BEAD & BUTTON 2010...

Bead & Button was fantastic. Exhausting... but successful! Saturday & Sunday were on the slow side all around... Thank God that Thursday & Friday were uber busy. My best show EVER... beyond any expectations I had.

A BIG THANK YOU to my friend, Kelly Hazel of KLH Designs, who was @ B&B all week for classes & a little shopping... she stayed an extra day & helped me out @ my booth. And another BIG THANK YOU to my awesome friend, Kimberly Polka, who showed up & helped me tear my booth down on Sunday!!

Really great bead sales...my acorns & the etched copper leaves, OMG...they cleaned me out!! It was quite awesome! I've always enjoyed watching customers select their acorns... trying to find the one that speaks to them (they all have their own personalities!), but now watching them try to pair an acorn up w/ a copper oak leaf, priceless!! :o)

I haven't posted these copper leaves before, have I? (other than when I first learned to etch w/ Robin Koza) I knew last year that I wanted to come up w/ some sort of oak leaf element to go w/ my copper & glass acorns... these are what I came up w/ & they are FABULOUS! (if I may say so!) Some designs are from rubber stamps & some are hand-drawn. Alot of the backs I did by hand... some included words, like STRENGTH, BEAUTY, BELIEVE, COURAGE, etc. Robin saw this picture when I posted it on Facebook last month & sent me a message, asking if I would share my source for the stamp I used for the leaf @ the top w/ the bullseyes & wavy lines. I'm always happy to share a source... of course this source is difficult to share, since that is a hand-drawn design. I love it & had a few others that were similar... they all sold, of course! I will definitely do more... it's nice to have pieces that are uniquely mine.

I got a few wholesale orders that hopefully will turn into returning customers. My sweet friend Nicole Valentine of N Valentine Studio came to my booth with an amazing fine silver birdhouse from Christi Anderson of Elemental Adornments... she was looking for a miniature electroformed glass acorn to hang underneath the birdhouse. She found one & a little while later, Christi showed up @ my booth looking for acorns!! My stock was pretty low @ that point, she found some, but I'll be making her more. They're absolutely perfect w/ her pieces. How exciting! I actually met Christi when I first started lampworking @ a show here in the Twin Cities... her work is phenomenal. It will be fun to work w/ her & see some our pieces together!

It was awesome to see & hang out w/ long-distance friends...a fun dinner out w/ Andrea Guarino-Slemmens, Nicole Valentine, Donna Mehnert, Kristi Brokaw, Marion Ogle & a sweet friend of Andrea's from Israel, Ilana Magriso. The Blue Angels were in town & we ran into some of them a few times. A man in uniform... nice... Nicole was quite smitten w/ them & Andrea took the opportunity to put Nicole in the middle of them a time or two w/ a picture w/ a few of them & a phone call. LOL. Quite funny.

I missed out seeing so many people that I would've loved to see since I was on my own @ my booth... what a drag. Thankful that some came & tracked me down!! Wonderful to meet Heather Powers & Erin Prais-Hintz! I wish I had gotten a chance to come visit Heather's booth!

It was fun having customers from last year (my first year) return for more... (some w/ my business card w/ little notes written on the back!) and great to have customers that I've gotten to know through teaching @ the Madison Art Glass & Bead show the last 2 years come by to see me. I really enjoy continuing to build these relationships w/ such wonderful & creative people. 

Fantastic feedback about my booth space as well. That makes me happy. :o) It's ridiculously fussy... not necessarily fussy looking, but so many layers...pieces & parts... it takes me forever to set up & tear down. But I love the look! My friends laugh @ me & talk about how I need to pare it down! I'm so thankful that Kim showed up & helped me tear down on Sunday!! I do look wistfully @ the next aisle of well-known & talented bead artists w/ their single artisan tables & watch them show up just a few hours, if even, before the show starts to set up their space (& tear down quickly, too!) & think to myself "Hey, I'm just a glass bead artist, too... why do I have to have not only a full size booth, but why do I find it necessary to have all of the extras... like ribbons, chains, findings, etc... that keep me from quickly setting up & tearing down?" Well... I suppose, for one thing, I don't have the name (yet!) that draws customers directly to my table just because I'm me (& I make fabulous beads!)... so having a booth that draws people in has been helpful... & having the extras helps sell my beads, too. Can't tell you how many people walked away w/ a bead, acorn &/or copper leaf hanging from their necks as they continue on their way to shop the show.... FABULOUS advertising for me. So, for me, it's been worth it. A hassle, yes... but it's working.

Anyway... it was a wonderful experience. An awesome show. Can't wait till next year!!

Till next time...

~ Julie

QUICK BEAD & BUTTON TEASE...

THE BEAD & BUTTON SHOW...

...it's coming up quickly (way too quickly!).

I'll have some fabulous beads there, some jewelry, too...

...plus lots of glass & copper acorns and my sterling twig changeable bead holders. Hope you'll stop by to check them out.

Here's a coupon for you, too, for 20% off one item at my booth...

While I'm at it... click here for a coupon for $2 off show admission.

Hope to see you there!

Till then...

~ Julie

A HEARTFELT REQUEST....

Just a quickie request for you, if you will...

...okay... I'm lying... you know I don't do "quick"...I explain, w/ many many words, LOL.... but this is important, so read on, please. :o)

I have a wonderful little sister who is struggling to pull herself up after a nasty divorce from a really unstable guy. She has 4 kids & ALOT on her plate. I'm so proud of her for being strong enough to get out of her marriage, but the ex hasn't made this easy for her, to say the least. It's been a really rough year.

Anyway... my wonderful brother knew that I blogged & had a website, so he asked me if I was willing to do something that would maybe generate a little bit of money every month to help her out. I already had the following account set up, just hadn't started using it yet, so of course I said YES!

Here's where YOU come in....

Do you buy from Amazon.com?? I buy ALOT from them, I love the site! (I have an Amazon PRIME account, free 2-day shipping... LOVE IT!)

See the AMAZON.com search box & the book recommendations on the right side of my blog, a little ways down??

Do me a favor... make this blog a "go to stop" before you head to Amazon to search for anything. What happens, is that for each purchase that is made by someone coming through any of the Amazon links on my blog (or the recommended books section on my website's RESOURCES page), I get a very very small amount of $$...I think it's actually Amazon credit. You don't have to purchase any of the recommended books... just click on any of the links or use the search box on this blog to get you to the site & just go from there. This doesn't cost you anything... other than whatever you purchase on Amazon, that is. Prices will be exactly the same, whether you go from here or go directly to their site.

So... each month, if there are any purchases made through linking from this blog, there will be a small amount of $$ (or credit, not sure about that one!) in my account. I'm going to give my little sister 100% of anything that comes my way... 100%. It might not be much each month... but it might be enough for her to purchase an essential item or two from Amazon. Any little thing will certainly help.

Pretty cool, huh?? I'd really, truly appreciate any help you can give us.

THANK YOU!!

Truly,

Julie.♥

WELL, HELLO...

....can't believe my last post was in February!

I've been a bit busy these past few months... show season, you know? 

Show season, LOL, that's kind of funny, actually. I know people who do shows every other week from spring through the holidays... I can't imagine. I did 2 fabulous shows in March & am getting ready to do The Bead & Button Show (aka B&B) in June, then that's it until October! Show season. :o) 

Actually, in between, I'm working on items for the Bell Street Gallery, on Madeline Island. It opened several weeks early because of the early warm spring weather (in April instead of mid May), so I was busy getting jewelry & utensils together to deliver & now I'm on to preparing for B&B! I'm making tons of acorns... lots of miniature ones this time. I usually have maybe a dozen mini ones @ a show & they usually get snagged really quickly, so I'm making a bunch this time around. They're cute... small enough for earrings or a charm... or a child, even. I have some really fantastic beads, of course... some new designs that I haven't taken the time to photograph & post... I need to hire someone to do that for me!! :o)

Here's a quick picture for you.....of the bottoms of some mini acorns (w/ a few standard sized ones thrown in, too), still on the mandrels, aren't they fabulous?? This is only the first step of SEVEN! Finishing (electroforming) acorns are a good 4-day process! 

I'm getting ready, also, to head down to Lake Ozark, Missouri, for the 5th annual Missouri Bead Retreat!! I'm so excited. I missed out going last year because I was preparing for my first time @ B&B & just didn't think I could do both... boy, was I depressed that entire weekend! My birthday was that weekend, too, & they called & sang to me... made me cry!! :o)  I love those people & I just can't wait to spend a long weekend w/ them!! From my count, there's going to be 80+ people this year! Yikes! I'm teaching a couple of copper etching classes & have some wanting to learn how to electroform & how to use an electric mandrel spinner... so I'm going to be a busy girl. :o) Thought I'd bring some B&B work w/ me, too, just in case [I can put others to work, LOL]... we'll see. There's 16 days between the time I get home from the retreat to when I leave for Milwaukee... I'm really good @ cramming last minute, but I'm really stressing out. I try to remember, however, something that a friend told me.... that it doesn't matter what you have or don't have finished... nobody else will know & all will work out just fine. It's true, too. I usually kill myself doing last minute things & those are the things that don't sell!! So I'm learning... slowly but surely. :o) 

Anyway... just thought I'd take a few minutes to write SOMETHING, finally. Sorry it's been so long!! If you're coming to Bead & Button, come by & see me! I'm at booth 1136, right next to the booth I was @ last year. Also, pretty soon, I'll post a coupon for the show for 20% off one item... so make sure to check back & print it out. 

Remind me to tell you about "THE NIGHT THE ACORNS DIED..." it's quite humorous... or not. :o) 

.... till then...

~ Julie