Life on the Island

Today was a great day. I took the day off and went to Lake Lure and spent the day with my friend Pauline. Pauline normally is a glass bead maker but I have gotten her into metal working. Maybe thats a good thing or maybe thats a bad thing but none the less we have a blast! Today we took Copper tubing and made two really cool bracelets. We textured the metal it formed it and made really neat bangle bracelets. I will try to post a pic later so that you can see.

July?

WOW! Has it really been since July that I haven't blogged? Where does time go? Sorry for the long absence but a lot has gone on since July! Near the end of July Sammy's grandmother found out she had Tongue cancer. She had surgey to remove half of her tongue in August. She has just started her Radiation treatment and that will last for seven weeks. Patty, sammys mom also a worker at my store, has been out taking care of her mom. So, with Patty being out a majority of the work has fallen back on me. I thought I would be completely stressed about it but I haven't been because my husband, Sammy, has been around to help. In March Sammy was diagnosed with MS and he sold his business. Since April he has been trying to figure out what to do with his life. He had a clean slate and he could pretty much do whatever he wanted to do. But, the lord knows all and had a plan. It was a blessing that Sammy hadn't moved on to do something else because he was available for me when I needed him the most. Sammy has become quite an amusing fixture at the store. The women love him and the men like to see a "Man" there. All the sudden the bead shop isen't so girlie anymore! Needless to say, it has been an intresting summer and I have learned some wonderful lessons on who to love and who to trust and not trust. With that being said, I am going to try my best to start blogging regularly again. Until next time, Bead Happy!

New design!

One of my favorite designers in the whole world, Marcia DeCoster posted this picture on her blog today. I love her technique and all that she does. This is a beautiful cabochon that she encased and isen't it amazing? The thing that I love is the face that she said she put a special message behind the cab that is hidden by the beadwork! She's so clever. I took a class from her last year and she is a delight to be around. If you aren't familier with her or you want to see more of her work check out http://www.marciadecoster.com/

I have been working hard on Metal Stamping lately. I love this technque because it is amazing how you can make some really great personalized gifts. I will be teaching a beginners stamping class in August. To sign up go to www.offthebeadedpathbeadstore.com. You can now sign up online from the convenience of your own home!

New Merchandise

We have been busy this week packaging up 270 new colors and sizes of Aluminum Jump Rings and Rubber O rings. While I was at the Bead and Button show I had the privilage of meeting Susan Thomas who is the author of a great book called Link It! Link it has chainmaile projects that are made with aluminum jump rings and the o rings. Some of these projects are absolutely amazing! It is so neat how such different projects can be put together to make such a neat piece. I sat down Friday night and made one of the bracelets in the book in less than one hour! It was so much fun working with a completely new product.

I think sometimes we get ourselves in a horrible rut in our beading. If we don't look for ways to expand our beading knowledge then we will soon get sick of it and quite doing such a fun hobby. This is my problem right now. I am so sick of doing seed bead projects that it is hard for me to even make myself sit down and make anything. I have kicked myself in the rearend though and am now working on some wire working projects. Now all I want to do is sit down and bang on wire. It has been a great stress reliever because I can sit and bang and bang on the wire and the worst thing that can happen is I can break the wire. You should try it if you are stressed to the max because it really does work!

If you have never worked with jump rings or chainmaile before DO NOT BE INTIMATED by them. Susan makes everything super easy!

Sammy hard at work!

So...sammy, my husband, has been very hard at work for the last week or two. He has started re-vamping the store website and it looks amazing! I am so lucky to have a husband that is a great web designer. One page that he worked on this week was our "about us" page. He wrote all about how the store got started then he preceded to add pictures of our staff and volunteers. He also gave each of us bead names but I have to note that he did have a little help coming up with these! Below you will find pictures of our staff:

Darlene Reynolds

Connie Miller

Kim Byers

Kim Campbell

Patty Dale

Me!

I may be completely bias but I feel that Ihave the best staff a store could ever have!

Current Projects

So I was on vacation last week and I worked on some really great projects. The first project I worked on was the purple Rivoli bracelet. I am totally in love with this design. I still have a few things that I can play with as far as the design elements go but all in all I love it. I also worked on making 4 other bracelets, 2 rings, and I worked on some metal stamping stuff. I am so into mixed media art right now that it's not even funny. At the end of the week I started working on a wonderful project in last months Bead and Button magazine. It is on page 72. It is a wonderful Herringbone necklace where you make lots or rings of Herringbone stitch and then you attach all of them together. It is going to take me about a month to make because I have already made 3 and I think if I sit down and make one a day that I can be done with it in 1 month. My color scheme is bronze and turquoise. It is going to be smashing when I am done. When I finish I will be sure to post a picture so that you can see.

I worked on teal and black post earrings this weekend. I made a black pair using 4mm's to wear to the Bead and Button show. Everyone had a fit for them so I made another pair so that I could write directions for them as I went. We have a little girl that goes to our church and she LOVES to wear earrings. I started to wonder what it would look like if I made the same pattern but used 3mm beads. Guess what? They are super cute and dainty. Perfect for a petite adult or a child. I posted a picture so you could see the size difference. I want to make a pink pair and a pair in the Crystal Capri Gold.

If some of you haven't checked be sure to visit our store website www.offthebeadedpathbeadstore.com for a money saving coupon to be used during our Christmas in July sale. Also while your there check out our exciting store news on the home page!

Hello from Milwaukee

The above picture is leaving Charlotte NC around 9:30 in the morning on 6/2/09.

These two pictures are the prettiest thing I have ever seen. The pictures do the clouds and the expierence no justice!

Today I am in Milwaukee. I got here yesterday and boy has it been an experience! I was bored out of my mind yesterday! I have found nothing exciting to do yet except hit the mall which is right below my hotel. To top it all off, the TV in my room only gets news and sports channels. Makes for a boring day! The only good thing about yesterday was the fact that I met Nikki Thornburg and Heidi from the Beaded Frog in Greenville SC for dinner last night. I had a wonderful dinner. My only problem is that Milwaukee is a beer town and everywhere you go there is beer. The waitress and waiters look at you funny when you order anything but beer! I am not a drinking girl so I don't see what people get out of it. But we had a nice dinner and it was great to listen to stories of Bead and Button past.

Today will be better thought because we start setting up in the show hall. I don't really know what to expect because I have heard the show hall is a sight to behold. I better enjoy the show while I can because after I get home I don't know if anyone will ever get me on a plain again. Don't get me wrong, I liked the fact that it only took me an hour and a half to get here but I made myself sick before I even got on the plain because my nerves were bothering me. Tight cramped corters for 2 hours is not my idea of fun, espically when you are by yourself. A travel mate would have been much better. I got tickled on the plain because I must have been the only person on the plain who had never flown before. Everyone was reading books, sleeping, and doing there own thing. Meanwhile I couldn't keep my eyes off the windows. The view from the sky is amazing. My favorite part about the flight was when we were flying above the clouds!

I will update you tonight or tomorrow on how the set up is going.