Prima Bead Has Four New Class in a Box Offerings!

Part of being a Creative Circle Ambassador is getting the new products from Cousin's Prima Bead website and trying them out. This month, we received the newest styles of Class in a Box (CIAB), like the Casual Style. We Ambassadors were tasked with designing something original and not in the instruction book.
I gladly took up this challenge and from the Casual Style, this was a bracelet I designed:

One of the other new styles, Shimmer, was the one that I liked the best. With this CIAB, I decided to make a few things:

From the Shimmer Class in a Box

Earrings

Pendant, Key Fob, Zipper Pull

Bracelet

 

I love earrings, and the Natural Class in a Box had some wood spacers I thought were interesting. The packaging for these new styles is really remarkable. The components and findings are each in their little bag, glued to the center of the box, and allows you to see everything included. Designing from these organized beauties becomes easy.

Earrings

The fourth new style, Classic, was wonderful as well. I love the classic style and made a pair of earrings that I really like. Simple, yes, ... easy to make, yes ... beautiful, definitely!

Earrings

The little dangles came from the end of the chains included, and add movement to the earrings. The same design could use the black or red beads included in the box.

Doing this assignment was great fun, and you should check out these new offerings from Prima Bead. Even if you have never beaded before, the instruction book included with the Class in a Box styles will teach you everything you need to be successful.

Necklace - Bead & Button Show 2013

You saw the beginning idea for the necklace displayed by Cousin at Prima Bead's booth at the June 2013 Bead & Button Show. Now that the show is done, I can reveal the finished necklace, which took me 260 hours of stitching and beading to complete.

I had an April 1, 2013 deadline, but still had quite a bit of work to do. Cousin assured me that they would not be packing for the show for a few weeks, so I continued working. The picture below gives a good idea why things took so long!

Looking at this, you might think, "Looks awfully heavy!" and you would be correct. The way to make such a necklace comfortable to wear is to add a counterweight. By doing so, the necklace does not hang from your neck, but more rests on your shoulders. Here is a shot of the counterweight:

Yes, that looks heavy, too, but our shoulders are broad enough to bear the weight easily. I wore this to the Rotary Club of Concord's Changing of the Gavel, and it was very comfortable.

Finally, here's a shot of how it all came together in the back of the necklace:

Even though YOU can't see the back of a necklace, others can. I tried to make this as pretty as possible. I don't know how many occasions there will be for me to wear this, but it surely looks nice in the Need For Beads store. We had our Grand Opening in June.

The Cousin Creative Circle team members were at the Prima Booth at the Bead & Button Show, and we just had to take a group shot: