Cousin Creative Circle Projects: Make The Connection: Project Number 2

Cousin Creative Circle Projects: Make The Connection: Project Number 2: This month's project for Cousin was to do a review of their new "Make the Connection" line making its debut on HSN tomorrow, September 13th...

Exciting News from Cousin Corporation

Received this just a few moments ago and wanted to share the excitement!

INNOVATIVE CONCEPT IN JEWELRY KITS DEBUTING ON HSN’S “24 HOURS OF CRAFTS”

New Approach Lets You Create a Style Then Interchange Pieces for a Different Style the Next Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LARGO, Fla., September 10, 2012 – Imagine instantly changing your jewelry to fit your mood, style or wardrobe with just a few pieces at your fingertips. The Make the Connection line, a new approach to customized jewelry, will let you effortlessly switch up your look when two exclusive kits premier on HSN, HSN.COM and via HSN mobile on Thursday, September 13, 2012.

The Make the Connection kits contain several different jewelry components with a simple ring clasp on each end that instantly connect the components, creating a seamless necklace or bracelet that can be changed again and again, reflecting your personality, style or outfit.

The two Make the Connection kits making their debut on HSN and hsn.com are Everyday, designed to be colorful and on-trend, and Formal, designed to have a timeless, elegant feel. More than 30 combinations can be created from each style kit for only $19.95 each kit.

Make the Connection designer Michelle Simpson knows being stylish can be time-consuming and expensive and created the kits for HSN to help solve the ongoing fashion dilemma.

“Imagine putting on an outfit and knowing you can create a complementing piece of jewelry in seconds, and then creating a different piece every day for a month, all from the same kit. Make the Connection is about simplicity and variety at a value,” says Simpson.

Make the Connection will inspire jewelry lovers of all ages who want to complement their wardrobe with personalized jewelry without the expense of buying multiple bracelets and necklaces. For more information about Make the Connection on HSN, join the conversation on Facebook at Make the Connection on HSN.

This Week's Featured Designer

This week I am featuring author, jewelry blogger, and bead enthusiast Lisa Crone.  Lisa is also a Cousin Creative Circle Ambassador for this 2012-2013 session.

 Meet Lisa:

"I've been happily designing beaded jewelry for over 20 years. Yes, I'm a serious bead fanatic and enjoy learning new techniques from other bead enthusiasts through books, magazines and classes or improvising as I go!


I've started this blog as part of writing my jewelry making book, A Bead in Time, as requested by the publishing company, F+W Media (North Light Books). I never knew it would lead to years of daily blogging and so many wonderful new relationships! I'm eternally grateful!

I love sharing in the fun of the online beading community! I typically showcase beads, techniques, projects, bead artists, designers and crafters."

You can connect with Lisa through her blog A Bead A Day and on twitter.

About Lisa's book: "A Bead in Time: 35 Jewelry Projects Inspired by Slices of Life"

A Bead in Time is perfect for beaders of all skill levels who want to make their jewelry more personal. 

A wealth of step-by-step projects offers clear instruction on a wide range of beading and jewelry techniques, including wire wrapping, peyote stitch, using memory wire, macrame and more! 

Each project begins with a discussion on the inspiration for the piece, including a photo depicting that specific inspiration. 

Tips and tricks will show you how to design pieces based on your own life - a unique twist to most beading and jewelry making books.

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New Fall 2012 Colors Brought To You By Pantone

As a jewelry designer, one can become comfortable with certain colors and color groupings and allow them to hang out in all new designs. Pantone is really stretching the designer this year with the release of the Fall 2012 Fashion Colors. They are different, vibrant, sultry, and mysterious. The combinations of these colors push the envelope to new possibilities and ideas. Today, I found myself stuck in a design rut. I pulled out the color chart from Pantone and sorted my beads accordingly. Rich chocolate brown, vibrant tangerine and pink, smokey rose, gray and lavender, lively greens, brilliant deep yellow, a strong blue fill the color palette and fuel the imagination. We see the return to the fashion world of Tangerine again this season. "Tangerine Tango" is now Pantone's Color of the Year. It showed up for Spring and is sticking around for a while. The vibrancy of this color makes for some interesting new color combinations especially when mixed with the deepness of "French Roast". A new color for this fall is "Pink Flambé", a striking pink that stirs images of Miami and a life lived out loud. We see the rise of "Olympian Blue" this season as well. It is a brilliant blue that is not too bright and not too dark. I love the sultriness of "Rose Smoke, "Rhapsody" and "Titanium" that have comeback this Fall. "Honey Gold" sparks this season's color palette giving it the perfect Autumn feel.  We see the additions of what is usually a spring color, "Chartreuse", and a summer color, "Ultramarine Green".  These additions brings a lovely balance to the palette.  These colors in any combination bring vitality to this season and I for one am looking forward to using these colors.

Today I am incorporating some of these colors in a new design. Mixing and matching the colors to bring drama and intrigue is proving to be more fun than daunting. Try out some of these colors for yourself today....and as always, Happy beading!



*NOTE:  All images are from the Pantone.com website.

Featured Designer of Week 8/27/12

This week we are featuring Patty Matrone-Squillante, owner/designer of My Picture Windows Unique Jewelry And Accessories and Unique Jewelry & Hair Accessories By Patty.

 Let's meet Patty:

Patty lives in New York with her adoring husband Anthony.  She is the proud mom of two children and ecstatic grandmother to four grandchildren.  Her family is her biggest supporters.

Patty's fascination with jewelry began when she was a child. She would played with her mother's costume jewelry all the while wanting it all apart to make something new. At that moment, her love for jewelry making was born.

Jewelry making is very uplifting to her, providing a greater sense of purpose. Beading and instructing are her passions. Patty teaches at her local Michaels craft store as a Certified Bead Corner Design Academy Instructor. Her mission is to demonstrate to others that making jewelry is rewarding and ever-evolving. Patty is grateful for her students because they allow her to share her passion with them.

Patty's style and technique is ever evolving.  She is a wire wrapping artist as well as venturing into resin and crystal clay jewelry making.

Recently, Patty Squillante was chosen by Cousin Corporation of America as on of their Creative Circle Ambassadors.  As an ambassador, Patty will have the opportunity to share her unique take on jewelry designs with the product development team at Cousin, preview upcoming programs and and provide feedback on products before they are available to the public.

You can find Patty on Facebook.  Click each of the links to go to her Personal Page, My Picture Window's Fan Page, Unique Jewelry's Fan Page, and her Instructor Fan Page.

Featured Designer of Week 8/20/12

This week's featured designer is Dr. Gail H. Devoid, Ph.D. of Need for Beads.

Let's meet Gail:

Gail began jewelry making by learning to loom with beads.  She is proficient in a variety of seed beads stitches as well as bead crochet, chainmaille weaves and wire wrapping.

Gail has had one of her patterns published in Issue 4 of Bead-patterns.com magazine.  Bead-patterns.com also recognized Gail as a designer in May 2006 by naming her Designer of the Month.  She has also co-hosted a live Internet radio show called The Jewelry Connection.

Dr. Devoid teaches techniques at the Bead Society of New Hampshire and has taught classes at Michaels as well as private classes.  Gail not only offers designer jewelry on her website, but includes beads, beading supplies, and patterns.  She also has free tutorials on both her website and YouTube.
 
Gail was chosen as a Cousin Corporation of America Creative Circle Ambassador this year.  Her place as an ambassador has positioned her to have a platform in which she can share her knowledge and expertise with the Cousin product development team.  Gail will also be able to preview upcoming programs as well as provide feedback on new products before they hit the market.
You can connect with Dr. Gail H. Devoid with the following links:
http://needforbeads.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/Need4Beads
http://www.making-jewelry-now.com/how-would-this-look-if-i-did-it-another-way.htm