KEATON HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!

I am so happy and excited that I can hardly stand it.....because KEATON has arrived!!! Keaton is our first Grandchild, born to our Son David and our Daughter-in-Law Alyssa. He was born on October 30th, at 10:30pm......see those numbers? Born on 10-30-10 at 10:30......MUST be a good omen, right? :)
It goes without saying that baby Keaton is GORGEOUS, lol.....and I will prove it to you as soon as we get the masses of pictures that we took uploaded onto the computer; so be prepared for some MAJOR baby picture overload, lol! :)
That is it for now, I just wanted to check in and let everyone know our joyous news.....(which is also the reason why we have been a little out of touch lately) ;)
As always, HAVE A BEADY GOOD DAY!!

A Fragrant way to say Thank You............

Wow, it has been awhile since I posted anything! I had several weeks of chaos....I won't go into the whole story but just say that illness, injury, surgery, a car accident and the loss of a beloved pet were involved....and the crazy part is that none of those things were related to each-other, lol! But thankfully life has settled back into it's normal routine, and hopefully I can get back to posting on a more regular basis!
Like todays post; and this one is AWESOME!!! We are so truly grateful for all of our amazing customers, and have been trying to come up with a way to say Thank You....a way that is fun and different, you know? And I am VERY excited about what we have come up with!!! It is......are you ready? PERFUME! Yup, perfume! For only......wait for it, wait for it......ONE PENNY! How amazing is that?? I bet you are asking "whats the catch?", right? No catch, just a minimum purchase requirement, and it starts as low as $35.00. Here is how it works:

Spend at least $35.00 and you qualify to choose any one item from level ONE.
Spend at least $70.00 and you qualify to choose any one item from level TWO.
Spend at least $100.00 and you qualify to choose any one item from level THREE.

Easy, right? Now, here are the finer details:
Wholesale orders are not included. Only one item please.....regardless of how much you spend. Minimum purchase requirements are before shipping. Please also keep in mind that these items may be limited in number and may change at any time; we reserve the right to substitute an item of equal or greater value if the item you choose has become out of stock. These are brand new, never been used scents. Some are for the ladies, some for the guys. Some are in boxes, some are not. Orders including a perfume that do not meet the required minimum purchase will NOT be sent the perfume; you will be sent a penny for refund instead. So please do NOT order a perfume if you do not meet the minimum purchase requirement! :) INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS: Please note that many countries prohibit the shipment of perfumes into their country; if you choose a perfume but it is prohibited, you will NOT receive it.
Here is a link to the perfume page, check out what we have to offer....good stuff, amazing stuff!!! LINK
I do hope that everyone has fun with this......if you have any questions about it, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Feeling Better & Getting Caught Up

Good news at last, I am finally starting to feel better after my dental surjury, yaaaa-hooooo!!!! I didn't even take a nap today....wow, gosh, gasp!! (I did want to though, but I resisted the impulse lol) I was able to get caught up on all of our custom cut orders (thank goodness!!) and just have one large order to complete.....then it is back to the daily inventory upkeep. Again, I truly apologize to all of our wonderful customers for the delays in their orders being shipped, I sincerely appreciate everyones patience and understanding! :) You guys ROCK!!

Ow, Pain, Ow Ow Ow......Announcement......

Just a quick announcement, before I go lay back down and take another NAP. I love naps, don't you? Anyhoo.....I just wanted to let everyone know that I had to go to the oral surgeon yesterday for a bit of an emergency tooth situation.....hence the "OW, PAIN" heading. ;) And why am I telling you this? Because unfortunately I have gotten sadly behind in my custom cut orders......so there will be a few of of you having to wait an extra couple of days for your orders. I am VERY sorry about that, and promise to get them done as soon as I possibly can! I am already starting to feel better and trust that I will be back on track very very soon! Ok, thats really all I wanted to say, off to take a pain pill and that nap! :)

This Weeks FEATURED ARTIST is.......(insert drumroll here)

YVONNE, from Texas!!
(hmm....why do I suddenly feel like saying, "Come on down! You're the next contestant......") *wink*
Yvonne sent me some pictures of her gorgeous pieces the other day and I knew immediately that I HAD to have her as one of our Featured Artists. I feel that her work shows a great eye for color and stone placement, and a VAST degree of skill in putting it all together! (you will see what I mean in just a minute!) Yvonne taught herself how to bead on a loom about 9 years ago and was very involved with knitting and crochet as well, but when she discovered bead embroidery, she was hooked! (hee hee...."hooked"....get it? Crochet.....hooked...hee hee....I'm such a dork, lol)
 Yvonne says she finds inspiration everywhere, from travel books and art to everyday surroundings....the world is a colorful place, after all. :) She also loves the books "The art of Bead Embroidery" by Sherry Serafini & Heidi Kummli, "Beading with Cabochons" by Jamie Cloud Eakin, "Beaded Colorways" by Beverly Ash Gilbert, and Laura McCabe's "Embellished Beadweaving". I would have to agree with her, those authors are true inspirations to us all! :)
I also would have to say that, like my first Featured Artist Gerda, Yvonne is a True Artist....and I hope she knows that she is a great Inspiration as well! (and provides some darn fine eye candy!) :)
Ok folks, get your drool-bibs ready because here we go.......Artwork by YVONNE!

               Check out these colors, that wire crochet work, STUNNING, to say the least!

And how about the eclectic stone placement in this piece?! Wow!

Even smaller designs get AAA treatment!

I adore this one, the colors, shapes....and look at that clasp!!

This one is my husbands favorite; he could NOT stop staring!! :)

And last but not least; a Turquoise Stunner!!!!

Now, do you see what I mean? Yvonne has that special talent, taste and creativity that creates true artists. I am proud to have her as this weeks Featured Artist, and would like to thank her for sharing her beautiful and inspiring eye candy!!

(and don't forget;  if you would like to be considered for a "Featured Artist of The Week", send pics to: hlizzieb1@aol.com)

The First Featured Artist, as well as "An Ode To Gerda & Juergen"

I am a truly fortunate person; I get to do a job that I love (and sometimes do it in my jammies!!) and, because of that job, I get to "meet" talented artists from all over the world. I LOVE getting to know them and I ADORE getting to see pictures of their work! I am sent pictures of drool-worthy beadwork nearly every day....so often in fact that I have decided to begin doing a post each week or so where I showcase a "Featured Artist"....doesn't that sound awesome? :) I feel truly honored to begin this new feature with an amazing artist; Gerda Petersen!
Gerda is a customer from Germany; yes, a customer.....whom I am proud to now call my Friend. My relationship with Gerda and her husband Juergen began when she placed an order with us at beadwork-supplies.com. Unfortunately, that package became lost......and in emailing back and forth to each other about it, we all got to know each-other and became friends. It would be almost impossible not to like both Gerda and Juergen; they are both amazingly friendly, funny and nice in additon to being patient and understanding, LOL! (that package did finally show up in Germany....guess it took the scenic route to get there, grrrr!!) And best of all, Gerda is a fantastically talented artist! She has only been working with bead embroidery for a few months, which makes the complexity and stellar quality of her work even more amazing. She has "IT"....that true, honest to goodness, genious-talent that produces not only gorgeous pieces but celebrated bead artists. Want to see what I mean? Well, here we go....our first "Feautured  Artist":
                                                          GERDA PETERSEN!
First, a picture of Gerda. How gorgeous and cool is she??!!

Now, for her work! Here is a photo line up of a piece from start to finish:

See? How awesome is That?? Can you believe she is a Newbie?? Here are some more:

What did I tell you....Great Gorgeous Gerda!! Our first Featured Artist and my new friend! :)

If you would like to be considered for our "Featured Artist", you may send pictures and your information (such as website links!!) to:

hlizzieb1@aol.com

Bring on the eye candy.....and Have a Beady Good Day! :)

                                                          

Copper and Fauxpals™ and Video, Oh My!

Happy Sunday to you all!
I am so dig-darn-diddly excited today! (what...thats a phrase, right? Dig-darn-diddly.....pretty sure its a real phrase)
First of all......due to popular demand, we have added copper cuff bracelet blanks to the website! They are so pretty and shiny, but boy do they take fingerprints! Take a peek HERE and you will see what I mean, the copper cuff bracelet blanks are all the way at the bottom. Look at those pictures! Fingerprints galore! Sorry about that, hubby takes all the pictures so lets just blame him, shall we? :)
Also, we have added a bunch of new Fauxpals™ to the website; these are 13mm x 18mm in size and oh so pretty!! And because the pictures don't even come close to showing the true gorgeousness (also a word, right?) of the Fauxpals™, hubby and I shot a quick video of them in the sun. You can check that out HERE!  Yup, that is my hand you see there, trying to move the Fauxpals™ around a bit so you can see the color flash. They are still prettier in person, but the video does show them a bit better than the still pictures do. All my Fauxpals™ are introductory priced right now and are selling fast, so be sure to check them out and get em while you can! :)
I think that is everything for now, Have a Beady Good Sunday y'all!

My Latest Obsession......

So, what is my latest obsession? Well, it is something that I have had running around in my head for a loooong time. I have tried and tried to find a way to make this idea work and this week, SUCCESS!! I am talking about "FAUXPALS™". What are "Fauxpals™" you ask? They are what I am calling cabochons that I am making.....because they have so much firey color-play, that they look like opals! Heck, you could even mistake them for dichroic glass....they have the same type of color-shifting, shimmering quality. I have been working on getting them just right and have finally hit on a technique that gives me the results that I have been looking for; and I am SO happy!!! So....what do they look like? Here, I will show you a picture:

And here is another:

Ok, one more:

Now, aren't those pretty?? And the pictures don't come near to showing the richness of the colors, the depth of the translucency......these cabs are MUCH more vibrant in real life! I just added a dozen 30mm x 40mm ones to the website, you can check all of them out HERE!

I am offering them at an introductory price of only $5 each.....a STEAL!! So if you like them, be sure to snap them up while you can! :) And then tell me what you think of them; I would really love some feedback on these...please? :)

Thats it for now, I hope you all Have a Beady Good Day!

New Items, Yay!!

Just wanted to do a quick post and let folks know that we just added some cool new items to our hair findings page! A new, smaller barrette and some really great headbands! The smaller barrette is perfect for babies, kids or even us grown ups who just want a daintier size barrette....too cute!! The new headbands are made from white plastic and we have regular ones in three widths, foam covered ones in two widths and one size that is round....perfect for peyote!! A nice assortment sure to get the creative juices flowing! :) You can check them out HERE.

Coming soon: Copper bracelet blanks, aluminum barrette blanks for the ponytail clip and baby barrette, bracelet blank templates, a bracelet blank assortment.....the list goes on and on, so be sure to stayed tuned! :)
Thats it for now, Have a Beady Good Day!

Smaller Barrettes?

I have been thinking, (dangerous, I know) and I think that we need to add at least one more size of barrette finding to our website.....one that would work for kids as well as those of you who would like a smaller, daintier barrette. I for one have very thick hair and need a bigger barrette just to be able to hold my hair, but I know alot of women do have fine hair, and kids always seem to have such fine hair, too. And those folks just don't need to have a huge barrette, right? So, what do you think? Should we make smaller sizes of barrette blanks? What size(s) would you like to see? Here is a link so that you can see the sizes we have right now: SCROLL DOWN FOR THE BARRETTES! Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated....we want to give our customers what they want, not what we think that they want, lol! So feel free to chime in by commenting here on the blog or emailing me directly at: hlizzieb1@aol.com
Thats it for now, have a wonderfully restful and Beady Good Sunday!

New Camera, Yippee!!

Yup, we just bought a new camera! Not exactly earth-shattering news I know, but we are just so happy to have a new, BETTER camera that I just can't contain myself! :)
This means we will have better, more accurate pictures on the website.....a very good thing indeed. Sometimes our pictures taken with our old camera just didn't do justice to the subject. But this new camera.....WoW does it do a good job! Here, let me show you an example of the difference between our old camera and the new:
 First, with the OLD camera:

And now, with the NEW:

 See what I mean?! The difference is staggering! Ok, ok.....those aren't really the same picture.....you caught me, LOL! But seriously, this new camera makes us feel that there is this much difference between the old pictures and the new, it is awesome! (as well it should be, considering what we paid for it) Here is a REAL picture that we just took with the camera:

N

Now, isn't that purdy? :) And that was taken as soon as we got the camera......which translates to "before we had a clue as to what the heck we were doing." Hubby takes all of the pictures for the website and for a guy with no training and, until now at least, sub-par equipment, I think he has done a darn good job! But I can't wait to see what he can do now that he finally has a decent camera! :) For anyone interested, the above picture is of one of our brand new items, just added to the website under "Druzy Cabochons", HERE!
Thats all for now, Have a Beady Good Day!

More News & a Correction.....

Ok, first things first....the correction! I had posted that we were going to be selling our new brass cuffs individually or by the dozen.....I lied. ;) We are actually only selling the brass cuff bracelet blanks individually, at least for right now. The reason is that our prices by the piece are already lower than our competitors by the dozen price.....and we just can't do a larger discount than that just yet. Sorry about the (my) confusion about that!
Now, on to the NEWS! We are pleased to announce that starting next week, we will also be offering not only aluminum cuff bracelet blanks and brass cuff bracelet blanks, we will be offering COPPER cuff bracelet blanks! YAY!!! Copper is a wonderful medium to work with and while we do not claim in any way that copper has any medicinal benefits, many people feel that it does, and besides....having more options to choose from is always a good thing, right? :)
The copper cuffs will be offered in all our regular widths, 6 inches in length and, as with our aluminum and brass bracelet blanks, with a choice of either square corners or rounded corners. All with prices that just can't be beat....how awesome is that?! :)

In other news, we (meaning me) have added a vast amount of new cabochons to the website in the last week or so; all different kinds such as turquoise, vintage, resin, stone, shell, dichroic glass....super gorgeous cabs in all sorts of shapes, sizes and price ranges including a totally new section of gorgeous Druzy cabochons; Be sure to check them out!
Until next time,
Have a Beady Good Day!~

Yay, Yippee, Yee-hah....at long last, BRASS!!!!

The day is finally here.....after months of research and testing of material we at long last are happy happy happy to announce that our BRASS production is up and running!! We are very pleased with the type of brass we decided on, it is strong and springy but also a bit lighter weight than traditional brass cuffs on the market. And even I have to admit, they ARE prettier than the aluminum cuffs, LOL! (not that that matters once you cover them up with leather or fabric or beads or whatever.....but they really are shiny and pretty) To celebrate, we have put almost all of our brass cuffs on sale! You will find them on the "on sale" page, located HERE.
We will be offering the brass individually and by the dozen to start, but if you need a gross quantity (144) email me at hlizzieb1@aol.com and let me know what you need and I can get you a price quote. We are not doing the brass cuffs wholesale as of yet (orders of 4 gross or more).....mainly because we just haven't had time to crunch those numbers yet, but we will get to that as soon as we can. We are also not doing custom sizes of brass yet; doing custom sizes always results in lots of scrap or unusable material, and when you are talking about brass, that means alot of money, lol! But if you really need a custom size, email me and I will see what we can do! :) Don't get me wrong, we will be doing custom sizes in brass, we just need to figure out a fair way to charge for it. :)
 Thats it for now; be sure to check out our SALE PAGE and as always,
Have a Beady Good Day!

NEWS NEWS NEWS!

I know it has been awhile since I have been on here...we have been uber-busy around the shop and studio! First of all, we purchased a new shear! Whats a shear you ask? Whats it do? Well, a shear is a machine that cuts sheet metal. I already had one of course, but that was a BABY machine compared to my new one! My old machine had a 12 inch cutting capacity. My new one? A 37 Inch cutting capacity!! This shear is big enough that we had to hire professionals to move it into the shop, lol.  And it will cut through not only thicker material, but tougher material as well. It also cuts VERY square.....which is AWESOME because it is way easier for me to round corners on a square piece of material than on one that isn't perfectly square. So.....what does all this mean to you my friend? It means faster production, more options and, best of all, a much higher quality cuff. Which is always a good thing!

Another good thing is that with the new shear in place, we are now ready to branch out into BRASS. The brass production will be up and running in a week or so.....maybe less. I will post again when it is, as well as send out a newsletter. If you haven't already done so, you can sign up for the newsletter by following this LINK.

One more announcement, and it is a good one!! With the popularity of custom sizes in our aluminum cuffs going crazy, we have decided to put the two most often asked for sizes into regular production. Yay!  2 1/2 inch bracelet blanks as well as 3 inch bracelet blanks are now available all the time, so come n' get em! :) click here and scroll to the bottom of the page!

I think that is it for now, I'll be back soon to gab some more....until then, 
Have a Beady Good Day!

Challenges!

I wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know that we have changed the type of aluminum we use to make our cuff bracelet blanks. We are now using what is called "3003"; it is a definite upgrade! It has more "spring" to it and seems stronger even though it is the same thickness as the old aluminum. Does using a better grade aluminum mean that we will be raising our prices you ask? NOPE! How awesome is that?? It IS a bit more expensive than the old aluminum, but we will be absorbing that difference ourselves in order to bring you a superior product at the same great price! Yay! :)
One other announcement:
We have been working with our sheet metal supplier to find a type of brass that will work well for making our own brass cuffs. (like we do our aluminum cuffs) There are many types of brass (didn't know that before we started looking into buying the stuff lol) and what we need is something strong yet lightweight, with the "spring" needed for bracelet cuffs. But we need it to be inexpensive enough for us to be able to buy it, make it into cuffs and then sell it to our customers at a better price than the brass cuffs we sell now are. (those we have to buy from a manufacturer) This has proven challenging, to say the least! We are being very picky; we want to be able to provide our customers with a quality product at a great price! I am confident that we will hit on just the right material soon, hopefully within the month......Just wanted to give you all a heads up to be on the lookout for brass cuffs, coming soon!!! And, while we are on the subject, what would you think of copper cuff bracelet blanks? Should we or no? In the process of looking at brass, our supplier also showed us some copper that we got samples of and made into cuffs.....I was very happy with the end result (very pretty color and easy to work with material) but we don't know how many folks would want copper cuffs. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated!! :)
Thats it for now, have a Beady Good Day! :)

Decoupage and More......

I have been playing around with Decoupage lately and I am so excited about the results! I used our aluminum cuffs to experiment with and whatever paper items I had lying around....magazines, ribbons, metal leaf, opal papers, tissue paper etc, and Mod Podge. (which I picked up at Hobby Lobby) It was soooo easy, I was shocked! Just apply a thin layer of the Mod Podge to the cuff and start laying down paper, then apply another layer of Mod Podge over the top to seal. Let dry and apply more Mod Podge.....do this several times and Voila! A decoupage cuff!!  Here are a few examples of what I came up with on my FIRST TRY.....here, a cuff I made with leaf patterns cut out of a magazine and purple tissue paper:

 

 

Not too bad, right? Here is another view:

 
 

And here is one I did with opal papers, metal leaf, tissue paper and a picture I cut out of a catalog that I sandwiched in between two silicone bubbles:

 
 

And another view of the same cuff:

 
 

Here is one I did using Black and Hot Pink tissue paper, special request from my daughter:

 
 

And now here is one that I did using tissue paper and metal leaf on top of Lacy's Stiff Stuff, backed with deer skin and beaded around the edges:

  

Two more views of the same cuff:

 
 

  

Now, I KNOW that these cuffs are not professional grade...but these were my FIRST try! Imagine what you could do if you already have experience with decoupage!! Imagine what you could do even if you don't. I have to tell you, this was FUN. Really fun. And easy. And best of all, didn't cost an arm and a leg! The cuffs (If I had to buy them from myself, lol) were no more than $1.30 each, the Mod Podge was around $5.00, (and will last a long time) and the rest was just stuff I had laying around anyway! So there you go.....$1.50 to make a cuff, maybe $2.00. What could be better? :)

Until next time, Have a Beady Good Day!