LILY ON THE WATER - By Lisa Jordan

Hey Beaders!

My latest design is out as a free pattern from Starman. I call this Lily on the Water. 
I tend to gravitate to the small beads that provide all sorts of glorious texture to designs. In this one I used Mini Dagger beads which I have used in previous projects like the Dagger Duo which was a huge success. They are like a fringe bead but they have shape to them that picks up light and gives great dimension to your projects. In the center I used a 2mm bead. You can use Firepolish or round either one. The pad of the Lily are made of MiniDuo and TOHO Demi beads. 
There are so many options you can do with this design. You can change the connecting method, and the colors within the design for a whole new look. This works for summer, winter, fall or any occasion! 

Here's my version of earrings from this design:

And another photo of the bracelets:

THE NEW TOHO DEMI ROUND INSPIRATION - By Lisa Jordan

Hey Beaders!

Have you been looking around for ways to use the new TOHO Demi Round beads? As part of the Starman TrendSetter team, I'm lucky enough to get my hands on the beads early on, so I've been using them for a while now. While it's such a new bead, there is not too many patterns out there yet, but soon there will be! For now, I just wanted to give you this fun little inspiration piece to look at, and maybe help get your creative juices flowing. 

This is a simple RAW I did with 6mm Firepolish in Halo Ethereal - Linen (1-06-P29270). I used 2mm Rounds in Matte Metallic Flax (5-02-K0171) as well, and then I basically added the Opaque-Frosted Jet (TN-11-49F) as an embelishment. I gathered them in the center with a Bronze 15/o round. 

This design is very simple, but still makes a great statement, especially with these colors. The reason why I love the Demi bead is because you can use it just like any other TOHO seed bead with all of your designs, but it also works so great to create loads of added texture that you could not normally achieve! And I'm a texture freak, so this is great!

I also made a pair of matching earrings by taking the same design as above and turning it into a 4 sided cube. It turned out very elegant. Hopefully I'll get some better photos of it since this one doesn't do it justice.

What are your thoughts on the new Demi bead so far? I can't wait to see what all the great designers start coming up with!

Good luck!

-Lisa J.