What!!! I know! But don’t worry – we are still doing studio posts they will just now pop up on Friday since we know everyone is off enjoying life during the weekends!
We have several new changes happening here at the ABS that we are so excited about and hope you’ll love the new format too.
Monday – Rebecca will be sharing links and great finds with you.
Tuesday – watch for free tutorials every week from the ABS editors and guests.
Wednesday – Erin will be presenting Perfect Pairs – formerly known and the Featured Designer of the Week. She will be highlighting her pick from the Flickr group and sharing information about the designer and bead artist. (Sometimes it’s the same person!)
Thursday – Great new posts from the ABS team.
Friday – Inside the Studio – formerly known as Studio Saturday. Enter to win our weekly drawing before you run off to play for the weekend.
Saturday – Art Bead Round Up – take a moment from your busy weekend to see what beads we are featuring for the weekend.
Sunday – We are taking Sunday off and encouraging you to spend some time that day creating!
The first week of the month join us for our new challenge and winners from the previous month. And Erin will be hosting a blog link party at the end of every month for those who participate in our monthly challenge.
Now back to this week’s Studio Saturday! First, it’s been a few weeks since our last studio visit with Erin Siegel. Susan Delaney was our randomly picked winner and will receive an Irish Waxed Linen Cord Color Mix courtesy of the Jewelry Accord shop on Etsy! Susan please email Erin to receive your prize!
The photos above feature work I created for the Bead Chat Magazine’s October issue. And it got me thinking about challenges, homework and assignments. And how very much I love a good challenge, blog hop and theme. And how rarely I join in and what to do about that! Some of my favorite pieces of jewelry have been from challenges.
One thing I’ve worked into my schedule is committing to creating a free project every month based on the Art Bead Scene’s challenge. Visit me on Tuesday to see the first one!
1. Subscribe to your favorite blogs that host regular challenges, like the Art Bead Scene, the Bead Soup Party and Treasure’s Found. I recently disovered Blog Lovin as a super easy way to follow my favorite blogs.
2. Pencil in those dates – deadlines can help really bring out the creative muse – but if you don’t write them down somewhere it’s hard to remember them.
3. Take great photos of your challenge piece and when you post about them, share about your creative process or inspiration.
4. Get social – be a good participant and visit blogs on the hop or challenge. It might not be possible to visit all of them, but be sure to check out a few new ones. Share your favorites on social media and don’t forget to share your entry on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instragram – but not all on the same day – spread the sharing throughout the week and at different times for maximum coverage.
5. Why join a monthly challenge or blog hop? It’s a great way to connect to the beading community, share your work with new people, increase visitors to your blog, you’ll have new jewelry made and possible a new source of inspiration after the event.
