Time to blog for Artbeads.com and show off some of their lovely beads for winter!  And yes, lucky me, Artbeads.com pays me for this “work” in beads – and I can say anything I want.  And what I want to say is: these beads are absolutely yummy!

I chose black and white with some sheer Swarovski’s to celebrate the bare trees against the sky.  The particular pattern on the glass beads, though, reminds me of flower petals, so the whole mood becomes one of anticipation, of knowing that Spring and her riot of flowers and colors is just around the corner.  In fact, the snowdrops are starting to push upwards and will be blooming in no time at all (snow or no snow)!

The main beads to make this 20″ necklace and 2.5″ earrings are:

6 Swarovski 5040 6mm Black Diamond AB Faceted Roundelles

6 Swarovski 5040 8mm Crystal AB Roundelles (these little beauties beg to be used everywhere.  They’re gorgeous!)

6 Swarovski 5040 8mm Jet Faceted Roundelles

2 Swarovski 5203 18mm Polygon Black Diamond Beads

1 Swarovski 6704 20mm Crystal Snowflake Pendant

1 14×15 black and white Matrix Roundel Bead Strand

These supplies total $35.41.

I also used small silver-plated beads and some black diamond-like crystals I had on hand, a pewter bale and a pewter toggle.  I’m not sure I’m finished with that bale – the necklace actually calls for something more delicate so I may revisit that before I’m finally finished with the design.  This gun-metal pewter pinch bale just might do the trick, or this antique silver-plated pewter vine pinch bale.  Ah – a designer’s work is never done!  Sometimes you just have to stop and say, “Okay!  Done!”

You will also need stringing wire.  I used Beadalon copper satin stringing wire  that I had on hand because I thought I was going to leave some wire showing and I really like that satin finish wire for leaving it open.  But in the end, I strung the whole thing with beads. And earring wires if you want to make earrings, too.

And check out this TOHO Winter Frost seed bead mix I found while browsing (because you know when I went to get the item URLs I got side-tracked browsing).  Can you just imagine the lovelies you could make with this?! 

Don’t forget to check out the coupon page that Artbeads.Com offers as well as their sale page.   Things change regularly, so visit often!

Happy creating!

Wylde Women’s Wisdom

There’s just no such thing as too many beads!