Hi everyone! I’m back from a long vacation, and I missed my beads so much! 😄 I started creating this pattern before I left, and when I came back, I made it in three different color combos. The blue and white one was inspired by summer. The red and dark blue one was simply to see how these colors would work together. And the cream and fall-toned one was to try out the latest beads I purchased. The colors of the last one don’t show very well in the photos, but they are really beautiful in person. I also tried Picasso beads on the fringes to create a gradient effect, and I think they worked really well. What do you think? Which color combo would you choose?

First time experience with beaded crochet. It took a week to get but I finished a bangle

Back on vacation in Canada again, grouse hunting and fishing this time. Soooo. Long drive and quiet evenings for beading. I really like these Tilas so this has been main project so far.

This has been on my bucket list for a long time! I had ChatGPT put together a portrait of my 2 dogs. Then I ran it through Planbead. The next step was to review the beads it put in the pattern. This is where MatchBead was very handy because it brings up pictures of the beads so I could change the transparent and metallic ones. In the past, I would have to go to another web site to see pics of the beads. I chose to have 30 colors in the pattern so that I could get good definition in the dogs, but the grass is not so important so I merged a couple of those colors together. Next, I went to my bead inventory to see what I already have or could substitute. No sense in buying beads I don't need, especially since I only need a few grams of each color. My picture is 8 x 10 inches. I already have enough green colors that I will just use what I have. This is where I am now, trying to sort what colors I can use and what I need to buy. I want it to turn out well, but I don't want to spend $300 on beads. For those of you who have beaded "photograph" patterns, do you avoid transparent beads and metallic beads too?