Well hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays. I’ve been waiting to update my blog until I could share pictures of what I’ve been working on. I was wanting to make more Christmas ornaments and some christmas trees, but ran out of time to make Christmas presents. So I’m making a few of those in January, and we’ll just call it an early start on next Christmas ;).

Anywho, here is one of the gifts I made this month. This one was a lot of fun. It is a new Peony design that I developed. I used free-form scalloping for the petals – meaning that no two petals follow the same pattern and I didn’t count beads while making them – which I think turned out really well. You can’t tell from the pictures, but this flower is super sparkly. I used 9/0 3 cut luster finished beads, so they have lots of facets to catch the light. The flower itself is about 6 inches wide. After making it, I decided to curl the stem around to make it a self-standing sculpture. This one went to my Mother-in-law, and she loved it. 🙂 I’m dying to make another one. I sure wish 9/0 3 cut seed beads came in more color options. I’ll have to translate my pattern for 11/0’s.

I also needed to make a gift for my mother. I was originally going for a wildflower arrangement, with Poppies, daisies, and cornflowers… but the more I looked at it, the more it needed and there was no way I’d get it all done in time. So, over the next month or two I’ll be adding in more pieces. Leaves, wheat, maybe some lavender or forget-me-nots… something yellow? I don’t know, but it needs more. And then, my hands started swelling very badly and the joints in my fingers were hurting… so I needed something that used easier techniques.

While I’m on the subject of these little Cornflowers… I’ve just published a free pattern for them! Normally I do my free tutorials and patterns just as webpages, but I wanted to try something a little different this time. This pattern is in PDF form, so you can download it for free. It’s a beginner level pattern. Even though it looks a little crazy, they are pretty easy. All you need to know is Continuous Loops, Fringe, and Lacing – all of which are taught for free here on my website.

Okay, so I didn’t get to finish the Poppy arrangement, so I whipped up something else for mother dear. This is another candle ring like the one Suzanne and I made in our Beaded Berry Collection, only this time it features my own Miniature rose pattern instead of berries. Plus some crystal baby’s breath and some tiny fern leaves. Very fun little project.

So, that’s where we are now. I didn’t get to do the free technique tutorial for you guys yet, but it is coming up. I just need one good day without any other distractions (other people call them responsibilities) to put it together. I also didn’t get to make myself a Christmas tree, so I’m doing that next too, even though Christmas is over.

Then I’m making some more cool stuff… one is a project I’ve been designing with my husband, and I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out. 🙂 Hopefully we can get that finished before I have this baby, then maybe I’ll at least get to start on the beaded flower wall hanging I’m making for said little one (though I think that will be a longer term project that I work on a little at a time between other projects).

Too many ideas, too little time. Do get yourself a copy of that Cornflower pattern and let me know how you like it!

Merry (Late) Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!