It’s impossible for me to do all that Christmas shopping and not find one or two things that I absolutely cannot go home without.  A stocking stuffer for myself?  Why not.  At the time I feel a pinch of guilt, but it quickly goes away with how cute these little fellas are.  Do you recognize them?  Yep, mini Rocker magnets made in Jap*n. So sweet and curiously strong….just like Rocker!  And also stubborn now that I think about it (you will see in one of the pictures—it was hard getting everyone to do what they were supposed to do).  Here’s this week’s Bead Babe Blogger Links mixed throughout the Rocker Links!  Enjoy! 

About.com Jewelry Making 
New Year’s Eve means it’s time to put your big bling pieces on, and Tammy has lots of ideas to make you super sparklie.
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/b/2007/12/26/bling-time-jewelry.htm

Art Bead Scene 
The crew is on a short holiday break, but we hope you will come by the blog to celebrate with our special week’s worth of the Best of Art Bead Scene posts from this past year.
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2007/12/best-of-holidays.html

Jewelry & Beading 
One of Cyndi’s designs was chosen for a new book on the Art of Jewelry ~ Wood. Come and see her necklace, called "Measure Twice, Cut Once"!
http://www.jewelryandbeading.com/2007/12/21/book-review-the-art-of-jewelry-wood/ 

Katie’s Beading Blog 
Katie’s getting ready for the next filming of Beads, Baubles and Jewels. This week, she shares a cool necklace idea using a chain bail and tassel.
http://katiehacker.blogspot.com/2007/12/chain-tassels.html 

Savvy Crafter 
No clue what jewelry you’re wearing to the big New Year’s Eve bash? Hop on over to Candie’s blog for an easy and festive fix!
http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/2007/12/new-year-jewelr.html

Snap out of it , Jean! There’s beading to be done! 
Jean just had to repost these sweet necklaces that she made for the childrens’ teachers as holiday gfts! They are just too yummy looking snuggling up aganst the luxurious rose velvet pouches she packaged them in. Happy Holidays to the VIPs in our lives!
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/2007/12/holidays-and-teachers-and-wassail-song.html

The Impatient Blogger is busy experimenting with her new flip video camera thingy.  Go Madge!

Rocker on Christmas morning-no bows on the head, just around his neck.

Countdown to 2008!  Do you know what jewelry you’re wearing to ring in the New Year?  Here’s an idea.  This is a festive and free project of mine on the Simply Beads Magazine website.  This piece has crystal balls at the end of the chain.  I figure if you can’t be at Times Square in NYC, you can at least have the ball (or balls as it were) drop around your neck! You could use colored crystals for a more confetti effect.  As I recall, I found the funky sparkly chain in the fabric/trims section in Hobby Lobby.  I love this lariat as you can wrap it around your neck as many or as few times as you like depending on what look you want.  Super dramatic!

Here’s a direct link to the instructions.

About.com Jewelry Making
Still in need of some last minute jewelry gifts? Earrings are the way to go, and Tammy has some super easy projects to help you out.
http://jewelrymaking.about.com/b/2007/12/20/last-minute-jewelry-gifts.htm

Art Bead Scene
Elaine wraps up the Art Bead Scene 12 days of Christmas with a joyous rendition of a classic holiday tune, updated with our favorite beading goodies! Come sing along!
http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2007/12/12-days-of-beading.html

Jewelry & Beading
It’s not too late to make a super-easy sparkly pin for Christmas!
http://www.jewelryandbeading.com/2007/12/18/making-a-sparkling-pin-for-the-holidays/

Katie’s Beading Blog
Visit Katie’s blog this week for links to a fun podcast interview, last-minute bracelet idea and the final (for now) installment of Ornament Thursday.
http://katiehacker.blogspot.com/ 

PearlEsq.
Track Robin’s travels to the traffic-laden trickiness of NYC and the tasty trinkets she turned up at Tinsel Trading!
http://pearlesq.blogspot.com/2007/12/tinsel-tastic-tuesday.html

Savvy Crafter
Scurry over to Candie’s blog if you’ve got gifts to wrap in a hurry! This idea puts the pedal to the metal in more ways than one when it comes to wrapping gifts!
http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/2007/12/wrapping-savvy.html

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean shows a new necklace for her chain maille gallery for her book, Links: all the great beads are made by Cathy Lybarger!
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/2007/12/cathy-lybargers-beads-on-my-necklace-in.html

The Impatient Blogger
It’s the final installment of Ornament Thursday and Margot pulls out all the stops with four fabulous ornament ideas! Check out what this week’s roster of talented crafters has in store for you!http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/2007/12/final-ornament-thursday-2007.html

Here’s your bead lovin’ links for this week…

About.com Jewelry Making 
Tammy at About.com’s Jewelry Making site has a long list of ideas for jewelry makers to give and get this holiday season. http://jewelrymaking.about.com/b/2007/12/13/jewelry-gifts-for-jewelry-makers.htm                                                      

Art Bead Scene 
As a thank you to our loyal readers, the editors of Art Bead Scene present 12 Days of Christmas: 12 free projects using art beads, running over the next two weeks. These projects are quick and easy gift ideas, perfect for the holidays! http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2007/12/12-days-of-christmas.html

Bead Arts 
Cyndi is continuing the countdown to Christmas with a link to a new project every day! All with beads, of course.
http://www.bead-arts.com

Jewelry & Beading 
Stunning jewelry and other artwork are featured in an interview with Penny Purdie, one of Cyndi’s favorite artists in the Swarovski Design Contest! http://www.jewelryandbeading.com/2007/12/13/artist-profile-penny-purdie/                   

PearlEsq. 
Check out the travels of Robin at Tim Holtz’ Holiday Hideaway! http://pearlesq.blogspot.com/2007/12/creativity-abounding-in-az.html                                                                                                                                                                                 

Katie’s Beading Blog has a fun idea for some "summer in winter" earrings too!                  

Savvy Crafter 
Candie takes a walk down Candy Cane Memory Lane…. See two different versions of beaded candy cane ornaments on her blog. Yum! http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/2007/12/candie-cane-lan.html                                

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beadng to be done! 
Jean displays a little parallel chain style chain maille and borosilicate bracelet for her chain maille gallery on her site: Margot Potter has the perfect name for it! http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/2007/12/thank-you.html                 

The Impatient Blogger 
It’s week three of Ornament Thursday! Margot offers a simply lovely and quick idea in this week’s post, plus links to the amazing ideas of the rest of our talented participants!
http://margotpotter.blogspot.com/2007/12/ornament-thursday-take-three.html

First off, THANK YOU all for the lovely and sweet comments about Ornament Thursday.  It’s been a treat to look at all your spectacular ornaments!  I feel so lucky that we have a secret br0wser that allows us to look at bl0gsp0t blogs—-but the other side of that is I feel like a real a-hole because I can’t leave you notes to tell you how much I adore what you made.  It’s weird, but it comes with living here.  See note of sorry at left…

It seems that the end of the year always brings crazy frantic work deadlines before the new year rings in.  I’ve heard it from more than one person the past few days.  It’s a juggling act between wrapping up work stuff and wrapping up presents. As a freelancer, I’m just so grateful to have work and a supportive husband who helps wrap presents and chips in to help make the salad for the holiday party. He’s great like that.

With the holiday festivities and work stuff I was feeling drained. I needed to make time to play.  I know, but often forget this about myself.  I feel all creativity get sucked in by pressure if I don’t take a couple of hours to do something absolutely just for fun.  So, Friday, late afternoon I headed with a bag o’ yarn and tools to Starbucks to meet three other friends for coffee.  I’d been wanting to try out the pom-pom makers by Clover.  As it turned out, one friend brought her knitting, another brought a beaded candy cane ornament kit.  Before we knew it our little table was packed with beads, scissors, pliers, and balls of yarn, all of us working on something.  We weren’t there more than an hour and a half, but the laughs and happy crafts gave me the energy to go back and tackle some more work! Ok.  The latte helped  too.

Old School and New School Candy Cane Ornaments

Let’s take a stroll down Candy Cane Memory Lane…..  The candy cane ornament kits my friend brought to coffee got me thinking about some we made back in elementary school.  We used pipe cleaners and plastic beads.  For this one, I used a slightly different interlocking bead (is that sad I remember what bead we used way back from 3rd grade?) and a red tinsel pipe cleaner.  Take 6 minutes to string it up and hang it on your tree!  As I was looking at my tree, I noticed all of my candy cane ornaments are facing the same direction.  Hmmm. I feel like that should be a question on a personality test.  "Do you prefer your candy cane hook going to the left or right?"  Who cares, just take time to play!

Candy Canes with glass bead Ornament Kits by Westrim Crafts

Happy Ornament Thursday!   This week’s ornament celebrates peace, love and thrifting! Over the summer I rescued a broken wind chime from the local thrift store.  A bag o’ birds for three dollars?!?!  I couldn’t resist.    I didn’t really know what I’d do with them at the time, but recently I have found they make for perfect ornaments!  With their dove shape, I painted them all white with metal paint.  This one actually has a coat of pearl paint on it although it’s hard to see in the photo.  This afternoon I took it to the studio to finish and here’s what I came up with:

Peace Bird Ornament, 2007

A few beads, ribbon and a peace charm—-done! I was inspired by a a wall hanging at my grandparent’s house that’s been there for as long as I can remember. It’s all white and made from metal that has a slight rusty patina and spells PEACE vertically with a dove hanging at the bottom.  Now if I could just get it to rust a little around the edges! 

Material Notes:  Peace Charm from the Artgirlz , beading wire from Beadalon, lustery pearl Adirondack paint by Ranger! 

Want to see more tree bling?

Hello and welcome to Ornament Thursday~our virtual craft night get together. This came about when I mentioned to Katie that I wished we could get together for a holiday craft night.  That’s not possible so we’re sharing ornament ideas via our blogs.  Guess what?  You’re invited too!  Just post pictures (and tips or a quick how to) on your blog and leave a link to your post in the comments section here.  The more the merrier!

My offering today is pictured above—-Tartan Love!

My friend Meg remembered these fabric covered ornaments as a kid so we set out to reconstruct them.  She bought the materials and the day we made cookies, we also did a little crafting.  My pal Krissy and I traded off on our cookie duties while we made the first heart.  It was a group effort to put the pieces of the puzzle together, really.   

Materials: 

• 1/8th yard of metallic paper-like fabric
• Mod Podge
• polystyrene form (heart, star, ball)
• scissors
• tooth pick
• paint brush
• 4mm gold glass faceted beads
• straight or sequin pins
• multi-purpose adhesive
• 10 inches of ribbon

Instructions:  Cut the fabric into small squares-approximately 1/4".  Poke a tooth pick into the side of your polystyrene form–this gives you something to hold onto.  Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge onto small sections of the form and stick the fabric squares into place.  Add a thin layer of MP over each piece of fabric.  Continue overlapping and sticking the fabric (see photo above).  At this point it may look a little scary. Once the MP becomes tacky you can smooth down loose edges with the wooden handle on the paint brush.  Poke the tooth pick into a block of foam and leave to dry.  Remove the tooth pick and patch up the hole with another piece of fabric and MP, leaving it to dry.  String a bead onto a pin, add a dot of glue to the pin and poke it into the side of the form.  Repeat with desired pattern.  Don’t forget to save a spot at the top for attaching the ribbon.  Bring the two ends of ribbon together and make an over hand knot.  String a bead onto a pin followed by the ribbon.  Put a dot of glue where you want the ribbon and push the bead/ribbon pin down into the top of the form. 

More festive ideas….

• Katie made a cool LOVE ornament.
• Madge made a sweet photo ornament of her grandparents.
• Jean made a naughty angel ornament.
• Jennifer made a whimsical ornament set.
• Alexia made a funky cool ornament.

Join in anytime…please don’t feel like you have to post instructions though.  We just want to see what you’re putting on your tree this year!