Katie's Beading Blog
Make a fun little winged thing from a handful of wire and beads.

Humblebeads
Flying to a fashionable ear near you, a free project from Humblebeads.

Hali Chambers

Linda at Make It Mine magazine
Make your own dragonfly top–check out the instructions and video!

Swelldesigner
You'll get butterflies when you see this summer-inspired necklace with butterfly pendant

The Insects are out
Insects are crawling out and about at http design this month as Helen and Michelle get clay happy with some cool designs.

Beading Help Web's DragonFly Anklet
Make this cute anklet for summer in just minutes!

Michelle McGee

Art Bead Scene
Dragonflies are all the rage, art beads & brass combine in a 1920's inspired necklace.

Have you kids heard of this band? I'm loving them…especially their, That's Not My Name song.  Here's a link to their MySpace page.

You've all heard the terrible reports of the recent earthquake here and it keeps getting worse.  The people here have pulled together and are accomplishing extraordinary things and this is one of them…

One of the rescued dogs, Pi. 

I was listening to the radio today and caught the tail end of this woman's interview.  She founded and runs a bear sanctuary in Chengdu, near the earthquake's major damage area.  She and her team have been assisting with relief efforts since the beginning—helping people and rescuing dogs and cats.  They have saved over 50 animals so far and according to her blog, the gov't called and said they have more. Check out her blog for more incredible and courageous accounts.  You can imagine the costs that go with rescue.  If you have a spare couple of dollars, here's a link to her donation button.  I've poked around her site and what they are doing really is remarkable.  Thank goodness for angels. 

Picture from Jill's Blog at AnimalsAsia.org

This is my little work area…that I’ve been sitting at morn’ til’ night.  Sorry for the quiet blog-just working away on my book projects.  Wish I could show you, because I’m very excited about them…but we’ll all have to wait until 2009.  Seems so far away!  I hope you’re all having a good week.  hugs.

It’s been a bit of a crummy day for various small reasons so I’m taking a break to eat something that’s equally as crummy, but good—a pop tart.  One reason, I’m about 8 beads shy of finishing a necklace and the bead  mall is 2 hours away.  Hate it when that happens.  This is my new tea mug that I got in HK Saturday for a whopping $1 at the Japan Home Store.  Just looking at it makes me happy….ah, simple pleasures. Can we ever have enough of them on days like today?  Speaking of simple pleasures, here are the bead bloggers offerings for this week:

About.com Jewelry Making 
Have you noticed the jewelry supply trend at your local craft store? What does this mean for jewelry designers?

Art Jewelry magazine
Hazel, editor of Art Jewelry, "elects" to discuss the candidate’s jewelry.

Jewelry & Beading
A focal piece can be a brilliant way to inspire new designs!

Katie’s Beading Blog
Looking for beachy jewelry ideas? Take a peek at Katie’s June Triple Take project for Simly Beads.

Naughty Secretary Club
Looking for a new how-to jewelry book that uses vintage gnome cupcake toppers, children’s eye glasses, doll house furniture and the occasional bead? Good thing The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry is available for pre-order on Amazon!

Savvy Crafter
It’s been a charming week over at Candie’s blog—charming bracelets that is!

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean goes on a bit about tree cutting, and then gets to the point: some cool earrings she made!

Last night, we got our Mother’s Day packages ready to send.  The little bags seemed a little plain so I grabbed my instant camera and headed to the kitchen where Botch was making dinner.  This is how the conversation went….  "What are you doing?"  "I’m taking pictures for our Moms."  "Oh, cool."  Snap, shake shake shake.  "My head looks to big!" Snap, shake shake shake.  "Now my head looks big!" Snap, shake shake.  "Ok, this is getting crazy." Last Snap, shake.  "For real, this was supposed to be easy!  Crikey!"  All the while giggling and a gasp or two at how tired we look.  But then again, it was 9 o’clock at night. We also now have a nice picture of our bare wall because I mistakenly hit the shutter button instead of the power.  There’s one for the fridge.  Are your Mother’s Day gifts ready? 

And now, for some lovely links….

About.com Jewelry Making
When is it a good idea to help a fellow jewelry designer out, and when does it cross the line into your territory?

Art Bead Scene
Getting Connected Tips from ABS!

Jewelry & Beading
Need more time? Set aside a few minutes to assemble this mixed media necklace called "Time to Run"!

Katie’s Beading Blog
Katie starts a new recurring feature on her blog: Books of Note. This week’s review is Bead One, Pray Too.

Linda at Make It Mine magazine
Do your color preferences change as you age? Linda ponders Cathy Jakicic’s thoughts on the subject.

Savvy Crafter
Candie and her lovely assistant whipped up a beady bookmark at breakfast this morning.

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean was thrilled by the red carpet treatment she got from a cool magazine which hails from Australia, Australian Beading Magazine

The Impatient Blogger
Tune in to The Impatient Blogger to see the worldwide debut of The Impatient Crafter’s first video! Phew. That is all.

My friend Meg heads out tomorrow for America.  I first met Meg on a field trip to the Indian spice store.  Then she popped up again in my felting class and we’ve been buddies ever since.  She took all my jewelry and craft classes—even though she really didn’t need my help as she has a natural talent for making jewelry.  She’s made beaded gifts for all her pals–including me (the yellow bracelet I’m showing you there on my wrist) and will dig into making her friend’s wedding jewelry when she gets home, as well as pursue a second degree in library sciences.  So if you live on the East coast, be watching for Meg in a library near you and tell her I said HI.  Meg, we’re going to miss your enthusiasm and warm personality around here.  Hugs.