Welcome Our New Team Members

I'm super excited today to share with you our new contributors for the Art Bead Scene. These talented beadmakers and jewelry designers are ready to bring their talents to keep you inspired during your jewelry-making adventures.

So, give a big Art Bead Scene welcome to these creative souls!

Terri DelSignore
Terri DelSignore of Artisticaos is a ceramic beadmaker from Canada who creates graphic and whimsical art beads. We are looking forward to seeing more of Terri's work this year and enjoying her tutorials and creative inspirations. Find Terri on her website and on Facebook. Terri's feathers were featured in this earring project last week and she shared a great tutorial on creating hollow beads.

Terri offered a bead giveaway on her hollow bead blog post last week. The random winner chosen from the comments is Kathy of PajegoArtHouse. Congrats Kathy! Kathy please email so we can get your prize out to you! 

Sally Sutherland
Lampwork artist Sally Sutherland creates her lovely art beads from her studio in Scotland. Inspired by her surroundings, her sense of humor and her children. Sally's work varies from modern with a sophisticated color sense to playful fairies and characters in glass. Visit Sally's website to see her work and read about her process. You'll find her beads in her Etsy shop, Soul Silver.

Ashley Bonney

With a background in graphic artists Ashley's beads cover several mediums that explore her love of design. You'll find Ashley delves into beautiful hand-painted wooden beads, wood-burned beads in nature inspired themes and polymer clay work soaked in delicious color. Visit Ashley's Summer Wind Art shop on Etsy and a you can find her on Facebook. 

Loralee Kolton

Jewelry designer Loralee Kolton works like a master on miniature canvases formed into earrings. She is a connoisseur of art beads and has a way of making them dance in a saucy tango. I've dubbed Loralee the Earring Whisperer and she will be sharing super fun earring projects with us each month. Lorelee's latest designs can be found in her Etsy shop but they seem to be swiped up on Facebook almost as soon as she shares them! 

Art Bead Scene Team Take the Challenge! - Amapolas

This month's challenge piece is a personal favourite of many of the Art Bead Scene team I believe - including me. The colours, the imagery - and, as Mary said in yesterday's inspiring post, the sense of warmth and gentle movement that you get from the painting. It really is a beauty.

Amapolas, 1913

Illustration published in "News of Spring and Other Nature Studies

By Edward Julius Detmold

Watercolor, 208 by 124mm

This month, some of us took up the gauntlet and joined in the fun. Take a peek and see what we were inspired to create! 

Songbeads 

Humblebeads

Something to do with your hands
Creative Impressions In Clay :: Tari Sasser

Art Beads to Inspire You For The ABS January Challenge

Painting Imagine Tomorrows World by  Hundertwasser

I have been very inspired by the wonderful colors and joyful designs in this work by Hundertwasser.  In my search for art beads for you to enjoy and to entice you to participate this month, I had a great time looking and here is what I found:

Ancient Corals Nuggets by BeadFairy

Artisan Statement Beads  by MargitBoehmer

Rustic Ceramic Disk Beads by  HappyFishThings

Glass Lampwork Beads by Julie Wong Sontag of Uglibeads

Large Lampwork Bead by Laura Blanck of OpenStudioBeads

Graphic Red Bloom Beads by Something To Do Beads  Claire Lockwood Art Bead Scene Editor

 

                Poppy Pendant by Humblebeads  ABS Founder Heather Powers

Calypso Seas Lampwork Bead by EmaK Designs  ABS Editor




Simple Truths Bundle # 4  By ABS Editor  Erin Prais-Hintz


Round Toggle Clasp  Bright Colors by Mary Harding, ABS Editor


             
        Colorful Beads From Creative Impressions In Clay, ABS Editor  Tari Sasser


  Handmade Beaded Beads By Rebecca Anderson, ABS Editor, in The Curious Bead Shop

I hope you enjoyed this eye candy tour of art beads I found.  Hopefully  you are energized by their beauty and will  start making something for this month's ABS challenge.  Remember that we are now posting to Pinterest. 


Here are the particulars:

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. You need to have a Pinterest account. Go get one ASAP if you don't have one already. It's easy, fun and inspiring. 

2. Email us at absmonthlychallenge@gmail.com to get added to the monthly challenge board.

Subject: Monthly Challenge Board Request

Indicate if you want to be added to the Jewelry Board, Bead Board or both.

You will be emailed an invite to the board within 48 hours. Accept the invite and you are ready to pin your entries.

3. Two ways to pin your entry to the board.

Pin your photo from the internet (on your blog, Etsy shop, etc.) 

Add your photo directly from your computer

Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork. 

An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply added to wire or cord will not be accepted.***

Please add the tag or title JAN ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

 Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 entries per month.

ENTRIES for ART BEAD ARTISTS!!
• Beads Makers Pinterest Board-Art beads must be created by you and fit the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge theme. They can be made for the challenge or ones you have made before. 2 entries per month are allowed. 
One entry will be picked by the editors on the 28th of each month for a free month of advertising on the Art Bead Scene. Bead entries have to be pinned by the 27th of the month.
Beads only - do not post jewelry on this board. If a post doesn't fit the challenge it will be deleted.

Thanks so  much for stopping by.

Mary

Art Bead Scene Editors Takes the Challenge

It's that time again, the ABS editors jump in and see what we can create based on the month's challenge. I'm going to share what I made here on the blog today. 

I don't know about you but December is a crazy time of year for me. Between working, selling, promoting, meeting deadlines and then trying to stuff Christmas celebrations in there too I sort of lose my mind. I have two blog hops this week, this one and on Thursday I'm hosting a Michael's Beading Challenge on my blog. (Play along!)

So I mention all this craziness because adding a blog hop or two during this time of year can actually help you out! You'll create new jewelry to either add to your shop, give as a gift or create something to wear to your upcoming festivities. 

Blog hops: helping multi-taskers check off their to-do list! 

So if you haven't seen this month's challenge, check it out here and make plans to enter this month.  I love the quiet, hushed tones of this panting and find the arches make my eyes travel down that corridor - you can almost here the chanting of the choirs. 

For my first piece I picked a focal that whispered of the shapes in the painting and reflected the muted colors used in the palette. I couldn't help but think of Emily Dickinson's poem, while I made this piece.  So my pendant reflects the cathedral that nature creates. I picked beads that had an ethereal feel in color and reflected some of the tiny bits of color in the painting. The gilded leaf and disk beads are Humblebeads and the ceramic bead is from Earthenwood Studio.

SOME keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in surplice;
I just wear my wings,
And instead of tolling the bell for church,
Our little sexton sings.
God preaches,—a noted clergyman,—
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I ’m going all along! -Emily Dickinson

My second piece is a bit more of a literal interpretation with tiny pewter charms that look like the archways in the painting. These little gems are from Mamacita Beadworks. The polymer clay beads are Humblebeads. I kept the design simple with brass jump rings and black steel wire for contrast.

Look what Mary made!
I want you to run over to Mary Hardings' blog now and see the components she created inspired the challenge this month.

Look what Erin made!
Better late than never! Erin creates a new pendant, component or charm in her Simple Truths line each month inspired by the art we choose for the Art Bead Scene Monthly challenge. This month, Erin actually chose the painting we are using and it was the strong architectural lines that drew her to it. She created these Saenedam Doodle pendants with a domed polymer clay base in a very heavy antique silver bezel with a patchwork pattern of doodles in spaces that mimic the arches in the cathedral. Each one is different. These are on their way to the Simple Truths Sampler Club members for December, but there are a few extras of these limited edition pendants available.

And now it's your turn - carve out just a wee bit of time between sipping egg nog and wrapping presents and create something inspired by our challenge! Need some motivation? How about those two $50 art bead prizes? Check out our sponsors.

Monthly Challenge-Inspiration from the Editors

Using the colors of the monthly challenge as the inspiration, items from the editors.

Erin Prais-Hintz :: Tesori Trovati

Lori Anderson :: Lori Anderson Designs

Shannon LeVart :: Miss Fickle Media

Tari Sasser :: Creative Impressions In Clay

Jennifer Heynen :: Jangles

Cindy Gimbrone :: Cindy Gimbrone Beads

Heather Powers :: Humblebeads

Color Palette from the monthly challenge.