EBW Midsummer Madness Sale!!!

The Etsy Beadweavers Team is putting on our first ever sale. Various team members are offering special deals during the week of July 21-27. You can find out what is being offered here!

My shop is offering 20% off the entire store.

Be sure to take advantage of all the limited time special offers by the whole EBW team! And remember, you can find beautiful, quality items any time from any of the stores represented.

New Bracelet

well... the cellini spiral has made no progress... just haven't been in the mood. SO I decided to try out something new. I've had these beautiful turquoise colored seed beads floating around my stash forever and just didn't know what to do with them. They screamed summer to me... but generally when I am bead weaving, I am using crystals, or single sized seed beads. It wasn't until recently that I realized (duh, I'm a bonehead) that mixing sizes can make some really cool designs. I see others using them together... but I thought that it would be WAY over my head.. plus at the rate I am going with the cellini spiral... I thought it would take me forever to make and complete something else, that intricate. I was totally wrong and so excited with the results I even got inspired enough to make a beaded clasp. (totally excited with how that turned out to!) So now I am feeling so inspired. Hopefully I can convince the DH to take the kids and LEAVE ME ALONE for a few hours, and see what I can come up with! I have not been excited about my progress lately, with listing new pieces in my shop, so hopefully this weekend I can bust out some new pieces and see what happens... some sales would be great. My hubby is forbidding me from buying any new beads until I sell something. (not that forbidding would actually stop me... but he tries..hehe) we shall see...

and the winner is....

Well we have a winner for the EBW monthly team challenge! What a hard choice it was. Everyone did such a great job! But this one stood out among the rest! SmadarsTreasure
was the winner this month, creating this beautiful cuff bracelet......
What a great job! Her craftsmanship is beautiful! Take a look at her shop on etsy. It is full of wonderful beadwoven pieces! Sure to catch your eye just like this prize winning piece did!
Congrats to everyone involved, you all did great! Can't wait to see what the next challenge holds!

VOTE!

Voting for the Etsy Beadweaver's July Challenge is now in progress!!!
Go to http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ to vote for your favorite entry.
This months challenge is a tough one! There are SO many beautiful entries, making the decision a VERY hard one!
I am so excited to be in a group with so many talented people! Good luck to everyone with entries! I am excited for next months challenge. It will be my first one. Trying to get a plan together. Hopefully I can find enough time to make something fun and exciting to enter!

Work in progress!

So I am infatuated with spirals right now... mainly because they seemed to be the easiest for me to learn, and I haven't had time to teach myself anything new... BUT I am still new to all this, and apparently I am still not done learning. My intentions for this piece was to be a bangle bracelet... apparently that is not what IT had in mind! Every time i try to curve it around my wrist for measurements it crinkles and folds in many unflattering ways.... so I am praying that I can continue with it, and turn it into a necklace.... but i am a very impatient person, and want it done NOW!!! (NOT going to happen with 3 kids under my heals... hopefully we have a good nap time today!)
I have SO many new ideas that I want to get started... but I know that if I put this piece down to start something else, I will move on and never come back... hopefully I will make some progress today... its dark and rainy, so my original plans are shot...got a very good tip that my pictures in my shop are um... not so good...(I am VERY grateful for the honesty) so my original plans were to get outside this morning and try and get some better more flattering shots... Guess this is a sign to stay in a finish a necklace... we will see...
here is my work in progress... would love to hear what you think and get some suggestions! Thanks!!

First try

I am pretty new to beadweaving... I have been weaving for a couple years now... but looking back I don't really consider it truly beadweaving... you know... the cutsie little one strand RAW bracelets.... nothing too complicated. It wasn't until recently that I really began to get into more complicated things. I most recently tried a Cellini spiral. I found an article online and tried it! I LOVED it! SO much fun! My husband thought I was crazy! He didn't understand how stitching one bead at a time could be relaxing. Its all about instant gratification for him! I tried to explain that it helps me unwind after a long day of chasing after my 3 girls... yes, sometimes when things get a little crazy I pop in a movie and pull out my beads and just pray the kids will watch while I try and catch my breath, and bead for a little while (never really works out... but I keep trying) but mostly, it is safest to wait till they are in bed. THEN I get down to business and try and get as much accomplished as I can. Things have been going SLOWLY in the beading dept here for me... but here are my 2 latest attempts.

Welcome!

Ok... so I am a little new to this whole blogging stuff! I'm actually not really sure what I am supposed to do on here... SSSSOOOOOOOOO... guess i will just introduce myself and then see what comes later!
My name is Amanda, I am a SAHM to 3 beautiful little girls, Lily, Izzy (Isabel... wanted a Belle, get an Izzy), and Chloe (ages 4,3 and 20mos). AND you can't forget the husband Allen. We have been married for a little over 4 years.
I guess you could say I have been beading forever (according to my parents)... but I would say that i have been really beading for 5 years, after my first stretch of being in the NICU with my oldest daughter Lily. Needed something to pass the time, and slowly it progressed from there. Seems like with each baby I had the more intricate my work got. So 4 pregnancies later, I am teaching myself different beadweaving techniques. It is by far my favorite part of beading!!!
I don't have as much time as I would like to bead, but I am slowly getting back to having more. I am so excited to see what kind of things I produce next. I am always looking for new techniques to try, and have so many stuck in my head right now, just waiting for that moment for me to sit down in front of my beads and get to work!