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.

Winged Creatures and Goddess Challenge

Congratulations to Anne, Aryd'ell and Marj for creating these wonderful dolls for our recent challenge.  Fabulous work!

Shoe Doll Challenge 2013

While our Shoe Doll Round Robin is in progress a few ladies participated in a Shoe Doll Challenge.  These are the wonderful results.

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.

Jungle Round Robin 2010

While our yahoo group was closed for a year, we still had a handful of members who were keen to bead together in a round robin.  Below are the dolls beaded by these 5 wonderful beaders, namely Dian, Gail, Jo, Ruth and Sherry - and to help them out with a little extra beading, Aryd'ell.  The dolls are absolutely gorgeous.  Well done, girls.

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!

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

Spread the Love Swap and Challenge

In February 2009, some of our more romantic members wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day by beading a small doll to 'Spread the Love'. Jena, generously hosted this lovely project and clearly enjoyed her topic so much, she just couldn't stop. Some of the ladies just wanted to bead a doll for keeping, or secretly gifting to a very special loved one, whilst others beaded a little loving creation to swap with a beady buddy from the group. I think you will agree, the results are a beautiful tribute to the sentiment of Valentine's Day and will forever be a reminder of a loving occasion and beautiful friends.

These dolls were swapped between members:

and these dolls were beaded as a challenge.

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.