Eye candy, sparklies, wowza!, whatever you want to call them, Swarovski Rivolis are just about the most glittery thing on the planet!
We have just a few left, already made into gold or silver color links.
Author: Valarie
New faces!
If you have visited The Artful Bead lately, you might have noticed some new faces!
First there is Jourdain, college student and part-time model. (She and her sister, mother, and grandmother modeled the jewerly in a couple of Mary’s books!)
She’s a tough act to follow, so next we hired Adrian and Kim:
Adrian is a bit new to beading, but he’s catching on fast. Kim has been a long-time customer, who decided to spend more time with us.
And there’s Stacy, who also teaches our Silver Clay classes. She’s not new, but we have the picture, so we’re making the most of it.
And there’s Amy, the Queen of Saturdays! She is also a full-time student, but comes from Denton to spend Saturdays with us. Ask her about her “Bathtub Ring” next time you see her. (We don’t have a picture yet, but we’ll get one soon…)
We’re Getting Ready
Yes, we’re getting ready for Tucson. The anticipation is kind of like the first few notes of the theme from Jaws.
(nunh – na…) Do we have the boxes, bubble-wrap, and tape? Check!
(nunh – na…) Price tags, scales, pens, baggies? Check!
(nunh – na…) A new rolly suitcase to replace the one we killed last year? Check!
(nunh – na, nunh – na, nunh – na!) We don’t have the Therma-Care back wraps!!! EEEEE!!!
Good thing there’s still time. This isn’t a “shopping trip” you know. It’s a carefully planned expedition with predefined objectives, strategies, and tactics. We outline each day’s shopping, find out in advance where the booths of our favored vendors are this year, and mark those new ones we want to check out. Even though we’re there for 4 days, there isn’t time to walk by every booth at every show. So we plan.
We try to figure out where we can find all of the special requests. We think of what cool “specials” we can bring back this year. We check the prices on silver and decide how much bargaining room the sellers might have. (OK, realistically, with the price of silver still going up, none. But everybody needs a dream.)
Then we pack our teeny suitcases. We don’t need “outfits” for this. We need shoes that won’t hurt and clothes that can take the abuse. Also, the less space our personal stuff takes, the more beads we can bring back!
As of today, less than 5 weeks till Preview Night!
A cautionary tale about signing up early
This weekend we were reminded again how important it is to sign up for classes as soon as possible. On the morning of a class, two people called to sign up. Unfortunately,when the teacher called the day before to see how many people were signed up, there weren’t any. Most of our teachers require at least two students for each class, so the class was cancelled.
If those two had just called even one day before, everyone would’ve been happier.
If you sign up for a class and find out you can’t make it, just give us a call at least 24 hours in advance, and we’ll transfer your payment to another class, or give you store credit.
Happy New Year, and Thanks!!
To everyone that shopped on Sunday, thank you! Thanks to your purchases, we were able to finish inventory in only 10 hours! Yes, we counted every bead, strand, foot of wire, and inch of chain. And it’s done!
For those of you that missed the sale, it was fantastic. We didn’t advertise in the paper, or post signs in the store before, it was just for our newsletter subscribers. Click on “Newsletter Sign-Up” at right and follow the instructions so you don’t miss the next one.
As of today, it’s only 46 days ’till Tucson Preview Night! And we’ve planned an extra day of shopping, so there will be even more fabulousness than ever!
From the Bead Embroidery class
Three bracelets made after Elizabeth’s Bead Embroidery class!
Teacher Profiles – Pamela Ennis
Pamela Ennis recently moved to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area from Salt Lake City, Utah. On a whim, she purchased an inexpensive jig, a pair of pliers and a spool of craft wire.
Since then she has discovered the value of quality tools, high grade metals and fine beads and gemstones. She has been creating wire designs for four years and has recently devoted her focus in traditional and original chain maille designs.
How do I sign up for the newsletter?
To sign up for the newsletter, click on this http://www.artfulbead.net/catalog/create_account.php and fill out the form. If you don’t want to fill in some of the required fields, you can type at least 5 characters in the fields, and it will accept it. The validation code box at the bottom is case sensitive, so if it has capital letters, it insists on capital letters to pass.
After submitting the form, you *might* get an automated message from wantabetterwebsite.com (our web host), asking you to verify that you are a real person. Just hit the reply button and send it back. You don’t have to say anything else, just leave the subject line intact. Next is a verification email, asking if you really signed up. Just click the link in the message. Then you’ll get a welcome email from Mary, and you’re on the list!
Sorry to have so many steps, but that’s what seems to be necessary now to make sure we aren’t spamming anybody, and keeping spammers from flooding us. All your information is stored encrypted, so nobody can get to it.
Happy Holidays!
From all of us at The Artful Bead, have a wonderful holiday! We are
closed Monday December 24th through Wednesday the 26th. We will
be back on Thursday the 27th. (Sorry to harp on it, but someone
kept asking “And Wednesday TOO???” till I lost patience.)
Yes, we’re taking a couple of extra days off. That’s because of the extra “festivities” that are being squeezed into these few days off. Come into the store and find out all the scoop! And start on those
New Years party sparklies!
There’s still time!
Plenty of time, actually, to make those last-minute gifts! Teachers don’t want coffee mugs with “World’s Greatest Teacher” on them, they want beautiful earrings! Aunt Edna doesn’t need another ceramic cat, she needs a sparkly elastic bracelet to show off at the Bingo parlor!
Make cell-phone charm dangles for the girls at the office! And make yourself a glittery necklace for the Christmas Party at the Country Club (or at the house down the street.) It’s practical, you can wear it again to the New Year’s party!
Hurry! We have less than three weeks of Over-the-Top Glitzy Season left!!!
Oh dear! I feel woozy, probably hyperventilated, too many exclaimation points…