The Bead Spot

Kids seed bead rings, made in ladder stitch It took her nearly a month, but my daughter finally finished the ring she began working on back in mid-April. Her beading sessions were short, maybe 20 minutes at a time. And she insisted on having YouTube Kids playing on a smartphone as she worked on it, so because her focus was divided, she managed to complete two to five rows each time she sat down to work on it. But she stuck with it, and got it done. The wires got rumpled, which happened to me when I first started making them, but with more practice, she'll be able to keep that from happening. She also used colors -- a dark blue and dark green -- that were a little too similar. In bright lights, you can tell the differences in the colors, but in lower light, not so much. But to me, it was the most beautiful beaded ring I've ever seen. I just wish I'd taken a photo of it, but now it's too late. I wanted my little girl to feel proud of the work she did, so I to...

Seed bead rings made with wire and Delica beads. Last Sunday, I gave my daughter a quick lesson in making seed-bead rings. She didn't get very far before she wanted to do something else, but since she's just 5 years old, I didn't want to force her to stay with it and make it not fun for her. Well, earlier today, she asked to work on it again. And much to my happy surprise, she started picking up speed. Last week, it took her probably 10 minutes to put 5 seed beads on the wire. Today, she was able to add 5 beads in about 3 minutes. I'm very proud of her. What crafts do you like to do with your children? Let me know in the comments field below.

My daughter, my niece and I put the pottery wheel my daughter bought back in November to use recently. It was fun, but not as easy as I thought it would be. Going into our afternoon of pottery making, I foolishly thought my daughter and niece would each be able to create their own cup. But I realized after the first 10 minutes of trying to shape the first project that we would have time for only one. Also, the instructions were not as clear as I think they could've been. It would've been nice if they had a diagram noting what each piece was called, and I just wasn't understanding based on the instructions when it would be OK to remove the cup from the encasement. So, our first effort was mostly a trial-and-error project. We didn't bother to smooth out rough edges because I just wanted to test how long it would take the clay to dry and whether it would be OK to wait until it was entirely dry before removing it from the encasement. In short, it's not pretty, bu...

My daughter had some spending money this past weekend, an early gift from her aunt and uncle. So the next time she and I went to our local Walmart Supercenter, I picked the groceries I needed, then she and I headed toward the toy section. But we didn't make it that far. As we came up on the crafts section, my daughter spotted an endcap full of these pottery wheels.  My daughter's new pottery wheel "Oh, Mommy! Can I get that?" she asked. I looked at the price, saw it was within the $20 she had, and told her that was fine. "But are you sure that's how you want to spend your money? Because that's going to take all of it," I told her. "Do you want to look at the toys first?" "I want this," she said. I must admit, I was pleased. I've had my eye on these pottery wheels for quite some time. Several years ago, I even toyed with taking a pottery class but decided against it because of the expense and the time it wo...

1st snowman attempt using Beader's Canvas My daughter liked the jack-o-lantern necklace I made for her so much that I've wanted to create another glow-in-the-dark necklace for her for winter, and what better project, I thought, than a snowman? On Sunday, I tried to map out a snowman's head on Beader's Canvas , and after having done so, I no longer think that it will make a good necklace. I think a full snowman, using the glow-in-the-dark pony beads I have, would be too big, but if I create only a snowman head, I'm not sure people will get that it's a snowman instead of just some guy with a top had and a very red nose. I might still try it, but I think that ultimately, the project will just be a wall hanging.

A heart my daughter made for Father's Day. Yesterday, with less than five hours left until Father's Day, my 4-year-old whispered in my ear that she wanted to make a heart out of clay for her daddy and cover it with glitter. We had none of the supplies at home, but, because the idea was hers entirely, I wanted her to be able to make it. We headed off to Hobby Lobby for clay and glitter, making our way to the checkout just as the store closed. When we got home, I settled in to balance my checkbook, while she molded the heart. Every so often, she'd call out, "Mommy, come look!" to show me how it progressed. I'll be honest, it looked a little rough, but she's just 4, and she was proud and so was I. She made the bulk of the heart out of pink clay, adding three purple clay hearts on top. She used up the bulk of the pink clay for the project, I had a feeling that using that much clay would prevent the heart from drying in time, but she was so proud of...

This project is easy for young children to make. My nephews made these when they were as young as 4 years old. Any younger than that, then they have needed a lot of assistance. This tutorial is specifically for rings with a repeating pattern. Variations will be added later. Supplies: 11/0 seed beads Thin- gauge wire (I use 34-gauge, but wire as thick as 28-gauge will work) Scissors Prep Work: String about 40 beads onto a wire, then wrap it around the child's ring finger (or whichever finger she wishes to wear the ring on) to see roughly how many rows of beads will be needed to complete a circle around the child's finger. Each bead equals one row. Map out the pattern. I usually make kids rings with five beads in each row, but any number will work. However, for most patterns, I've found an odd number works best. As you figure out your pattern, you may need to tweak it some so that it will work with the number of rows you need. For instance, the firs...