I’m dropping by today to announce the official launch of my Learn French Beading: Beginner Course video series!

If you missed my last blog post, please go back and read that to see all the details of what this course is and what it entails.

The first video, which teaches how to string seed beads onto wire both directly from a hank and using a bead spinner, is now up and available on my YouTube Channel, which you can watch here. The videos will be published one at a time over the course of several months, so make sure you subscribe to my channel if you want to make use of those videos as I won’t be sending out newsletters or blog posts for every video. If you purchase the print or PDF version of the book that I’ve made to go along with the videos, you get early access to all of the videos from the start so you can work at your own pace.

The print book is Available in the US on Amazon, in the UK on Amazon.co.uk, in Canada at Amazon.ca, in Germany at Amazon.de, in Spain at Amazon.es, in Italy at Amazon.it, in France at Amazon.fr, and in Japan at Amazon.co.jp. You can, of course, order from me directly. I also have a PDF version available in the shop on my website. I have a couple options here. It’s my intention to teach techniques for free, so I do have a free PDF of just the materials and technique lessons in my shop in addition to the Full Course PDF, which is not free.

There is a third party seller currently selling the book in Australia on Amazon, but they’ve boosted the price so high, which unfortunately I cannot control. I am currently working on another option to get the book into other countries, like Australia, so I’ll update if it works!

For those who pre-ordered the book from me, they did delay my shipment. I ordered them on the 12th, and they were supposed to be here earlier this week, but they ran into some issues. So, the books are arriving to me today, and I will get the first set of orders that came in before the original pre-order deadline out on Monday/Tuesday, including all the orders with the kit bundles. Those who ordered after that deadline will ship over the course of the next two weeks.

You guys I’ve worked so hard on this course, and I really hope that you’ll find it beneficial, even if you are no longer a “beginner”. As always, I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Other Updates

The Presentation

If you remember from my previous post, I was preparing to give a presentation on French Beading for Bead Designers International (the New England Bead Society). I was nervous since I’ve not done anything like that before, and public speaking isn’t my strength. But I’m happy to report that it went well! It was a video conference, since I couldn’t travel all the way out there. They also had a workshop the weekend after the presentation, for which I allowed them to use some of my beginner patterns. I made all the kits for them (45 classroom kits and then 12 extras). I got to video-in during the workshop to answer questions and watch them work, and it was fun! The ladies looked like they were enjoying it, so I’d say it was a successful venture in promoting the art of French Beading.

This Year’s Beading Challenge

I mentioned last time that I was doing a flower of the month challenge. But it’s not working very well, and it probably won’t work very well for the rest of the year. I was excited to do this, but I think I’m biting off more than I can chew. So I’m switching directions. Instead of designing around birth flowers every month, I’m just going to try to catch up on publishing patterns on my back-list. That would feel more productive, since I know many of you have been waiting for some of them for a long time. I’m also going to be finishing Spring Collection at the same time, though I’m so exhausted that I have no idea how long that will take me to get finished.

I still haven’t finished those carnations from January. Honestly I don’t like carnations, so it’s hard to force myself to work on them. Especially during a time when I was already really stressed out. But, I’m going to finish these Primroses that I’ve been working on this month… definitely won’t get to finish them this month… seeing as how tomorrow is March… Didn’t think I’d survive the stress of February long enough to see March, so I’m very glad it’s almost here.

This was designed based off a primrose plant I grew and dissected a couple years ago to study. This is just a sampling of the design so far. Going to finish these because primroses are cute and they make me happy. And because it took so much effort to get the petal shape I wanted. It’s trickier than it looks. Maybe I can actually get a pattern published soon. It’s been about a year since my last one? I can’t even remember. Yikes!

Next month I’ll be finishing up my Christmas Wreath and the book that goes with it, so that will be another thing to watch out for soon. Yay! Then I’m going to take a long nap. Because I’m exhausted.

Then we’ll take patterns and Spring Collection one month at a time. After spending all of January and February trying to catch up on last year’s work, my entire plan for the rest of the year is “we’ll see how it goes”. Because last year was terrible and has traumatized me about ever trying to schedule anything ever again.

New Studio

So we moved into our new house at the beginning of the month, and I’ve gotten to start setting up my new studio. There’s still so much work left to be done, and it’s a huge mess right now. But I’ll share some more updates once it’s ready.