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! 

 

 

 

We Have a WINNER!!

We have a winner for our Christmas Give-Away, Congratulations DEB!!! You can check out her gorgeous work at the bottom of this post or on our homepage HERE. We are SO glad that we did this give away as a random drawing because if we had to choose just one winner from all the absolutely stunning pictures we were sent.....I do believe I would have lost my mind, LOL! Every single entry was gorgeous and we can't wait to feature all of them on our Artist Gallery page! The amount of talent out there is amazing and I want to sincerely thank everyone who sent in pics....I adore the eye candy!!! 
The give-away was so fun and so successful that we are already planning our next one.....but haven't decided if it will just be for blog followers or for folks who have signed up for our newsletter or maybe even for both.....so be sure to follow this blog, (look to the right for the link to do that) and if you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, you can do that HERE.
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Holiday, (and being good so Santa will come...hee hee hee...I LOVE Christmas!) Alot of us are in for some really BAD weather this Christmas, so please...BE SAFE! And Until next time, have a Beady Good Day! :) 

Still Time to enter!!

Just a quick reminder that you still have time to enter for our Christmas Give-Away....one week, in fact! The deadline for entries is December 19th, 2009 at 11:59pm Central time. You can get the full details on our website HERE or from this blog, HERE. You could be the lucky winner of a $100.00 shopping spree on our website or $50.00 in cash......so enter now!!! :)

I also wanted to remind everyone that we are always on the look-out for new, unique, useful and/or gorgeous items for the website; if you have any suggestions, we would be more than happy to hear about them! Maybe there is something you have been looking for? Let us know, maybe we can find it for you! Or maybe you have seen something really neat that you think would be great for us to carry on the website....again, let us know! We want to be THE source for everything beadwork!!!
Thats it for now, I hope you all are having a Beady Good Day! ;)

CHIP STRANDS GALORE!!

Just wanted to pop in and let you all know that we just received a shipment of beautiful chips strands! Stones are: Tiger eye, Red Goldstone, Rose Quartz, Snowflake Obsidian, Rainbow Florite and Cherry Quartz. You can see them HERE! (And look below for a few teaser pics!)
These strands are perfect to use in jewelry of course, but I LOVE using chips in the fringe of my beadwork.....so pretty and just seems so darn luxurious to see and feel those semi-precious stones cascading from a beautiful piece of wearable art!! :)
Submissions for the Give away have started to come in and WoW! Do we have some talented customers or what?!! Gorgeous pieces!! Keep those submissions coming....tell a friend, blog or twitter about it....we'd love to see this become our biggest give-away ever!! :)
Thats it for now, everyone be safe out there this Holiday season...and have a Beady Good Day! :)

 

Christmas Give-Away!!!

We are crazy excited to announce that we are doing our first give away!! It will be fun fun fun and the winnings? Perfection, since YOU will be the one to pick them out! 
Thats right, I said that YOU get to choose what you want! How cool is that?! This is how it works:

1. Sign up for our newsletter via our website; if you are already signed up for it, no need to do it again, we just need everyone to be a confirmed subscriber. Need to sign up? Follow this LINK


2. Submit at least one photograph (digital format only please) of a piece of your beadwork (MUST be beadwork such as loomwork, cabochon beading, bead embroidery, etc but can be anything....a necklace, hair comb, cuff bracelet, bolo, etc) along with your name and email address to: cindy@beadwork-supplies.com. Send as many pics as you want, but you only get one entry no matter how many pics you send.

IMPORTANT: you need to submit your digital pic(s) from the same email address that you used when you subscribed to our newsletter! 

3. The picture(s) that you submit MAY be used on our website in the artist gallery or other pages; we will always credit the artist if we use a photo of their work so no worries there....just keep in mind that by entering the give-away, you are consenting to our use of the photograph(s).

5. You may only enter ONCE as a subscriber to our newsletter, but can gain an additional entry by spreading the word about the give-away by blogging about on your blog or on Twitter. If you do, include a link with your submission and you will get a total of two entries!
 

4. All entries will be thrown in a hat and a random drawing will occur on December 20th, 2009. Entry deadline will be at 11:59pm Central time on December 19th. International entries are welcome, just keep our time zone in mind when you submit your entry. This is NOT a contest.....everyone from the beginner to the advanced beadweaver will have the same shot at the goodies!!




Speaking of which.....on to the good stuff!
We thought long and hard on what to give away, and decided that the best thing to do is let YOU decide! Soooo....(insert drum-roll here!)  we will be giving away ONE $100.00 shopping spree to the winner!! Yup, that right.....$100 Bucks to spend on anything you want on our website! Pretty cool, right? Well, it gets even cooler! We know how tough things can be at Christmas time, buying presents and everything and yet still needing some cash for the light bill, lol.....so we decided to let you choose either the $100.00 shopping spree OR a check made out to you in the amount of $50.00! Spend the $50 on whatever you need to...presents, the light bill, groceries or charity......its' your cash so do whatever you want with it!


Now then, thats not too shabby for a give-away, right? So what are you waiting for? Take some pics, sign up for the newsletter and submit your entry!

Who Doesn't LOVE Fringe?!!

I mean, come on! Fringe is dangly and sparkly and gives an opulent feel to any piece.....especially if you use genuine Gemstones! I have always loved using genuine Gemstones in my fringe work and decided to search for some for the website; boy did we luck out! We were able to purchase a nice batch of Gemstone strands from a company that is going out of business.....which means we got the strands at a great price, which also means that YOU will get them at a great price! You can check them out HERE! 

You will find Aventurine, Lapis, Blue Topaz, Moonstone, Garnets.....all in sizes and shapes that are perfect for fringe work! These won't last long at these prices, and when they are gone they are GONE. So check them out and get them while you can! :) Look below for a few teaser pics.....and have a Beady good day!