Now available in California!

I'm afraid I don't have any new beadwork to show you this week as the next piece in the Midnight Garden collection is taking a bit of coaxing, but I do have some exciting news!  My friend Kandra recently opened a new bead store in Solvang which is in California (USA) and not only does she stock a mouthwatering range of beads and beading accessories, she now sells copies of my patterns on CD.  So if you live within travelling distance of Solvang you can drop into Kandra's Beads at 1539A Mission Drive and purchase a CD and then browse through the great range of beads to choose the colours for your project!  Of course you can still purchase a pdf of each pattern direct from my website and these will normally be emailed to you within a few minutes of your purchase, but if you would prefer a CD and cannot get to the store, Kandra also offers a postal service.

Although this is a new store, Kandra has a wealth of experience (this is actually her fifth bead store!) and she is also a talented beader and teacher, so she knows what she is talking about if you need help with anything whether it be choosing colours or tracking down hard to find materials.  As you can see from the picture below, the store looks very inviting and although it looks small on the outside, it is actually deceptively large on the inside with a huge range of tempting beady treats including Kandra's own lampwork beads and the walls are lined with her beadwork too.  The store also hosts trunk shows and offers a range of beading classes.  As well as a bricks and mortar shop, Kandra also offers an international mail order service, so why not take a virtual wander through her store and don't forget to pop a CD in your basket!

I have my own little display area within the shop and as you can see from the pictures below, the CDs are all arranged in neat racks and they even have their own labels making it easy to choose the right project.

I'd like to publicly thank Kandra for giving me this opportunity and also for doing such a wonderful job in setting this all up for me.  Thank you Kandra!

Kerrie

A change of direction!

I have neglected my poor blog a bit recently as I got caught up in a whirl of obligations and deadlines over the last year, which meant that something had to give.  All that is about to change though as I have set myself an exciting year long creative challenge which I am really looking forward to and almost ready to embark on.  I will write more about this next week and I also plan to blog about it regularly, but my adventure means that I will probably not be writing any new tutorials for the coming year.  So, I wanted to remind you that I now have nine tutorials for sale via my website:

POPPER FLOWERS

CORE BEADED BEADS

RIVOLI DAISY BRACELET

DOUBLE DAISY

DAISY CHAIN

SPINE FLOWER

POPPY

TWINKLING TILAS

ENGLISH ROSE NECKLACE

I also have six patterns for sale via the Interweave on-line store and you can see those on this page of my website

Five of my patterns are available to purchase via the Bead & Button on-line store

There are also various patterns and a CD collection of my work available from the Bead magazine on-line store

So hopefully with all these patterns to choose from you will not mind if I take a little time out to have some fun, which should produce even more patterns in the future!

See you next week with news of my plans!

Kerrie

The pattern shop is filling up!

It's been a busy year (and it's about to get busier for the next few months!) but I've managed to find time to add two more patterns to my website.  Both of these have actually been published in magazines already, but  after receiving requests from people asking me to make the patterns available from my website, I have completely rewritten them and added lots of new diagrams and photos.  The first pattern is Daisy Chain (originally published in Bead magazine) and as the pictures below show, you can make your little daisies into a variety of finished pieces - from a complex looking necklace or bracelet to a simpler pendant or pair of earrings.  All of these finished pieces are surprisingly simple to make and full details are included in the tutorial.

The second pattern is for my English Rose necklace (originally published in Perlen Poesie magazine) and is bit more advanced than Daisy Chain, but again, there are lots of diagrams and photos to help you create the finished piece.  The project is to make the necklace shown and the idea is that you make several 'roses' as they are interchangeable, but it would be easy to adapt it to make a bracelet (to save you making several feet of beaded rope!) or you could just make the 'rose' and turn it into a pendant or a brooch.

So the pattern shop is gradually filling up and there are now seven patterns to choose from.  I will be adding one more in the next few weeks and then I really MUST start preparing for my workshop in Hamburg as it is coming around frighteningly fast!  Bye for now!

Teaching Timetable ...

There's not much to report at the moment as I have been busy writing instructions, drawing diagrams and taking photos for my new workshops.  I have managed to sneak in the odd hour or two for putting a new idea into beads for my next tutorial (after all there has got to be some light relief from all that computer work) but it will probably be some weeks before the new design is finished or added to my website - it's going to be a little bit different from my usual style with lots of citrus colours and an asymmetric twist, so watch this space!  In the meantime, I suddenly realised that I haven't actually posted details of my new classes, and as there are still some places left I thought I should tell you about them as the first class is next week!

I will be teaching four 3 hour workshops at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd.  The first one on February the 3rd is 'Spring Daisies' and I will also be teaching this again on May the 14th.  The other workshop is 'Herringbone Flower' and I will be teaching this on March the 12th and May the 26th.  The city centre venue is lovely and spacious and bright, with a beautiful bead shop stuffed full of sparkly goodies on the ground floor, all materials are included, workshop students receive a 10% discount voucher to be used in the shop after class, there are lots of tasty fairtrade refreshments on offer and the atmosphere is fun and friendly - what more could you wish for?  Full details and booking information can be found here.