Evening, folks! I wanted to share the last few projects I’ve been working on this month that I’m pretty proud of. They’re both techniques that I’m not super comfortable, so it was a great set of challenges.

First off, I wanted to try Freeform Peyote for the first time and I made this bracelet.

Here’s the front and the back! It’s got a ton of different beads in it in tons of blue, grey, and tiny bit of green and silver. The center is a little round Druzy and there’s a small scattering of Czech crystals and bicones.

It definitely curves a bit when laid out flat, but sits just fine on the wrist. It isn’t super wide and I wanted to keep the colors pretty neutral since it was my first try. Here’s some close ups of the various sections!

I’m really happy with the curling SuperDuo bridges and the spots where I fit in some Right Angle Weave. And the Druzy is just so pretty. It was really, really hard to keep it random and organic, but I think I let myself enjoy the project without getting to control freak-out about it.

It’s only sort of a new stitch for me – since I’m familiar with peyote stitch (and the right angle weave I snuck in there), but I had never tried freeform before. It was such a challenge, but so fun. And a GREAT way to use up stash leftovers.

After that, I made this elephant pin for my Mom’s Christmas present!

I haven’t done any bead embroidery for a few years now, so this was a nervy project to start. But I took my time with in and even re-read my favorite Jamie Cloud Eakin book to refresh my memory on the stitches I used. Here’s the back-

There’s a few stray cat hairs in there, but the edging is pretty neat!

It did end up kinda… huge. But I still like it and my mom seemed to appreciate it. <3

So that was my December! Stay tuned for my 2018 Resolution report and my Resolutions for next year. Until then, Happy Beading and Happy New Year from me and my elephant friend!