October Bead Trends feature

I am proud to announce that I have an item featured in the October issue of Bead Trends magazine!

I am really excited that they chose to use my item as one of their featured pictures in the table of contents.

They did an awesome job with the photos for the feature. Sometimes the photos are really artsy and don't show off the entire item, which can be troublesome if people actually want to follow the directions and make it themselves. But they did a perfect job this time showing off the whole earrings in an artistic manner.

I didn't take a picture of it this time, but Bead Trends features come with a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems. Awesome, right?

I made these earrings back in the early spring as a companion piece to my Tropical Destination wrap bracelet/necklace.

I don't like to make a lot of overly matching pieces, but it's fun to make another piece with a bead combination that already works well.

These earrings are now listed in my Etsy shop. They're the first pair of tubular square earrings that I've done. There may be more in the future. As always, you can require a custom pair at any time, too.

Does anyone else have a magazine feature this fall?

Where I Linked Up Today:

Bead Trends March magazine feature

My second Bead Trends feature for 2012 is up and running!  I'm so excited that I can say that.  If you missed my post about my February feature, check it out right here.

As always, I got my two free copies of the magazine.

I also got another $20 gift certificate.  Believe it or not, I haven't spent any of these yet.  I need to make some online soon to do a big bead shopping spree at Fire Mountain.  For anyone wondering, I already checked with the site about using multiple gift certificates for a single order, and you can use 5 at one time.

I was pleased see with the feature that they actually photographed my whole item instead of just taking a couple artistic shots of it.  Anyone interested in making this project will have a decent shot at it.  They also clearly didn't have any better idea than I did how to capture this color palette very accurately.

This piece is now available right here in my Etsy shop.

I have revisited different variations of this color combination a few times over the years.  I'm sure that I'm not done with it yet.  These first two pieces are available in my shop.  Click on the photos to go to the listings.

In the comment section of my last Bead Trends feature post, Edi shared a great tip about submitting ideas to magazines:
Magazines are generally looking for ideas 3-6 months ahead of the current trends and season.  When you submit ideas, you should be in this mind frame, too.
Thanks Edi!

Any other tips about magazine submissions?  Share them in the comments!

I am included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday - 3/9/2012.

Bead Trends February magazine feature

I have the privilege of starting 2012 with two features in Bead Trends magazine!  I am especially honored because Bead Trends is featuring a lot beadweaving in 2012.  Some of you may remember that I had my first feature with the magazine this time last year.  They were apparently impressed enough that they remembered my work and contacted me to see if I had any new designs to submit.  I sent about eight ideas to them, two of which they picked for early 2012 issues.  Talk about an ego boost!

Bead Trends featured artists always receive two free copies of the magazine.

I'll be honest: I don't love their featured photos.  The lighting and props are good, but the photos are very artsy.  That's fine for a feature that doesn't include a tutorial.  However, theoretically people should be able to make their own versions of these pieces based on the photos and written directions.  The photos make this process tough because they don't do a great job showing the pieces in their entirety.  However, the photos are still high quality, and it's always interesting to see how other people will photograph your work.  Hopefully my written directions are enough to get people there.

You don't receive any money for being featured, but you do get a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems.  That's even better, right?  They definitely know what will appeal to their artists.

 

This piece is now available right here in my Etsy shop.

I really love this color combination.  It's a very unique neutral.  I used a similar palette for these earrings.  I also used a similar palette for my piece that will be featured in the March 2012 issue.  It includes one of Kristie's ceramic donuts.  I'll have more information about that when it's released.

For those of you who have also had magazine or similar features, do you have any advice for those who are interested in getting started with this pursuit?

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Where I linked up today:

Bead Trends February 2011

One of my designs is in the February 2011 edition of Bead Trends magazine!  I submitted this back in the summer, got accepted early in the fall, and just got the magazines and other goodies in the mail this past week.

Here are the magazines.  I got two free copies.

I also got a $20 gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems as well as my returned bracelet.

Here's a close up of the spread.  If any of you get Bead Trends, it's pages 108-109.

I took a close up of the spread for the Etsy item listing, too.

Now that the issue is out, I'm allowed to list the bracelet so it's available on Etsy here.

This is the first version that I've done with this design using metal buttons.  My mom found a whole bunch of these vintage buttons for me at Vogue a while back. I made one other bracelet like this back in the summer, which I almost immediately sold to a family friend. I don't have any more buttons exactly like this, which is too bad, because they're amazing.  I also love the clasp button.  I used one other one like it on this piece.  I might have one or two more left, but that's it.  So I'll have to keep hunting for small metal buttons.

For those of you who are beaders and who are not interested in subscribing to the magazine or buying this issue off the stand, the pattern is available here.  Personally I think that patterns are a lot easier to work through with pictures, which obviously the magazine doesn't really provide.  And if you don't already subscribe, buying the single pattern is a lot cheaper.  Thus ends my little plug for it. :)

Also, for those of you who are beaders, Bead Trends is always accepting submissions for future issues here.  I'd like to get a couple more designs in for the summer issues that they're accepting for now.  I'm really amazed that they took one of my first submissions and hope that they're take others in the future, too.

Birthday Cake, free samples, sneak peak

I finally listed my Birthday Cake cuff tonight.  Some of you may remember that at some point this summer, I posted a sneak peak of the Birthday Cake bead mix.  I shot the original pictures before I made my light box so I decided to retake them over the weekend.

I generally have a difficult time naming my pieces.  If I do name them, I almost always do it partway through the creation process or afterward.  This name just came to me, though, as soon as I started putting the bead mix together.  I still think that it's very fitting.  And I really love this button.  It ties everything together nicely.  I made another bracelet with this same seed bead mix but no other embellishment that I'm going to list at some point, too.

Shannon (beadsandbabble) was so pleased with my inclusion of her chocolate dagger beads in my random feature earlier this month that she offered to send me some free sample beads!  Of course I wasn't going to say no to that!  They arrived in the mail today, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Some of these beads fit into my Art Beads fall blogging piece perfectly.  I've been planning some simple jade pieces for a while as while.  The neutral/metallic seed beads on the right will coordinate well with that green.  Thanks again Shannon!

Some accepted another Alchemy request today so I'll be working on that custom request this week.  I picked out the beads tonight.

I'll leave your imaginations open on that for now.  And no, it's not anything Christmas related even though it is that color scheme. :)

Finally, I got confirmation today that I will have a piece published in Bead Trends February 2011!