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