Welcome to the August installment of Ornament Thursday. This month's theme is Academia, and I was stumped at first, but then inspiration hit in the most unexpected way.

Beading Parties, the latest special issue from BeadStyle magazine, arrived on my desk features several projects by Lindsay Haedt. Lindsay was the BeadStyle editorial associate for BeadStyle magazine until the lure of academia was too strong and she succumb to joining the noble ranks of those fine folks who educate and inspire. We tried to explain that she educated and inspired here at BeadStyle too, but it's different, and we understand. We wished her well and sent her off to inspire the next generation of readers of fine literature. In fact, since school's almost in session now, I imagine she's knee-deep in academia as I type. (And we love our new editorial assistant too! Erin Dolan's a great addition to the staff.)

But back to the projects. Before Lindsay left to explore her new career, she created some fun-to-make projects for Beading Parties, including the "Say it with beads" bracelet, shown at right. I'm not going to provide instructions for that bracelet here, since the issues on sale now and you really should pick one up. But I certainly don't want you to feel like your good deed of coming over to our blog and checking out the Ornament Thursday blog posts was in vain. So, to celebrate the theme of academia and to give you the opportunity to learn a little something yourself (call it BeadStyle academia), check out the links to the free projects on BeadStyleMag.com.

And now, on to the other blog posts by my creative Ornament Thursday classmates:

Art Bead Scene & The Golden Rule
The Art Bead Scene editor shares a few words of wisdom for jewelry designers.

Back to School—Make your own Pencils
School is back in session, everyone needs new pencils. Why not glass?

Beading Help Web Wires Up Academia
Lynn Kvigne to read! While you can easily use a scrap of paper or an old magazine subscription card for a bookmark, why not whip up a stylish book mark instead?

Check out the "homework" project from Joolz by Lisa
A collab effort works out great when you plan ahead

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's learned how to Mail!

First Day
Michelle's School Book - it's academic!

Michelle's Edumacation
Michelle has yet another go at decorating Helen's workstation, this month, less scary than last but oh, so funky

Swelldesigner goes crazy over school supplies!
Alexa shows you how to turn pencil grips into ultra funky accessories