My "back to beading" project is complete!

Last Sunday I met up with Melissa at a local bead shop. Melissa was on a hunt for good focal beads for her beautiful bead necklaces, and I was on the hunt for more seed beads and a bead that I could use as a clasp on my circle link bracelet I talked about a week ago. After surveying many suitable options (a lovely antique feeling silver toggle clasp was almost purchased) I settled on a lovely rustic piece of amethyst. I think it's perfect! It's pretty, makes the bracelet look finished, but doesn't take away from the rest of the beadwork. Speaking about the rest of the beadwork, this pattern from the latest Beadwork magazine, uses a circular netting stitch to make the circles. You connect the circles by linking the next circle as you create it. It looks more complex than it actually is.

Mandi's Intro

Hi my name is Mandi, and I'm a bead addict. I have been playing with seed beads since I was 12 and my grandma gave me her loom. She does awesome cross-stitch pictures, and is the queen of the sewing machine, but I fell in love with beads. I just graduated from Texas A&M this summer and I'm waiting for my fiance to graduate in December so we can move to Dallas. I'm currently blessed enough to be an artist full-time. I will probably have to get a "real job" when we move. My current facination is with beaded pens like the butterfly one. I call my etsy shop Scribble Scrabble Beaded Pens and I also do Aggie jewelry and ornaments. The Aggies of Texas A&M will buy anything maroon and white, so I'm working on a bunch of stuff for the craft fair. I probably will not do this again because I'm not enjoying the mass-production thing going on in my studio as much as if I could make anything I wanted, in any color, with no deadline. So that's a glimpse of me, and I'm hoping to get to know some of you better. = )

Ready to dive in!

I've been perusing beading magazines to get inspired to bead. I think I've finally found just the pattern to prod me to break out the beading needles and Nymo thread. In the latest Beadwork magazine, there is a design called

Braided Circlets by Jeanette Shanigan. Basically, the bracelet is made up of link created by using a circular netting technique. Since I've been fascinated with circular netting, this looks to be a fun project.

The design calls for 2 different colors of size 11 seed beads. I've decided that I want a purple/pink color motif. Which color combination do you like the best?

There's this one with a pale purple and a dark purple. It would be nice and understated.

Then there's this color combo: a hot pink and the dark purple. It kind of reminds me of Lorna's Laces Girly Stripe colors.

Any thoughts?