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.

New Shirt I worked on!

As most of you know I will be leaving next week for the Bead and Button show. I will be working selling Preciosa crystals. I am completely hooked on working with the Hot Fix crystals right now so I worked and made me this really cool pink and Crystal AB shirt to wear. I am pretty proud of it because I made my own template and then attached the crystals. I think the guy I'm working for will be really pleased!

If you get a chance be sure to go to our store website at www.offthebeadedpathbeadstore.com. Click on forum and sign up for a free account. Once you are signed up be sure to fill out the 2009 summer store survey. All who reply will be entered to win a prize. We really want to know what you think of the store and ways that we could possibly improve it.

OTBP Podcast #1

Hey Fellow Bead Geeks:

Welcome to the first podcast from Off The Beaded Path. Listen and enjoy! Leave me feedback and let me know what you think! http://offthebeadedpathbeadstore.com/media/otbp1.mp3

Weekend Beach Trip

Sammy and I ran away to the beach this past weekend. One of my favorite things to do while I am on vacation is to look for stores that make beaded jewelry so that I can get some new ideas. One of my favorite places to do this is Vanity. It is a wonderful accessories store! I love their jewelry and always get some great ideas to bring home with me.


I also love a store called Gemini Boutique. They sell Vera Bradley and my new favorite jewelry line, Brighton. Brighton is mostly handmade and the company is famous for their jewelry and handbags. They make beautiful beaded and sterling jewelry. I bought two pieces while I was on Vacation this time. If you have never heard of Brighton you should defently check it out online or stop by the store next time your in Myrtle Beach. I know what your thinking...Kelly, you make jewelry why are you buying it? Well I love Brighton Jewelry because they have lots of charms on them. Brighton Jewelry makes me happy inside and it makes me remember things that have happened in my life.


While on Vacation I worked on making the ring pictured below. It is by Marsha DeCoster. I took a class from her in August and she had on a ring just like it. I wanted the pattern so bad but she told me that it was going to be in her new book and that she couldn't give out instructions. Well, in last months issue of Beadwork there was a patter in there for a bracelet. I made one link and added a ring band and tada! I have a new ring! I love it but this first one took me 4 hours. I hope they get quicker as I want lots of them!


When we arrived home from Vacation I was suprised to find 4 large boxes waiting on me at the shop. They are mixed media products that I ordered back in February. They just now came back in stock and sent them to me. I am so excited and cannot wait until I can play with them to show you guys what cool jewelry you can make.

Beads Per Inch

I have had my bead shop for almost 6 years and the one question I get asked over and over again is how many beads of this size does it take to make this size piece. I have answered this question more times then I can remember. Well, I finally decided to make a handout to give to customers so that they can know exactly how many it will take. As you can see from the picture I have put 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8mm beads side by side to show you how many of each bead will fit per inch. I then did another photo of the same beads but with a size 11 seed bead in between the beads so that they can see the count difference when you add a spacer in between. I think that this will be a great help to my employees and my customers. If you would like a copy of the handout stop by the store and be sure to ask for one.

Crafty Day.....

So, I wanted to work on some great new projects today but as you can tell from the picture I couldn't even see my craft table to get started. You can imagine what I have spent my afternoon doing.....cleaning off my desk. I found a lot of stuff that I forgot I had and a lot of stuff where I I was like "ok...so that's where that went."

I know I'm not the only one who gets her craft desk really disorganized! It's just hard to believe how easy it is to get it this way. I did get it cleaned off though and I worked on a divine bracelet and I worked on writing the directions for Thurdays Rivoli Ring Class. I am looking forward to that class!

New Purple Wall

Do you like the new Purple Wall? My father-in-law came in last week and painted one of the walls in my shop purple. I wanted this to be the section of the store where we kept all the Swarovski Crystals so I put some wonderful Swarovski Color Charts on the wall and I moved a few of the crystals to the corner to start with. I have plans to add some more stuff to the wall but righ now it will do.

New Bead and Button!

Do you have the New Bead and Button magazine yet? If not, step away from your computer, run to your local bead shop, and BUY IT! It has some wonderful projects in it this month. One of my favorite projects is on the very last page. It is pattern for these modified Brick Stitch earrings. I haven't had time to make them but my good friend Kim C was able to sit down and she made me the pair pictured. She said that they were super simple to make and look how cute they turned out! I love easy and fast projects!

Been a Long Time!

It has been forever since I was last able to Blog. Right after my last blog I had to take my Husband, Sammy, to the Emergency Room. The day I took him he woke up and couldn't walk or use his arms or hands. We stayed in the ER all day for them to tell us that he had MS. They then sent us straight down to Spartanburg SC for him to start treatment. We have been back and forth to the Dr's office since March. Things are finally starting to calm down. Sammy has started on his Medication and seems to be doing well. Maybe now I can get back to regular blogging!

The one really good thing about all of this is that I have taken up a new hobby....I have started sewing. One of my favorite blogs to read is Shiny Little Things by Cynthia who owns a Bead Shop in Raleigh NC. She was talking about wearing dresses and looking for dresses. I love to wear dresses in the spring and summer but it is so hard to find super cute dresses in my size so I decided to try and make my own. I have made two so far and I am working on sewing some things for my mom and mother in law for Mothers Day. I am really enjoying it! I will try to post a picture of the dress I made for my mom later this week.

The picture above is of me and Sammy a couple of weeks ago at his best friends wedding. He hated it with a passion that he had to wear pink. I think we matched pretty well don't you?

April Preview....

April is around the corner and I have some awesome things planned for the shop. The picture is a sneak peek of a project for April. I love pearls and I love how they look when mixed with crystals!

April 1st will bring no fools jokes at the shop! All day on April 1st all Clearance items are .01 each! Yes...thats right....01 each! And there is no limit to how much you can buy. I have gotten sick of seeing the clearance corner so thats why we are having this wonderful sale on April 1st.

April 22nd (the day before my birthday) is Earth Day. If you come by the shop on Earth Day, you will receive a free Beadalon re-useable shopping bag. These are nice bags with the Beadalon logo on them! These shopping bags will come in handy since we have our promotation going where if you bring in your own bag to shop with you can have your name entered into a contest to win a $10.00 gift certificate. We draw a new name each month so you have plenty of chances to win.

Nikki Thornburg will also be at the shop in April on the 11th having a Trunk Show and doing glass bead making demonstrations. We love Nikki and she never disappoints! You will not want to miss this show.

Also added for April is Wednesday afternoon classes. We will be having 3 classes this month on Wednesdays that start at 12:00 and run until 2 or 3:00. We hope this will give people a chance who don't work during the day or who are retired a chance to attend some great classes. This will also come in handy once school gets out!

And finally we have added a second bead club for April. We will have bead club on April 24th from 6-9 and on April 25th from 10:00-1:00. Be sure and sign up early as they always fill up quickly!

Spring and Summer 2009 Colors

I love looking and searching for what's going to be hot for the upcoming season. According to the analists the colors pictured are going to be the hot colors for the spring and summer of 2009. I am loving the royal fuchsia, fire brick, deep sea blue, candy apple, aqua sky, and concord grape! I am going to be working the next couple of weeks making sure that we have these colors in stock. Speaking of these beautiful colors, we have quite a few new flower bells and leaves in these colors. They are part of a new mixture series that we got in today. We got in 35 new mixes of 6mm flower bells and leaf beads. I can't wait until this weekend so that I can get my hands on them and make something fabulous out of them! I have a great spring bracelet planned and who can live without earrings?

Our gemstone Trunk Show started today. We have some beautiful pieces that are going to look great in a piece of jewelry. I sneaked home a wonderful fossil coral cabochon that I am going to make a ring out of tonight. You know I have to have something fabulous to wear that I made using some of the trunk show pieces. Everytime I do that I sell 10 times as much merchandise. I will try to finish it tonight and post a picture of it tomorrow.

Spring is around the corner

Spring is right around the corner! With all the warm days my fruit tree has opened up with beautiful blooms! With all the beautiful colors that are fixing to blossom it makes me think of beautiful jewelry that I can create just by looking at the colors in nature. These shades of pink would make a wonderful necklace or bracelet.

Sneak Peek!

Well, I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek at what I have been working on for classes in April. April is going to be a weird month for me because not only am I helping with the Antiques & Arts fair on the 18th but I am also in the running for a leadership/planning seminar in Raleigh. It will be 3 days out of each month of April, May, and June. I am really excited and hope that I get accepted because it will teach me how to plan events for my town. If I don't get in it will be ok because I will know that it is not meant for me to go there yet. But in the meantime I have been working on 3 great projects and I have a couple more that I am working on. I love to teach and I love seeing the "ah ha" moments! In our current ecomony beading is going to be a huge stress reliever! I also wanted to post a pic and show you the glorious snow that I woke up to this morning!

New Bead Alert!!!

We have some wonderful beads coming in this week! I have ordered some beautiful flower bell and leaf strands. The beads are complemtary color mixes and will have 50 beads on a strand. I am so excited because they are to die for eye candy. With spring on it's way, we will be stocking tons of new beads with spring flair. Also arriving are some wonderful new mixed media items. Shrink Plastic should be arriving this week and I can't wait to play with it. We did a few shrink plastic charms in the class I took a few weeks ago at Random Arts and I was hooked. You guys are going to love this fun medium.

We also got a new shipment of Buttons in this week. As the ecomony seems to worsen we are trying to find alternatives to some of your favorite products. Many of you like to use Swarovski Buttons, the only problem being that they can get pricey. Thus the need for a new bead alternative. We are working with a company that only supples buttons to bead stores so you won't find these buttons at a big box store. The best part is....they are super affordable.

Be sure to check back often for new updates.

Talk about Inspiration! We just got back from Charleston SC and I saw this beautiful piece and had to take a picture of it! It was a massive chandiler. ALL CRYSTAL! My blood got to pumping and all I could think about was how I couldn't wait to get home and make a piece that represented the beauty of this structure. What do you see when you look at it?

I cried today!

I cried today. Not just a small cry but a cut wrenching cry fest! The first Thursday of every month our church goes to a local resthome and ministers to the residents. We have been doing this ministry for as long as I have been alive. I have just started going back to the resthome in the last couple of months and at every service there is a sweet man names Odus that I talk to. He wasen't at last nights service so I enquired and found his room. When I walked into the room I was taken aback. There were two small twin hospital beds, a night stand, and a tv. Nothing else! There was 1 cork board in the room that had 1 handmade valentines day card on it and I had to wonder weather it was a grandchild's card or one that was given out by the nursing home. When it comes to the elderly I have a very soft heart because I know that each of us are going to grow old and possibly be put into a home such as the one we visit. Are we going to have family who comes to visit? Are we going to be put in rooms such as this one? I stayed a few minutes with Odus and as I walked out I made a point to look in the residents rooms. Some were filled with material things and beautiful flowers. Some were just like Odus's. It's at this point that I realize that Odus and his room mate must not have a lot of visits or someone who really cares about them enough to make them feel "at home" in their final earthly home. I left the home and cried all the way home. I then cried when I got home. While I get up in the morning I have all sorts of things to look foward to and be thankful for. I can go to a closet full of clothes, I can spend time with my puppies, I can go for a walk to see my grandmother, and I can get in my car and ride to town. Odus can do none of these. He simply gets up in the morning and thanks god for another day of life. I made a decision last night. I decided that I am going to try to go and start visiting Odus and some of the other residents not just on church day. I also decided to start collecting and taking things with me to give some of the residents. You know things that might make them feel a little more at home. The first thing I am going to take Odus and his room mate are blankets. All they had were thin blankets and that was about it. From there I will take books, pillows, shoes, etc.

Day 1 at the NC Main Street Conference in Statesville NC

Well Today is day 1 at the NC Main Street Conference in Statesville NC. Today was a fun day all about Statesville. The Conference officially started at 3:00pm with a wonderful presentation by the Mayor of Statesville, Costi Kutteh. (Pictured Below) He told us the history or Statesville and things that happened in Statesville's history to make it so historic.



After the Mayors speech the Statesville High School Drumline did a wonderful presentation for the crowd. These guys and gals were great! I am going to work on getting them for our Christmas Parade this year because you would not believe how talented these kids are!




After the Drum Line performance we were ushered into a hall with this amazing mural. It is a Fresco Mural and is called "Images at the Crossroads." The 3 headed woman is a mythical god who embodies "crossroads." The image is amazing up close and it has so many details that make it something that you could sit and look at for hours. It is part of an 11 mural set that spans over the middle of NC. I got a pamphlet about it in my nifty new gift bag that we were given at the start of the show. I could defiantly get used to these shows because the bags was filled with all kinds of goodies. Not to mention the bag itself probably costs a good bit of money! I will try to post pics of the bag and goodies on tomorrow's blog.




After the mayors speech and the mural we went on a walking tour of statesville's central city area. They may be a bigger city but they are just like us. LOTS of empty buildings BUT great small businesses! Sammy and I went into two that are super noteworthy! One was "Express Yourself Stationary and Gifts." They had all sorts of little knick knack gifts as well as lots of beautiful stationary. They also did custom notes and invitations. We so need one of these in Forest City. The second store was a quilting store called "Needle and Thread." It was a small shop but they carried a great supply of fabric and quilting accessories! Not to mention...the staff was super nice and welcomed us with open arms! (Sammy was thrilled at the fact i dragged him to two chick stores!)

While on the tour we seen this beautiful Church. I love the look of old buildings and churches. They have some beautiful detail to them!


The below picture is what I would call Statesville's "town hall." It's not called that but town council meets there as well as other officials so it might as well be one. The reason I took this pic was for two reasons. One because it was a beautiful building but two because the movie "Leather Heads" starring George Clooney was filmed in parts of this building. Pretty cool huh?

After an afternoon of tours it was time for supper. Sammy and I went to Outback and had supper and then we went and saw "Bed Time Stories" with Adam Sandler. If you have not seen this movie you must go and see it! It is a clean movie and it is so funny I could have peeded in my pants. Did I mention that the movie theatre was right in front of our hotel? How cool is that? Well, my day has come to an end. I hope each of you had a great day! I will post new pics and news tomorrow. One more thing.....we have new surprise products arriving at the end of the week and I can't wait to play and show you guys what you can do with it!

Child Hood Fantasy Coming True....Sort of...

New Kids Then....

New Kids Now...

Jordan Knight

When I was 9 and 10 years old I was in love with Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block. In the early 90's if you were between the ages of 6 and 28 you had the one guy of the group that you thought was completely hot and that you were going to Merry! Well Jordan Knight was that one for me. I just knew that some day I would merry Jordan and life would be great. Sadly though at some point dare I say they become "uncool" and they kind of fell off the radar. Now, at the age of 27 I am going to be able to re-live a child hood fantasy. New Kids are back together for a reunion tour and they are coming to the Bi-Lo center in March. They were in Charlotte in October but at the time I didn't have the extra money to spend on the tickets. I have regretted it since then because I thought I would never get the chance to see them again. Well...tickets went on sale Saturday and I got floor seats for the March Concert. Now, I may not run away with Jordan Knight but I will get the chance to see a favorite Child Hood band with my best friend, who by the way, was a huge New Kids Fan too! Life is good!

Today was the big day!

Well today was the big day! I was on the "Your Carolina's" show with Jack and Kimberly this morning. It was a wonderful experience if nothing else! Jack and Kimberly were super nice! It was really neat to see how everything worked and came into being. It will be an experience that i will never forget! My sweet husband went with me for moral support and believe me...I needed it! Everyone who watched it said that I didn't seem a bit nervous but I was so nervous I thought I might fall down. Once It got started and I got to talking I was fine! But...Like I said if nothing else it was an experience that I can tell my children about one day!

TV day is coming up!

Ok...so I found out today that I can actually teach Jack and Kimberly how to make something on the show next week. I decided to teach them how to make a pair of Breast Cancer Awareness earrings using the concave loop making pliers. I got that self conscious feeling though that my hands looked terrible and that everyone was going to see how bad they looked. So, thinking this, I went and got some nails put on today. It is going to take a few days to get used to them but I really like them. Call me vain but it's not everyday that you get to be on TV you know! The producer also asked me if we had a website that they could send customers to. I decided right then that my video blog did so good this week that I am going to do a short video on how to do the earrings so that anyone who goes to the website can see. (I love having a husband who is technologically advanced!)

I was also really excited today because we got 17 new colors of 3.2mm drop beads. These beads are used in the wave ring in the current bead and button magazine. I brought some home with me and I am going to work with them and see what cool stuff I can come up with. I have an idea for a great pair of earrings but we'll see!

I am so excited!

I started something new on the store website today. It is a video blog! I sat down sunday and video taped it and then Sammy put it on the website today. I think it will work out great because this way I won't have to spend forever writing a long email and then you guys won't have to spend forever reading it! 2009 is all about making time for new things and this is a great start. If you would like to see it check out www.offthebeadedpathbeadstore.com

Life can throw u curve balls!

Well, for those of you who take the time to read my blog you are probably wondering where I have been for the last few weeks. Well....life has been a blur since Christmas. My holiday was wonderful. Even though Santa didn't bring me what I wanted I still had a wonderful Christmas because I got to spend it with my family. Gifts don't amount to anything if you don't have someone to share them with! My husband and I are extremely lucky because between the two of us we still have 3 grandmothers that are alive. This Christmas was a blessing because we still had them around to share it with.

After Christmas things started to get crazy. At the first of the year I get really excited and I try to think of all sorts of new things we can do at the store in the coming year. I try to come up with new classes, new demos, new give aways, and new contests. I also went into Valentine's day mode and started ordering new heart beads. So, as I was busy planning for the store a curve ball was thrown at me. As of this coming Tuesday I am officially going to be the new President of the Forest City Merchants Association. This is a big responsibility because you are over all of the events that happen in Forest City such as the Car Show, the parade, and the Carriage Rides. I am really excited about my new position and I hope that I can do a good job. I just want to see Forest City grow and get back to it's roots. A group of us are getting together to start to plan some new events for the town. We are really stoked and can't wait to see some of our idea's come into play.

While I was reveling over the Presidential position I found out some more great news. On Monday January 19th I am going to go to Greenville SC and be a guest on the Jack and Kimberly "Your Carolina's" show on channel 7. I am really excited! One of my great friends, Kim Campbell, was nice enough to send an email to the show telling them about us and the store. They decided to do a segment on us and invited me to come down. They are going to do a 6 minute segment on the show about our store and all of the things we do at "Off The Beaded Path." Most of you will be off work on this day so I hope you will get a chance to watch me promote the store and our great Down Town area.

I have also been anticipating the 17th. I am going up to Hendersonville to take a soldering class. As with any hobby when you start learning how to bead all you do is basic stringing, then you move onto stitching, then possibly wire working or PMC work. Eventually you just get into a rut and want to try something totally different. Well, I have hit my rut and on the 17th I am going to learn how to cut copper and solder things to the copper to make a one-of-a-kind bracelet. I am so excited just to learn how to solder with a torch. I know how to solder with a small soldering iron but I have never ventured into the world of torch soldering. I will let you know how this goes!

I have also been busy working on the February class schedule. We have some amazing new classes coming up and I can't wait to get them posted for you to see! Hope everyone has a blessed day!