet form. It isn't as time consuming as I thought it would be. I've been working on it 10 minutes here and there. I'll have another update soon. I am really pleased with it so far.

Cab Along with Me....Pt 4

And now I have the third stone in place. And I have folded back the leather to fit around the cuff blank. Slightly marking the fold line. When I am finished with the embroidery portion, the two edges of the leather will be whipped stitched together on the underside of the leather. I will only bead embroider on the top portion. More tomorrow.

Cab Along with Me....Pt 3

The second of the large stones is in place, using steps in Part 1 and 2, and the third stone will be in place shortly. We'll fit the leather to the shape of the cuff form next. Then the background is filled in with free form embroidery stitches.

Cab Along with Me.....pt 2

Now I've added 3 rows of peyote stitch with 11/0's seed beads. This row should be as high as the cabochon is thick, so you made need a row more or less depending on the thickness of your
cabs. After the third row of 11/0's seed beads,
I switched to 11/0's delicas, which are slightly smaller. Keep tension tight. After the row of 11/o's delica's, I reduced again with 2 rows of 15/0's. Now the cabochon is securely encased against the leather base.

Cab Along with Me.....

Was that a Perry Como song? Oh, that was Dream Along with Me, sorry.
Our next adventure will be bead embroidery. This will eventually be a
cuff bracelet. I'm working on a lightweight piece of leather. I've outlined
the shapes of the cabochons on the leather and I've started to do the
stitching for the first stone. First, I'm outlining it with 11/0 seed beads.
Since the subsequent rows of beads around the cabochons will be in peyote
stitch, I'll make sure the first row has an even number of beads.

Stringing Along

I've been organizing my bead stash for more than a month now. Boxing everything in plastic storage boxes. You know those kind with little compartments. More on those later. Anyway,
I found these beads and I don't remember when or where I bought them, or what kind of stones
they are. I used my new Gizmo tool to make the wire coils.

Time in the Fall

Copper seem to call to me this fall. First a copper watch face, then a clasp. So copper was the natural color choice for the band, made up in herringbone stitch. I like the clasp so much, I thought it looked great next to the watch face instead of the normal spot. Glass autumn leaves were used to embellish the band for just a extra kick.

Halloween Jack o Lantern Bracelet

It's been finished for a couple of weeks but I didn't like my first photo attempt.
This is done in peyote stitch, graph is below in an older post. Graph was made
using BeadCreatorPro. Note my cute little black cat bead used in the closure.

Herringbone Used in Squares

And here we have herringbone stitch used to turn the corners in a square. Peyote stitch is
used between the corners.
The two black herringbone stitched loops will be used to attach the necklace portion for this piece.

Herringbone Used in Triangle

Using the larger elongated triangle, I've made a Christmas tree that can be made into
a pin, a pendant, or a component in a bracelet (You'll see in a future post). Note even the
star makes use of the herringbone stitch.