Free Holiday Gift Tags

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas. 

I was inspired to pull out my watercolors last night and make a new series of gift tags to share with everyone.

As you can imagine, my tree is filled with lots of special little boxes waiting for my nieces, sisters and daughters. We love wrapping gifts almost as much as we love making them. 

Download the gift tags here. 

Holiday Beads

Woodland Winter Inspirations:
Hand-knits, snowflakes, birch forests and evergreen trees, wreathes and mistletoe, tiny log cabins and holiday glad tidings.

Drinking cocoa, watching the snowflakes fall while bundled up under a quilt brings joy.

Family gatherings with laughter and sweet treats during the cold winter days warms the heart.

Festive decorations and glad tidings shared during the holidays.

Being a little elf and making gifts for friends near and far.

Walking in snowy forests, silent and still and knowing peace.

All my favorite things from the holidays rolled into this collection of beads. Can beads capture a little magic? I think so!

 

 

These have been in the works for a few weeks, but seeing the first snowfall of the season on Friday certainly put me in the mood to finish them. I will enjoy each moment of November and the last whispers of Autumn, as we should! But it's never too early to start planning those gifts.

You can find the collection over in my Etsy shop ready to ship out.

Chocolate, Beads and Love - Bonbon Bead Workshop

Chocolate, beads and love - they all produce the same chemical reaction in the brain, I'm sure of it! We've all had the rush of finding a swoon worthy bead, one that makes your heart beat a little faster when it's in the palm of your hand. Your head starts swimming with ideas and the possibilities of what to make with that tiny treasure.

Now think of a melt-in-your-mouth, melt-your-soul chocolate confection. My friend Erin introduced me to Moonstruck chocolates years ago and they are a bit of heaven on earth. Think of artisan treats lining a display case, each piece of handcrafted chocolate a delectable treat with delicate sugary details decorating their chocolate shells.

Imagine beads that look good enough to eat, each one displaying layers of leaves and flowers as a sweet bonbon. Like learning to create heavenly European chocolates, the secrets of these scrumptious Bonbon beads will be revealed in my next online beadmaking workshop. Sign up today to save your space and you'll be creating your own mouth-watering beads just in time for holiday gift-making!

Let's take a look at the color palettes of the beads that will be featured in the class:  

Bright and cheerful, these candy-cane inspired colors are fun and playful. They are elf-approved hues that are a jolly treat! These are the beads that will be making during the class and the recommended color palette to start. These beads will make whimsical ornaments and stocking stuffers for the young-at-heart on your gift list.

The Woodland Holiday color palette will feature chocolate browns, sage greens, cream, purple, copper and rose colors. This collection will work beautifully with rustic and earthy jewelry designs. They are florals that can be easily translated into non-holiday designs for those who are little more down-to-earth on your gift list.

Twinkling snow, frosted branches, glimmering icicles, the winter wonderland color palette captures the icy hues of the season in gold, creams and dreamy purple of twilight. Pair these beads up with pearls, golden-brass findings and shimmering crystals to create your own winter wonderland jewelry designs. Wear these gilded pieces to upcoming holiday parties.

Classics never go out of style and for the traditionalist I couldn't resit these red, green and gold creations that would bring instant holiday glam to any outfit during the season. These will also make beautiful ornaments, start checking off your gift list! I have the perfect ornament project included in the bonuses using these beads - they will be your go-to gift this year.

Can you hear Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies chiming in your head now? As visions of plum, violet and lavender dance in your head this color palette offers another non-holiday take on these bonbon beads. Purple, everyone loves it! And you can see by using a monochromatic color palette these beads are transformed into flowery designs that would look great for your bohemian chic jewelry creations, your garden-inspired designs or ultra-feminine jewelry.

You'll get the inside scoop with detailed videos taking you step-by-step in mixing colors, creating the leaves and flowers and decorating your beads. Along with the videos you'll have step-by-step written directions with photographs. You'll learn finishing tips to offer more design options - we love having options don't we? You'll discover the easy tricks I use for making beads in a flash and you'll soon master making your sweet bonbon beads and ready to transform them into jewelry and gifts.

And then you can dive into the 10 bonus projects featuring the bonbon beads. Because as lovely as a pile of beads are, seeing them in action and having great gift ideas can take tons of pressure off during this busy time of year. Create them into gifts to fill stockings and put under the tree, give as treasured presents during Hanukkah or design jewelry to wear to your holiday shindigs -  making this the class that keeps on giving!

Don't worry if you've never made a bead before, you will be a bonbon bead expert by the time you are finished with the class!

Sign up here and save your spot today - class starts on November 7th but you'll have lifetime access to the class and videos. Work at your own speed and schedule before the crazy holiday festivities begin!

Holiday Happenings

I have three holiday events that are fast approaching.

The first one is this weekend, Saturday November 12th from 10-5pm at Bead Quest in Grand Rapids, MI.

Bead Quest is hosting their annual holiday event with several artists and a crystal event.  It should be quite the party.  I am teaching my nest class in the morning and then from 2-5pm I'm signing books.  My beads will be available throughout the day.  I am making lots of the new holiday items, they flew out of my Etsy shop as fast I could make them this weekend.  I have a feeling they will do well at the open house too.

(Photo credit: Bead Quest)

And speaking of making things quickly, I'm also preparing to take items for the South Haven Art Center for their annual Mistletoe Market.  That is a holiday boutique that goes from November 18th until December 11th.  I'm making lots of impulse buy items: pendants, earrings, hair pins, etc - it's a tourist town that is pretty slow in the winter, but the artsy folks in the area brave the cold and support local artists.  Don't you just love that?  Ah, that makes me feel nostalgic - I remember shopping for Christmas gifts at the Mistletoe Market when I was in high school and then selling at the market for many years when I was a budding jewelry designer.  Oh, those were the salad days.

And finally, my last event of the year will be the Artist's Market at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts.  We used to do this show back in the day too.  Now the UICA is all spiffy in their new big building and it's their 23rd annual show.  This will be the show I pull out the big guns and get all super high end creative with designs like the ones in my book. 

I haven't even started to explore Grand Rapids.  There are all these hip little shops in my old neighborhood - it's totally urban chic.  I want to go check out The Sparrows coffee shop - okay, I just love the name.  There are some wonderful galleries and shops and I'd like to visit.  Hopefully at the beginning of December when I slow down a bit and we are all settled here in GR.  

Overwhelmed - nope, not really.  Way more excited about living my dream everyday and rising to the challenge.

"And you could say, because it’s your right to, that you’re feeling “overwhelmed”. 

But don’t. Don’t go there. 

Stay with me, on the light side of change and bursting creativity; on the front end of pressure, and greatness, and the best and worst kinds of challenges." 

From Danielle LaPorte, read the whole blog post here: Strike "Overwhelmed" From Your Vocabulary. (Via MissFickleMedia on twitter - thanks Shannon!)

Holiday Charms

Yesterday I made a collection of tiny holiday charms.  You can find a fun pendant project on the Art Bead Scene today showing this technique.  Here is one using a Vintaj Arte Metal blank.

Here are two more holiday variations - so cute and fun!

Another fun idea with the tiny charms is to create a wire nest to surround one, these are simple and quick.  I sent a few of them to the Kingman Art Museum in Battle Creek where you can find a lovely collection of Nature Inspired Jewelry during their trunk show.

And I'm adding to my nest egg this weekend and I'm offering a Holiday Preview Sale and Free Gift.  Today through Monday save 20% off in my Etsy shop using discount code: HolidayPreview.  And below is the free gift - yeah for gifts, whether you are getting them or making them!

P.S. Christmas music is playing in the background as I write this.  I can almost smell the pine trees from here.