Pendientes Gota con Superduo - Turquoise & Pewter

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Old Silver"
• SuperDuo beads "Turquoise Bronze Picasso"
• O-Beads "Jet Full Chrome"

As you can see, using two different SuperDuo colors works very well. I like these so well that I might keep them for myself instead of giving them to someone for Christmas. When I made today's earrings, I made the top component correctly this time and it does look nicer than the ones that I made for yesterday's earrings. Click HERE to read yesterday's post.

In the two photos below, you can hopefully see the difference between the way that I made the top component on the black earring versus the one on the turquoise earring. My mistake was that I didn't add any 15/0 seed beads in the second round of SuperDuos. I did add them correctly in the third round. The black motif is shaped like a little ball. The turquoise motif is sort of flat on top with squared off sides. It's a very cute little component that might be a nice addition to other kinds of earrings. It would also work well as spacer motif in a bracelet.

You can watch the video tutorial on YouTube HERE.

I made another sample earring to see if the pattern would work with Toho beads and they do seem to work. Below is my sample earring. It came out slightly larger than the ones that I made with Miyuki beads.

• 15/0 seed beads Toho "Permanent Finish Galvanized Starlight" (557PF)
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Permanent Finish Galvanized Starlight" (557PF)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Permanent Finish Galvanized Starlight" (557PF)
• SuperDuo beads "Purple Velvet"
• SuperDuo beads "Turquoise Green White Luster"
• O-Beads "Chalk White Lila Vega Luster"

YouTube beading tutorial - Pendientes Gota con Superduo

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Matte"
• O-Beads "Jet Full Chrome"

During my weekly search for new beading videos last Friday, I came across THIS Spanish tutorial. The translation is "Drop Earrings with SuperDuos". The earrings are a little larger than I usually wear but I think they're very different and pretty. I should have been working on Christmas projects but my thought was that these might make a lovely gift for someone.

I took notes while watching the video but got a little confused near the end when she made the top component. I got the impression that one or more of the steps were skipped or mentioned so quickly in Spanish that I didn't catch them. I made a sample earring and thought I'd done everything as she instructed. However, I watched the video once more after making these and realized that I hadn't done the top section quite right. It looks fine but it's not quite the same as the ones in the video.

Here is my sample earring:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Green Turquoise Dark Travertine"
• O-Beads "Metallic Mix"

Since it was my first experiment, I didn't worry about reinforcing the stitching. As a result, the earring is much too soft and doesn't hold its shape well. When I made the black pair, I used 6lb. FireLine and reinforced each step and pulled the beads nice and snug. The earrings are very stable and the bottom components hold their shape well. You'll need about 2 yards of thread per earring.

Other than my mistake with the top component, I only changed one other detail. It's the connection between the motifs. In the video, she doubles the connection for a 3D look. I tried that but didn't like how it looked. Besides, doing it her way means having to go through the 15/0 seed bead in the center of the "X" way too many times which could potentially cause problems.

When I have a chance, I'm going to try making some earrings using only the bottom component. I'm also thinking of combining two SuperDuo colors and see how that looks.

 

Crafty Inspiration - Advent Chocolate Box

Back in 2013, Teejay and I decided to do something different and fun for our Christmas gifts for each other. Our plan was to create some sort of advent box with little presents that would be opened each day in December until Christmas day for a total of 24 little gifts.

For today's post, I'm showing you the advent box that I created for Teejay. My idea was to make what looked like a fancy box of chocolates but inside each "bonbon" Teejay would find a bracelet, earrings or beads, etc.

I found most of what I needed at The Container Store and Hobby Lobby. The Container Store had exactly the kind of pretty gold box that I was hoping to use. They also had inexpensive clear plastic containers that came in packages of twelve. I think they were under $2.00 per package and I needed two. At Hobby, I found the paper candy liners and also the foil papers for wrapping my "candies".

I used double-stick tape to secure the brown paper cups to the bottom of the box. I was going to be mailing this to England and I didn't want Teejay to find everything in a jumble by the time it got there. After wrapping the "chocolates", I taped those into the bottom of the paper cups.

At first I tried just wrapping a square of the foil around one of the little containers but the top looked very flat and not much like a bonbon at all. To fix that, I placed a cotton ball on top of each container before covering it with foil. That made the shape more like real chocolates. I didn't want to spoil the look that I'd created so I didn't number them with the days of the month like a regular advent calendar. Instead I let Teejay just choose one at random to open each day.

I found the pretty label image online and added my own fancy text in the blank area in the center. I also used the same background image to make the insert that Teejay would see when she first opened the box.

You can download the beautiful blank label image from The Graphics Fairy HERE. She also has the same frame in pink and lilac, HERE and HERE. Below are my two labels, which you can use if you like.

My Advent Box from Teejay

These are the advent boxes that Teejay sent me. She made 24 tiny gift boxes and placed them inside two very practical storage boxes with dividers. I use those handy plastic boxes to store bracelets that I've made.

In the close-up below, you can see how Teejay attached the gift tags to each tiny present. The beads that decorate each tag are ones that she used to make the bracelet inside the present. Teejay actually made 24 bracelets for me. I cheated a bit with her advent box by filling a few of the containers with charms and other beading supplies.

Bracelet of the Day: Daisy Chain - Nebula & Brown Sugar

SUNFLOWERS DAISY CHAIN BRACELET

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
• SuperDuo beads "Duet Green Turquoise Ivory Nebula"
• SuperDuo beads "Pearl Coat Brown Sugar"
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze #39" (Beads One - not available online)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the first complete bracelet that I've made using the new SuperDuo Duet beads. The color of these is more subtle than some of the others. The two colors blend to create a very pretty shade of blue.

I ended up changing the seed bead color so this looks a little different than the sample that I showed you the other day, HERE. I decided that silver looks better with these colors than bronze. Here is what my sample looked like:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Duet Green Turquoise Ivory Nebula"
• SuperDuo beads "Pearl Coat Brown Sugar"
• 4mm pearls "Light Bronze #39" (Beads One)

Here is one more "Sunflowers Daisy Chain" sample from the other day that I've decided not to make into a bracelet:

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• SuperDuo beads "Duet Black/White Red Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Red Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Chalk Vega"
• 4mm druks "Bronze"

You can buy Marcie's pattern on Etsy HERE.

The last of the SuperDuo Duets samples

This is the final installment of samples that I've made with the new SuperDuo Duets beads. I've used each of the 24 colors at least once with ten different bracelet patterns. Read my two previous posts to see more samples HERE and HERE. You can buy SuperDuo Duets at Red Panda.

A few more SuperDuo Duets samples

I made a few more samples with the Duets Sunday night so now I've tried all but a few of the colors at least once. Read yesterday's post to see my previous samples, HERE. I will be making some of them into bracelets as I find the time.

If you want to give the SuperDuo Duets a try, Red Panda has the whole range of colors.

Beading News - SuperDuo Duets

I've finally finished my Christmas beading and decided that I would take a couple of days to relax and do some fun beading before my Thanksgiving preparations begin. Last week I received 24 different colors of the new SuperDuo Duets beads and I've spent the past couple of days trying various colorways with several different patterns.

Duets are the same shape and size as regular SuperDuos. The difference is that they have a different color on each side. This two-toned look is very obvious with some of the colors and more subtle with others as you can see in the photo. I prefer the more subtle ones but I really like some of the bold ones when used in certain ways. It's all about finding just the right designs that take advantage of the two-tone look to create interesting effects. If you look at some of my samples (click on the photo to see if full size), you'll see how different effects can be created by simply switching the position of the light and dark colors in the beadwork when using the same pattern.

I'm not posting any pattern or bead color info in this post because I will do that when I blog about the bracelets that I'll be making based on my samples. If there are any samples that I decide not to make, I will tell you about them when I blog about bracelets made using the same patterns. Please be patient. I'll work on making these bracelets whenever I can squeeze them in while I work on my holiday projects and activities.

In the meantime, you can buy SuperDuo Duets at Red Panda and I've already spotted them on a few other beads sites as well.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Duo Candy - Turquoise & Gold

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Galvanized Carnival" (513)
• 8/0 seed beads Toho "Galvanized Carnival" (513)
• 8mm 2-hole Candy beads "Matte Golden Olive"
• SuperDuo beads "Turquoise Blue Picasso"

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, HERE, I adapted the "Duo Kheops" pattern by Marina Beads to use Candy beads instead of Kheops to make this bracelet. Click HERE to buy Marina's pattern. Look over on the right hand side of my blog for a list of "Where to buy..." a variety of beads. You'll find a link to quite a few sources for Candy beads.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Duo Candy - Violet Luster

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8mm 2-hole Candy beads "Chalk Lumi Green"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"

I previously mentioned this bracelet design in THIS post after seeing a bracelet for sale in an Etsy shop. There is no pattern available but I was able to adapt the "Duo Kheops" pattern by Marina Beads quite easily using Candy beads instead of Kheops. Click HERE to buy that pattern. I should have been working on my Christmas beading but I had just made a couple of these bracelets and decided to go ahead and make two more for myself in a couple of new colorways. I'll be blogging about the second bracelet tomorrow.

After making today's bracelet, I remembered making some "Gypsy Earrings" in a similar colorway. I had given those earrings away as a gift and I wanted a pair for myself. I only had to change the 6mm druks to a color that matches the Candy beads in my bracelet. Read THIS post for more information about the "Gypsy Earrings". Below you can see the first pair that I made:

Here is the pair that I made to go with Today's bracelet:

• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
• 6mm druks "Green Gray Picasso aka Chalk Lazure Blue aka Opaque Green Luster"
• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Violet White Luster"
• 4mm fire polished beads "Pink White Moon Dust"
• 3.4mm Miyuki drop beads "Metallic Dark Bronze" (457D)