Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones by Laura McCabe is filled with beautiful pictures of seed bead and Swarovski crystal jewelry, along with what look like detailed instructions to make each piece. If you’ve seen Laura’s beadwork and are familiar with her style, what she’s done with Swarovski [...]

I’ve been making a bunch of felt “beads”. I put beads in quotes because they don’t actually have a hole in them, so really they are felt balls – but they can be used just as beads. All you have to do is poke a needle through them to string into necklaces, bracelets, etc. They [...]

The Art of Bead Embroidery: Techniques, Designs & Inspirations by Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini looks like a great book for beaders. Both authors do amazing beadwork – I’ve been a fan of Sherry Serafini’s work for a couple years. She makes gorgeous, intricate beaded bags and jewelry. If you’ve never tried bead embroidery, be [...]

Seed beads are the small glass beads people use in intricate beadweaving projects. They come in various sizes which vary slightly by manufacturer, but in general, the larger the number, the smaller the bead. One of the most common sizes is size 11. If you look at the wall of seed beads at your local [...]

Here’s some fun jewelry from another Pleasanton Craft Mafia member, Jeannine of Designs by a Hummingbird: Jeannine’s work is colorful, fun, and often intricately beaded as you can see in the photo. She also does metalwork combining different metals, such as copper with silver. Here’s a shot of her booth from the show: