5 Ways to Spark Bead Creativity

I think many beaders want to believe that if we owned bead stores, we would have never-ending inspiration every day. And most bead store owners would tell you that when you run your own brick and mortar business, you don’t have time to bead. The truth is, no matter how well stocked we are, gaps in inspiration can happen at any time. Sometimes we just run out of ideas, or out of creative energy. I often get stuck in a rut when I try to make something that I don’t find enjoyable, and before I know it I’m in full procrastination mode. It can take days or even weeks until I’m ready to do anything creative again.

Since this is something that has happened to me often over the years, I’ve discovered a lot of little tricks for getting the beads rolling again. Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge; other times you need a complete creative detox and reset. These methods have worked for me time and again.

5. Browse Your Favorite Sites

The easiest and cheapest way to spark a little creativity is to do some artistic window shopping. Check out what other artists are making, look at the designs in museums and catalogues, browse interesting color palettes and patterns, or just ogle beads until something fires you up.

Your favorite bead shops, Pinterest, fashion mag sites, and museum catalogues are a great place to start. A lot of sites offer a little more in the form of interaction, where you can play with the inspirations and see what happens. I like ColourLovers.com and Pantone.com when I want to experiment.

Browse and Create Color Palettes on COLOURLovers.com

4. Flip Through Some Pages

Books and magazines always offer a wealth of inspiration, whether you buy or borrow. Your public library likely has a great selection of jewelry, beading, and craft books, as well as back issues of craft and fashion magazines. If you subscribe – or have ever subscribed – to magazines or catalogues, all you have to do is haul out your back issues and start flipping. You’re bound to find something that calls out to be beaded.

If, like me, you have a lot of beading magazines from years ago, you can go back and try out projects and techniques that you once overlooked. I tried this earlier this year, and it worked so well I haven't had to go back to it since! If you're not ready to commit your bead stash to old projects, you could always peruse the ads for new material and color ideas.

3. Make Collages

Making digital collages like those you can tinker with on Pantone and ColourLovers is a great way to spark creativity, but nothing beats the good old fashioned scissors and glue stick collage. Almost any type of magazine or catalogue will do to make an inspiration collage. Cut out any pictures that speak to you and arrange them together to get a palette of ideas to help you on your way to new designs. And don’t overlook the potential of ads for color and pattern ideas!

Once you’ve made a few collages, you can hole-punch them and store them in a binder for future use, or wallpaper your creative space for inspiration at any time of the day or night. If you want to skip the arranging step, you can also paste whole pictures and snippets in a scrapbook or sketchbook. As an added bonus, collage-making can often lead to sketching, which is a great way to experiment and plan new design ideas.

Lime Lizard by mortira featuring modern home decor

2. Try Something New

When all else fails, grabbing some new beads is a great way to get your designs flowing again. Even if the project doesn’t work out, you’re bound to come up with other ideas while you’re working. Beads are just too exciting to ignore! You don’t have to go outside of your normal comfort zone when trying out new beads. A new color, shape, or finish in a style you’re already familiar with is often enough to rev things up.

There are also zillions of tutorials out there to try when you need a little boost. Whether you choose a free project or purchase one from an instructor, working from someone else's pattern gives your creative side a chance to relax and reset. By the time you’ve finished the project, you’ll likely have a whole to-do list to look forward to.

The Necklace a Day Challenge

1. Challenge Yourself

By far my favorite way to start new inspirations and keep them going is with a challenge. Big or small, they never fail to give me a reason to bead (and learn new things along the way). It’s important to set a challenge that you want to do, and that you have the time and resources to stick with. While there’s plenty to be learned from failure, a successful challenge is much more exciting.

There’s no exact way to go about creating a challenge, but the easiest way to start is to pick something you want to repeat on some scale and set a time limit to do it in. It could be variations in a single design, or a variety of designs based on a theme. It could be a once-a-day challenge, or creating X number of projects by a certain date. Pretty much anything goes! Chronicling your challenge, whether in a journal or online, is a great way to stay motivated, too.

What’s your favorite way to deal with a creative slump?

Mortira

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Bead Surprise Inspiration from Blueberry Cove Beads

New inspirations are a constant quest for beaders, and one of the best ways to find them is to try out new materials. But whether we shop in a store or online, the choices can often be overwhelming. It can be difficult not only to choose a few new beads from the thousands available, but also to coordinate our choices in a way that will make a great piece of jewelry.

At Blueberry Cove Beads, a lot of the guesswork in finding new beads to try is done for you, and comes with the added bonus of a delightful surprise. This new bead subscription service offers hungry beaders with gorgeous ensembles that are perfectly coordinated, in quantities that allow you to make multiple pieces with a variety of techniques. When you subscribe, a box of gorgeous beads will be sent to you each month, featuring a fun theme with materials that are easy to mix and match. Subscriptions are available in 3, 6, in 12 month packs. You can also purchase single boxes from past months, or a mini box featuring a few essentials from each theme.

Each month’s box is reasonably priced, and you get a lot of beads to mix with your stash. Pictured here is just a small sampling of the pieces from the September 2015 pack “Autumn”. The combinations of orange, yellow, dark red, brown, and copper are totally mouthwatering. When I opened my packaged I wanted to drop everything and start creating! There are several types and sizes of beads included, as well as findings that perfectly evoke the month’s theme. My favorites from this pack are the orange shell pendants and the amazing strand of orange glass beads.

The full contents of each month’s bead box aren’t revealed until after they’ve shipped out to subscribers, so you’ll get a wonderful surprise whenever your package arrives. Your beads come in a pretty drawstring bag, ready to use however you like. You’ll also get a pretty postcard to match the theme, which also contains a beading challenge. If you make something with your beads that fits the challenge, you can enter it in a draw to win your next month free!

Want to give it a try? Purchase a box or subscription from Blueberry Cove Beads by November 3rd to get the next available pack. When you subscribe, payment for each new themed bead box is deducted on the 3rd of each month, so you’ll never miss a batch of inspiration!

I would like to thank Blueberry Cove beads for allowing me to sample one of their amazing bead boxes. Inspirational Beading has not received compensation for including products in this post. Subscriptions are currently available for Canada and US residents.

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Blueberry Cove Beads
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Three Beading Quick Fixes

When you’re passionate about something, you tend to take it pretty seriously. If you eat, sleep, and breathe jewelry making, you probably want to make sure that you always have the best tools and materials, and that your techniques are the best they can be. But when it comes to the little things, sometimes you really just need to go MacGyver to get the job done. These are some of my favorite little tricks for making a day at the workbench go smoothly.

What would MacGyver do?

Broken Needle Disposal

No matter what kind of needle you like to use, chances are that it will eventually be too bendy to use. Sometimes needles snap - if you’re fond of Cellini spiral this might happen to you a lot - and sometimes the eye will give out. It doesn’t happen very often, so saving up needle scraps for salvage isn’t exactly an appealing idea. You can’t just toss them into the trash, either - who knows where they’ll end up?

To make a broken or otherwise useless needle safe for disposal, all you need is a few centimeters of clear tape. Use whatever you’ve got on hand to seal the sharp scraps in a little envelope of adhesive, and you won’t have to worry about it poking out of the trash or ending up in your vacuum cleaner.

Sharpening Scissors

Whether you use Fireline or Nymo, sharp scissors are essential to prevent frayed threads, and give clean cuts when you’re trimming tails. If you’re like me - without the time or patience to visit a scissor sharpening service - you can freshen up your blades right at home in minutes, practically for free.

All you need is a foot or so of aluminum foil from your kitchen drawer. Fold the sheet in half three or four times to get a thick sheet. Then snip it several times with your scissors, using a single cut (don’t saw right across the foil). Give the blades a quick rinse and dry, and they’ll be ready to cut threads clean again. The results don’t last as long as a professional sharpening, but the convenience is worth regular re-dos.

Extending Battery Life

I always use rechargeable batteries in my digital camera. They’re incredibly expensive, although they stand up to the demands of a digital camera really well and pay for themselves after only a few uses. I’ve only got the four that came with the charger, and I’m not ready to invest in any more. So when the second pair runs out of juice, my choices used to be borrow the batteries from the TV remote, or wait a day for mine to recharge.

Fortunately, good batteries never really die! A few weeks ago I was right in the middle of a shoot when the batteries gave out. On a whim, I pulled out the cells and swapped them. Placing the batteries in opposite slots (in the appropriate +/- positions, of course) provided just enough power for 20 or 30 more photos, not to mention saving a lot of time.

Do you have any quick fixes that you like to use to make beading easier?

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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Design Ethics for Beaders: Part One

We may not always realize it, but ethics are an important part of beading and jewelry design; and for every beader there comes a time to ask questions that don’t always have clear answers. These quandaries get even more complicated for those designers who use the internet to share their work, or to find inspiration. It’s not always easy to know where lines are drawn, and there are often shades of gray.

Whether you’re a brand new beader, or a seasoned designer, a little brush up on the do’s and don’ts of beading is never a bad idea. Today I’m going to cover some of the most common questions asked by beaders regarding published tutorials, and hopefully give some clear explanations for each. I can’t claim to be a definite expert in this sometimes treacherous area, and every country or region has different laws, and customs that will effect the unwritten rules. When in doubt, always do a little research, and let your conscience be your guide!

Part One: Magazines and Beading Books

Is it okay to make designs from magazine tutorials and beading books?

Absolutely! Each designer has their own motivation for sharing a design and tutorial in a publication, but the general purpose behind these beading how-to’s is to share new ideas and techniques, and encourage beaders to try new materials. They are there to help you learn, experiment, and develop your skills. They also help to sell more beads, which keeps the bead stores open and supplying us with our materials.

What can I do with designs I make from published projects?

Wear them, give them to friends, share a picture on your blog (with credit), or all of the above. Remember that the piece you make is yours, but the design is not. Unless you have permission from the designer, you can’t sell what you’ve made, donate it to a charity auction, enter it in a contest, or put its picture in your shop banner.

Many designers are open to the idea of beaders selling recreations of their designs, but you must get in touch with them and ask. Most magazines and books will include contact information for each designer, or you can contact the publisher for forwarding.

What if my project is different from the original?

This is where things get a little muddy. Even the most elaborate designs, when broken down, are made up of basic techniques and common materials. So it would seem that simply changing the bead colors or shapes, or adding an extra row of stitches would make a unique piece. In 99.9% of cases, a simple switch does not make a design unique from the tutorial. If you’re in doubt, it’s probably not different enough.

As disappointing as this can be, especially after you’ve put so much effort into making something, keep in mind that the tutorial you are using is intended to help you learn and experiment. The knowledge and experience you have gained by making the piece is more valuable than the selling price. You can take these ideas and make them your own, and the more experience you have, the easier it will be to tell the difference between inspiration and imitation.

But don’t the designers get paid for their tutorials?

Some magazines do pay a small fee to print original projects, but not always. When they do, they also have the designer sign a contract, which prohibits them from selling the tutorial or teaching it to others for a certain length of time. It’s almost impossible to get rich or even make a living selling tutorials to magazines and publishers.

As a community, beaders are very generous, and we’re lucky to have so many designers and teachers to guide and inspire us. While we are fortunate to have many free and inexpensive resources to draw from, our mentors deserve to be compensated for their time and experience, and to feel that their designs are in good hands.

What if I can figure out how to make a design without a tutorial?

Whether the artist has given instructions for a project or not, the design still belongs to them, and the same rules apply. When in doubt, consider how you would react if someone dissected one of your designs, and copied it for profit. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if it feels like stealing, it probably is.

What if I give credit to the designer?

We should always give credit where it is due, and when sharing a picture of your creation, or showing it off to your beading circle, dropping the designer’s and/or publication’s name is the way to go. The same goes for inspiration, if something you learned from a tutorial helped you to create a unique design of your own. However, giving the designer’s name doesn’t make it okay to sell copies of their work without permission.

How do you feel about beading ethics? I would love to hear your feedback on these topics, and your questions about these and other design dilemmas. Next time we’ll discuss online tutorials and the difference between technique and design.

Further reading:

Bead and Button Magazine Submission Guidelines
How to Write and Publish a Craft Book by Margot Potter
Ethics in Beadland by Mary J. Tafoya

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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Heart Shaped Beading Tutorials and Projects

As the universal symbol of love, devotion and passion, nothing beats a heart when you want to add a little charm to a design. There are so many different ways to add this fun shape to beadwork, from heart beads, to metal stamps, to beadwork patterns.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you might be inspired to use some variations of the heart theme in your designs. Though shades of red are a traditional color scheme at this time are year, any combination of colors that speaks to you can be combined with hearts to make beautiful designs.

I searched from some fun and fantastic heart tutorials and patterns, especially those that would work with more adventurous palettes at any time of the year. I’ll try to come up with some unique ways to mix up these patterns, and I hope you’ll make your own suggestions, too! Here are my favorites:

FusionBeads.com’s True Love Bracelet is a fun variation on the leather wrap bracelet. A sprinkling of opaque red glass hearts among ruby fire polish brings to mind cinnamon candies. I like the use of red cord in the original project for a cohesive look, but I prefer a little contrast. I would combine black leather with white or ivory hearts, and fire polish beads in emerald green.

For a fun, textured focal, Anna Nimmity’s felt heart pendant tutorial is a sure hit. Her version is suspended from a simple chain, but could also be combined with beads, silk, or cord for even more texture. I like the pattered red in the original project, but I think it would look fabulous in friendly yellow or an earthy mixture of green and brown.

One of the best things to come around at this time of year is the conversation heart. These little candies look too good to eat! Delighted Momma’s easy tutorial for making candy heart beads from polymer clay is perfect for satisfying a sweet tooth. Instead of a traditional rainbow of pastels, how about minty blues, whites and greens?

A swirled glass heart and luscious crystals combine with chain in this romantic necklace tutorial from Artbeads.com, entitled Everything for Love. For a more tropical approach to romance, I would combine a fiery orange heart with round glass beads in yellow and fruity green. Perhaps it would be called "Jungle Love"!

This beginner friendly Wild Heart Earrings tutorial from Beadaholique is eye-catching in Siam ruby crystals. The simple design leaves lots of room for embellishment, like additional bead dangles or some chain fringe for shoulder dusting Valentine earrings. Instead of red and black, why not turquoise and chocolate brown?

One more fantastic design from Fusionbeads.com, this Wild At Heart peyote stitch pattern is perfect for year-round wear. I love the starburst pattern in the background, which would look equally wild in green, purple and black.

For added Valentine’s fun, I also discovered these great projects:

Lori Greenberg demonstrates how to create a perfect
puffy heart lampwork bead in her fantastic tutorial.



Maria Nerius creates a fun and textural
heart pendant with needle punch techniques.



This Key to My Heart Necklace tutorial
from Little Birdie Secrets is great for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

What’s your favorite way to include hearts in your designs?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading and Friends
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Craft Space and Bead Storage Ideas

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to organize and de-clutter your craft space, you’re probably contemplating some new and improved storage solutions. Although we might fantasize about living in a bead store, since a never ending abundance of supplies in one big room would remove the need to constantly shuffle our stash around, it still wouldn’t help with the little things. Every opened package, cut strand, and salvaged treasure needs a home - preferably sorted by size, color, or shape! Add to that all the extra things that we need to keep on hand, like tools, packing materials and finished designs, the need for dependable and stress-free storage creates a never ending battle for beaders.

Today I want to share with you some of my favorite handmade and store bought storage ideas, plus a few more that I’ve discovered along the way. Many of these handy tools help to keep beading supplies together in a single limited space, and organized enough to know exactly where everything is. The less time you have to spend looking for things, or finding a home for new beads, the more time you can spend creating!

Tackle Trays

It’s interesting to note the little things that all hobbyists have in common, and one trip through a tackle shop or sporting goods store will give you a sense of connection with fishermen and fly-tyers. This is one of the best places to find affordable and reliable storage solutions for beads and jewelry components.

My personal favorite is the compartment tray, especially those with a variety of compartment sizes. These little trays can hold a lot of beads, don’t take up a lot of space, and are very stackable. Clear trays allow you to easily grab the beads that you need, but there’s always plenty of room for labels along the sides. One tiny spill can be a huge disaster though, so I like to store beads in their original packages, and use the compartments for organizing by size and color.

Traditional tackle boxes, like those with hinged, stacking trays inside, are also excellent for materials, tools and larger beads. The locking lids and handles also make them ideal for traveling and beading on the go. Smaller tackle containers like space saving jars are very handy for sorting and organizing small quantities of beads.

Cereal Boxes

Anyone who has ever visited an elementary school has probably seen magazines stored in cereal boxes, which help keep the flimsy booklets upright and easy to browse through. All you have to do is remove the top flaps and cut out a wedge from one side to make a handy book receptacle for beading magazines.

This easy upcycled solution is also great for storing and sorting supply invoices, tutorials and printouts, and packing materials like envelopes and tissue paper. The leftover box tops can also be cut and taped together, making handy bracers for storing beaded bangles.

Food Containers

Food containers of all shapes and sizes can make ideal homes for our materials and tools. Once they are thoroughly washed and dried, baby food and spice jars, dairy tubs, and even cookie trays can make a little space go a long way. To make containers absolutely spotless for bead and jewelry storage, I triple wash them with hot soapy water and a generous amount of baking soda. It works as a mild abrasive that also deodorizes and disinfects.

Totes

For a more professional feeling craft space, there are a wide variety of bead storage options available to choose from. Personally, I find a lot of them too fiddly for my taste, and each one has it’s limits for bead sizes and quantities. But for beaders who are on the move a lot, storage totes can provide both organization and security.

Bead Tube Tower by Beadsmith

Drawer Displays

I can’t say enough good things about these upcycled beauties. Even though we all know hanging isn’t good for beaded jewelry, it’s hard to resist these pretty little compartments. Something about them is just ideal for the magpie in all of us. In a studio, these refurbished printer drawers would make great displays or storage space for bead strands and hanks.

Jewelry Display by Blue Bird Heaven

Other fun vintage and upcycled options include commercial baking trays, science lab accessories, and sewing kits - thoroughly cleaned, of course.

Home Décor

If it has cubbies, hooks, shelves, or drawers, chances are it can be used for storing craft supplies. Any bed and bath or home improvement store will have a treasure trove of storage options for beading and craft spaces. Paper towel racks are great for spools of ribbon, cord and thread. Shoe caddies are just waiting to be filled with tools and other miscellany.

If you’re thinking about an overhaul of your craft space, the Crafty Storage blog might help give you some ideas for how to get organized. There are lots of great images of studios and storage ideas to get inspired with.

Do you have a fun or unusual way to store beads and jewelry?

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Jewelry Pricing Exercises

For the professional beader, one of the toughest business hurdles to overcome is learning to price designs. There is no perfect way to find a price tag for handmade jewelry, and each beader must find their own groove. I was recently asked for some advice on pricing beadwork, and I thought I’d pass on my tips and some pricing ideas to you.

Calculations

If you go to a beading or marketplace forum and ask for pricing advice, you will almost surely get several suggestions for using a pricing calculator or equation. There are a few different variations out there, and many artists - myself included - create their own. While I am definitely a believer in pricing equations, I also think it is important to use them with flexibility.

One of the most common calculations, particularly for simple jewelry designs, is: (Materials Cost) x 3 = Retail Price. Once you’ve worked out the cost of your materials, it’s easy enough to do. Remember that this includes all materials, including your thread or wire, and findings. And when calculating materials costs, you should use the replacement cost, not what you paid for it - or whichever is higher.

For example, if someone gives you a strand of pearls as a gift, you would still need to include the price of the pearls in your calculations for things you make with them, even though they were free to you. Or, perhaps you bought some buttons for 50 cents in the 1970’s, and are only getting around to using them now - even if they aren’t valuable collector’s items, it would still cost you more to replace the materials for future designs.

While the Materials x 3 formula certainly provides a lot of cushioning, it doesn’t include the amount of time or skill needed to make the finished piece. If you’re making copies of a similar design again and again, then this formula might work for you. However, if you’re making a lot of different jewelry styles, there could be a lack of balance in your prices.

Emerald, rhodochrosite and gold plated findings from Fire Mountain Gems

As an extreme example, let’s say that you make a simple pair of headpin earrings with gold and gemstones, and a long necklace with a detailed pattern of colorful vintage Lucite beads. The earrings take only a few minutes to make, and the final price is $99. The necklace takes a little over an hour to plan and string, but the price you calculate is only $21. Factoring your time into price calculations is not only more fair to you, but to your customers as well.

Vintage Lucite beads and stringing essentials from The Beadin’ Path

One other pricing formula that gets a lot of circulation includes materials costs, time spent designing and making the piece, overhead to cover business costs, and a hefty markup, which allows you to give discounts and sell bulk orders at wholesale. It goes something like this:

(Materials x 2) + (Hours invested x 20) = n

(n + 10% overhead) x 2 = Retail price

Even if you adjust this calculation to compensate your work time at minimum wage instead of $20 per hour, the results will be quite high. Though this calculation is ideal for finding a fair price for the artist, it doesn’t include factors like quality of work, the target market, or the artist’s ability or desire to reproduce the design many times.

Also, the amount of time it takes to make a piece can vary based on many factors, including your familiarity with the materials and techniques. For example, your first peyote stitch project might take days to complete. If you make the same design a year later, it will probably go much faster, but the work will be of better quality.

Whether you’re just starting to sell your work, or you’re curious about your pricing methods, I highly recommend using the above formula just to get an idea of what your work is worth. Remember that no matter what formula you use, or what the results are, you are in charge of your designs, and pricing is as much a personal choice as it is a business one. Using this calculation can help shock you out of the “who would pay for this?” mindset. Pricing your work too low can be more of a turn off to shoppers than pricing it too high.

Work Value

Just like finding your own design niche, pricing your work can often be a learn-by-doing experience. I didn’t discover that my jewelry prices were too low until I received several custom orders, and I had the work ahead of me, instead of behind.

To get an idea of what your work is worth, try pricing your designs before you’ve made them. As long as you have an idea of how long it will take, you can predict a price based on the amount of work you need to do. When you’ve already made a design, and are eager to sell it, it’s all too easy to decide on a price that you think someone might pay for it. This is were we undersell ourselves, because the work is already behind us.

After you have already made a design, and decided on a price, walk away for awhile. Later, imagine that a customer has asked you to make 3 new versions of it in different colors. You have x number of hours of work ahead, including buying materials, making the pieces, etc. Now consider your asking price. Is it enough of a reward at the end of the job? This exercise can really help you find prices that work for you, and unlike an equation, the way you feel about the design and your work becomes a factor.

Another worthwhile activity you can use to improve you perceptions of your own work is to donate something you've made to charity. An artist is often her own worst critic, and we can sometimes feel sheepish about asking others to pay for our designs. However, if you’re making something for a fundraiser, especially if it’s a cause that you are passionate about, the importance of quoting an accurate price makes it easier to place value on your work.

Do you use a special formula or method for pricing your beadwork? What do you like or dislike about pricing formulas?

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Digital Scrapbooking for Jewelry Designers

Whether your bead and jewelry creations are for business or pleasure, there comes a time when you want to share what you’ve made. Taking great photos is the first step, and once you’ve mastered that, the fun begins. There are so many ways to promote and show off your work both online and in person, from Flickr and Facebook, to graphic business cards.

With digital scrapbooking, you can turn your jewelry and beadwork photographs into beautiful presentations. And the best part is, you don’t need to take a class, or read tons of tutorials to learn how to do it. MyMemories digital scrapbooking software - developed by Polaroid - is incredibly user friendly. If you know how to use the programs that come with most home computers, you’ll be able to navigate MyMemories easily and create professional looking albums for your best work.

The MyMemories Suite comes with everything you might expect to find in a real scrapbooking studio. There are plenty of background “papers”, stickers, and embellishments. You can add ribbons, faux stitching and even graphic staples for an authentic scrapbook look. The studio comes with hundreds of options for decorating your albums, and you can also create your own elements.

Here's a basic designer template for traditional scrapbooking.
On the right, you can see some of the export, print and share options.
Just click to add photos, change the text and you're done!
You can also color, move, change or remove any element on your album pages,
to create presentations that are totally unique.

Beginners will love the pre-made designer templates for picture albums. You can choose your theme, and pick from a variety of page styles and layouts. Then all you have to do is click to add the photos that you want from your computer. Every element on an album page is dynamic - you can change sizes and shapes, move objects, switch colors, and add extra elements to every page. Once you get the hang of things, you can create your own album pages completely from scratch.

I created this custom layout using the built in papers and stickers.
The digital layouts are ideal for professional-looking craft presentations.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to try out MyMemories. As a professional beader, I’m always looking for new and unique ways to show off designs. Once you’ve created an album with MyMemories, you can transfer it to any material that is compatible with your printer. My favorite feature also allows you to create JPEG files of your individual album pages, and with these the possibilities are endless. You can use photos of your designs to make a Facebook landing page, a blog header, a video slideshow, or a professional-looking gallery.

Want to try it out? All Inspirational Beading readers are invited to try the MyMemories Suite at a discount of $10 using coupon code STMMMS31747. You can download the software instantly, and get started on your jewelry albums right away - you might even find some other fun ways to use it! To get an even better idea of how the MyMemories Suite works, and all the things it can do, check out this digital scrapbooking tutorial video by The Pink Toque, or browse through some user creations on the MyMemories Facebook page.

This layout was made with a designer template.
You can add your own text, or fill the area with
more pictures, embellishments, or color.

For one lucky reader, I also have one free copy of MyMemories to giveaway! I know sometimes beaders and scrapbookers are like oil and water, but I would love to see what a beader could do with all of these fun tools!

How to Enter

Take a look at some of the cool album extras and digital scrapbooking kits at MyMemories, then head back here and leave a comment with the name of your favorite scrapbooking theme, and how you would use it to showcase your designs.

If you do not have a Blogger profile with email contact enabled, please make sure to include a contact link - like your shop or website - with your comment, so I can let you know if you win!

One winner will be drawn at random on Thursday, September 29th. Good luck!

I would like to thank Story Rock Inc. for giving me the opportunity to try out MyMemories software. Inspirational Beading has not received compensation for featuring products in this review, however, using the coupon code STMMMS31747 to purchase MyMemories Suite v2.0 will earn a commission for Inspirational Beading. I have shared my sincere opinions of this product - it’s truly awesome!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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Favorite Bead and Button Projects

I recently participated in a forum discussion about the ethics of beading, and whether or not it’s okay to sell copies of designs made from magazine tutorials, and it really got me thinking. Not about ethics, though. The short answer to that question is no - selling copied designs is inappropriate. I would like to go into more detail on ethics for beaders here on Inspirational Beading, but I’ve been inspired. I found myself recalling all of the projects I tried and tested when I was starting out, and how much I’ve gained from the generous designers who share their ideas and methods with us.

So today, I thought it would be fun to look back at my favorite jewelry tutorials from the pages of Bead & Button. In my mind’s eye, I saw a list of about five or six projects. It wasn’t until I started going through my bookshelf that I realized just how many of these tutorials have helped me to become the beader I am today. The instruction and inspiration is priceless.

It’s interesting to look back at the designs that I learned from, and compare them to what I’m making now. Some of them are so different you’d never know there was any connection.

I’m going to list these projects chronologically, with as many references as I can. If your local library or literacy center carries back issues of Bead & Button, you might be able to track some of them down in their original form.

Bead & Button, August 2006

Issue #74, page 69
Creative Beading Vol. 2page 134

Bargello Necklace by Rebecca Peapples
Mimic Fine Needlework with Peyote Stitch

I absolutely loved the look of this necklace with it’s zig zag pattern. I had already gained plenty of practice with peyote stitch, and I thought this would be a fun way to experiment with different approaches to the technique. I created several versions of the necklace, with my own pattern variations and accents, and learned a lot about peyote stitch. I still have most of my creations, and wear them often in the spring and fall.

Issue #74, page 73
Creative Beading Vol. 2, page 165

Fragrant Beaded Beads by Deni Whaley
Add a Hint of Fragrance to Beaded Beads

Like a lot of beaders, beaded beads and sculptural beadwork were high on my learning checklist. This project was exactly what I needed to get started. The rolled felt base is easy and fun to embellish. I skipped the fragrance, and made a few variations to size and pattern. It was one of my first experiments with changing a tutorial to suit my own taste and skill.

Issue #74, page 116

Multistrand Paua Necklace by Julia Gerlach
Shell Donuts Accent a Multistrand Necklace

Bead & Button inspired a lot of my bead and material preferences early on, including a love of donuts. I don’t get to use them often, because I so rarely find them in materials that I’m willing to use. When I first saw this project, I was desperate to try the technique but didn’t have any donuts. So, I used circular peyote to make my own, and stitched a single strand, no clasp version. The idea evolved and grew, and now I’m sharing the technique with my circle peyote pendant tutorial.

Bead & Button, April 2007

Issue #78, page 72
Creative Beading Vol. 3page 200

Captured Cuff by Barbara Klann
Capture a Refined Cuff in Pearl or Crystal Netting

Even though I now read beading magazines mostly for inspiration - and blogging ideas - I am still most drawn to very simple beading projects. This cuff bracelet was incredibly alluring to me as a new beader. It’s bold and dramatic, but completely doable. I made two of my own, and learned that it’s okay to use lots and lots of beads for one project. I still have to remind myself once in awhile, though.

Issue #78, page 75

St. Petersburg Lariat and Pendant by Hatsumi Oshitani
Stitch a St. Petersburg Chain to Make a Feathery Lariat or Necklace

It took a long time to work up the courage to try this project, and I’m so glad that I finally did. St. Petersburg chain is one of my all time favorite techniques, and I use it often. This was also my first ever lariat project, and I’m quite fond of those, too. I think this tutorial has been one of the most valuable and inspiring that I’ve ever attempted and mastered.

Bead & Button, June 2007

Issue #79, page 84
Creative Beading Vol. 3, page 162

Defined Drape by Perie Brown
Drape Defines a Herringbone Scarf

Although I only attempted this project twice, and it helped to cement my fear of bugles, I still love everything about it. It also inspired my first big necklace - a netted scarf with starfish.

Bead & Button, August 2007

Issue #80, page 46

Meandering River of Beads by Karla Schafer
Lively Rows of Bubbling Beads

I loved the look of this bracelet, and it really bugged me that I couldn’t make my own, because I didn’t have access to the two-hole spacers used to create the curving shape. So I made my own, and the wavy wedges bracelet was born.

Issue #80, page 110
Creative Beading Vol. 3, page 104

Stripes Forever by Phyllis Dintenfass
Teardrop-shaped Fringe Beads Accent a Striped Bracelet

When I came across this project, I had only attempted flat right angle weave once, and I hated it. With careful, tight stitches, it still looked sloppy. Even the swatches in the instructions I used looked sloppy. So I had given up on ever using it. This project changed my mind. And because of the interlocking stitch variation, I was able to master RAW, and eventually incorporate it into my own designs.

Bead & Button, October 2007

Issue #81, page 72
Creative Beading Vol. 4page 190

Freeform Cuffs by Sue Sloan
Beading Without Boundaries

I never fully attempted this project. Freeform beadwork that isn’t open - like netting - still terrifies me to this day. But the project was so inspiring, and I think it helped to encourage my love of seed bead weaving around other beads, and adding accents whether they’re needed or not.

Bead & Button, April 2008

Issue #84, page 42
Creative Beading Vol. 4, page 112

Flight of Fancy by Pam Nichols
Easy-to-stitch Butterfly Bracelet

I never actually attempted this project. I was dying to, but I didn’t have access to all of the required materials until I had already started making my own designs, and I just never got around to trying it. These stitched butterflies made me ponder for the first time, that question every beader eventually asks. “When will I be able to come up with my own techniques and stitch combinations?”. The answer is pretty simple - when you no longer need magazines to tell you what to do.

Bead & Button, August 2008

Issue #86, page 34
Creative Beading Vol. 4, page 78

Change of Focus by Julie Riggs
Give a Russian Spiral Center Stage by Stringing it Between Chunky Accent Beads

This is another project that I never fully attempted, mostly because I’ve never had much interest in using beading wire and crimps. I did love the look of the Russian spiral at first sight though, and was happy to learn the technique. It’s so easy to do, and highly adaptable. This project also helped to inspire my secret adoration for Picasso finish seed beads.

Bead & Button, October 2008

Issue #87, page 38
Creative Beading Vol. 5page 82

Web of Silver by Marla Gulotta
A Bracelet Rich with Detail But Simple to Stitch

This is another project that I at first thought might be over my head. I’m glad I ignored that instinct and tried out the embellished tubular netting technique. It is one of the most beautiful beading stitches I’ve ever used, and helped to inspire my beaded strawberry pendant.

Bead & Button, February 2009

Issue #89, page 68
Creative Beading Vol. 5, page 162

Byzantine Translation by Sheryl Yanagi
Stitch a Beaded Version of Byzantine Chain Maille

I was so excited to try out this project. I love the look of chainmaille, but I could never try it without using metals. I soon discovered that chainmaille isn’t my thing, especially with seed beads. It’s much too fiddly. When I sit down to bead, I like to work continuously. The fewer times I have to pick up my scissors, the better. I still love the concept, and think every beader should give it a try at least once.

And that’s about where my own inspirations took off. I still pick up issues of Bead & Button at the library. Sometimes I’m even lucky enough to be there right when the previous issue becomes available to borrow. I enjoy seeing what other beaders are doing, and getting a heads up on new materials and books on the market. Believe it or not, the ads are now my favorite part. They are an excellent blogging resource.

Do you have a favorite or most memorable magazine project?

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading, Bead & Button Magazine, and Kalmbach Publishing
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