Here are a few links to blog entries that you may find useful.

How to make cute Beaded Starfish.

How to make this Bead and Wire Crochet Necklace.

How to make this Tubular Peyote Bangle.

How to do Briolette Bails.

How to make Spiral Bead Cages.



Thanks for reading!
-The Bead Place.


P.S. Check us out on Facebook so you can be in the loop and so you don't miss out on our secret facebook fan sales! Just search "The Bead Place" and click "Like" to follow!

The Bead Place Design Contest 2010 Winner Is...

SILVEY HOLLENBECK!

Be sure to check back at the blog for an interview with the designer!

The 3/50 Project

On March 11, 2009, Cinda Baxter posted a blog entry (http://alwaysupward.com/blog/save-the-economy-three-stores-at-a-time/) about our economic situation. Little did she know that her post would blossom into a movement designed to stimulate local economies, better known as the 3/50 Project. You may have seen the 3/50 Project mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, CNN, Forbes, Consumer Reports, Better Homes and Gardens, or even the Discovery Channel. Baxter, a Retail Consultant and professional speaker, was prompted to write her blog after viewing a number of media programs, including the Oprah Show (which actually urged viewers to stop spending money in order to get through tough times), the Today Show, Meet the Press, and CBS News (reported that “Consumer spending drives 70% of the economy. When consumers put their wallets away, the economy has trouble making a U-turn,”). The overall message of the 3/50 Project grew out of this motivation and is simple... We all have the power to assist in the salvation of our local economy during these tight times.

These are the project's rules as noted by Cinda:
- Choose three independently owned businesses that you would miss if they went out of business.
- Spend $50 per month at each of these stores.

That's it! It's that simple. Cinda notes that, "If just half the employed U.S. population spent $50 each month in independently owned businesses, their purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue."

It really does make a difference. For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If $100 is spent in a national chain, only $43 stays here. If $100 is spent online, nothing stays here.

Here are two commonly asked questions:
"-Does the 50 in 3/50 mean as a consumer I need to spend $150 total each month?
No...well, not unless you want to (which would undoubtedly be fine with independent business owners). The idea is to commit $50 each month to locally owned businesses, total. Maybe that means rethinking where you currently invest your money, opting to pick up that birthday card or pair of jeans in a locally owned business instead of the big box you’ve been going to. Or maybe it means eating out once a month because you realize slamming the brakes on all spending stalls economic recovery. It's just that simple.
-Are you asking me to completely swear off chains, and franchises?
The 3/50 Project isn’t an “all or nothing” campaign that insists consumers stop shopping in chains or franchises. Instead, our message is about balance-—of the money you currently spend each month, we simply ask you to redirect an affordable $50 back to the locally owned independent businesses that have been forgotten of late. Just as there are things in a locally owned store that you can’t find in a big box, there are also things in a big box you can’t find in a locally owned store. We simply need to think about where our dollars are best invested, consider the greater amount of revenue local businesses return to the community, then purchase accordingly. Otherwise, local economies suffer irreparable harm."
as written on the 3/50 Project website, www.the350project.net

Can you imagine the impact that this could have on our area alone? We fully support the ideals behind this project, and we would love to see more individuals take part in this worthwhile movement. Here are a few of our favorite independently owned businesses:

Alfonzo's Pizza, Maryville

Art Glass Studio, Belleville

Beltline Chiropractic, Collinsville

Bert's Chuckwagon, Collinsville and Fairview Heights
http://www.chuckwagonfvh.com/

Baxter's, Fairview Heights
http://www.myspace.com/baxtersfun

Bobby's Frozen Custard, Maryville
http://www.bobbysfrozencustard.com/

Crystal & Spice Shoppe, Belleville
http://www.crystalandspice.com/

Carrisillo's Restaurant, Collinsville
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&gid=171613203785

Cost Less Copy Center, Collinsville

Dandy Inn, Fairview Heights
http://www.dandyinn.com/

Dr. Jazz, Lebanon
http://www.drjazzsodafountain.com/

Fournie Farms, Collinsville

Effinger's Nursery, Belleville
http://www.effingergarden.com/

Heart to Sole, Fairview Heights

Las Parrillas Restaurant, O'Fallon

Mud Hut Ceramics, Belleville

Olde World Jeweler's, Fairview Heights

Ravanelli's Restaurant, Collinsville and Granite City
http://www.ravanellisrestaurants.com/

Trenton House, Trenton
http://trentonhouserestaurant.com/

West End Hair Salon, Belleville


What are some of yours? Please let us know!

Spread the word among your friends. Let's see what happens!

Full details can be found at www.the350project.net

What's been up since Tucson.

We had our awesome Tucson Treasures event! It was tons of fun! If you missed it, you can check out the pictures on our facebook site.


We had awesome glass pendant make and take projects and I did riveting demonstrations. There were some really pretty attendance prizes. Marilyn H. won the GRAND PRIZE strand which was an incredible strand of Ruby in Zoisite. It was so much fun! Don't worry, there are still some beautiful beads left! Ask us to show you all of the new stuff the next time you're in the store!

Speaking of new stuff! We have tons of new classes. Chou designed a beautiful springy bracelet called the Posie Bracelet. It is quite adorable. Be sure to check it out on our class website: http://www.the-bead-place.webs.com/. Bridgette has a new class, as well. She's teaching adorable Knitted Hats. One of my new ones is the Rock Candy Bracelet. If you love sparkle, you'll love this one. Another addition to our long list of classes is the Viking Knit Bracelet. We have new kits to supplement this class, which are pretty fun to work with! It seems like every time I look, we have new stuff in the store.

Tons of new yarn! Sweet Caroline, Dreambaby DK, Grass, new colors of Kudo, new Zauberballs, more Encore, and so much more that I can't remember. While we're on the topic of yarn, we now carry cute cute cute insulated tumbler mugs that have a precious wittle chubby sheepy on them and they say, "KNIT HAPPY!" Oh, they're so cute. We have little post-it and notepad books with the same emblem. They're oh so adorable.

So, we've officially been in business for 5 years now. It just seems like yesterday when my parents' living room was full of bead shipments waiting for a bead store to call home. I know it sounds cheesy, but of course... we couldn't have done it without you. All of our loyal customers are definitely the reason why we're still afloat. I couldn't thank you enough for your support through the years, and hopefully we'll stay friends for a while yet.

I just got home from the store where Bridgette taught Donna and Stacy how to do square stitch. Those ladies are so much fun. Well, all of our customers are so much fun. Anyway, it's late, so I think I'm off to bed.

Thanks for reading!

I promised I'd post pictures from Tucson.

These uploaded out of order. Oh, well.

Rosa.

Amethyst larger than I am.

Jorge.

queso crisp.

Biggest veggie burger ever from the airport.

Sara, the artist of C-Koop.

Murals at LaRosa's mexican restaurant.

Sara from C-Koop again.

February '10 E-mail Newsletter

We're Back From Tucson! We bought so many beautiful things! Our arms are longer from carrying all the goodies! All of our Tucson purchases will be in the store, ready for you on March 1st. However, if you are a Bead Club member who has reached Lifetime, Diamond, or Platinum status, we are planning a special, FUN event JUST FOR YOU!

Tucson Treasures Event

Saturday, 2/27/10 and Sunday, 2/28/10 5pm - 8pm

Don't miss it! Special Offers! One Time Only Discounts! Free Demonstrations! Make and Take Projects! Prizes! Grand Prize Drawing! Refreshments! And, the best part - First Dibs!

These two nights are reserved for Lifetime, Diamond and Platinum Members only. No guests, please. All others will be turned away. Please understand, this is our chance to honor and show our appreciation to our Lifetime, Diamond and Platinum Bead Club Members for their patonrage and loyalty. Thank you!

Guest Instructors We are thrilled to have Lori and Troy, owners of Beaches Bead Stores in Ashtabula, OH with us for ONE NIGHT ONLY to teach Beach Glass Drilling - Thursday, 2/18/10 at 7pm $50.00 (includes beach glass and dvd). This class takes you step by step through all of the equipment needed, setting up that equipment and the method developed and used for years to drill thousands of pieces of beach glass. You will also be shown examples of drilling tile or pottery you find on the beach as well as a beach stone. If you've ever wanted to learn to drill beach glass, this is your chance. Don't wait, call The Bead Place today to register! www.beachesinc.com.

Ornament Club! Going Strong! Our first ornament gathering was a great success! It's not too late to join in the fun. Inquire about the Ornament Club next time you're in the store and we'll be happy to fill you in on all the details.

What's New!

-Fair Trade Porcelain Heart Pendants (very beautiful)

-HUGE Swarovski Heart Pendants (HUGE & outstanding)

-Pandora Style beads and bracelets

-Miche Bag Hope Shells - a $10.00 donation will be given to Breast Cancer Research with each shell sold

-Día de los Muertos beads from TierraCast (skulls and other neat things)

-Very affordable ball chain

New Yarn Stuff!

-More colors of Panguipulli Merino Wool by Araucania

-Grass (Hemp) Yarn- Beautiful and SOFT

-More buttons

-Bead Place Blend - Fiberliscious Bliss Yarn

Coming Soon! Riveting Class taught by Abbi

FYI - If you want to be "in" on all the scoop, join Facebook, and become a fan of The Bead Place.

Abbi blogged our daily Tucson adventures in our blog www.thebeadplace.blogspot.com, and continues to journal new and interesting tidbits about what latest thing has us excited at the store. Be sure to read about our new friends, Jorge and Rosa. ;)

Also, please remember to buy local and from independent retailers whenever possible. To find out more about this important movement, please click www.the350project.net. You can make a difference!

Yay Local Artists! Buy Handmade!

To Bead True Blue.

Today was another really good day. We're still pretty tired from it though. We woke up, had our marvelous breakfast, and headed out to the shows. We went to the Tucson Bead Show/To Bead True Blue, which is where most of the artist booths are. We definitely stocked up on Clay River Designs. My mom, Rhonda, pretty much handled that part. She has a good eye for those kind of pendants. My aunt, Hanna and I headed over and picked out a generous selection of C-Koop Beads, which are a little more my style. Sara, who is the artist of C-Koop makes fabulous enameled pieces over copper. She is one of The Bead Place's favorite artists of all time. We're really excited about the flower components that she has started to make, especially because... WE ARE GOING TO DO A RIVETING MAKE-AND-TAKE AT THE LIFETIME EVENT. :) Shhh, you didn't hear that from me. But seriously, we got some awesome new design stamps, the best tools to do riveting, and a metal punch, which will make pendant-making oh so easy. The booth that sold us all of the great metals things was run by Kuie (sp? pronounced "Q") and Andy. They're a married couple from Cincinnati, Ohio who are just adorable and easy to fall in love with. We had a great time with them, and hopefully this won't be the last time you'll read about them. Okay, on to other things. We watched a demonstration on resin-free glass image pendants. Apparently, working with resins can be very harmful to your lungs. Resins also contain tons of toxins. So, in order to avoid exposing our beloved customers to this, when they want to create custom image pendants, we decided to carry glass domes that we can teach you how to personalize (and water-proof). While my mother was off on her own, she picked up a bunch of cool czech glass, daggers, and beautiful seed beads. I think I also heard her say that she picked out some lucite flowers. Today we got a little bit less semi-precious than the other two days, but they were still some awesome finds. I was pleased to find a minerals booth who had some incredible pyritized ammonites. I couldn't help myself, so I picked one up to make a necklace with. I just have a thing for ammonites. I know it's weird, but I had never seen anything like it before and I thought it was simply breathtaking. Then, we were on to the strictly wholesale side of things. We had a great time at the Tierra-Cast section. I think they are about the only company who has an impeccable track record with us. We've never had a single complaint, broken piece, or any plating wear off. That's just cool. We met Christopher, who does all of their graphic designs and photography for their catalogs and flyers, which are stunning, by the way. He was fun! We got to put our own images into their incredible frame charms, and they put a resin dome over them for us. They also let us pick out some awesome charms to put on free ball chains. It was so fun. I love free stuff, especially when it's beautiful. We saw a fiber artist who makes pendants in millefiore style, only with cloth, ropes, fibers, and string. Oh, I can't even describe it. You'll just have to wait and see them when we get back. Well, I think I'm gonna head back to the room from the computer lab here at the hotel. We have some things to go through tonight, and I think we want to hit the sack early so we can be there to open the shows tomorrow morning!

The end of the first full day.

We started off the day with a fabulous breakfast at our hotel. I don't think I've ever had better. ...And we get to enjoy it again tomorrow. After breakfast, Hanna and I walked around to the back of the hotel and snapped a few pictures of the giant mountains behind the building. We headed to the JOGS building for round 2 and loaded up with more semi-precious strands. Hanna and I left Rhonda to finish up selecting strands and we got some AWESOME agate pieces. We also found some beautiful semi-precious pandora style beads and we pretty much wiped them out. We started looking at some beautiful silverwork and ran into Rhonda in the same booth. We discovered some very pretty and unusual pendants that I'm sure will find good homes as soon as they get to the shop. We got some beautiful amber and found some pretty cool Bali silver. We also made two new friends today. Their names are Jorgé and Rosa. We really hit it off, so much that they decided to come back to Fairview with us. We know you'll like them too. They're from Guatemala. We purchased some beautiful beadwork from their booth at the show. The necklaces, bracelets, and keychains are made by families there who are paid fair wages, get to create in favorable working conditions or even from home, and can take advantage of fair trade opportunities for their whole households. They can even choose their own hours. Lucky! Okay, so after the show, we went to a restaurant named LaRosa's where many celebrities have eaten such as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Waylon Jennings, Steve Martin, Mr. Universe, and some Miami sports team that I can't remember. The restaurant had really good rice. We're at our hotel now. I think I'm going to get off of here and let my aunt check her facebook. I can't wait for breakfast in the morning!

First night in Tucson.

Whew. It's only about 9:30 here, and were going to bed. Today was extremely exhuasting. We got a lot of beautiful semi-precious strands that I'm really excited about. We got some beautiful high quality ruby in zoisite. We ate at a really snazzy Mexican restaurant tonight called El Charro Cafe. Boy, it was good. I had a queso crisp, which was basically like a Mexican version of a pizza. It was a wheat tortilla covered in four different kinds of cheeses, tomato, green chilles, sweet corn, and avacado. Tasty tasty. Well, I've been taking lots of pictures of the scenery that I will upload when I get home. I wish I could take pictures of the gem shows, but they don't allow photography inside. Everyone will still get to see all of the best stuff when we get back!

We leave tomorrow!

The fortune from my Jones soda from the shop today said, "You are headed for a land of sunshine and fun," which couldn't be more true. We, meaning Hanna, Rhonda, and myself (Abbi), are leaving for Tucson, Arizona tomorrow morning for our annual buying trip. The whole city is practically taken over by bead vendors from all over the world for a few weeks, so it's gonna be heaven for us. Oh, and it's about thirty degrees warmer there, too. :)

We'll try to keep you updated on some of the new stuff in the bead world that we're getting to see for the first time!

Wish us safe travels and a fun time!

Workin' Late.

Sometimes when I can't sleep, I work on the facebook page. I got a lot of new pictures of yarn uploaded.

Tonight (well, last night, really) was a really fun night for classes. I taught a pretty small Basic Bead Stringing Class. I only had two students signed up, which is odd, but small classes are always fun because you get to know the students a little more. My students are actually coming back next week to take my Russian Spiral class, which is another fun one. It's really easy but looks like it's complicated. Ruth taught Beginning Wire Sculpting tonight to some ladies who made some lovely pendants.

So new in the store, we have some lovely fair trade heart pendants made by women in South Africa. Be sure to ask about them next time you're in!

First Post!

Hey, guys. It's Abbi from The Bead Place here. So we're gonna try this whole blog thing. Our hope is to keep everyone updated as we try to grow this fun business, and try to let everyone in on a little bit of the personal side.


I just finished uploading some pictures of a sampling of the beads and yarn that we carry to our facebook page. It took a lot longer than I expected, but that's okay. I'm happy with the finished results so far. I'm especially happy with the way the Lumpy Bumpy yarn looks in our album. It's so colorful and pretty. It's so fun to work with, too!
Check it out!

Well, I'm due into the store at 3:00pm, so I should probably be getting ready. I'll see you there!

Thanks for reading!
Abbi