The Beading Gem

Today is a lucky day in that we have 10 awesome beaded jewelry tutorials to celebrate St Patrick's Day next month! Know an Irish friend or two?  Or just want to have some fun on the day, then bead up 4 leaf clovers and leprechauns for luck!

First up is the beaded clover pendant tutorial by CatchingRaysJewels as shown above.  This is a fantastic way to use druks!

St Patrick's Day is coming up. Want to make something to wear? You never know - the luck of the Irish may well rub off on you!  This shibori ribbon bead embroidered tutorial by BrightAccessoriesNM is simply gorgeous.  I love how the designer added some beads to the ribbon area.

The shibori ribbon and its folds  not only adds design interest but also reduces the area to be beaded. This saves time.

Fen Li  is from Wisconsin and she specializes in wire and bead work. This French Beaded Flowers technique dates way back to the 16th century.

She has always been fascinated with beads since her childhood - an off and on passion which  became ON when she was in college. Fen admitted, "Instead of doing my statistics homework, I searched for beads on the internet and discovered French Beaded Flowers. I have been smitten since."

Prepare to have your mind blown.  British bead artist designer, Katie Dean, has some pretty amazing beaded box design tutorials in her shop Bead Flowers.  Yes, bead boxes. These are fantastic designs overall but to have them all open up?  Stunning.

I shared Lan Anh Handmade's wonderful four leaf clover wire work pendant tutorial last year.  So if you want a matching set, check out the designer's four leaf clover ring tutorial!!  You can certainly wire wrap some small beads in the open areas if you want some color.

May the luck of the Irish be with you this coming St Patrick's Day!  Make yourself a quick four leaf clover wire work pendant for yourself or an Irish friend with this tutorial by Vietnamese wire work artist, Lan Anh Handmade. This is a great use of wire heart elements!

One of my favorite beading online instructors is Bee Jang who hails from Thailand.  A dedicated blogger, she shares some of the prettiest bead woven crystal bracelet tutorials. Some use Swarovski crystals.   Shown here are some of my favorites from her beginner category.  Doesn't have to be hard to be pretty! I really love this one which features pearls and flowers with crystal waves.

You don't have to be Irish to join in the fun for St Patrick's Day.  Make yourself something green or check out these great jewelry tutorials for inspiration! Be sure to look up the links below for past featured tutorials.

St. Patrick's Day is not an official holiday but they might as well make it one. In recent years, it has become the single best day for pub owners across North America with some reporting 2-3 times the business generated on New Year's eve.

Whenever it's March, I always think it's time to make something green in time for St Patrick's Day! Here are some new easy tutorials to inspire you using Swarovski crystals. (For past tutorials, see link below).


My favorites are the tri-color necklace and bracelet which honor the Irish flag!  The green represents the Irish nationalist tradition of Ireland and the orange represents the Orange (Protestant) tradition in Ireland, with white representing peace, or a truce, between them.

It's March already, begorra! Time to check your wardrobe and your jewelry box for something green to wear on St Patrick's Day on March 17. Better yet, make yourself some shamrock  jewelry.

The shamrock is actually a 3-leaf clover of the Trifolium species. The ancient druids in Ireland believed 3 was a mystical number and regarded the plant as sacred. There doesn't appear to be much evidence for the story of how St Patrick referred the three leaves to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of the Holy Trinity.