Where to Get Beads, part 1

 Hi there! I have been working hard on finally updating my beadiecritters.com website. Things have changed a lot since 1998 when I first started my website. One of the major ways things have changed is access to beads in various colors. I thought I'd explore different places to get beads. Today's exploration in Walmart.

Walmart has a small section in one of their craft aisles with beads, plastic lacing, and keyrings. Here are some photos of what I found during a recent visits to two different Walmart stores near my home in Florida.

These first photos are of various small bags of beads. The only single colors were red, white, and clear. But there were several different assortments of colors, including pastels, neon colors, standard colors, translucent, and metallic.

They also had some bead organizers with a variety of color assortments. These are nice because they're already organized into separate colors, and the organizer is refillable. And they had a few colors in these that were not available in the bags shown above.

One neat thing I found was a kit with patterns for several basic beadie critters, with a container meant to help you lay your beads out before weaving the string through the beads. I really want to try this sometime and see how well it works.

They had alphabet beads in different color configurations. Most of these could not be used with regular pony beads unless you were using a thinner string.

Finally, they had some plastic lacing assortments, as well as some keyrings and lanyard hooks.

Stay tuned. I will be visiting Michaels, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby soon to see what they have!

If you are looking for the widest variety of colors, give Bolek's Craft Supplys a try! They have 78 different colors of pony beads!

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!

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:

Smiley Graduates

You can make the cap and tassel whatever colors you need for your school.

Graduate Bob

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!

Ice Cream Cone

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

Popsicle

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!

Beach Ball

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!

Girl in Swimsuit

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."

Sun

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

Sunflower

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!

U.S. Flag

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

Olympic Medal

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!

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.