Beaded Fantasies Bead Along

A few weeks ago it was proposed to me that I should do a bead along and use the book Beaded Fantasies as my guide. After much thought I decided to do so.  A bead along is basically this...you do a set pattern and you have a specific amount of time to do it. Once you have completed the project you post a picture of it for everyone to see. The great thing about the "age of internet" is that people from all over the world can connect in one place and be able to do something together. It is my hope that with this bead along people will learn new techniques and get many ideas on different color combinations they can use. I also like to do bead alongs because we can communicate and discuss things we like or don't like about a pattern or ways that we might could change it. 

For this bead along we will be using Beaded Fantasies by Sabine Lippert. It is her brand new book that just came out about 2 months ago. We will start on July 1st. Participants will have 2 weeks to complete the project.  Once finished please post a picture on our Off the Beaded Path facebook wall telling what colors you used in your piece. I also ask that you email your pictures to me along with the list of colors used and what you did or didn't like about the pattern so that I can post the pictures here on the blog. Facebook is great but if you don't check it everyday it's easy to miss important notes or pictures. Listed below are the projects to be completed and the timeline. I tried to choose 8 patterns that were easy but would teach new skills. I made sure to put the hardest last. I only picked 8 because I wanted to be done with our projects before the holidays started. 

START: July 1st                                      Pictures and comments due by:
Page 30 Grace Bracelet                             July 15th
Page 36 XXOXX Bracelet                        July 29th
Page 45 La Fleur Bracelet                        August 12th
Page 49  Queenie Bracelet                        August 26th
Page 74 Double Star Earrings                  September 9th
Page 77 Milady Pendant                          September 23rd
Page 91  Scheherezade Pendant              October 7th
Page 121 Sparkling Tops Necklace         October 21st

The great thing about doing this Bead Along is that there are no rules.  If you can't get a project done in time....no problem. Can't do a project....no problem. Can't afford to do a certain project....no problem.  If you don't want to join in on the bead along you can always watch and enjoy all the great beading that will be going on.  I hope that a lot of you will be able to do this bead along and I hope we learn lots of new techniques along the way.

And I know someone is going to ask....I can't do videos on how to do these projects.  This is Sabine's book and I don't have permission to do videos.  Don't worry though....we will all get through this together.  Give the projects a try. Challenge yourself.

Beaded Fantasies by Crissy

One of my friends Crissy stopped by the shop this week and showed me the goodies she had made from the Beaded Fantasies Book.  Below is the pieces and the pages that she worked on.  Great work Crissy!

Morning Workout

On Wednesday and Friday mornings I meet with my personal trainer. I seriously can't believe that I pay someone to kick my butt for 30 minutes! But my body is toning up and I defently couldn't do that on my own because I know I wouldn't get my butt out of bed and go workout without knowing Phillip wouldn't be there waiting. So the whole point of me telling you this Is to tell you about my new favorite breakfast food. Dannon has came out with a new yogurt that is called Toasted Coconut Vanilla and they also have a Pineapple Coconut that is divine! If you have not tried I yet and you like yogurt then you must add it to your grocery list!

In other news, Crissy came by yesterday and showed me a lot of new things that she had made out of the Beaded Fantasies book so look for new pics tomorrow




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Days like today.....

Days like today drive me crazy.  For some reason I woke up stressed and anxious about the day.  I'm not sure why or what causes it.  Maybe its just part of owning your own business. I woke up worried about kits and emails and tutorials and just life in general. This doesn't happen often but when it does I'm stressed and off my rocker for the rest of the day. I'm going to go and watch the Season Finale of Bethany Ever After and hopefully that will destress me a little bit for the day.......

Been working on new videos today!

Today was spent working on new videos and listing new items in our etsy store.  I decided while we were at the beach that I was going to be more in depth with my videos not only for the online community but for my locals.  The first picture is of the 4 color ways that I came up with for this weeks video.  This week's video is called the Dazzling Dome Ring.  I came up with this new ring when trying to come up with something to use a larger montee with. I have already listed a tutorial and kits on our etsy page.

The blue earrings below are one's that I created this weekend. This is next week's free video.

I also worked and listed the 3 new kits for the Carolina's in the Morning Bracelet.

And finally I worked on a custom order for a customer.  She is going to wear this to her wedding.

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA this week but boy has it been busy!  I got home from vacation Monday and I've been running ever since.  It all started on our way home.... We have been looking at buying a new car in the last few weeks. I knew what I wanted but finding it was the hard part.  I wanted a Kia Soul Exclamation but they are like finding a needle in a hay stack.  I found one a few weeks ago but it was red and I really wanted green.  We stopped at a really big Kia dealership on the way home and I found my car!  I was so happy.  Hard part was that we had to completely unpack the old car and transfer everything over to the new car.  The picture below is of us driving off the lot.  I really wish you could see how full the car was when we left!

Once I got home I started working on new patterns, kits, and special orders.  I did a lot of thinking at the beach about my business and the direction I wanted to go in.  I made the decision to focus more on my online video, sales, and kits rather than worrying about our local economy and lack of local support.  I love doing my videos and I love the feed back I get from all of you.  So with that being said I also did a lot of thinking about my videos.  I am still going to do them but they are going to be better!  Starting with the next video, I am going to do the project and show at least 4 color samples so that people can see different colors and materials being used.  Once the video is loaded on youtube I will then upload a PDF pattern for sale at a discounted price in our etsy store.  The PDF patterns are great for people who like to have a pattern in front of them.  I know I like to have one in front of me!  Even though the pattern will be at a discounted price you can still expect to see my great step by step patterns with wonderful color pictures. We will also be listing kits in our etsy store for the color ways that you will see in the videos.  By doing this I am hoping to help the customers who have a hard time picking out colors.

By making the decision I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.  I still have a few other things to work out but all in all i feel like i'm on the right track.

I want to share some pictures with you of some more projects that have been made from the Beaded Fantasies book.  One of my favorite customer Laurie bought the book about 2 weeks ago and tackled the book cover project. She did a great job and it turned out wonderful!

Kim also worked on the project from Page 18 and this is the result:

Beach Fest

What a weekend it's been! Sammy, my friend Gina, and I went to Myrtle Beach SC this weekend to go to Beach Fest. It featured all sorts of wonderful Christian artists. We had a blast! It was so great to be able to see the beach, be with two of my best friends, and fill my spirit being filled and rejuvenated. I hate to have to to go home tomorrow but we must. Im excited though because when we get home I'm on the hunt for a new car!


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