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?