A big thank you to everyone who purchased the Hydrangea and Lily of the Valley patterns I published last time. I do greatly appreciate your support, and I hope you are enjoying the patterns.My friends, last night I was finally able to publish “Beaded Berry Collection” on my website!! After so many months of work, it feels a little strange to actually be finished with this project. But here she is! Suzanne and I are both very excited.
The packet includes patterns for all the berries in the candle ring. Some berries have multiple versions. Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Strawberry. The tutorial also teaches a wraparound berry technique, which is not pictured.
As with the other patterns, this one is in PDF format. It’s 45 pages long and has over 180 pictures. It does use a mix of French and Victorian beading. It contains individual patterns for Raspberry, Blackberry, and Blueberry branches, and a Strawberry plant. Also, the book teaches the Basic Frame Berry Technique and the Victorian Technique. And, at the very end, there are instructions for making your very own berry candle ring like the one shown on the cover above.
It is available only in the Pattern Shop on my website, not in my Etsy pattern shop. This is because I can only list things in my Etsy shop that I make all by myself, and there are two authors involved here. For it to be “Etsy-legal” I’d have to add Suzanne as a employee in my business and as a member of my Etsy Shop. So, unfortunately I cannot list it there.
I tried making it a “true ebook” in ePub format, but it’s extremely difficult to format properly. With so many pictures that need to be kept with certain text for it to make sense, and since ePubs generally reformat the pages to fit the device screen… it was just painful. They have a fixed format ePub, which supposedly doesn’t move the pictures and words around, and I tried to do it that way. Followed the instructions exactly on formatting and it still ended up weird with the pictures scattered all over the place. So, unfortunately, it’s just not going to work as an ePub. So it’s a digital book, which you can also print out. 🙂
I announced the release on Facebook last night, and several people have already gotten their own copy. So far, everyone who has messaged me about it loves it.
This was my first experience doing a multiple-pattern book, and it was such fun. Exhausting, and challenging, but very rewarding. I do plan on making more of these in the future, but also still doing individual patterns as well.
On to the next project! First, I desperately need to clean my studio. I haven’t reorganized it since May (when I learned I was pregnant and ended up super ill for forever) but I’ve done quite a few projects since then. Then, I’m going to do some “palate cleanser projects” just to relax a bit and free my mind. Then I’m going to try to get one or two Orchid patterns published, since I’ve published so few patterns this year. After that I’ll be doing whatever the heck I want. Christmas designs and gifts, a wall hanging for my baby girl, and other flowers and things I’ve been wanting to do forever but have been too jam packed with custom work to do. I’m also going to try to get some kind of free tutorial published as well. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those and I’d like to give something to everyone who has supported me and my tiny little business.