Thursday, July 28, 2016

Gotta Catch 'em All! Part 1

I don't know if you've heard, but Pokemon is hot again, thanks to a new mobile app called Pokemon Go! This app is possibly the best thing ever to get kids who are too involved in indoor activities, out and about.

I thought I'd have a little beading fun and make beadies of the pokemon my sons have caught so far. Here is part 1.

Charmander (Pokemon #4)


You can find the pattern for Charmander here. I made a couple of modifications to this pattern that I thought would make it nicer for putting on a backpack or purse.


I did the tail with a separate piece of plastic lacing, strung through the three yellow beads at the bottom of his tummy. Then, I strung the plastic lacing through the middle beads of the row just below the eyes, to tie the tail "up" more like Charmander uses it.



 This makes it more 3-D and less long and dangly.

 Caterpie, Pokemon #10


This Caterpie pattern came from Jason's Beadie Site. I have links to his site on my website, but while looking for some of these Pokemon patterns, I found that Jason's site host has enabled some annoying and potentially dangerous pop-up ads that tell you things like "your media player may be out of date" and want you to install things - not cool! Therefore, I have included the pattern from his site here:



Paras, Pokemon #46


Again, this one is from Jason's site, so here is the pattern:


These are just three of the two dozen or so different Pokemon that my sons have caught so far. More to come soon!







Thursday, June 16, 2016

Summertime...and the Beading is Easy

Looking for some fun crafts to do this summer? How about some beadie critters? Here are some ideas to put on your backpack, suitcase, duffel bag, or tote bag, whatever you are carrying for your summer adventures.

Graduation!

Did you or someone you love graduate this year? Celebrate with some fun beadies. Here are a couple of ideas from beadiecritters.com:
You can make the cap and tassel whatever colors you need for your school.


Bob is ready to graduate and move on the next stage in his life! Again, you can change the robe and cap colors to suit your needs. (This is part of a whole series of Bob outfits - scroll down a little to find the graduate one, click on the picture and you'll see a larger version.)

Summer Treats

Hot summer days leave us looking for treats. Here are an ice cream cone and popsicle that will never melt on you!

This pattern offers a variety of options to show different ice cream flavors, a double scoop, etc.

What's your favorite popsicle flavor? Change the color to show it.

Summer Beach Fun

We love to go to the beach or the swimming pool in the summer. Hook these onto your beach bag!

This will really add some color to your bag!

Another idea: Make the 3-D Christmas ornament with a different color for each of the sides for a beach ball look!

Change the color of the skin and/or the swimsuit to represent you! (Note: this is part of a series of beadie dolls in different outfits. Scroll down a little to find "Jordan at the Swimming Pool."

A lovely piece to show our favorite part of summer, all that bright sun!

In the pattern, this is called a Black-Eyed Susan, but it looks like a sunflower to me. Change the black in the middle to brown. One of my favorite summer flowers.


Summer Events

Some of our most-beloved patriotic holidays happen in the summer or at the end of it. And there are summer Olympics this year!

My site has other U.S. flags, but this one is a nice size for putting on a bag.

One way of showing your excitement for the Olympics. You could make it a necklace if you wanted.

Another option: Choose a flag from our many country flags (247 countries) to show your support for your favorite country in the competition.

I hope you have a great summer with lots of time for fun and relaxation!




Sunday, May 17, 2015

New Beadies! Monster High Characters

It's harder nowadays for me to stay up on all the new characters in kids' shows. Luckily, I have some friends with small children. One of them has a daughter who is into Monster High. I was in the mood to do some designing, so I decided to start with her favorite. I ended up designing 5 that day.

Frankie
Draculaura
Cleo
Lagoona
Spectra
These designs were all created using icandream.com's Fashion Doll Pattern Maker. 

Some of the colors I used are hard to come by in retail stores. I recommend ordering from bolekscrafts.com. They have 60 colors of pony beads in two sizes (regular and mini). You can order in bags of 75 or 1000 in the regular size, or bags of 90 or 1000 in the mini size. Their prices are great, and their quality is better than the beads you will find in a retail store.

You can also try finding the assortment that comes in a divided container from Walmart to find most of the colors you need. 

I plan on putting these on the site officially soon. But these patterns are simple enough that you should be able to figure them out by looking at the picture. I am working on getting Expression 3 on my new computer so that I can work on my website.



On the Wings of an Eagle

I had a email request for help with the wings on the Eagle pattern. I had a look at them and thought I understood, but thought I'd make sure I was right. I was glad I did because it turned out to be more complicated than I was thinking it was. This is one of the most advanced patterns on the site.

The completed Eagle beadie.
I took pictures throughout the process of doing one of the wings and sent them to the person who emailed me. I decided to put them here on my blog as well, so that it can help others.

The first part is the easy part. Do the entire body of the eagle (head down to the feet) with no wings. Finish off the body. Then, take the 2nd string that the instructions call for and slide it through row 5 (the one that is brown-white-brown-white etc.) so that it is even on both sides.




All of these next instructions will be with brown beads. We will work with only one side of the string, so it will make one wing.

Add 7 beads. Go back through 2 beads. Then add 10 beads. Go back through 4 beads.


Now add 8 beads and go back through 5.


Now you will start the final shaping of the wing. Go back up through the 2nd bead that is currently loose.


Then take the string down through the next two loose beads.


Add 4 more beads and go back up through three of them.


Then back up through the next three loose beads.


Then down through the final 4 loose beads.


Finally take the remaining string through row 8 of the body of the eagle.


Repeat this process to do the wing on the other side. Finish off both of these strings.

In the picture below I've numbered the strings in the order you will put them on. The blue string indicates the part where you are adding beads and going away from the body of the eagle. Then the red string is where you're heading back toward the body. I hope this explanation is helpful for those who may wish to try making an Eagle.


Monday, April 14, 2014

Beadies for Easter

It's almost Easter. What a wonderful time of year.
If you're looking for a fun craft for the kids to do over Easter weekend, here are some ideas:


 I have several patterns for "bunnies" on my beadiecritters website. Here is one of them.

One of my website visitors made bunnies from this pattern in several different colors. So cute!

An Easter basket pattern, complete with chocolate bunny!



A whole set of Easter items, including 3 eggs, a bunny, and a basket.



This chick pattern comes from makingfriends.com.


This lamb pattern is so cute! Also from Making Friends.


If you are entertaining younger children who may not be able to do these crafts, put out a bowl of pastel-colored pony beads and let them string them on plastic lacing. (Not recommended for children under 3 unless closely supervised.)



Saturday, February 15, 2014

New Patterns are Up!

I have completed the pattern drawings for my new Frozen designs, as well as for some Walking Dead characters I made for someone's request.

Check out the new patterns here:

Frozen Characters:
Anna in her Everyday Dress
Anna in her Coronation Dress
Elsa in her Ice Queen Dress
Elsa in her Coronation Dress
Hans
Kristoff
Olaf
Sven


Walking Dead Characters:
Rick
Daryl
Marchionne

I hope you enjoy them! Let me know if you have any other requests.

Friday, February 7, 2014

I've Been Designing

I have been busy designing new beadies today.

I had a request for "Walking Dead" beadies.


And I'd been itching to do some of the Frozen characters.


Patterns for these are coming very soon! I might just keep on designing, while I'm on a roll.