This post is a test to see if I added my blog successfully to my Author page on Amazon.com. I will know within 24 hours. Fingers crossed. :)

Wisdom Teeth and a New Book

Cheyenne (17) had her wisdom teeth out yesterday. She now looks like an adorable chipmunk. She is recovering nicely and should be back to eating solid foods in a few days. In the meantime, staying home with her gives me a good excuse to sit in my comfy chair and finish a necklace, which, I hope, will be included in my new book. Yes, I said new book. After many heart to heart conversations with Karin, my friend and editor, I have decided to move forward with a new proposal. I really did think I was done when I self-published, "Bead, Play & Love," but I have decided to take one section and expand it into most of a new book. If the proposal passes all of the tests I hope to begin work on it in the spring or summer. My brain is working overtime to design some new projects and invent some new techniques.

I have been really busy planning and co-chairing the senior all night party for Cheyenne's class of 2012. I am still in a bit of denial that she is actually graduating from high school and will be starting her new college adventure in the fall. Right now she has been accepted to the University of Michigan. We are so thrilled and proud of her. Sierra is a junior and will start the application process this coming summer. In the meantime, she was accepted into a wonderful program called Back Stage Pass here in the Detroit area. She made a great video describing herself and will be a wonderful asset to this group of teens.

I am now done bragging. :)

I have been taking stock of all of my beads and find it so interesting how I go through color phases. As I pull out the beads I want to use for a particular project, I am struck by the number of bead colors I have that I just don't think I will ever use again. I don't throw them away because one day I will probably pull them out again as I wonder about the beads I am using now. Am I alone here?

I am going to gather up some beads and make some new things for the book. I can't wait to see where this takes me. I love writing and sharing and inspiring. I am thankful for all of the support I have found over the years. Wish me luck on this new journey of mine. If you have any ideas of things you would like me to cover in this book, please let me know. I write for you.

If I don't update again before the new year, I wish you a very happy an healthy new year.

The new and improved, "Bead, Play & Love" is now available on Blurb.com. I am offering both the print version of this book and an ebook for ipad/iphone (ONLY!).

A couple of things you need to know:

1. Due to a software problem with the publisher, I have decided to sell the ebook as a print book as well. My first choice is to offer two different versions but it is causing some confusion.

2. Please click on the link below to order the book.

To order click here.

Have Beads, Will Travel.

I don't know about you but I rarely leave the house without a small case of beads. The thought of being stranded or delayed without something to do scares me. My beads are my security blanket and just knowing that they are nearby makes me happy. I don't think I am alone here, am I? Sometimes just having the beads with me opens new doors and introduces me to new people. A story.....

This morning after I left the gym, I realized that my 10:45 appointment was actually a 10:15 appointment. I knew that I would have JUST enough time to shower and dress but would I have enough time to gather up the beads I needed for a new project I wanted to try while waiting for my daughter? The choice was simple. I chose to partially my hair and use those 3 minutes to look at and not just grab at some beads. The "grab" method usually leaves me without something I really need, like thread or an extra needle. There really is a point to all of this. :)

As soon as I sat down in the waiting room I put my beads on my lap, plugged my headphones in and got ready to work. Before I could even thread my needle, the nicest woman started asking me about what I was doing. I told her and shared some pictures. She loved my work and wanted to see more, so I happily scrolled through some pictures on my phone. And then she asked the one question for which I don't seem to have a quick answer, "Do you sell your work?" Lately, this question runs a close second to the question, "Do you sell your children?" I know this is a bit of an extreme comparison, but when you spend hours creating a one-of-a-kind piece of bead woven work, the idea of selling it is not an easy one to think about. My excuse of late has been (truthfully) that I have been writing books and instructions and have been using my work for samples. To sell them would mean to remake them and truth be told, remaking is not something I like to do.

The work I create just happens. I don't plan in advance. I veer off the original path so often that sometimes I am not sure what I was thinking of making because the end result is so different. There are many unfinished pieces of work that probably can't be finished because I don't remember how I did what I did. But I digress.

It's not that I don't want to sell my work but if I do, I won't have it anymore to look at or to photograph of to show to others. So the question of whether or not I sell my work is never easy to answer.

I told this very nice woman that she could come over to see some of the pendants I make that I do sell (not easily, but I do sell them). She was so excited and arranged to come right over. As she was looking at the pendants, I started showing her some other work. She fell in love with one of my necklaces and asked me the price. I won't go into detail but suffice it to say that I will miss this little necklace. Can I make another one? Yes. Am I going to? No. It is now hers. I know she will love it and take care of it and wear it well. I know it will make her smile the same way it made me smile.


After she left, I looked at all of the pieces of jewelry that make me smile. Then I made a call to inquire about being included in the Holiday Market at the BBAC here in Birmingham. I think it is time. Not all of my work is for sale, but certainly some of it is.

If you are interested in seeing the pieces that are available, please send me an email and I will send you pictures. If you like near me and happen into the Holiday Market you might just see my work there.

It's not easy to part with some of the work I love but maybe this is a good time to start. It may make it easier to send the first of two of my most favorite works of art off to college next year. I will cry, but I know that someone and some place else will be really happy to have her. And she will make them smile.

I would like to invite you to participate in "Beads. Beaders. Beading. : a showcase of beaded art from around the world." This project was inspired by the photography book called, "A Day in the Life of America."

For this project, I would like to collect images of the work of beaders from around the world, which I will use to create a slideshow as well as an electronic book (PDF file). To be included, the pictures need to sent ...to me via email during the month of August 2011. Acceptable images include but are not limited to seed bead work, strung work, lamp work, polymer clay, etc. If the components can be recognized as beads, a picture of the finished work can be submitted. The work does NOT have to be done in August, the image simply needs to be submitted in August. My goal is to use every image sent to me but the images need to be usable. I would like jpg files that are at least 300 dpi in which the piece is photographed on a solid background (no fingers, toes, or lace doilies). Along with the image I need your name, contact information and country where you live. I would also like a short paragraph about who you are, what inspires you to bead, a story about the work submitted (if applicable) and a picture of you.

There is no participation fee. One image per participant will be allowed. There will be no charge to view the slide show. I will send you a link to view the show as well as a PDF file of all images and artist information.

By submitting your image you are giving me permission to use the image in a slideshow, without payment. You authorize Beth Stone to edit, alter, copy, exhibit, publish or distribute this image/photo for purposes of a compilation of images in a slideshow and electronic book. You waive the right to inspect or approve the finished product, including written or electronic copy.

Let me be clear that by altering any image, I simply mean that I may have to crop an original image or I might have to enhance the brightness, contrast or adjust the color. I will not change the integrity of any image unless I discuss it with you first.

I also want you to know that I am not doing this for any type of compensation.

How to submit your picture:

Please send the image to me at BNSHDL@msn.com during the month of August 2011. Please write “Beads. Beaders. Beading.” in the subject box.

I hope you have fun and enjoy the final project.

Please spread the word to any beaders who might be interested in participating.

With love and appreciation,

Beth Stone
with
Marlene Rackley and
Kat Oliva

After months of deliberation, I have decided to redo my book, "Bead, Play & Love" and offer it for sale once again. I am going through it with a fine toothed comb to make sure I fix all of the unintentional typos that for some strange reason appeared when I did one final spell check before publishing it the first time. The publishing program made changes that I did not intend or ask for. I found them only recently (I don't read my own books very often) and was pretty horrified to realize that there are books out there with that are not as perfect as I would like them to be.

During the reworking of the book I consolidated and cleaned up some things which gave me 8 blank pages that need to be filled. As soon as these pages are filled I will send out a notice and hopefully find those who have notified me of their interest in the book. Stay tuned for more updates and a new release date for this little book of mine.

I hope everyone has a nice 4th of July holiday.

It is impossible to believe that today is July 1st. Where did this year go? It always seems that the more I want to do, the faster times goes. I told myself that I will try to write something everyday so here I am. I haven't made anything new today so the picture here is of something I made a long time ago. It is a freeform pendant which I accidentally strung next to the beads from a bracelet I was making. As soon as the pendant butted up next to the beads, I knew I had the beginning of new design era. My love for freeform has never gone away and I have just recently started exploring the myriad of colors and the wonderful shapes that appear just by manipulating the beaded fabric.

I made these rings last night. It just came to me out of the blue, when I was looking at one of the UFOs I posted yesterday, that I could use a small section of my signature work as the centerpiece with a ring of skinny herringbone. Why didn't I ever think of this before?

As soon as I made these I posted them on Facebook so please forgive the repetition if you are seeing them again. I am currently working on another design and will post iy when it is done.

It is warm here in SE lower Michigan and is supposed to get warmer. I have to go pick up Cheyenne from poms camp tomorrow (she made captain of her varsity team!) and Sierra comes home from pre-camp (where she is a counselor). We have to take Sierra back on Monday and Cheyenne leaves on the 9th for Italy. Have I mentioned that before? I am so happy she is going somewhere so fabulous. I would love to go with her.

That's all for now. Share this blog with others. It might actually get more interesting as time goes on. :)

Do something nice for yourself.

UFOs and "hey, what's with all the string?"

Not to be confused with unidentified flying objects, the pieces pictured above are indeed UFOs, which in the crafting world stands for UnFinished Objects, hence all the strings.

While I work, my ideas seem to ebb and flow. I have a flash of what I want to do but somewhere along the way I get distracted or bored or just don't like what I am doing. In some instances I actually put all of these pieces together into one piece but in most instances they end up in a box, ignored and abandoned. One of these boxes sits on my side work table so that I have easy access for tossing in my rejects (oh, that actually hurts to say). Okay, not rejects exactly but, um, experiments.

While thinking of something to write about today, these "experiments" started calling out to me to be photographed. I didn't want to tie in all of the strings because that is my least favorite thing to do. Perhaps that is why I don't care for loomed beadwork - too many strings to tie in, but I digress.

There is something about revisiting abandoned work that I really like. I try to remember how to do certain techniques and as I play I find myself moving into other directions. I get frustrated when I can"t reproduce my own work and I wonder why I just didn't write it down to begin with.

I have created so many techniques and technique variations that I could fill another book. My third book, "Bead, Play & Love" is a culmination of a number of structural technique variations as well as a number of original techniques and variations. I was sad to have stopped selling it and hope to be able to offer it again either in book or ebook format. I am still looking for different options, especially ones that aren't cost prohibitive. In the meantime I have lots of ideas to share and have even toyed with the idea of sharing "365 techniques in 365 days." That would be huge undertaking given the fact that the instructions alone would take a while to do. I may just share a picture of the technique and write instructions for some of them. So many ideas. I hope to have it all sorted out soon.

If you have any UFOs lying around, take them out and see if they inspire you to create something new. And if you do, let me know.

Have a fabulous rest of today.

Happy Tuesday,

My daughters are gone for the week which gives me some time to either clean and organize closets and storage areas or work on something that feeds my need for creativity. As you can imagine, I am choosing the latter. For now. I will get to the closets and stuff another day. Really, I will. Really.

I am also going to try to keep this blog somewhat up to date. I am not going to promise an everyday thing but will strive for at least three days a week. I have so many ideas swirling though my head and hope that by sharing some of it here, I will be able to sort it all out.

First and foremost is my project for August called, "Beads. Beaders. Beading." I am looking for submissions of work from people all over the world who want to be included in a slideshow showcasing all of the collected work as well as a PDF file of submissions and artist information.
Details of this project can be found on my Facebook page, Beth Katz Stone, under "Events." I hope to have many more people agree to play. This is a fun project. It will generate no money and even if it did I would donate it to some type of art thing anyway. I want to bring bead artists together in a new and fun way. The finished project will be posted on Youtube for easy sharing. Please join those artists who are going to participate.

If you follow me and my work on Facebook you may have already seen these two reversible pendants. They were inspired by my love of freeform beadwork, which I started doing over 20 years ago.

Hi All!

Welcome to my new blog about beading or anything else that may be on my mind. I am trying to move into what has become the new mainstream of networking, socializing and the like. I was going to create a newsletter type thing but then remembered that I had this blog thing that I may as well try to use.

I have been busy working on new bead stitching designs and have come to the conclusion that there are just not enough hours in the day to be able to create everything that is in my head. But I sure do try. Actually, that's not true. Of late, I have been doing more thinking than trying or doing. I am trying to decide the direction I want to take with my work and for some reason the decision is much more difficult than I ever imagined. I do have a new design which I have decided to sell. As much as I would like to do this as a kit, I know that that work involved in crazy and will take me away from the design work I like best. I suppose I could hire someone to put the kits together but that is just one more layer I don't want to think about today.

Here is a picture of my new design called, "It's a Pendant."

The instructions are easy to follow according to the three people who were kind enough to test them out. Thanks Kat, Marlene and Cissy. You guys are the best.

If you are interested in purchasing instructions, click on the "buy" button which will take you the Paypal website. I will email the instructions immediately.

I have more instructions available for purchase on my website, www.bethstone.com.

Check out my books! "Seed Bead Stitching, " "More Seed Bead Stitching" and my new book, "Bead, Play & Love."

More later!