If you’re like my mom and have a million clip-on earrings stored in jewelry box that I made at camp 20 years ago, then I must ask you two things: where did you get one of my handmade treasures, and two, how thrilled are you that clip-on earrings are Read more

Please look around and you’ll sure find lots of beading ideas, beading instructions and guides plus beads, beading books, beading ebooks with lots of beading techniques from beading basics to professional beading. I take great pleasure in instructing the beading beginner. I written a beading book especially with a begiiner in mind. This is a complete beading for beginner’s ebook this is available here at the -> beading for beginners site. Below are some tips for the beading beginner. The Beading Beginner’s Bead Buying Tips: Beading is quickly becoming one of the very popular crafts of today. Crafters spend over $2 billion each year on beading supplies to create unique and beautiful beading projects. While there is a lot to learn about beading craft, most of the time beading beginners end up learning the hard way is how to buy quality beads for beading projects. I know that when I first started beading many years ago, there were a few beading tips that if I had would have been very useful. One of them was bead buying tips. I would give some 6 tips for beading beginners, on how to find the best beads for a beading project. Often new beaders just head out to the beading craft store and pick out beads they think are pretty. While beaders can create projects out of many combinations of beads, these purchases often get put away for later. Here are six steps to buying beads that will make purchases more useful to any beaders: Beading Tip 1: Buy a book or magazine that shows pictures, guidelines, and images of the beads and beading patterns. This will give you an idea of exactly what you are looking for when you go shopping. Beading Tip 2: Get an estimate of the number of beads you will need. Some patterns will tell you, but others will not. Go through the pattern or look closely at the finished product to get a good beading idea. You can find the beads at bead stores, hobby shops, and beading craft stores. Beading Tip 3: Take some time to learn about beads. If you have a local bead shop near you, spend some time in there learning what kinds of beads are available, how they can be used, what they are made of, and more. When you do this, you will also be learning the art of negotiating with the beading supplier. Beading Tip 4: Buy a beading book or ebook about beading if you do not know much about it. There are a number of beading books available, but make sure it speaks to your skill level. You also want a beading book that has pictures and step-by-step beading instructions for beading techniques. Beading Tip 5: Beads are made of a number of materials, and some are more appropriate for certain projects than others. It is important to choose the bead material according to the type of beading pattern and beading creative you are going to make. Beading Tip 6: Look closely at the beads. Make sure you will be able to string them easily and that they have a consistency among them for finishing. By following these six tips, beading should become a little easier, because you will be working with better quality and more appropriate beads for your project. Read more…

This jewelry making video tutorial shows the difference between Swarovski crystal beads and Czech fire polished beads. Read more…

From left to right: What to Wear: J.Crew dress, Calypso dress, BCBG dress. Accessories: Simply Vera by Vera Wang earrings, Pollini shoes. Wedding Gowns: Melissa Sweet gown, Anna Maier/Ulla-Maija Couture gown. If your head is spinning with visions of Read more

A 30-YEAR-old Dudley woman was handed a 22 week suspended jail sentence by Dudley Magistrates after stealing ten pairs of earrings. Hayley Joan Welch, of Eve Hill, Dudley, was jailed for 22 weeks, suspended for two years for stealing pairs of Read more