Beading with World Beads: Beautiful Jewelry, Simple Techniques features 39 beautiful jewelry projects that have world or ethnic influences in their designs or the beads they use. Fifteen talented designers created projects for the book, and we’re pleased to present a few of them in this slideshow.

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Marthe Le Van, Lark Books’ jewelry editor, recently returned from two whirlwind trips: SNAG in Philadelphia and Bead and Button in Milwaukee. She had the pleasure of meeting many new designers, found inspiration for some promising new book ideas, and (lucky for us) documented both trips in detail. Enjoy the shows!

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Congratulations to the three winners of our online Pillowcase Challenge: Robin Wright, Suzanne Small, and Amanda Swan!



Each of these designers took the challenge inspired by our new book Craft Challenge: Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Pillowcase and created a clever new project from a repurposed pillowcase (or two). Our esteemed contest judges had a tough task: to select the three brightest, most technically successful, interesting, beautiful, or just downright fun projects from our pool of entries. These three talented craftistas will each receive ten of Lark’s most indie-fabulous titles as a prize— check out their winning designs.

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The Penland Book of Glass: Master Classes in Flamework Techniques is a magnificent book showcasing the work of ten leading glass artists. The book includes biographical essays, detailed how-to steps with photography demonstrating key techniques, and beautiful gallery images of flameworked glass art. In this video, Robin Dreyer, Communications Manager at Penland School of Crafts, describes the aims of this amazing series of books that the renowned crafts school and Lark Books have created together. Earlier entries in the series include titles devoted to jewelry, handmade books, woodworking, and ceramics.

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Julie Armbruster, a Lark Books contributor (The Artful Storybook; Stencil Me In) and celebrated local artist, held a recent Lark Labs art social. Participants flowed in on a sunny Saturday to doodle, draw, and paint the afternoon away. Julie’s husband Dave carefully framed each painting in Mason jar lids, and the amazing Lark Photo Editor, Frank Gallaugher, took pictures. It was fab! Want to make your own little Mason jar framed masterpiece? Here’s how.

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Sharyn Sowell’s sweet silhouettes add charm to almost any surface. Read on to see what inspires her, and maybe she’ll spark some magic in your scissors, too! Not convinced? Check out her hot new title, Silhouettes.

We can see from your romantic designs that nature and domestic life both inspire you. Are there any particular visual artists from other genres that influence your work?

I admire Tasha Tudor, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Sister Corita Kent, Tiffany, Gaudi, and the works of many unknown pop artists, the impressionist painters, and Art Deco architectural ornaments. Old European cathedrals hold great fascination for me, too.

Read more from Sharyn…

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