It’s the Carrollton store’s 2^nd Birthday Party!  Come over and help us celebrate our “Terrible Two’s” this weekend from Friday, the 30^th through Sunday, the 2^nd. We are ever-so-excited to break out the cupcakes and ice cream!

So, “what’s in it for me” (besides the obvious sugar rush) you might be asking yourself. PRESENTS! Yes, tons of presents for YOU!  We love to share (maaaybe sometimes a little too much) so we are putting all stone, glass, crystal, pearl, and ethnic wall strands on sale: 25% OFF! Ohhhh, but you have been eyeing those beautiful sparklies in the case for awhile, haven’t you? You are in luck there too because all case strands are also 25% OFF!  Come adopt a sheltered sparklie today and give it a purpose in life!

ALSO, we will be giving away one Jewelry Making Techniques class EACH day. So, put your name in the drawing for yourself or that friend you’ve been dying to share your passion with.  We will also be playing great games with prizes, yummy food (a la Chef Michell), and just having a great time all-around on Saturday. Believe me, we know how to party!!!

What could possibly sweeten this pot? Oh, that’s right……NEW STUFF! I can’t forget to mention the absolutely unique and genuine vintage goodies we’ve discovered for you. Fantastic raw vintage Chanel findings and pendants!  *Shudder* I could hardly contain myself when we came across these beauties and so many to choose from.  We have also found some truly beautiful filigreed pocket watch pieces, faces, hands, gears, and who knows what else! Oh, also you MUST see the awesome new toy Val has become infatuated with.

So, come help us celebrate our “Terrible Two’s” this weekend and you truly won’t be disappointed. The more the merrier, you know how much we love to entertain (whether it’s intentional or not)!

 PS – We didn’t use this can of coolwhip after Lily’s treat, I promise!!!

If you are a fan of using taxidermy eyes in your jewelry and you haven’t found Dreaming Tree Studio, you had better sit down.  Check out the website to see what has to be thousands of options and colors available!

There are several iris shapes, different sizes and profiles, and the color selection (including optional metallic treatments) is HUGE!  Check out the “Specialty” one called Starry!!!  And they are wonderfully made, too! 

I admit, I only copied part of the page of  “unreal” colors, but there are fantastic “real looking” ones too!!

 “vin-tage   /ˈvɪntɪdʒ/ Show Spelled     [vin-tij] –adjective

1. of or pertaining to wines or winemaking.
2. being of a specified vintage: Vintage wines are usually more expensive than nonvintage wines.
3. representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies; vintage jewelry; etc.
4.old-fashioned or obsolete: vintage jokes.
5.being the best of its kind: They praised the play as vintage O’Neill.”

So, according to Webster, the word “vintage” is mostly associated with the processes of wine-making.  While I’m not going to argue that wine is indeed an interesting AND fun special interest, I believe that when it comes to jewelry there are so many more flavors to choose from!

This past week Michell and I experienced  authentic vintage and we’ve brought it all back to the Carrollton store for all to see.  Hours of work, piles of boxes, and pounds of dust later we have selected the best quality of authentic vintage findings, filigree, pendants, and bezels, and watch bits for you to choose from.  Wonderful solid brass and copper galore!

My dream came true as I poured through boxes and boxes of antique watches to find the best of the best! Gorgeous Swiss made pocket watches for you to adorn your Steampunk-inspired jewelry with or just to admire for their intricate and beautiful parts.  Oh, and did someone say scarabs?  Oh YES, that’s right…I did!  

 New resin bezels too!!!

Come see it all in the Carrollton store soon, before it’s all gone!

Guess what we got today in the Carrollton store!! We got in the new copper-cored plated wire, in lots of new colors and sizes! We’ve got rose gold, a real antique brass color, and even one they call “smoky quartz” that’s not brown, not black.

And we’ve got some bright colors in knitting and crochet sizes!! Like purple!!

We’ve even got high-quality non-tarnish silver and gold plated square and half-round!

But it’s only in Carrollton for now. We’re being Guinea Pigs. (which is, after all, one of the nicer things Mary has called us lately.)

Well, it’s over in Carrollton, at least.  We got the trunk show all packed up and were ready to drop it off at the bus station with a brisk “thanks for coming, let us know when you get there, bye” and then run home for a nice nap.  But it started whining, going on about “I’ve never been to Texas before and I haven’t seen anything!  Not Houston, or NASA, or Austin or…  or even Fort Worth!  I can’t leave YET!”  To avoid any kind of Incident, (being uncertain of what a Trunk Show Tantrum in the Trailways station would look like) we decided to let it spend a week in Fort Worth before going back home.

So, for a few days (probably over the weekend, so it can go to Billy Bob’s on Saturday) you can shop the trunk show in Fort Worth.   Just stop by the Fort Worth Artful Bead and ask to see the trunk show stone and all. 

And thanks for coming to see us in Carrollton!  We had a great time!

See!!!  Stones and pearls, and the unfinished wall!!

Books, pendants, and a lousy picture of the stone tables

  Seed beads out the Wazoo!!

And there was another picture of the stone, but it came out way awful.  So imagine how LOVELY it all is!!

Friday 10 – 6, Saturday 10 – 6, Sunday noon till 5, Monday 11 – 7, and then it’s ALL OVER!!!  Carrollton only!!!

The Carrollton Artful Bead is having a trunk show 4th of July weekend!  All weekend long, from Friday July 2nd through Monday the 5th, during our regular open hours.  We will have a lot of wonderful and unique stone, glass, and metal beads.  In fact, so much that it won’t fit in our back room, so we’ve rented a vacant space in our shopping center that’s closer to Shipley’s Donuts!  (Can we plan, or what?)
 
Mary has been on vacation/stay-cation this week (yes, AGAIN).  She’s been cleaning up and organizing all kinds of things, and she’s decided that we need to get rid of a lot of our backstock, and do a general “garage sale” on some odds and ends that have been hiding out for awhile.
 
Really, “backstock” mostly means seed beads, boxes and boxes of seed beads.  She will be bringing her seed bead boxes to Carrollton and combining them with our seed bead boxes, and they will be on sale for 30% off!!!  And there will be other specials too, who knows what all we’ll find!
 
If you’re on the west side of the metroplex, call the Fort Worth store and get on the schedule for a free ride on the Artful Bead Shuttle!  We’ll bring you over to the Carrollton store for as much shopping as you can handle, there are several great eating places close by if you need a break, and then we’ll take you back to the Fort Worth store.  The shuttle runs only Friday and Saturday, and spaces are somewhat limited, so call 817-294-2903 as soon as you can.
 
We’ll see you soon!