Monday 30 September 2013

The September Challenge - And the winner is...


Thank you so much to everyone who joined in with our September challenge! We hope you all enjoyed making your animal themed entries, it's been wonderful to see the different animals you chose and of course seeing your beautiful photographs coming in throughout the month.

Before we announce the winner, let's have a look at all the entries we received!































All the names were fed into the random list generator at Random.org and the luck beader who is at the top of the list is...




Congratulations Jane, you're the winner of the £15 voucher from The Bead Shop Liverpool!

We hope you've enjoyed taking part and/or seeing all the beautiful entries this month. Don't forget to check back tomorrow when we'll have a brand new colour challenge for October!

Friday 6 September 2013

Beaded Colorways: The Reveal {Bead, Book & Bounce}

Each month, as part of our regular feature Bead, Book & Bounce, we choose one of the most popular beading and jewellery making books and challenge our readers to make something inspired by the techniques or projects covered within it's pages. Over the last two months, we've been working from Beaded Colorways by Beverly Ash Gilbert. 

If you have made any pieces from Beaded Colorways, please share your own projects with us using the Mr Linky. 

  • Please link directly to your Beaded Colorways blog post, so that we can find it easily. 
  • Please leave a comment here when you link up your project. 
  • Please try to visit the blogs of other participants when you can. We all love a bit of love! 
We'll be issuing a new Bead, Book & Bounce challenge tomorrow, so please do pop back to see what book we'll be working from over the next two months. I can't wait to get started!

Sunday 1 September 2013

The September Challenge

Welcome to the September challenge! It's theme time again and we'd like you to create something inspired by Animals!


This can be any animal of your choosing including fish, birds and insects or even a combination of several animals if you wish. There are so many ways to incorporate an animal into your piece...animal shaped cabochons, pendants and beads, animal print peyote patterns...to name just a few. We're sure that all of you very talented beaders can come up with many more ideas!

When you submit your entry please let us know which animal you've chosen as your inspiration. We want you to have absolute free rein so this month there is no twist.

How do I enter?
There are two ways...
1. Email your photograph to Liz at ottbs@live.com
2. Or add them to our Flickr group pool.

Choose whichever way is easiest for you, you don't have to do both. In either case, please make it clear that it's for the September Challenge so we know that it's your entry. We're happy for you to post your photos on our Facebook group as well but please make sure that you've also submitted as above. Entries that have not been emailed or added to the Flickr pool will not be accepted.

What can I make?
Anything as long as it involves beads! Any technique is accepted, from beadweaving and stringing to wire work and bead embroidery. Lampworkers and polymer clay artists are also welcome to submit beads they've made. We're sorry but any entries that do not include beads in some form or another will not be accepted. Your entry must be made especially for the challenge, to make it fair on everyone who takes part please do not submit something that was made before September 1st 2013.

Does it have to be my own design?
No. We're happy for you to make something using a pattern from a book, magazine or tutorial but if you do please let us know the designer's name so that we can give them credit.

When is the deadline for entries?
The deadline is 6pm (GMT) on Monday the 30th of September.
  
Can I enter more than once?
You can make as many pieces as you like using the chosen theme. All entries will be shown here on the blog but you will only be entered into the draw once.

I'm not in the UK, can I still join in?
Yes of course! We welcome submissions from around the world so don't worry if you're not in the UK. Our sponsors have agreed to post prizes overseas so you can still enter and be eligible for the prize!

Any other questions?
If you have any questions about the challenge please feel free to email Liz at ottbs@live.com

The Prize
This month we have a guest sponsor which is Vicky from The Bead Shop Liverpool and she's offering a £15 voucher to one lucky winner!

The winner will be drawn by Liz after 6pm on Monday the 30th of September, using the random list generator at www.random.org and announced later on the same evening.

Good luck everyone and happy beading!