Tuesday's Tutorial-A beaded bead?

I was told that it takes a good nine to ten months to feel like you've got your life back and things are back to "normal" after you have a baby. It's been almost three months since I have my second child, and I'm already wishing I was back into the swing of things. Maybe then I would actually have my tutorial up when I say it's going to be up! But, anyway, it's up now...so there.

This is in fact a bead made from smaller beads. It's super cute, and incredibly versitile. You can use it like a regular bead.

So... let's get started. Material list:

1. 12- 4mm bicone crystals or glass beads (Mine are Crystazzi Sapphire crystals)

2. Approximately 1 foot of fishing line, either 4lb or 6lb will work just fine (pretty neat-something you might just have lying around the house)

3. Cutters( I am using my flush cutters)

Step 1: String three crystal beads onto your fishing line, making sure they are in the center of the line.

Step 2: Add a fourth bead to the line and string the other end onto the bead in the opposite direction as shown below. This is called the cross stitch.

Step 3: Pull tight.

Step 4: Add one bead to each side of the line.

Step 5: Add another bead onto the line and cross stitch it. Pull tight, and it should look like the picture below.

Keep doing this until you run out of beads.

Step 6: When you reach your last two beads, string them on either side of the line, then you will need to do the cross stitch your line on the very bottom bead/center bead. Then pull tight.

When you pull it tight, your bead should look like the picture below. What we did in the previous steps was basically made four sides of a box, and then pulled it all together to close the box.

Step 7: Almost done! You need to get both ends of the line together, so... take one end of your line and string it through the three beads on the top to get it to come out where the other line is.

Once you've strung the line through the three beads, it should look like this. (Click on the picture for more detail) Note: Each end of the line is coming out of a different bead, they are just beads that are right next to eachother.

Step 8: Tie a square knot-that's left over right, then right over left. With your extra line, take both ends and string them through the beads to hide the knot and reinforce the shape of your bead. Then just cut the extra line, and you're done! It's that easy.

Let me know if these instructions were clear enough. Someone please try this and let me know how it went. I NEED feedback! You don't even have to use bicone beads to do it, (although they seem to look best).

A request: I received a request for more memory wire tutorials. So this is what you'll get next week, along with my frustrations about making it. Good thing I'll make it easy for you!