No Your Not Seeing Double (Post 60)

Week 2 - Earring Beadalong
I was so impressed with Norma Jean Dell's tutorial that I made a 2nd pair, this time using the beautiful gemstone Unakite.  Don't worry, when I said last week that maybe I'll do 52 pairs - I was only joking.  

Week 2 Earring Beadalong
A 'Norma Jean Dell' design

I was a little disappointed with the irregularity of the seed beads but as its using up some of my 'old stash' I knew it would be.  Last week's were what I call 'proper' miyuki seed beads.

Inspiration
Since joining Operation Tackle That Bead Stash (OTTBS) I've become consciously aware of How Little I Know, and, How Much I Want To!  Its been so encouraging seeing the vast range of beadwork and how 'welcoming' and 'willing to share' everybody is.  Its certainly given me a 'buzz'.  I have a feeling I will be 'blogging' their praises for a long time to come. 

Debbie van Tonder - Welcome to my blog ...
Debbie, who I met through OTTBS, is a jewellery designer with some pretty impressive tutorials and patterns, in fact over 400 scrumptious items in her Etsy store.  


Keen to learn new techniques I have purchased a few tutorials; one being 'How To Bead and Read a Peyote Graph'.  This takes size 15/0 beads - so, a little bigger than those of the brooch I made the other week.  

The Peyote stitch is a totally new stitch to me, but I can thoroughly recommend this tutorial.  Debbie's clear guidelines and pictorials meant that by the end of my 'test' square I felt I really did understand the stitch and how to read the graph, to the point where I was even able to correct some minor mistakes I made.  

Without moaning (again!!), my beads were from my stash and meant that the overall result was not as good as if it had been the 'genuine' miyuki delica bead.  Sorry Debbie ... but you can see by the wiggly border what I mean.


I now need to order some more stock as I have a single peyote bracelet pattern that I feel I really must do.  More about that again.  I also have a beautiful tutorial from Debbie for a pair of earrings using Tila beads ... aha, that will be perfect for the Earring bead along!


A Belated Hi ... to Handmade Monday No: 49
Hey ho ... my resolution has already flown out of the window!  To link up you DO have a deadline, which in Wendy's generosity is open until Tue noon, (I believe?). This week, for me, has been a little out of the ordinary and unexpected events meant I didn't make that timescale - but I will pop over and see everybody and you can do the same.  


Are You Overwhelmed with Blog Reading - or General Excessive Surfing?
Over the last week I've come across some interesting blogs which leapt out at me!   
Sister Diana, aka Diana Gilleland, Discussing the wealth of information that we receive and how we try to keep track of it all.  Thoughts quite close to my own - why do we feel the need to bookmark and link to everything, hoard tutorials that we may never use etc etc. Elizabeth Rogers Drouillard suggests ways to lighten the load talks about how we should approach digesting all this information.


Diana and Elizabeth's blogs, to me, bounce off each other quite nicely ... sisters?  I don't think so, but quite interesting to share their world!  Word of warning mind, they also reference soooooo many other 'interesting' people that I challenge you NOT to 'add' to your blog reads - an impossibility I'm sure! 


I have yet to follow out their recommendations but over the next few weeks intend to.  Both blogs are full of thought provoking views and I'm sure you will find some worthwhile tips.  


What am I saying!!  I do hope you will continue to follow and remember: 


'Keep Watching, and I'll Keep Blogging'


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