Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet by Mary Hettmansberger is a great jewelry making book that explains how to use a lot of creative cold connections in metal and fiber jewelry work. If you like rustic looking jewelry, you’ll love this book. The projects all have that handmade look, and the author encourages experimenting. I love [...]

I’ve been wanting to play with some new copper head pins I made that have beautiful deep pink ball ends, and when I received my latest goodies from artbeads to review, I knew the red poppy jasper beads would be perfect. (You can find the jasper beads and other shades of red and pink in [...]

Lucky me – Artbeads sent over some lovely cubic zirconia beads for me to test out and review! Normally when I think of CZ, I think of the sparkly white version that is often used as immitation diamonds. But it can be made in a rainbow of colors, so I picked some lavender and olive [...]

With the holiday season upon us, many people are thinking about wrapping up end of the year projects, finding the perfect gift for everyone on their list, and avoiding gaining five pounds while being surrounded by tempting food and drinks. What a lot of people won’t think about until after December 25th are their goals [...]

Modern Jewelry from Modular Parts: Easy Projects Using Readymade Components by Marthe Le Van is a book I was immediately drawn to when I saw it. The cover had some pictures of very modern looking metal jewelry, and the title claims you can make this jewelry with “readymade components”. This is partially true. You can [...]

I was inspired by my recent beeswax collage class at ZNE Convenzione (taught by Anna Corba) to learn more about mixed media artwork. I went to my local library, and found a great book on collage, “Creative Collage: Making Memories in Mixed Media” by Marie Browning. In this book, a number of different collage techniques [...]

Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Projects for the Everyday Crafter by Kathy Cano Murillo is a fun book of easy sewing projects. I’m one of those people who loves to make things without a pattern, and so is the Crafty Chica – so I had to check out her book, even though I [...]

At the recent ZNE Convenzione, I was thrilled to hear Michele Beschen speak and get to meet her. If you’ve ever seen her DIY Network show, B. Original, you already know that she’s a beautiful, talented, energetic woman. But you might not know that she is the person behind creating her TV show, and that [...]

My second Artbeads product sample to review is a cute little tool tote in the “Tiffany” color scheme. It kinda looks like a silk purse, kinda like a wrapped box from Tiffany. When unzipped, it opens completely flat like a book. Inside, there are elastic loops to hold jewelry tools. There is also a small [...]

I just got an awesome sample in the mail from artbeads. It’s a 38 mm Swarovski crystal disc bead in a color called copper. YUMMY! If you are familiar with beads, you probably have seen necklaces made with stone discs (sometimes called donuts) as a centerpiece, maybe with something dangling down, and either chain or [...]