I can’t decide if I’m going to our town’s Boot Drop tonight (it’s a Western take on the New Year’s Eve Ball at Times Square) or staying at home with comfy socks (affiliate link) and a cup of tea. It’s pretty tempting to hang out and make my jewelry making to-do list for the New Year! Here are some ideas for the sparkling beading projects near the top of my list.

Make it Sparkle

Lindsay Burke has an eye for jewelry that shimmers and shines. Her eBook, Make it Sparkle: 25 Dazzling Jewelry Designs to Make Any Occasion Special features fast and fabulous designs so you can light up the room wherever you go. I especially love her wire-wrapped bangles – they’re perfect for stacking.

All of the techniques are very accessible. It would be a fun creative exercise to commit to making a couple projects from the book each month. Imagine the sparkly wardrobe infusion you’d have by the end of the year.

Layered Right-Angle Weave

Seed beads and crystals go together like peanut butter and jelly! I love these sparkly earrings that Kassie Shaw teaches you how to make in her video download, Beadweaving Beyond the Basics: Layered Right-Angle Weave. First, she shows how to do layered right-angle weave. Then, Kassie teaches you how to build off of this stitch to create intricately beaded and shaped designs, such as the “Silver Earrings.” You’ll also learn to create a twisted rope and bezel. This is a beautiful technique that can be used in a variety of ways to make gorgeous, eye-catching jewelry.

Cubic Right-Angle Weave with Marcia DeCoster

One of my favorite parts of learning from a video is that it’s like taking a class, but on your own schedule. In Cubic Right-Angle Weave with Marcia DeCoster, you get a lot of tips along with the main instruction from this beading pro. You’ll learn to do decreases and increases and you’ll see how the prismatic right-angle weave opens up a lot of design possibilities.

New Year’s Eve and all of these sparkling beaded designs are putting me in a festive mood! Have you ever thrown a beading party? It’s a fun way to get together with friends who make jewelry and introduce your favorite hobby to those who don’t. Former Beadwork editors Danielle Fox and Debbie Blair share great beading party tips to make it easy and fun.

Happy 2019!
Katie Hacker
Interim Managing Editor of Beadwork

Shop these ebooks and videos for colorful, sparkly jewelry inspiration and instruction: