Giveaway: Chunky Herringbone Necklace Tutorial

For the past several weeks I’ve been puttering away at a brand new PDF tutorial for one of my favorite herringbone necklace designs. This project is great for showcasing larger accent beads and heavy fringe. I’ve used it to display everything from lampwork beads to beaded flowers, and it is the basis for some of my all time favorite designs. Even after many fun projects using this design, I've only just begun to explore the fun possibilities in dressing up the fringe. It's a great stash-busting project and a fun way to display a variety of beads.

The PDF tutorial for the Chunky Herringbone Fringe Necklace is finally complete, and is now available in my shop for instant download. The tutorial project features a striking colorblocked rope and bold wood bead accents. To celebrate the first of many new tutorials this year, I’m giving away one copy to a lucky reader!

How to Enter

To win a free copy of the Chunky Herringbone Fringe Necklace tutorial, simply leave a comment on this post letting us know what kinds of beads you would use in the fringe. I’d love to hear your ideas!

Important: Please make sure to include an email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win!

One winner will be drawn on Friday, April 29th. This giveaway is open to all international readers.

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This draw has closed.

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading

Glowing Jewelry Inspirations

Our latest bead giveaway has come to a close! Thank you so much to everyone who entered, and to Harvey at The Big Purple Barn for sponsoring the giveaway. Our winner was Abigail, who chose Antique Uranium Glass Spacers as her favorite beads from the shop. They are definitely a perfect example of the uniqueness in salvage and recycled glass beads.

Uranium Glass Beads by The Big Purple Barn

Uranium glass – sometimes referred to as Vaseline glass – was very popular in the first half of the 20th century. The uranium additives were used to achieve particular colors, but also gave the pieces the ability to glow under a black light. Production waned with the scarcity of uranium, turning the (minutely) radioactive glass designs into valuable collectables.

Inspired by the vintage appeal of these beads, I went on a hunt for some Jazz Age jewelry tutorials. Some of these could probably be adapted to include lampwork beads – either way, they’re fabulous. I was really hoping to find some projects inspired by Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, but I couldn’t seem to find any. Since I’m halfway through my second viewing of the series, I might have to come up with my own!

Art Deco Jet Necklace by Creativity in Pieces



Roaring 20's Chain Jewelry Tutorials by Rena Klingenberg



Great Gatsby Bracelet Tutorial by M&J Trimming

What’s your favorite art deco jewelry style?

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading and Friends

Bead Giveaway: Salvage Glass Lampwork

Some of the most coveted beads in the crafting world have one of two very special qualities: they’re unique or one-of-a-kind, like handmade lampwork beads, African batik beads, or natural semi-precious stones; or they have a story, like vintage French seed beads, African trade beads, and found objects. Our latest featured bead shop, The Big Purple Barn, offers gorgeous beads with both of these qualities. Harvey Haines, an artist who specializes in salvaged materials, creates lovely lampwork beads from a wide variety of recycled glass. The results are pretty wonderful.

One lucky Inspirational Beading reader will have a chance to try these unique beads in their own designs! Harvey has offered a $50 gift certificate for The Big Purple Barn – the selection is sure to get your inspiration rolling!

How to Enter:

For a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to use on one of a kind lampwork beads, visit The Big Purple Barn and check out the selection. Then head back here to Inspirational Beading and leave a comment letting us know which designs are your favorite.

Important: Comments must be made here on InspirationalBeading.blogspot.com to qualify. Please be sure to include an email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win! This giveaway is open to readers from Canada and the US.

One winning comment will be drawn on Monday, April 18th. Good luck!

Update: This draw has closed.

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading and The Big Purple Barn

Round Bead Inspirations

Our latest bead giveaway has come to a close. Congratulations to our winner, Dian, and thank you so much to everyone who entered! For this giveaway we had a great prize pack from Panda Hall featuring lovely acrylic cubes, plus crackle glass and cat eye rounds. These lovely round beads were definitely the favorites – not only are they both gorgeous finishes for glass, but the shape is perfect for a million and one designs and techniques.

To celebrate the draw, I gathered up some favorite project ideas using round beads. Whether you string or stitch, there’s nothing better than druks, pearls, and rounds to give a design the perfect amount of pop.

This two-layer bangle bracelet from the learning center at Panda Hall has a unique base of laddered tubes, embellished with round bead nets and picots.

The perfect project for cat eye glass – cat eye earrings! This adorable project from Instructables is perfect for fiber optic glass, but would also be great with druks and glass pearls.

The Lovely Lichen bracelet project from Artbeads.com is a great way to showcase a handful of your favorite rounds. This one would look particularly gorgeous with crackle glass.

See also the Vintage Marble Pendant project and pearl netting tutorials here on Inspirational Beading for more round bead inspirations.

Happy beading!

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading and Panda Hall

Bead Giveaway: Spring Sensations

Nothing can get you ready for a new season of beading like a fresh crop of beads! Having a new color, shape, or finish to work with is a great way to find new inspirations. It can even help to revitalize your existing bead stash. To help get you started on some new bead adventures, our friends at Panda Hall have offered up some very exciting accent beads that are sure to inspire some marvelous creations. We worked together to create a very delicious prize pack with colors that are perfect for your spring designs. The prize pack includes:

100 marvelous, multicolored 10mm acrylic cubes.

I absolutely adore the striped design and of these beads.
The combination of bright colors and white stripes makes them ideal for springtime designs.




1 strand of 6mm round green cat eye glass beads.

If you’ve never worked with cat eye glass before, you’ll fall in love with its shimmer.
This intense green is great for floral inspired pieces.




100 multicolor 6.5mm acrylic alphabet cube beads.

These beads are great for quick and easy designs,
travel projects, and personalized accessories.




1 strand of 4mm crackle glass beads in blue-violet.

Perfect for spring designs, these beads have
a gorgeous crackle finish for added shimmer.

How to Enter:

For a chance to win a selection of all the beads shown here, visit Panda Hall and check out their selection of beads, findings, and jewelry supplies. Then head back here and leave a comment letting us know what your favorites are. One lucky reader will be drawn on Tuesday, March 22nd.

Contest Rules:

Comments must be made directly on InspirationalBeading.blogspot.com to qualify.

Please make sure to include a contact link or email address with your comment so that I can get in touch with you if you win!

This giveaway is open to readers from the US and Canada.

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This draw has closed.

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading and Panda Hall

New Beading in 2016

The craziness of Christmas week is finally behind us, and there are only a few days left of 2015! It’s hard to believe that we’re about to begin another year on Inspirational Beading. There are some amazing inspirations and lots of new tutorials on the way – 2016 is going to be a great year for beading!

Two weeks ago we had our final giveaway of the year, with a full suite of beading tutorials going to two lucky readers. Congratulations to our winners Hesther and CA, and thank you so much to everyone who entered. Your comments in this draw have been some of the most inspirating yet! This time I asked for your ideas and requests for new tutorials to feature here on the blog. It was such a pleasure to read all of your comments and learn about the stitches that you’re most interested in. I don’t usually respond to giveaway comments – to keep the draw accurate and fair – but I will definitely try to get back to each of you on this one. Your kind words and encouragement have made my year.

Many of the tutorials requested have already been covered (check out the full list of free beading tutorials for a look at what’s currently available) but I have been thinking about re-doing many of these techniques and updating them for new styles and beads. Peyote stitch, brick stitch, and bead embroidery were among the most popular stitches, and we’ll definitely cover those in both stitch tutorials and full projects in the coming months. I’d like to introduce a new Master Class series that will cover a single stitch from A-Z, with full projects to try whenever possible. Stay tuned for the first series!

I’m also working on some exciting new PDF tutorial projects for 2016, and I’ve made some changes to my current selection. Select projects are now available for commercial use – if you’ve purchased these PDFs as personal use projects in the past you’re automatically upgraded, so you can sell your creations as well! Open license projects include:

The Wavy Wedges Bracelet
The Right Angle Weave Bangle
The Herringbone Fringe Lariat
The RAW Lattice Cuff
The Strawberry Pendant
and Beaded Buttons and Toggles

The upcoming PDF projects will include some of my all-time favorite designs – I’ll keep you posted on new developments! If you have a particular design, stitch, or project that you’d like to see covered in 2016, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. I love to hear your ideas and questions.

Happy New Year!

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading

Very Merry Beading Tutorial Suite Giveaway

With all of the holiday inspirations and gifting projects in my workspace right now, I’m feeling in a very merry mood! For this month’s giveaway, I wanted to do something special for my amazing readers. I have some new plans coming up for my line of PDF beading tutorials, so I decided to get the ball rolling with a great big tutorial giveaway.

Two lucky readers will receive my complete collection of current PDF beading tutorials. Most projects will be open license or ‘commercial use’ meaning that you can use them however you like! I will also be including personal use versions of some tutorials that have been discontinued due to being included in Ancient Worlds Modern Beads. Here’s what each prize pack will include:

Full color and text copies of commercial use tutorials for:

The RAW Bangle


The Herringbone Fringe Lariat


The Beaded Strawberry Pendant/Ornament


The Stacked Peyote Ring


The RAW Lattice Cuff


The Druk Chain Y Necklace


The Wavy Wedges Cuff


The Faux Freeform Peyote Cuff


and last but not least, the Beaded Buttons and Toggles Collection

Each tutorial includes two files - one with full color, step-by-step photos, and one with text-only so you can save on printing if you want to take your instructions with you on the go. Tutorials will be sent to each winner by email, so you can download and save however you like.

Each tutorial suite to be won also includes personal use versions of these tutorials:

The RAW Chain Link Bracelet


The Herringbone Jewel Ring


The Peyote Ring Pendant


The Leafy Poinsettia Beaded Bead


and The Starfish Beaded Bead

How to Enter:

For a chance to win downloadable PDFs for all of the tutorials shown, simply leave a comment on this post letting me know what kinds of techniques and projects you’d like to see featured in free beading tutorials on Inspirational Beading next year!

Please be sure to leave a contact method or email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win! Comments should be made here on InspirationalBeading.Blogspot.com to qualify. Two winners will be drawn on Sunday December 20th, 2015. Unclaimed prizes will be re-drawn on December 27th. This giveaway is open to all international readers.

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This draw has closed. Congratulations to our winners!

Mortira

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading

Czech Glass and Copper Inspirations

Another giveaway has come to a close, and this one might be our best ever! This month we had two stunning prize packs designed by Beads and Babble, including a huge assortment of beads and tools valued at over $150. That’s a lot of inspiration!

Our winners are Maya and Holli – congratulations to you, and thank you so much to everyone who entered! I asked you to tell us what your favorite picks are from Beads and Babble, and with such an amazing selection, your answers were incredibly varied. The winning comments picked some very delectable Czech glass and lovely copper components.

A huge thank you goes out to Beads and Babble for sponsoring this giveaway just in time for holiday crafting. Have you started your gifting projects yet? What are you making this year?

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Beads and Babble

Giveaway: Beads and Babble Super Beading Kits

Every beader knows that there’s no such thing as too many beads. The more you’ve got, the more choices you have when designing amazing jewelry. Great tools are also a must, whether they help you visualize your next design, or provide a professional finish to your pieces.

I am very pleased to present an amazing beading kit giveaway that is sure to inspire some amazing designs! You might already be familiar with indie bead shop Beads and Babble, which has a truly amazing selection of unique Czech glass, seed beads, and findings. Owner and curator Shannon has put together two amazing bead starter packs for hungry beaders!

Each pack includes a bead board, nipper tool, crimping pliers, beading wire, and oodles of amazing beads. There are seed bead hanks, gemstone beads, glass accents, and pendants; rounds, tubes, daggers, and so much more! Each kit includes an abundance of inspiration to make some show-stopping designs, all hand-picked for you by Beads and Babble.

How to Enter:

For a chance to win one of the kits shown, visit Beads and Babble and check out the gorgeous array of beads available. Then head back here to InspriationalBeading.Blogspot.com and leave a comment on this post, letting us know what your favorite is. Anything goes!

Due to the very large size of the prize packs, this draw is open to readers from the US. Two lucky readers will be drawn on Saturday, November 21st. Please make sure to leave a contact link or email with your comment so that I can reach you if you win! Unclaimed prizes will be re-drawn on November 25th.

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This draw has closed.

Mortira

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Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading

Crystal Inspirations

The results of our latest bead giveaway are in! Congratulations to our winner, and thank you so much to everyone who entered!

Up for grabs was a gorgeous box of surprise beads from the subscription collections at Blueberry Cove Beads. We had a look at some of the previous boxes that subscribers have received and chose our favorites. The winning comment selected Crystal Cave - a definite favorite along with the Woodland collection. Many previous bead boxes like these are still available for purchase in whole or in part. Plus, new bead boxes are available in singles or by subscription. The November box - still to be revealed - is sure to be sensational!

Many thanks to Blueberry Cove Beads for sponsoring this exciting giveaway. Here's to many surprises and inspirations to come.

Happy beading!

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Blueberry Cove Beads
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Surprise Bead Giveaway from Blueberry Cove

Everyone loves surprises, and there’s nothing better than an exciting package of new beading materials to help jump start creativity. With stay-indoors weather fast approaching, what better time is there to experiment with new beads?

Woodland Theme Bead Box

To help you get a head start on your winter projects, Blueberry Cove Beads is offering next month’s bead surprise package to one Inspirational Beading reader! Each monthly bead box contains enough supplies to create a variety of themed projects with coordinated palettes. The hand selected mix of beads and findings all fit together perfectly with gorgeous colors and unique shapes that are sure to inspire.

Crystal Cave Bead Box

Blueberry Cove Bead boxes are available as a monthly subscription for yourself or as a gift. This holiday season, single boxes are also available to order as gifts or to treat yourself to something fun!

How to Enter:

For a chance to win a November bead box with an all-new theme, visit Blueberry Cove Beads and check out the previous collections. Leave a comment here and let us know which one was your favorite!

One winner will be drawn on Sunday, November 1st. This giveaway is open to readers from Canada and the US. Please be sure to comment on InspirationalBeading.Blogspot.com, and include an email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win! If unclaimed, the giveaway will be redrawn on Wednesday, November 4th.

Boho Theme Bead Box

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This giveaway has closed.

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Blueberry Cove Beads
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A Month Without Seed Beads?

Our latest bead giveaway has closed, and our winner is Stephanie! Congratulations to her, and thank you so much to everyone who joined in. For this giveaway, we explored the beady offerings at Inspirational Beading sponsor PandaHall.com. Stephanie’s pick was the seed beads - an excellent choice in my opinion! Even if you’re out of pearls and spacers, you can still make an entire project – clasp, focal and all - with nothing but seed beads.

Of course, you can make entire projects without seed beads, too…

If you had to go a whole month without using seed beads in your designs, what would you make?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading and Panda Hall
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