‘Tis the Season

I love being one of Santa’s helpers!

Here at Beads in a Box we are definitely feeling the Christmas spirit. One of our newest creations is called Matchables. We are creating a generic necklace with an array of different colors and stones. If our customers purchase one of these treasures, they can choose a magnetic pendant for ½ price. This is an amazing set. Since the pendant is magnetic, our customers can interchange them and create a whole new look. Today, I just put five sets of Matchables in the mail.  They are going to Blair, NE.  Becky found us at River City Rodeo in Omaha this fall and fell in love with this concept. She’s been very patient with me as I’ve created five different looks for her to give for Christmas gifts. 

I love it when a customer realizes how our mission is working with volunteers creating in their spare time. Besides running a business, working our regular jobs, and having families, we seem to find time to work in the extra creations.  These Matchable creations have been on my living room floor for quite some time waiting to get finished.  It finally happened and I’m excited for the recipients. 

Are you looking for just the right necklace to go with that outfit?  Haven’t found the perfect look yet? Well, come in and see us! We can create the look you are going for with our Matchables! Please call for an appointment at 308-440-0153 and we’d be happy to oblige.

Merry Christmas to you and I hope you are enjoying assisting Santa and Jesus in creating Christmas miracles.
Tootles for now,
                                Kyla

Winding Down?

I think not!   We are gearing up for more exciting things in 2011. 

In early February we are taking our annual trip to Tucson, Arizona for the international Gem and Mineral Show.  It is an amazing event that takes all of Tucson over for a week plus, and while it's necessary to our business, we love to go.  This is one of the times in the year when our creative juices overflow. 

     Our next big new venture for 2011 will be our Christmas in July - in conjunction with a craft show, we plan to have a bead show also.  We will have strands of beads available for purchase and the things necessary to make small projects (a necklace or bracelet).  Also, our goal is to have classes that are designed to help people learn the basics of jewelry construction and design.  You talk about exciting!  What an amazing way to share our mission and our love of creating at the same time.

What a nice way to end our show season - looking forward to a new, exciting venture in the new year.  Stay tuned - we'll keep you informed of our progress.

Janice

Keep On Keepin' On

It's' me, Kyla. Been a long while since I blogged. I just finally read Karen's last blog. I'm humbled. She's got it right, this is about all our bodies can handle and then we get up and do it again. We really couldn't do this if we weren't driven by our mission. If we didn't believe in what we were doing, why in the world would we be doing this?  I'm writing from our hotel room in North Platte after a mediocre day of sales at the Cowboy Christmas. I was able to walk around and make a lot of contacts for our own craft show next weekend in Kearney called the Holiday Splendor Craft Show and Mid's Product Premiere Tradeshow. This is the first time we've done an out-of-town show the weekend before our own show. Don't know if it was a smart decision or not. Last night Karen, Linda, and I put in a hard night of coughing. I pray with God's help and a whole lot of drive, that I'll be clicking on all cylinders next weekend. Two days on concrete takes it out of you.

Thank God all this isn't up to one person. I'm blessed to have so many stars on my team. While we are on the road, Janice is keeping the office fires burning answering the craft show phone, working on our websites and facebook accounts, taking orders for Beads in a Box and of course, always finding something that needs fixed or organized. I have no worries when she's there. It will be taken care of. Thanks Janice!

We have several who volunteer regularly for us. Putting in the most hours lately is Linda. She's up and at it every morning making a difference in the bead room. I don't need to watch over her and tell her step by step what needs done. She can see it! Thank God. There is enough work here to keep four more Lindas going. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by it all, she keeps her head down and keeps on trucking! Thanks Linda for your great sense of humor when we are traveling. You are such a joy to have along.

Mary is gearing up to be in charge of our "sales table" at our craft show next weekend. She comes out after work on Friday to set up "her" table the way she wants it. If you watch her, she won't leave her table all day with the goal to sell as much as she can. She does it with such a quiet spirit and when you thank her, she gets teary-eyed. She so believes in what we are trying to do that she marvels in our progress.

The weather has been so beautiful this fall. On the downside of that is it's been so dry. The air needs cleaned out causing so many to have colds and the such. We've been passing one around in the office. It is my prayer that we'll all have enough energy to make it thru the next several weeks. The weekend after our craft show, Karen, Linda and I travel to Lincoln for a three day show for the Nebraska Music Educators Assoc. Conference. We also have the Governor's conference in Kearney while we're gone in which our volunteers will cover.  During the first week in December we have three shows.

The show I'm really looking forward to is the Kearney Women's Club Christmas Open House on December 3rd from 3:00-7:00. We have a huge invitation list and I can't wait to meet some of these ladies. The public is welcome and what a great opportunity to see this wonderful house.  This is a fundraiser for them to use towards renovations.

Well, its official. Karen and Linda's wish came true....I lost my voice.  HA! HA!  Good thing I can still type!!! Good night all. Tootles for now, Kyla

Still Growing, Planning, Believing

It has been awhile since I've blogged.  Life gets in the way of the things we care deeply about and want to ensure continues to move down the path we've established.  This year has been a difficult one for many of those who care about and expend energy keeping our dream alive.  The dream of creating a jewelry business that includes one-of-a-kind heirloom quality pieces and carefully selected fashion jewelry.  We continue to move towards our dream as it evolves and changes to meet today's realities. 

We are blessed with a full-time very special volunteer, Linda.  She comes to work everyday to organize, mark in new inventory, and attend sales events.  Linda helps wherever she can to help us continue our dream/vision.  Volunteers make the difference and we plan to establish an advisory team to help move our business forward.  We will bring together a few women to share our vision/dream and ask for their ideas and suggestions to expand and grow our business.  Our ultimate goal is to support staff for our business and donate profits to Community  Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska.

Linda was part of our small group as we discussed how to open the market for hand-designed and hand-crafted jewelry.  Our vision is to become part of a large wholesale market selling to boutiques, museums, and gift stores.  This would allow us to hire women working more than one job to support their families.  They could create the jewelry at home to fill our orders.  This would allow them to be at home in the evenings with their families.  This is the dream that keeps us moving forward when our bodies are worn and tired after standing for long hours sharing our story and selling our jewelry.  When at the end of the day long event we drive through a fast food joint; take our meal to the hotel, get on our pj's and eat sitting on our beds.  Then we crawl into bed, shut off the light, sleep fast before we get up and start all over again.  We do this because we believe in our dream.  It is above and beyond our daily lives of work, family, and friends.   

We are blessed to have these few women who believe and care about our dream.  More later, Karen

A Milestone -- A wonderful segment on our local Channel 13 - NTV

We so enjoyed the experience of Zach Richie - he was thoughtful in his questions and really cared about our mission -- 
watch the segment and actually see just some of what we do.



Keep tuned ! !
               Janice

Bill - -

It’s with a heavy heart that I tell you we lost a Beads in a Box warrior yesterday.  Bill Lueck, Karen’s husband of almost 35 years, lost his battle with leukemia on August 8th.  He’d been fighting this ugly disease for 17 months.  Ever since the birth of Beads in a Box in August of 2004, Bill has been a great supporter of what we were trying to accomplish with this program. Matter of fact, we incorporated several of his ideas. I have memories of traveling in Tucson, Arizona, with Bill and Karen, my first time to experience the world’s largest bead and gem show.  Bill and I liked a lot of the same colors of stones, Purple Crazy Lace to be precise.  Just the gesture of spending time with Karen and I while we shopped for the business told me that he was very supportive of what we were doing.  He took pride in being our pack horse, carrying all our treasures.

When Karen would bring her creations to the office, she’d always let me know if Bill liked them or not.  Sometimes she would incorporate his views and sometimes not.  I was always amazed that he’d have an opinion.  Most husbands tell us what we want to hear -  “It’s OK.”

In my beginning beading adventures, I made at least four dozen bracelets wrong.  When I found out that I finished them wrong, I was more than willing to take them all apart and redo them.  Bill was adamant that I didn’t do that.  Karen ordered a soldering iron and Bill soldered each and every one of those bracelets.

I was one of the few people Bill enjoyed having in his home and I frequented there quite a bit. Many times were to sit at Karen’s dining room table to work on inventory.  Other times were to spend the night on craft show nights instead of traveling home.  Whatever the reason I was there, I’d always greet Bill with a, “Honey, I’m home.”  He’d always respond with, “How’s Spike.” He nicknamed me Spike because of my spiky hair.  He let me know that he didn’t care for it and when I grew it out, he let me know he really liked it.

Karen and I travel on our beading adventures a lot.  Each night she’d check in with Bill and give him the low-down on how our sales were going.  He always showed an interest and for that I’m very grateful.

It was a blessing that Bill traveled to Heaven peacefully.  Karen now begins another new chapter of her life.  It will be filled with all kinds of mixed emotions.  Knowing her like I do, Karen will find respite in creating with her polymer clay during her healing time.  I can confidently say that Bill will be looking down on her smiling as she creates something beautiful.  It’s his turn to tell her, “Honey, I’m home.”

Kyla Martin

KEEPIN' IT FRESH

"Blog away!"  Janice tells me as we sit here together at the Holiday Inn today for the NE Council of School Administrators Conference. There are over 1,000 participants and hopefully we'll try jewelry on all of them!!   Doesn't hurt to think positively!!

Leeann Clouse

Our agency is recovering from the loss
of a staff member and friend,
Leeann Clouse.
That makes each step moving forward that much
harder but we have to remember to
keep on keepin' on.

  

With that in mind, keeping our business fresh all of the time is a continuous challenge. Stay away from the 'same ole, same ole.'   What can we do to change it up?

Currently Janice is working on some great additions to our line.  We are going to call them the "Matchables."  We sell magnetic pendants with matching earrings.  Normally, I use them as part of a creation and will continue to do that. Our different idea this time is to create generic necklaces to display next to the pendants and have our customers match them up.  While she's cranking them out, I'm working on the marketing end creating the display cards and researching the stone properties.  We are a great team together!!

Also Janice has inspired our new line of Beaded Hair Bling. She's been creating hair barrettes and combs. Janice taught our friend and volunteer, Linda, to make some, too. Karen was inspired to create some with polymer clay.  She created all different colors of layered hands which are totally darling.  They make me think of Head Start teachers right away!

Of course, I'd be amiss if I didn't tell you about our new line of pet jewelry. Karen has been busy creating precious bling to clip onto pet collars.  Our business manager, Ed, has been after us to do this for six years.  Bling for Pets will be making its grand debut soon.

I'd be the 'odd ball out' if I didn't create something to go with the beaded bling theme so this weekend I threw together some wonderful key chains or purse bling.  These were inspired by the use of my 'chunky box.' Whenever BIAB gets new stones, I'll throw a few of them in this box to create with.  Do you have a collection of specialty beads that inspires you to create differently?  We have a large order of purses coming in to get ready for our national conference in Boston for Community Action.  I used those colors to draw from in the color palette . All they need to be finished is the clamp end.

Keep on keepin' on sometimes is a challenge everyday but we have to keep lookin' up.

Tootles for now,
Kyla

Making things easier!?!?

Aren't growing pains wonderful?  
In addition to expanding our physical space and attending new venues - we are altering our sites to make it easier to reach us, easier to shop and to better explain what drives us to do what we do.

Yes, we LOVE jewelry!    But behind it all is our is our goal to fight poverty.
Join us - visit our sites and tell us what you think.  Remember us when you have that special occasion or holiday coming up.

Let us know - did we make it easy to see our stunning jewelry & purses?  Did you get around our sites and find things you like?  If not, what would you like to see?  We love to stay current and would love to hear from you.

www.BeadsinaBox.com for our Hand Designed line of jewelry

www.SFEJewelry.com for our Hand Selected line of jewelry

www.mnca.net to visit our organizations site

See you soon!       Janice

Exhausted - But Happy!

In keeping with "No Time To Blog", we have just been through a busy but fulfilling time - we were very happy to participate June 5th in the event Give Cancer The Boot.  This event raises money for cancer research and funds raised stay in Nebraska - most goes to the Eppley Cancer Center in Omaha, but a nice percentage will go to the many cancer centers across our state.  Kyla, her daughter Sadie and her husband Tim, Julie, myself and my husband Marvin all helped that day to make our part of this effort a success.
This last week we participated in the Home and Ranch show here in Kearney.  It was a well planned and executed event and we met many wonderful people.
We also attended the NCE Conference held at the Holiday Inn here in Kearney.  We made a lot of women very happy with our wonderful jewelry :-)  They were a great group of people and I know many of them we interested in our mission to raise funds for our many programs here at Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska.
We have a brief lull - but then many more events planned.
Keep checking our web site for new items and our blog for more updates.

See you soon!    Janice

Remembering Those Who Serve & Other Stuff

Today is Memorial Day!  We have two Navy men in the household; one who served 30+ years including Vietnam and Desert Storm.  Also, my husband who served in the the 60's on a submarine called the SSA 420 Triante.  It brings to mind all those who served our Country and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  Plus, those men and women serving today around the World.  We enjoy our freedom because of them.  As Americans we need to remember and honor these men and women who leave their families and friends to protect our way of life.  Please say a prayer for them today and everyday.  

We have been busy attending several events to showcase our jewelry and now we have added purses.  Our purses were a big hit at the Region VII Head Start conference in Kansas City.  As a woman who carries one purse until it looks old and tired I learned that many women LOVE purses.  It is interesting to see what the ladies pick out and why.  Purses like jewelry feed our spirit and make us feel great!  Finding just the right one to go with a specific outfit is like a treasure hunt; it is something to enjoy and celebrate when you have it on your shoulder. 


Kyla and Janice are busy handling the "Cattleman's Ball General Store."  They have their vendors and are finishing the logistics for the huge event June 5th.  The Ball had 4,000 tickets to sell and they are all gone!  It will be a fun-filled day with many folks enjoying all the activities.  We are trying to get several new sets done for this event. 
More later, Karen

TOO BUSY TO BLOG

Yes, I'm at fault; it's been crazy busy here with the development programs. Karen wrote a nice blog about our Signs of Spring Craft Show. We made it through without incident. That's great. I usually spend the afternoon doing walk-arounds checking on the vendors. This time the Beads in a Box booth was just hopping and I couldn't get away. It looked like the stock market at times. The ladies just loved our rings. Pictured is my youngest, Sage, going over-the-top with the flower rings. Another customer just had to have the large cross rings because that's what the attendees wore at the Taylor Swift concert. The tear down went smoothly with help from the gentlemen at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center (YRTC). They enjoy doing it and love the pizza we give them even more!

OMAHA HEALTH & WELLNESS EXPO

I don't know if we are any healthier but we survived it! We just spent the weekend at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. It's huge! I'm glad I don't live in a big city. If it were up to me, I wouldn't end up going anywhere because parking is always an issue. And, this girl gets really confused on one-way streets! This show had 300 vendors and we were the only act in town like ours. We had retail therapy to offer.  Our jewelry and purses went well.  The ladies particularly enjoyed our rings. The bigger the better and they flew off the tables. Our booth neighbor didn't show up so we received permission to expand. We took up three spaces. It's hard to tell from this picture but we had quite the display.  Julie Weir helped Karen and I out both days. She was such a joy. We love people watching and we saw some interesting sites!! This show even had a mystic fair which is something I'd never experienced. We saw everything from cookware to Watkins, from Egyptian Cotton sheet sets to incense, from energy bars to weightloss products but the tarot cards really intrigued me. Some people left those booths crying so I wasn't willing to take the chance. We loaded up quickly and appreciated the show providing help. It decreased our tear down and load up time immensely. 

We have a couple of weeks before we need to prepare for another show. We are missing Janice, that's for sure. She had her knee replaced on April 19th and will be out of the office for a while. Janice: If you are reading this, hurry and get well. We need you!!!!

Tootles for now, Kyla

The Cattlemen's Ball

Hi to Everyone!

We are now looking forward to The Cattlemen's Ball in June.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, this is an amazing event held to raise money to fight cancer.  Those who attend will be entertained by airboat rides, golf, a silent auction, a General Store and Randy Travis!! 

We invite you to come and enjoy all these delights, or get involved and volunteer to help.

Proceeds stay right here in Nebraska and go to the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center and other  local health institutions.  Beads in a Box & Something for Everyone will be in the General Store with all of our lovely things. Visit us!

For more information go to http://www.cattlemensball.com/index.php

See you soon!  Janice

A Busy April for SFE and Beads in a Box

New beaded jewelry from Guatemala.

This weekend is our "Signs of Spring" Craft Show at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds (Kearney, NE) and it is more than a craft show. We will have special items including hand-designed jewelry, purses including faith, western and fashion. There are booths with delicious food items, Mexican ironworks, handcrafted candles, and much more. If you are in the area stop by and spend time checking out our vendors.

Kyla and her family take on the major work load for the "Signs of Spring" show. Ryan spends the night providing security for the booths already set up and letting in vendors who arrive in the middle of the night to set up their booths. Sydney painted the new craft show signs, that we locate announcing the show and date. Sadie, Sydney, and Sage help their mom run the show. Tim, Kyla's guy, is there to help when we need him. We are blessed having the whole Martin family a part of our development endeavors.

After the clean-up Saturday night we will have a few hours to rest and recuperate than we unpack from the show and repack for the Nebraska Realtor Annual Conference (over 500 attendees) held in Omaha. It is a three day event beginning early Monday and ending late Wednesday. We will drive in Sunday afternoon and back home Thursday morning. Kyla, Misti, and I will handle our jewelry booth for this conference. While I was thinking about the long hours I realized that our team has an age span of 38 years. Misti being the youngest, Kyla in the middle, and myself being the most seasoned of the trio. *grin* This will be the first large conference for Misti; we know she will bring a new and unique style to meeting and greeting potential customers. Her energy and enthusiasm is a welcomed addition to our team. Conferences are incredible opportunities to tell our story and sell our handcrafted and hand chosen jewelry. I will take photos to share so you can see what it takes to set up our jewelry booth within the space/booth size we can afford to purchase. Many events provide a non-profit rate or make special accommodations because of our mission of ending poverty one bead at a time!

More later~have a creative day, Karen

Growing!

We are growing! The space for our jewelry room has just more than doubled and we are very excited.

Not only do we have room to spread out our current pieces, we created an area to display our new line, the UP Line (Untapped Potential). Yet another stride down the path toward one of our original goals, to help employ lower income women.

Visit our sites and our blog to watch us grow -- join in and help fight poverty!

Do you have a conference or event we could be a vendor at? Let us know - we'll share our message and our beautiful jewelry with you.

If you are near the Kearney area, visit us April 10th at the Signs of Spring Craft Show. Come to the Buffalo County Fairgrounds main exhibit hall from 9 til 4. There will be hand-crafted items, informational booths and lots of yummy food - all for no admission fee.

see you soon!

Janice

Making Progress & Experiencing Growing Pains

Every planner I've owned for the last decade shows April as a blooming month - overflowing with activities. This year is no exception. Our Signs of Spring Craft Show is on April 10th. Last summer I asked a college art student to create these signs for me as a summer job. When it wasn't accomplished by fall, I "assumed" that it wasn't going to happen. My son, Ryan, has quite the saying about "assuming" in which I won't repeat. In the meantime I asked my daughter, Sydney, to design and paint these signs. She's shown here putting on the finishing touches. Last week I received a phone call from that college student. Unbeknownst to me, she was home on spring break painting away. Now I have ample signage. Sadie, my oldest, reminded me that my communication skills haven't been up to par lately. People can't read my mind? Darn it anyway!

Experiencing growing pains with my kids, I know that they can be very painful. Beads in a Box is experiencing growing pains of the good kind. It's a sure sign of springtime as Mid is spring cleaning. We are giving promotions, moving offices and rearranging everything. You guessed it; the Beads in a Box office is expanding to double the size. Besides being our storeroom, asking Janice to make it her office to boot was walking a fine line of pure craziness. Good thing she can work in tight spaces. She only had room to make it to her chair and turn her chair around. Karen came up with some awesome office designing ideas and pictured here are our heroes, Ryan and Lonnie constructing our pegboard in the new office. We now will have double the hanging space. My favorite part of spring cleaning is the organizing. It doesn't get any better for me when things are organized, fresh and clean. We had a bead brigade transporting our pegs of necklaces to the new office. Since Karen is extremely tall (compared to the rest of us), her help dismantling the top pegs was essential. Misti got the fun job of reinstalling all the loaded pegs and organizing them. Look how much fun she's having. Do you like organizing things? What are your tips for creating less chaos in your work space? I'd love to hear from you. I'm a container person and have trouble throwing cute containers away. I love finding creative new ways to use them for storage. Do you have any containers that you just can't part with? Tell me about them and ways you have found to re-use them.

Before we fill our new room up with all our display items, we are having our first wholesale show for local businesses on Wednesday, March 31. We have some great new spring designs and will be giving a glimpse of the Untapped Potential line. I've been creating UP line designs to have Misti reproduce and Janice has been taking pictures of them. Janice is also working on our new logo and the third new website to be called http://www.theuntappedpotential.com/. I'm excited to see it born.

Time to hit the bricks as the next week is going to be pretty hectic!

Tootles for now, Kyla

New Inventory

One of the awesome things I do is select our Something For Everyone (www.sfejewelry.com). We have several vendors that we work with to find something that speaks to our customers. Last week, Kyla and I reviewed several orders and finally clicked purchase. This week the boxes began arriving. While this is exciting to open, see, and touch our new inventory; it brings a lot of work as we check in, tag, price, and store our new items. Our new helper, Misty, was busy this week working on the new inventory. She prefers to check in inventory when someone else helps too.

Over the last couple of years we have had many requests for purses; the interest was purses with crosses and western motifs. Well, we took that major step and now have a variety of awesome purses in our inventory. The purses will be available at the Spring Craft Show, April 10th, at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds. We also have them at the Cattleman's Ball, June 5th.

We planned an event that will showcase SFE, Beads in a Box, and Untapped Potential (UP Line) jewelry. We invited local businesses that sell jewelry to come and view the three lines of jewelry and hopefully become a vendor for us.

We continue to expand our selling and marketing horizons. Our vision is to have a business that supports mothers that work several jobs and by paying a living wage they will be able to work one job and be home with their children in the evenings. Our Untapped Potential Line (UP Line) will allow women to create in the evenings after their children are in bed. Kyla is creating jewelry for the UP Line that she will teach Misty to make. When we have orders for the UP Line; they will work with other women to create the jewelry to fill our orders. It is an exciting time for us and we hope that you will check out our websites. Remember to visit www.beadsinabox.,com and www.sfejewelry.com when you need a special gift. Have a creative weekend, Karen

More on Polymer Clay Creations

This weekend I decided to create another Mokume Gane cane. I decided to start with purple, sea green, turquoise, pearl, and silver. Knowing that I wanted to blend the colors with pearl so my mokume gane slices would shimmer. I began running the polymer clay through the pasta machine. Thank goodness I have a motor for it as it takes many times through the pasta machine to blend and align the mica particles. Finally I was ready to stack the colors and add silver leaf. I impressed several items into the clay to shift the colors and create interesting patterns.

This photo shows the patterns created using adding machine tape holder, chair coaster, and phillips head screwdriver. I will be able to make several items using this cane.

Using a full block of clay I am able to impress different items to change the patterns. These photos show my other cane and the pendant,beads, and pin made using it.


I will share photos when I create jewelry with the pendant and beads. The square is a pin and will have matching earrings.






Have a create day, until later, Karen

Taste of Home Cooking Expo

What an awesome day! Beads in a Box set up at the Taste of Home Cooking Expo in Kearney out at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds. It was the first show for our new employee to attend. Meet Misti Moreau. She’s pictured her in the middle helping Mary Kampfe at the show. Janice is on the left. Misti’s been on board a week or so now and we are excited to have her on the BIAB team. She’s going to assist us in creating the new wholesale line I’ve been alluding to earlier called Untapped Potential. Ladies were attracted to springtime colors and it was exciting to see them out and about after a tough winter. To top it off, our booth was next to SunMart so we enjoyed tasting BBQ beef, chicken salad and strawberry shortcake. The only thing better was having Mary Aupperle join the selling team at 5:30. Mary is our number one BIAB cheerleader! She’s believed in our mission from day one and gets choked up every time we take a stroll down memory lane. Can you believe we’ve been in business for 5 ½ years? It always surprises me to find out that people live in our hometown and haven’t heard of us. We are Kearney’s best kept secret but we are moving on up!



Tootles for now, Kyla

LET’S TALK SOCIAL NETWORKING

A year ago it was just a term to me written on notes from my GROW Nebraska meeting. It was top on the TO DO LIST of things we needed to get done. But how? Karen and I didn’t have any more time to spare but knew it was an avenue that we needed to go down. This last fall we were blessed to hire Janice Cash. A Doctor of Veterinary Medicine by day and an avid beader by night. Janice owns her own side businesses called Of This Earth Jewelry and Kelpie Graphics & Design. Karen and I have traveled and shopped with Janice in Tucson, AZ, at the world’s largest bead and gem show. We love her style and her creative abilities. We were blessed when she agreed to become a part of our team. Lucky for us, she’s also talented on the computer. We are learning this term “SOCIAL NETWORKING” together. Janice has me blogging now. I never even knew what the term meant until I watched the movie, Julie and Julia.

Now I’m blogging about the jewelry business! Janice has us going crazy on Facebook, My Space and our websites look wonderful. The pictures of these ladies shopping around our tables at shows is my mental picture of social networking on the web. It’s quite a buzz!

Tootles for now, Kyla

The gift that keeps on giving

Sorry it's been a while since I've blogged. It's a crazy madhouse as usual. I delivered some special jewelry to a customer today and had a nice visit with her. She shared a special story with me not realizing that I was a part of it until she finished. Just before Christmas, a BIAB customer, Janie, asked me to create something for her daughter, Sophie, using some jewelry that originally belonged to Grandmother Sophie. (Follow me here :-> ) Janie has a lot of siblings, like 8 or so - she contacted them all requesting a special memory they had of their Grandmother Sophie. Janie compiled all these little memories after taking a walk down memory lane herself, and included them with the jewelry that I had created for her. This now became Janie's daughter, Sophie's, Christmas present which is a memorial to Grandmother Sophie. What makes this incredibly special is that Sophie was named after Grandmother Sophie but who she never had the opportunity to meet. But now with this special jewelry and time capsule of memories from her aunts and uncles, Sophie will always have a piece of Grandmother Sophie.

This is an incredibly special way to preserve special jewelry handed down from generation to generation.

Do you have some special jewelry at home taking up residency in your jewelry box, maybe gathering dust? Why not ask the Beads in a Box designers to create several pieces from the original to share with daughters, grandaughters, etc.? We'd be happy to do it.

Seize the moment! What a special momento to share with the women in your family. This is a great idea when there are multiple females in a family.

Tootles for now, Kyla

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR

Quite honestly, I don’t think I could accomplish what I do without the help from my wonderful family. I hired a college girl last summer from the art department to paint six plywood signs for our spring craft show (The Signs of Spring Craft Show April 10th at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds.) Yes, that’s another fun thing I do. Here it is almost time to put the advertising signs up and she never came through. Now, it’s up to the Martin clan to make it happen, captain. I sweet talked all of them. Tim lined up heat & saw horses and arranged a place to work out in our old trailer house we use for storage. There is no electricity out there either so everything has to happen in the daylight. Saturday morning my daughter, Sydney, Tim and I worked to get one coat of primer on six boards. We went in for warm soup, gave them time to dry and headed out for the back coat. After church, Syd and I picked out paint colors and headed for home. In the afternoon, Tim, Sydney and Sage went out to give each board a fresh coat of yellow so I could stay inside and work on the Untapped Potential designs. Now the fun begins. I’ve printed off letters on my computer, laminated them and cut them out. We’ll start measuring out the signs and tracing the stencils. In between Singing Around Nebraska and a junior high basketball tournament this weekend, maybe we’ll be able to get started. They help because they love me; they are learning skills to help them in their adult lives and all in all they are helping people and changing lives!

Tootles for now,

Kyla

VALENTINE’S DAY PAID OFF

I was whining to my husband about not getting extravagant gifts for Valentine’s Day. His response is that he doesn’t need to buy my love with things. DANG! I’d sure like it if he tried once in a while. Don’t get me wrong. No hubby bashing here. He’s the best! After getting back from Tucson with all our treasures, I’ve been sorting and organizing. My eyes just kept getting bigger with the number of containers I’m filling. I’m perplexed with what I’m going to do with this all to keep it organized. Contrary to what my office looks like on any given day, I do like things organized and think better when it is. So I proposed an idea to my sweetheart, my son and his roommates. I’d cook enough barbecued ribs and funeral potatoes for all of them if they’d come to my craft room and hang shelves for me. I got the ribs cooking slowly in the morning and Tim took time out of his day to head to the hardware store to pick out the best deal with me. Okay, the ribs are cooked, there’s 5lbs of funeral potatoes in the oven, dessert is made and no boys! What the heck? While we were forever waiting for the two car loads of college boys (8 in all) to show up, Tim and I had the shelving figured out and mostly done. After they all ate, they weren’t any good for anything physical anyway so it was great the Tim got it done for me. When he was done, he asked me if this was better than roses and chocolate. I’d have to say, “Heck Yes!” Happy Valentine’s Day to me! I got to spend time with my family, their friends, and organized my craft room! Does it get any better than that? (Maybe a little chocolate could make it even sweeter!) Do you ever bribe your family with food? When they are starving college kids, it works for me. Love it when they all come out. I’m blessed that my children are comfortable enough to want to bring their friends home. Do you have a place to craft? Where is it and is it your haven? Let me know!

Tootles for now,

Kyla

A New Line ~ New Possibilities

We have began to develop a new line called "Untapped Potential" or "UPLine" that will allow us to hire two people to help create a new line based on the healing properties of stones. Kyla has taken the lead on developing our new endeavor. She is in the process of designing jewelry that our new team members will recreate in several different stones based on their healing or spiritual lore.

We will offer our new line on our Beads in a Box website and have it available at the events we showcase our jewelry. We are very excited about our new line.

>>>> Have a creative day - Hugs, Karen

Rambling Thoughts

When you begin a new venture and map out the path to arrive at your destination what you discover is so many ways and directions that you can take. As with all things; as you move down the path towards your vision you have many opportunities and bumps along the way. I believe that the journey is what one needs to embrace and enjoy; one never knows what is around the bend and how that will shape your next steps. It is what makes life so amazing. We are loving the journey and plan to improve what we do and how we react as we make our away along the path! Come join us; be a part of our journey.

One thing we have discovered and haven't found a solution for is there isn't enough time to make everything happen. Life and work can change what you hope to accomplish in any given hour; so we do what we can; we continue to expect more of ourselves, and we celebrate the small steps we take. Kyla and I have learned that we have more ideas, dreams, and hopes than the two of us can make happen. So, what to do; find someone who shares your dreams and wants to be a part of making a difference. We found a partner, team member, believer in Janice. She brings an array of talent and skills that have moved us forward in our desire to have web presence. She understands the pull of working with stones and creating beautiful one-of-a-kind heirloom quality pieces of jewelry. She speaks the language, walks the walk, and is a valued member of the team/family.

Check out both our website www.beadsinabox.com and www.sfejewelry.com we will have new pieces to showcase from our trip to Tucson. We hope as you read and get to know us you will send messages with ideas, suggestions, and sources we can use as we journey along our path. I know that I will have more rambling thoughts as we continue along our path to create a lasting legacy that will help provide discretionary dollars to support our programs and services.

Have a creative day, Hugs, Karen

More on Tucson Market Trip

Kyla and I had an amazing time checking what is new in stones, how they have changed the cuts of stones, and how it will look with silver, gold or copper beads. It is an interesting process to find a stone with a unique shape/cut and pair it with metal beads/spacers. The creative process kicks in and our ideas for creating a unique one-of-a-kind piece for Beads in a Box is born. Then to find a vendor who has a variety of stone bracelets in a new and difference cut called fingernail and we were "off to the races". We picked bracelets made of rose quartz, turquoise, onyx, picture jasper, moss agate, to name a few. These bracelets are heirloom quality and will make a fashion statement for decades. Love them! We will share a photo or two.

The trip allows time to discuss what we are doing; what we need to do; what can change; and where do we want to be this time next year. Our ideas and plans drive what we look for and purchase. Over the last couple of years we have developed a line called "Something For Everyone" or www.sfejewelry.com. We developed relationships with several vendors to purchase pre-made fashion jewelry. SFEJewelry expands our price points, provides more variety, and changes with fashion trends. Our Beads in a Box one-of-a-kind heirloom hand designed jewelry spans the years and trends. While we were in Tucson we kept in mind both lines. We looked for the new stones and discovered new vendors for SFE.

More later, have a creative day, hugs, Karen

Post Office Delivers!

After Kyla and I packed, carried, stood in line, and packed more ~ all ten flat rate will taped boxes arrived! One always wonder if they should add additional insurance, confirmation numbers, and anything else they suggest to ensure your packages arrive at their final destination. To me after we spend so much time selecting the "treasures" it was a small price to pay. Kyla checked in and unpacked 8 of the boxes; I did two of them. Kyla found the rolling containers to fill with the "new stuff" and sorted, labeled, and put away all ten boxes. Well, they were in my office when I returned from a special visit to see three of my grandchildren. Love my time with my son and his family! I decided the rolling containers needed to be behind my door. Well, the weight of ten flat rate postal boxes did not want to roll anywhere. Kyla came in to help move them and the wheels refused to roll; so we had to push, shove, and coach them about six feet. We lost a wheel and decided to take off the rest. I now have 8 wheels inside my beautiful lead crystal candy box! Janice asked if I had lumps of coal in it. *smile*

More later ~ have a creative day, hugs, Karen

Have a creative day, Hugs, Karen

Playing Catch Up

Karen and I spent our last working day in Tucson on Saturday shipping out the rest of our purchases. I am officially now a veteran at packing boxes out of the trunk of a car. (Notice my tan *smile*) (It was 70 degrees out!) It went fairly smooth. We prayed while we were in line with our boxes that we wouldn't get Mr. Grumpy behind the counter. If it was our turn and he was to serve us, we planned on letting someone go behind us. Mr. Grumpy would remind you of Fonzie from Happy Days. His hair was stuck back in the 70's and we are sure he hasn't cracked a smile since then either.

The rest of the day we hung out at the condo packing our suitcases, picking things us and creating. It was our goal to get some proto-types for the Untapped Potential line created. We struggled but made it happen. We watched I Love Lucy re-runs while we worked and I was laughing so hard that I could barely talk when my daughter called.

Karen and I had a date to go out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, one of my favorites in Tucson. They didn't let me down. I love their seafood enchiladas. We were entertained by a young college student doing balloon art and the dancing of the waiters. We shared a sinful dessert and headed back to work.

On Sunday morning the alarm was set for 4:00 a.m. I woke at 3:15 worried that I missed the alarm. It was a very, very early morning. We left the condo at 5:00. It took 30 minutes to get to the airport. We had to check both of us in and return the rental. So sorry to have to say goodbye to the coolest of cars, the Ford Mustang. We spent the rest of the day doing the airport hop. The hurry up and wait game. That's when it is so much fun watching people.

The closer we got to home, the colder it got. What a rude awakening to get off the plane in Lincoln with temperatures in the teens.

Monday wasn't just a typical back-to-work Monday for Karen and I. We put five Mondays into one. Ever have those days? I spent Tuesday and Wednesday organizing our boxes of treasures as they arrived from Tucson. Now, the fun begins. We need to sort, sort, sort. What goes to Karen's, what goes to Kyla's and what stays here. I took enough of the UP line inventory home to create the proto-types. Then we'll have our new staff create them here at the office.

Next week Karen, Janice and I will all be in the office together. It will be good to have us all together so we can start planning on the next steps to get the UP line up and running.

Tootles for now, Kyla

Friday in Tucson

Can't believe today is our last day scoping out bargains. Karen started early around 4:00 a.m. and she thinks I started around 7:00. That's a normal time to get up isn't it? We did a lot of organizing this morning and packed our treasures in postal boxes. It took an hour at the post office to get everything off.

We returned to the Kino Sports Complex by 11:30ish and started the insanity all over again. We quickly stopped in the first tent to grab a few things from vendors we visited on Thursday, grabbed a bar and water and started in the second tent. We were disappointed in the second tent. It didn't seem to have the vendors that it did last year. The two vendors we planned on patronizing were a disappointment.

Today our focus was to tie up loose ends and concentrate on the Untapped Potential stones. With the UP line, we've picked certain stones that we know their mystical properties. We plan on working with rose quartz, tiger eye, aventurine, onyx, lapis, sodalite, coral, and jade to name a few. These all have the mystical/healing properties that we want represented in the UP line. So on our adventure, we searched for the size, colors, and prices we needed to create this new wholesale business. We found some beautiful dyed coral, shell and glass pearls that will make gorgeous summer wear for the cash/carry sales.

We've had three things to focus on throughout this trip. We've been looking for new stones for the one-of-a-kind, heirloom pieces we create for the Beads in a Box line. Since the Something For Everyone line is a purchased line of fashion jewelry, we kept a close eye out for good deals on pre-made custom jewelry. We found some amazing gemstone and crystal bracelets within our price range. Then, of course, the third project, Untapped Potential, is the new wholesale line.

Our brains have been cluttered with plans, ideas and strategies to make the UP line fly. It might take several years to get it going and have a presence - we are ready to get started! We will be hiring our help as soon as possible. They will start by helping us organize the gemstones that we do have, price the new jewelry, and make the kits for the wholesale line. It is unbelievable how many steps there are to get to the selling point. All this inventory will arrive at the office at the beginning of the week. Karen will be in Lincoln and Janice will be out all week. I plan to organize it and hopefully get it arranged somewhere in the office to prepare for volunteers and new hired help. Our space is an issue so it always seems like we are working in clutter. I'm always working in mass chaos due to lack of space. The main thing to remember is our ending goal, stay focused so we can help people and change lives. . . and we will.

Tootles for now, Kyla

Thursday in Tucson

Neither of us could help ourselves, we were both up before the crack of dawn working with our treasures. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes. Our strands must be counted, taken off their fish line, bagged up and calculated so we know how much each piece costs. This is imperative for pricing our new wholesale line. Crazy or driven, we started this process again at 5 ish a.m.

Today after working at the condo about four hours we returned to the JOGS show. This is our favorite show. Unfortunately, it is the farthest away and takes quite a bit of driving time to get there. I'm mastering the layout of this large city so Karen shut off our navigating system which I've nicknamed "Margaret."

This is a rarity but Karen and I shopped for over two hours before we ever purchased anything and when we found the right thing bells went off for both of us. We found some spectacular stretch bracelets in our favorite gemstones in cuts that are going to WOW our customers.

At lunch time we shared a table with a very kind and interesting couple from Wyoming. Their take on this whole gemstone obsession was refreshing. We have come across people from every state and country you could imagine speaking many different languages.

I found our friend Vicki at New Century and was surprised to see that she moved her booth. She still had the same incredible chain that we get from her every year. I love it when they remember me from last year and give me a hug.

Tim, the lampwork man, was excited to see us again, too. We see him in Tucson and Denver regularly. We use his beautiful lampwork in many ways. I'm always on the look out for specialty beads like Halloween and Christmas. It is these beads that I put on quilt pins for seasonal and cancer awareness pins. Karen found some new findings in which we'll be able to create new earrings using our awareness ribbons. We can't wait to get them put together. I was tutoring the other lampwork customers on how to wash their beads before they use them and several people thought I was working there (Once a teacher, always a teacher!)

The clock struck 12 for these Cinderellas and back to the condo we went via the grocery store where we picked up some deli food. We spent the rest of the evening separating and cutting our treasures until we couldn't see anymore.

Tootles for now, Kyla

Day Three in Tucson

It was drizzling outside but not in our spirit as we trekked off for breakfast. We were at the show at straight up 10:00. The vendors were barely ready for us. We finished our shopping with Cherry Tree Beads and moved onto other vendors at the Double Tree Hotel. I found some wonderful base metal findings that will be perfect for our new wholesale line called Untapped Potential or the UP line as we refer to it. Our plan is to be able to hire 2-4 people part-time to create this wholesale line. This will get us closer to our original mission to be able to create a line that is repeatable so we need help. This will in turn give us a chance to hire those we are serving to give them a hand up not a hand out and steer them closer to self-sufficiency.

I cannot begin to explain the sense of AWE one feels when entering these tents full of table after table of wonderful gemstones, beads, findings, creations and so much more. It is total sensory overload. I hope to catch a picture for you. The fun is in the hunt as we say but I can tell you that it is not an easy process. To remember what you saw, where you saw it, how much it was and if you could ever find it again would require several full-time assistants following us taking extensive notes. So, we have to trust our gut and go with what feels right. It's like grocery shopping; you know when it's a good deal or when it's priced too high.

This is quite a process: searching, touching, asking what it is and how much it is, and then asking again because you can't understand their language. Most of these booths only have one attendant and there is usually quite a line up to check out. While they are checking out your purchase, they are also fielding lots of questions, too. Patience, patience. Yesterday, one gentleman just couldn't talk so I could understand him. He wasn't too patient with me but he didn't dampen my spirit because I found the most awesome garnet.
What is interesting to Karen and I is the naming of the stones. We always ask what a gemstone is from each vendor we buy from to report as accurately as we can to our customers. We figure that this is their specialty. What is amazing is that one stone can have four different names. How in the heck? Turquoise jasper, teal paisley, rainbow jasper, what is it? (It could be all the same stone just different from booth to booth.) So we will report out in good faith.

Wednesday's shopping consisted of mostly purchasing the base metal findings needed for the UP line. We also found some wonderful stones that will be used exclusively for the Beads in a Box one-of-a-kind pieces. Karen absolutely fell in love with Chinese crystals because she's a flash and dazzle kind of gal.


We left the Double Tree Hotel and traveled to our favorite show out at the Kino Complex. We were there three hours and only made it down one row. We will head back there on Thursday morning. It is heart warming to me to be recognized by the vendors and I received many hugs from them as we recalled shopping there for the last three years.

Our goal at 6:00 p.m. when we drug ourselves and our goodies back to the car was to have a nice dinner. Then the plan changed to be Wal-Mart chicken. Strangely enough the Wal-Mart we went to didn't have produce or a deli. McDonalds to go, please; we have to be pretty tired for Karen to agree on McDonalds. *grin*

We hauled in all our treasures, ate our "dinner" and cozied up with our baggies and treasures to start the real work. Step one thru four: we counted each bead on a strand, divided it by the price to find the cost of each bead, took them off the fish line and bagged them up. Step five: see step one thru four again, again, and again until we can't see to do it anymore from sheer exhaustion. Off to bed by 10:00 and up again to start step one again at 5:30 for me and 4:00 for Karen, the early bird. No pictures please!


Tootles for now -- Kyla

....We began our journey

Milestones Along The Path - - -

As I think about the milestones that make up our journey, many come to mind. I will share a few of them so we have a log that reflects the path we chose. You may find it interesting or not *smile* We do hope you will share your thoughts with us. The need for discretionary or non-federal funds is the underlying principal for creating a business plan to present to the Board for support and approval. The business plan was crafted to sell on the internet and teach beading classes. The plan had little face-to-face selling other than local craft shows and the Community Action Partnership national convention. The Board support and commitment of $7,500 provided the means to begin August 2004.

As we discussed our new business~Beads in a Box, yes we had to come up with a name that the domain was still available. Beads in a Box wasn't our 1st choice and possibly not our 4th, but we were able to purchase the domain name. It fit with the idea of bead project in frosted Chinese take-out boxes. Upfront expenses included web designer, photographer, and beads of course. A few of the staff stepped forward to help create the jewelry and I taught basic bead techniques to them. They created inventory and ideas for our beading classes. Our inventory was ready! We researched local craft shows and found one in Kearney. We were on our way after signing up to sell at a November show. Now all we needed was a way to package our sales. We found burgundy jewelry boxes and gold tissue paper. We then put the item in a frosted handled bags. Of course, we had designed a gold foil sticker for the box and bag.

Two months before the local craft show I arrived home to a phone message that the show promoter had canceled the craft show! What now? Next morning I called the "team" together and asked them if they wanted to manage a craft show? Of course they did! *smile* We now had a place to showcase our jewelry. Of course we had no idea how to set up or manage this craft show. We found the original manager of this craft show, Marlene Hadwiger. She was a blessing and became our cheerleader. She helped us every step of the way and loaned us the booth dividers for the newly named Holiday Splendor Craft Show. Beads in a Box had a place to begin selling our creations.

This was the beginning of our journey and it was so much more than one can write about. We had so many ideas that we thought were genius. *grin* Many, many false starts and do overs. We were determined and dedicated to the creating a business that provided discretionary income and would hire a couple of the folks we are here to serve. The idea to hire, train, and enable a young parent to be at home in the evenings with their children, give up a second or third job, and create inventory was at the core of what we had to accomplish. Thus, began our journey!

Karen