2013 Tiny Treasures Swap

This year we decided to repeat our previously successful Tiny Treasures swap and the results were delightful.  Beaders who participated are:-

Ann, AnneMarie, Aryd'ell, Betsy, Catherine, Edna, Gwen, Judy, Karan, Marj, Sherry, Victoria and Yvonne.

Bird Challenge 2012

These beautiful birds were beaded by our members during the Bird Challenge 2012.  You will find more detailed photos on our group. Thank you, as always, to those members who participated.

UFO CHALLENGE - 1st Quarter of 2012

To start the year we decided to challenge our members to finish some of their unfinished objects (UFO's) and the results have been fantastic. The challenge was to run from January to March 2012 but members have requested that we continue further into 2012, and that's just what we will do.  So members, take a look in those cupboards and drawers at your sweet little UFO dolls and start beading.  Here are just a few that have started rolling in.

Winter Wonderland Challenge

Our Winter Wonderland Challenge ran from January to March 2011 and was a great success.  You will see below the beautiful dolls beaded by our members for this challenge.  Please hover over each photo to view the name of the doll and creator.  Thank you so much to those who participated.

Animal Bead-Along

Our animal bead-along produced some beautiful beading and below are submissions from our members. They are so cute and versatile. Click on image for a larger view.

A Show of Hands

This beautiful beading was created by our members in our recent Hand Challenge which was conducted on both Beaded Art Dolls group and BeadDreamz Group. Congratulations to all who completed the challenge. These are certainly impressive works of art!

2008-09 Calendar Bead-Along Comes To A Close!

Aaaaaaanndd the winner is - GILBERT!



(Post edited to include favorite winner after close of poll)

Can you believe it's been a whole year? We started a new type of bead-along in September, 2008 and it took off like wildfire! The object was to create one doll each month, and it continued through August, 2009. Now that the year is over, it's time to choose our favorite doll for the entire year!

It was hard to decide how to present the dolls that were submitted because each and every one was unique and beautiful. There were nearly 100 dolls submitted throughout the entire year. Great job group! But that was too many to fit into one poll. After much discussion, the decision was made. For the months of September, 2008 through February, 2009, we had a monthly favorites poll and a winner was chosen by the group members. Participation dwindled a bit after February, and so we had a favorites poll to choose a winner from the combined months of March and April 2009. Another poll chose a winner from the combined months of May through August 2009. This leaves us with the following 8 favorites, each having won one of the polls mentioned above. A poll will be created in the next day or so for group members to choose their favorite for the entire year. Without further ado, here are your finalists for the 2008-09 Beaded Art Dolls Calendar Bead-Along:

Beautiful Babushkas Bead-Along!

Check out these beautiful Babushkas! Our members have harnessed their "inner Russians" to create these one-of-a-kind works of art. The bead-along was in progress during March/April/May and was extended a couple of weeks into June. The results were worth waiting for! Everyone did a wonderful job! Thanks to everyone who participated!  These dolls are just a few that were submitted.  Please click on photo to view larger image.

You may be thinking, "what is a babushka?" The word "babushka" has multiple meanings. It is the Russian word for Grandmother. It is also the word for a triangular headscarf, often worn by a Russian peasant woman. Many people use the word to describe Russian nesting dolls (see photo below), but the correct word for the dolls is actually "Matryoshka."

If you're interested in the history of the Russian nesting doll, here's a very informative link for you:
http://russian-crafts.com/nesting-dolls/history.html

Song Doll Bead-along

Beaded Art Dolls held a bead-a-long based on designing a doll created from one's favorite song. The photos show the members' dolls and the song they came from. Aren't they fabulous? Thank you to all who participated.
Please click on photo for a larger view.

Global Warming Bead-a-long

We are delighted to feature a group of beautiful dolls created by our members for our recent Global Warming Bead-along, a project initiated by Robin Atkins. From July to September these members put their heart and soul into creating a beaded doll which would reflect their concern for a particular aspect of global warming. Congratulations to these members for producing such a wonderful array of ideas.

Hello to Visitors and Members!!!

BAD (Beaded Art Dolls yahoo group) and BDZ (Bead Dreamz yahoo group) have a lot to offer in the way of challenges and swaps and if you are interested in participating, please make sure you are a member so that you can join in. Links to our groups are on the right hand side of this blog.

BAD July/August/September Bead-along - I am aware that members are busy with their Symbolic Class Doll and Four Seasons Round Robin preparations but I would like to remind you that in July we intend to start a new bead-along, inspired by Robin Atkins. Robin has generously offered to introduce a special project to BAD and will give a helping hand and share her ideas with us along the way. I am hoping that members who are doing the Symbolic class will be eager to participate and put their new knowledge into practice.

BAD Puzzle Piece Doll Bead-along has ended and produced wonderful results. I am so proud of everyone and their work. I hope YOU have voted.

BDZ Magic Carpet challenge is almost finished. Moderators made a decision a little while ago that any challenge with less than 10 entries would not have a poll for voting on our favorite. It seems a shame when there are so many beautiful carpets. If any member would like to comment on this, please feel free.

BDZ Spring Panel Swap/Challenge finishes at the end of June and we probably won't see photos until after the swap. These darling little panels are something to look forward to.

BDZ starts a new challenge/instructions/bead-along on July 1 which is a freeform bracelet and ring with Aryd'ell and Sharon Harry. Don't forget to sign up.

BDZ also has a special challenge/swap running September 21 to mid November hosted by Debra Pyeatt. If you want to learn from an exceptional beader, you must sign in for this one.

Always remember that if you have any ideas, suggestions or comments regarding our groups, we love to hear from you. We need your input to make these groups interesting and fun.

On behalf of owners and moderators of both groups, a big THANK YOU to everyone for your continued support.

Lynn

Yellow Puzzle Dolls

Which one is your favorite? Using the color yellow and being permitted to use a maximum of 10% of a contrasting color, our members have created some of the most gorgeous works of art.
Congratulations ladies!

Monochromatic Puzzle Dolls

Since some members were not comfortable about using the color yellow to make their puzzle doll, a lottery was created so that the members could not pick what color they could use for their project. The guidelines were to use only one color of bead. This portion of the challenge was much harder than using yellow with a 10% contrast color. As you can see from the above slide, everyone did fantastic using a monochromatic color scheme.

Freeform challenge dolls 2007

While we are waiting for photos to appear from our latest bead-along and swap, let's take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the beautiful work created by our members last year. Despite the fact that we had many beginners to freeform beading, our members produced this wonderful array of dolls.

Button Doll Challenge

Here are photos from one of our recent challenges where members were invited to create a doll using buttons. Our members enjoyed the freedom of creating with buttons as a change from fully beading their dolls but most couldn't resist the urge to include at least some beading.

Orange Challenge - Sunny Dayz

These beautiful dolls were created by 20 of our members for our recent Sunny Dayz challenge.