Colorful Button Bracelet

Button Bracelet

  Supplies Needed:
1mm cotton cording 20" in length, 1" ceramic owl button, 1 large ceramic flower button, 5 assorted 3/4" ceramic buttons, 6-8 asst. vintage buttons with shanks, approximately 30 asst color size 6 seed beads

 Start by threading the cording through the button so there is an equal amount of cording on each side of the holes.

Tie a knot just behind the button holes. Approximately and inch after the button, tie a second knot. Thread a button onto one cord and tie a knot directly behind it.

Note about knots: I used whatever type of knot seemed to fit the situation, there's no right or wrong knot.

On the opposite cord of the first button, string on a ceramic button. To do this slide the cord through the back of the button and then back through the front. Tie a knot. On one cord string a few seed beads. String a vintage button on the remaining cord.

Continue stringing buttons and seed beads, making sure to tie knots in between adding items. When you are about to reach the halfway point in the bracelet, even up the stringing on the cords buy adding seed beads and then tying a knot. This time string both cords through the back of the flower, out the front, and back through to the back.

Continue stringing the bracelet as you did the first half of the bracelet until you reach the desired length. Tie the two ends together.

Tie a second knot approximately and inch further down. Before pulling the knot snug, be sure the owl button will fit through the hole.

String a bead on each cord and secure with a knot. Trim the excess cording.

 Enjoy your bracelet!

Art Beads in Bead Star 2012!

Voting for Bead Star 2012 is now open! Bead Star is a jewelry design contest that consists of 7 main categories: Ceramics, Crystals, Plastics, Glass, Metals, Pearls and Stones. Members of the Beading Daily community can vote for their favorites in each category. The designs with the most votes wins! The winning designs in each category will be featured in the Winter 2012 issue of Jewelry Stringing Magazine.

I've gathered together jewelry designs incorporating art beads in each category of the contest. Let's rally for art beads! Support these bead artists and the jewelry designers who create with their art. YOU have the power to help these artists win prizes and showcase their work in Jewelry Stringing magazine!

To cast your vote, you must be signed into BeadingDaily.com. Then, click on the design titles under each of the category photos listed below. Hurry, voting is only open til May 28th!

Ceramics Category

1. Coffee Time Necklace, ceramic beads and pendant by Gaea.
2. Love Is Grand, ceramic beads and handmade pendant by Gaea.
3. Art Nouveau Raku, ceramic pendant by Clay River Designs.
4. Wishing, ceramic beads and components by the following artists: Michelle Johnston, Elaine Ray, Round Rabbit, Kylie Parry, Diane Hawkey, Marsha Neal, Jean Christen.

5. Bird Song, ceramic beads by Karen Totten.
6. Spice of Life, ceramic beads by Keith O'Connor.

Plastics Category

1. Happiness, Polymer clay component by Heather Wynn Millican.

2. Bohemian Bracelet, copper washer focal by Miss Fickle Media.

3. Stoneware, polymer clay components by Jeannie K. Dukic.

Glass Category

1. The Bionic Heart Necklace, glass beads and components by Cassie Donlen.

2. Unbridled Fantasy, lampwork beads and discs by Pinocean, bronze horse clasp by Cynthia Thornton.

Metals Category

1. Rain Garden Bracelet, metal and glass components by Cassie Donlen.

2. Metal Menagerie, fine silver square ring and bead caps by Kate McKinnon, pewter toggle bar and bead by Mamacita Beadworks.

Pearls Category

Gin Blossom Bracelet, polymer clay focal by Jeannie K. Dukic.

Stones Category

Glamour Moss Bracelet, lampwork beads by Cassie Donlen.

Did I miss you? If you used art beads in your Bead Star 2012 entry and you do not see your piece above. Let us know in the comments and I can post a follow-up.

Thank you for voting!

 

Erin Siegel is a jewelry designer, beading instructor and co-author of the forth-coming jewelry book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords. To find out more, visit her blog, Erin Siegel Jewelry.  

Featured Designer: Cece Cormier

Each Monday Oops! This week on Tuesday(Sorry about that. Was wrapped up in a baseball game for my son. We won! 20-1!) the Art Bead Scene features a Designer of the Week.

One of our editors picks her favorite from the Monthly Challenge entries.

This week's featured designer is....

Cece Cormier, The Beading Yogini

Here is what ABS editor, Erin Prais-Hintz said about Cece's pretty necklace:

"I am just in love with the little house that Miss Cece made. She repurposed some found objects like an old metal tin, lampwork glass head pin and teeny tiny nuts and bolts! Cece says 'my own ordinary home is my sanctuary and holds my heart and soul safely.' I think that this special touch makes her necklace so intimately personal and a really great design."

Link Library with Melanie

  In this free project post from the archives, Heather shows how to make these colorful and inexpensive earrings.


Here are some of the things our beady friends are working on this week:

A Bead A Day
Summertime fun projects abound! Lisa shares a little kumbaya to welcome the new season.

About.com Jewelry Making
Summer time is the perfect time to consider making Bohemian style jewelry, and Tammy gives you her take on a new book recently released that is full of Bohemian style jewelry techniques and designs.

Art Bead Scene
Tari shows off her colorful garden, a clear source of pride and inspiration in her life and artwork

Beading Arts
Here's a great way to stretch out your more expensive beads to get greater impact!

Carmi's Art/Life World
A kumihimo cord showcases a Mary Harding pendant.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Andrew Thornton creates a special kit for Lima Beads featuing Earthenwood birdies for a great springtime challenge!

Resin Crafts!
Jewelry Resin is a great way to repair a mistake!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!
Jean tries very hard not to say,"Wow am I busy!"... because, of course, so is everyone else! But in this post she gives up and admits what a zoo it has been here. Read to see why!  

Melanie Brooks is the ceramic beadmaker behind Earthenwood Studio, who blogs from her Metro Detroit, Michigan home.

Studio Saturday with Erin Prais-Hintz

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard.
The following week we choose a random winner.

This week's winner is Jill aka The Beading Mommy
Congratulations! You have won a ceramic house button from Tari Sasser of Creative Impressions in Clay. Send Tari an e-mail with your address and she will get it out to you as soon as possible!

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This week we visit the studio of

Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati Jewelry.

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Unwritten

No one else can speak the words on your lips.

Drench yourself in words unspoken.

Live your life with arms wide open.

Today is where your book begins.

The rest is still unwritten. 

~ Natasha Bedingfield

This month has been all about the story for me. I am honored that the sweet ladies at Vintaj chose me to represent their May theme of 'storybook' for their monthly Art Bead Partnership. Vintaj has been important to me in telling my own creative story and this month has been such a delight for me!

{imagine - castle - available on Etsy}

I created nine new limited edition 'simple truths' designs to go with the storybook/fairy tale theme. I also had a lovely interview with the ladies at Vintaj and posted a video blog of where my creative story lives... in my basement... late, late, late at night... with chaos all around (try not to laugh too hard at my space ;-)

To wrap up this fairy-tale-come-true for me, and to keep to the theme of this month with my quarterly Challenge of Literature (there are 34 really talented people playing with me to reveal their literature inspired creations on a blog hop on May 31st!), I thought I should do something a bit fun.

{storybook story beads - limited edition phrases - available on Etsy}

So I started a with progressive story starter on my blog post here, and invited my readers to add to the story, line by line, in the comments. Not only are there some incredibly creative jewelry designers, but there are some skilled storytellers as well! 

{happily ever after - available on Etsy}

So far there are magic hats, and quilts and keys... dragons and owls and fairies... a princess named Angelina and a Lady Erina ;-)... a castle on the edge of a forest in Wisconsin... and all sorts of creative twists and turns.

You still have time to add your line to the story...

The comments on this post will be open just through today, Saturday, May 12th.

{write your own happy ending - available on Etsy}

To sweeten the deal to entice you to comment, I am giving away a very special prize on my blog to a random comment on this post. Want to know what it is? Go and check it out! There is no limit on the number of comments  you can leave, the only rule is that you have to keep the story going! Next week  I will see if I can pull all the comments and compile the story including writing my own happy ending!

{tales they tell - tulips - available on Etsy}

But I need to gift a lucky reader of Art Bead Scene with a prize today as well. I will give away one of the 'tales they tell' tulip pendants pictured above to a random comment on this post.
To win, all you need to do is answer this question...

Every person has a tale to tell and every art bead can tell it.

Which art bead artist(s) do you feel could tell YOUR tale best with their artisan components?

Erin Prais-Hintz invites you to go on a journey of inspiration at her blog Treasures Found :: Inspiration is Everywhere. You can view a gallery of her work at http://www.tesoritrovati.com/ or purchase her new line of 'Simple Truths' in her Etsy shop.

Lucky Mom Bracelet - Free Project

I love the saying, "There is one perfect child. Every mother has one." I am pretty sure I have two. When my little ones ask "What was it like when you were my age?", It just melts my heart and I feel so lucky to be able to answer them. My grandmother had a charm bracelet that would mesmerize me. When I asked, sometimes the charm had a special story "We were on vacation in Mexico..." or "Your mother picked that out with grandpa for my birthday." Other times the memory was not so clear...

The memory of that bracelet made me think how lucky I am as a mom. The little sweet thing our children say and do, tinkle and shine like little charms in our hearts.

As a parent, I am far from perfect, but I am perfectly lucky.

Lucky Mom Bracelet

Supplies:

Lucky pewter charm
Ceramic bird charm

3 ceramic heart charms

Kiss charm

7 polymer spacer beads

16 ceramic mini beads
6 jump/split rings
2 crimp beads
2 crimp covers
Stringing wire
Copper hook and ring

Tools:
Wire cutters
Crimp tool

Love

1. Add jump/split rings to charms and arrange your beads and charms into a balanced design.

2. Attach stringing wire to copper hook with a crimp bead. Cover crimp with crimp cover.

3. String beads and charms onto wire and add copper ring after final bead.

4. Close with crimp bead and cover.

Lucky charm: http://www.greengirlstudios.com/
Bird charm: http://www.earthenwoodstudio.com/
Polymer spacer beads: http://www.humblebeads.etsy.com/
Ceramic beads and charms: http://www.gaea.cc/

I am lucky to have many special memories with my mom and grand mother. What special jewelry memories do you have with yours?

Our Theme Song

Because today, I think we all need a good laugh. 

I love you guys - thanks for stopping by and reading the ABS everyday!