As the whirlwind continues…

Since our last report, Bazangles finished a proposal for the Reigning Catz and Dogz website project.  Johanna loved our creations; we are now in the execution stages of photographing the items for her website and deciding how to handle sales when they come in.  

The Barn Festival in Hastings sounds like it was a huge success, and I’m headed over there to get our inventory.  Hopefully, they liked the new pumpkins Karen created.

 

Burchell’s White Hill Farmhouse Inn hosted their small quilting retreat, and we featured a quilting-themed line of magnets and pins from Bazangles. Reports were ‘the ladies loved them.’   We are still trying to find a vendor to showcase these quilting items and our buttons at the Threads Across Nebraska Conference in October. 

 

The Regional Library Association Conference in LaVista went well - we are prepared gifts for five gift basket giveaways besides the Bazangles inventory specialized with the education/librarian theme.  

 

The Holiday Splendor Craft and Trade Show will be on November 10^th_, and applications and phone calls continue to come in. 

 

Still on the front burner is creating a catalog and the related items to go in it as was requested by Wild Birds Unlimited, a national franchise of 270 stores.  If they like what we create, they will add our items to their shopping cart for all their stores. 

 

I’m creating, Suzette’s making and Karen’s photographing the items and putting them in a catalog as we speak. 

 

I’m also creating 20 nametags for Alternatives to Family Violence from Commerce City, Colorado.  With so many irons in the fire, we continue to try and keep it all straight.

 

The Development office and the Beads in a Box room remains in a whirlwind!  

 

Tootles for now, Kyla

2012 MPLA/NLA/NEMA Tri-Conference

Beads in a Box will be a vendor at the Librarians' LaVista 2012 MPLA/NLA/NEMA Tri-Conference! 

Come and see us October 17th -19th. 
 
The LaVista Conference Center is at 12520 Westport Pkwy, Lavista, NE. 

We will have all three of our lines for you to see and purchase - get a jump on your Holiday shopping!

~ Kyla

As the whirlwind continues…

Karen and I returned from taking Bazangles to the American Crafters and Retailers Expo Wholesale Show in Las Vegas.   We have many projects on the front burner for that including a total makeover of our product line.  

 As a result of speaking for the Envoys in May, Bazangles has a new account/fundraiser with a local Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO).  The PEO Chapter IX just ordered 24 specially designed nametags for their group and will be showing the fundraising project to the other local chapters and to their state membership.  This has an opportunity to go national. Keep your fingers crossed!  

 I just recently attended the Nebraska School Nurses Conference and sold both BIAB and Bazangles.   

We are waiting for our order from the Nebraska Historical Society to come in and look forward to those possibilities.  

Throughout the remaining two months, it is my goal to create some one-of-a-kind pieces for Beads in a Box to sell in New York at the national conference.   

The Nebraska Alzheimer’s Association asked us to gear up for another season of walks in which to sell their signature bracelets our volunteers have been creating.  

 Besides all the new creations for Bazangles, the Holiday Splendor Craft Show registrations are trickling in.  The news is getting out that we run an awesome craft show! One Omaha business ordered 12 booths for the November show!! 

Karen and Janice are out for a few weeks, and the Development office and the Beads in a Box room will remain in a whirlwind!  

 Tootles for now, Kyla

In A Whirlwind

As the whirlwind continues…Janice in the bead room continues to tweak the prototypes for the Nebraska Historical Society. They liked the original designs and asked for a few little changes. 

We held a nice open house for the staff around Mother’s Day and timed it perfectly during the CAN meeting, too. 

Beads in a Box attended the Elm Creek FCCLA Spring Fling and was able to help them raise $100. That seems to be part of the Beads in a Box legacy-raising money for good causes.

Our latest success story is with the Buffalo County Relay For Life. “Kim” came in yesterday with a check after selling 34 cancer bracelets that the BIAB volunteers created. We were excited to give her $340 towards her relay team total. 

The SAFE Center has sold approximately 80 bracelets for their recent fundraiser, and the Alzheimer’s Association is ready to get started selling their bracelets for the walks coming up in September.

Karen and I are in a flutter preparing Bazangles for the American Crafters Retail Expo (ACRE) Wholesale Show in Las Vegas. We take off right after the board meeting on May 31. This is our final show being considered “Emerging Artists,” and we hope to pick up new wholesale accounts. If we could ship more out to wholesale accounts, BIAB wouldn’t have to travel to as many shows. The next goal for the team is to create one-of-a-kind originals for the national convention in New York in August.

We remain in a whirlwind…

Tootles for now, Kyla

News from the bead room!

We successfully made it through the Signs of Spring Craft and Trade Show! Thank you to Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska staff that helped set up. It feels more like an agency event when you are there! We had volunteers come and work in the Beads in a Box booth. They had a great time and we really appreciated their commitment. 

We ended up having 204 booths for our record breaker and customers were circulating all day even though the weather was causing some stress for the Show Promoter. For us oldies, we also appreciate all the young legs and strong backs when it comes time to tear it all down.
 

On May 8th, Beads in a Box is having an open house for Mother’s Day at the Kearney Woman’s Club from 3:30-7:00 p.m. The month of May, we will be preparing new designs and display boards for Bazangles to make its debut at the American Crafters and Retailers Expo Wholesale Show in Las Vegas. 

 Thinking seasons ahead, we must be preparing fall and Christmas holidays for displays. We’re so glad we got some wonderful volunteers! The Development office and the Beads in a Box room remain in the whirlwind! 

Tootles for now, Kyla

It's good to be busy!!

     We successfully made it through the Signs of Spring Craft and Trade Show! Thank you to all the Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska staff that helped set up. It feels more like an agency event when you are there!  We had volunteers come and work in the Beads in a Box booth. They had a great time and we really appreciated their commitment.  We ended up having 204 booths for our record breaker and customers were circulating all day even though the weather was causing some stress for the Show Promoter.  For us oldies, we also appreciate all the young legs and strong backs when it comes time to tear it all down. 

     In our April newsletter we touched on the huge push for the Sandhill cranes. We put them in several stores and now we wait to see if there is any success. Hopefully, it won’t be a let-down.  With the huge push on Bazangles and preparing for the Signs of Spring Craft Show, the development department has been looking for a slow-down. Well, the slow-down consisted of preparing for a visiting group and the Board of Directors’ meeting. 

     A large bulk mailing is almost ready to go stuffed with the applications for the Holiday Splendor show in November. 

     In April we mentioned that the Nebraska Historical Society asked us to create specific Nebraska tourism Bazangles. Janice has been working hard on that and we have wonderful prototypes to send to them.   

      On May 8^th, Beads in a Box is having an open house for Mother’s Day at the Kearney Woman’s Club from 3:30-7:00 p.m. The month of May, we will be preparing new designs and display boards for Bazangles to make its debut at the American Crafters and Retailers Expo Wholesale Show in Las Vegas.   

     Thinking seasons ahead, we must be preparing fall and Christmas holidays for displays. We’re so glad we got some wonderful volunteers! The Development office and the Beads in a Box room remain in the whirlwind! 

     Tootles for now, Kyla

Monthly Activities and Updates!

Since our last monthly report, Beads in a Box has continued staying busy filling orders for the Bazangles.  One is almost ready for an art gallery in North Carolina. We’ve been in major Sandhill Crane production. We took cranes to the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA), the Holiday Inn Gift Shop, the Rowe Sanctuary in Gibbon and Grand Island GROW stores in the malls.  We’ve been invited to put our inventory in the GROW store in the Eppley Airport in Omaha.  That order is about to go out.  

During our March board meeting, the Nebraska Historical Society stopped in, bought Bazangles and some Something For Everyone jewelry AND asked us to create some exclusive Nebraska items for their stores all over the state.  BAZINGA!  That is on the front burner and will be tackled after the Signs of Spring Craft and Trade Show on April 14^th.   

A Carnelian and Rainbow Flourite
bracelet available as a fund-raiser
for Feed My Starving Children

Barb Roebuck formed a team to sell bracelets for the Feed My Starving Children fundraiser and we’ll start making them up by special order real soon.   

Janice and our volunteers just finished 140 bracelets for the S.A.F.E. Center and their big fundraiser is coming up.  We hope they do well.   

Since last publication, we’ve recruited TWO new volunteers and we seem to be able to keep them and everyone else who is willing busy.   

2012 Signs of Spring Craft Show
vendor Simply Door Art

The craft show signs are up so now we mean business.  It is going to happen whether I feel we are ready or not.  There is so much busy-work to it; the booth numbers have been assigned, and we’ve broken our record.  As of the end of March, we have 193 booths, and we are expecting more! That’s the largest number yet.  We are always looking for volunteers in the Beads in a Box booth.  If you are interested in volunteering and receiving jewelry for payment, contact me soon. 

    Tootles for now, Kyla

We have joined with The S.A.F.E. Center by creating a bracelet to be sold in a fund raising project.  The S.A.F.E. Center's mission is to provide secure and confidential services, programs and advocacy to individuals and families who have experienced dating, domestic or sexual violence.  Each bracelet will have a dove charm, the symbol of peace and part of the logo of The S.A.F.E. Center.

Fifty percent of the proceeds will go toward all the good work done by this local organization.   Food, shelter and most of all safety will be made available for people and families in crisis.

The remaining money raised will go to into a discretionary fund to be used by the many programs here at Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska.

The bracelets will be offered for sale through the S.A.F.E. Center and will be sold in conjunction with their annual Purse Auction held April 27th, 2012.  Tickets will be on sale until April 7th, but if you would like to contribute by purchasing a bracelet call 308.237.2599 or go to

http://www.safecenter.org
http://www.purseauction.safecenter.org

Beads in a Box is also donating a lovely Amethyst and silver 3-strand necklace & earring set to be sold the evening of the Purse Auction.  This and many other beautiful items will be auctioned to raise funds, so make sure to attend!

 

We are very pleased to be able to help such a wonderful organization.

Stay tuned -

              Janice

Beads in a Box has been changing in leaps and bounds. We attended the national conference in San Francisco last August, and our regulars were happy to see us!
We came back to the Alzheimer’s project that went amazingly well with many towns participating in the sales of the exclusive bracelet we created for their fundraising. The time spent by our volunteers was greatly appreciated as they made most of the bracelets needed for these events.

The Holiday Splendor Craft and Trade Show made its first appearance in the Expo Building and was very well received. We had huge crowds, a large vendor count and our first bead trunk show for Beads in a Box. We are so thankful for all the volunteers and the YRTC boys, for without them the execution of the show would be even more tremendous.

Last February on our way home from our Tucson, AZ, buying trip to market, Karen started a new art process called Zentangle. It’s as old as time and we all do it; just now someone put a name to it. It’s doodling to create a state of zen or relaxation. She came up with the idea to take Zentangle to the next level and create a line of wearable art for Beads in a Box. Bazangles was born. We’ve been creating designs and experimenting with materials trying to perfect the process. It’s been a joy to see the volunteers coloring and tangling our Whootrz line of owls.

On January 19, Bazangles made its grand debut into the wholesale world in Orlando, FL, at the American Crafters Retail Expo (ACRE) show. We could only be in that show after jumping through a lot of hoops in the jurying process created by Wholesalecrafts.com. Bazangles is now a member and was finally accepted to be an emerging artist in the ACRE show. Hundreds of retailers came to “market” to seek out the perfect items for their stores, galleries, museums, shops, etc. It was gratifying to experience their response to our new product, to hear their excitement when they heard our story and mission, and then finally place an order!! We hope the success of this new venture could cut down on the number of shows we have to travel to, help us to utilize more volunteers in the creation and eventually be able to employ those whom we are serving to help them reach self-sufficiency. Even if someone working several jobs could let one of those jobs go to do this in the evening, our success would be proven in giving them more time with their family. At the moment we are sending thank you cards to businesses interested in Bazangles, creating the products to fill the orders we got, photographing the new items created for our Wholesalecrafts.com website presence and doing all the bookwork that it takes to organize a project like this. It’s crane season soon, and we need to be cranking out the Sandhill crane creations that Janice has drawn.

Special Events is hard at work taking care of craft show applications coming in for the Signs of Spring Craft and Trade Show on April 14. We’d love to have your help in the Beads in a Box booth or in the set up and tear down of the show. Please let me know if you’re interested.
Tootles for now, Kyla

Teaming with Walk to End Alzheimers

We're in the thick of it!   Yeah!

We're making Amethyst bracelets that will be sold at the Walk to End Alzheimer's events.  Kyla designed several bracelets, and the Alzheimer's Association Great Plains Chapter picked a design to be sold at their Walk to End Alzheimer's event.

Each bracelet will sell for $21.40 with 50% of the proceeds going to the Chapter.  We hope this spreads across the U.S. - a wonderful project for us and helping to fight Alzheimer's too!

Another really great event was Kyla's interview on NTV's the Good Life, Monday July 25th.  What a great piece; good information given on Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska, the Walk to End Alzheimer's and what happening with this project.  To see the interview go to

http://www.nebraska.tv/story/15141155/beads-in-a-box

And the blessings keep on coming!  About an hour or two after Kyla's interview we had a surprise visitor at our administration building.  Marilee, a new resident of Kearney, happened to watch the NTV interview and dropped by to see if she could volunteer to help make bracelets.  Her father has been affected by Alzheimer's and she felt this was a good project to contribute her time to - it would both help us in our mission and help in the fight of Alzheimer's disease.

On the home front, we are gearing up for the fall/winter season.  We have several conferences scheduled that we will attend as vendors.  This allows us to raise money and to share our mission statement and raise awareness of Community Action and all of what our programs achieve.

We will have our fall show, the Holiday Splendor Craft and Trade show on November 12th.  This will be an exciting time for us.  Our plan is to have a bead trunk show and 3 to 4 classes to teach beading.  We are actively looking for instructors to help make this a success.

This is all from the home front for now -

Stay tuned -

                         Janice

Great news for Beads in a Box and Something For Everyone Jewelry! Alexandra Dillon, Associate Director for the Alzheimer’s Association of the Great Plains Chapter contacted Beads in a Box about creating a signature bracelet for their Walk to End Alzheimer’s coming up in Grand Island and Kearney. Kyla was given the task to create some sample bracelets, business cards and figure out packaging. She was shown a previous bracelet with beads and a forget-me-not flower charm on it. Purple is the signature color for Alzheimer’s. Other than the color purple, Kyla was given free rein with the design and price range.
After some research she decided to design these sample bracelets with the gemstone, Amethyst. Amethyst is a stone of the mind; it brings calmness and clarity; it helps you to get in touch with your intuition, your feelings, your spirituality and your values and dreams. It’s a healing stone that brings peace and happiness – all of these qualities and effects are sought after by the person afflicted with Alzheimer’s.
Completing the review and selection process, the bracelet selected will be Amethyst chips on memory wire with a forget-me-not flower charm. Supplies are ordered and the process has begun. Stacy Glock, team leader from Grand Island, already stopped by and picked up 20 bracelets last week and excitedly shared she has many more sold. These bracelets will be sold for $21.40 with tax included.
The first Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Nebraska will be in Grand Island on August 4th. At this walk, it is requested to have 100 bracelets available to sell. If our volunteers are unable to complete enough in time, the personnel will take orders. Beads in a Box will also be providing a signature, one-of-a-kind gemstone set to be raffled off at this event, too.
The second Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Nebraska will be in Kearney on September 8th. We are shooting for the same numbers to be completed and will also provide a raffle piece.
We are excited to see how these bracelets go over. If they are successful, plans are underway to offer them in other states besides Nebraska! Now the task at hand is to rally the volunteers and have a beading party in honor of the Alzheimer’s Association. If you’d like to join us for our stringing party, give us a call at 308-440-0153!

Toodles for now!
                            Kyla

April Showers & A New Concept

As I think about growing up and hearing that April showers bring the May flowers, I remember waiting for the flowers to bloom.  It meant I could be outside longer in the evenings, go without a coat, and play with the kids in the neighborhood.  Now, I am looking out on the "April rain" and overcast skies wishing for sunshine to brighten our day and lift our spirits.  

"Hooked on Words"

When we need to remain inside we think and dream about so many things.  What I seem to do is dream about creating jewelry that is unique and women want to wear.  So, my pondering lead us to what we are calling "bazangles."  Bazangles is our name for our new line of hand-created jewelry. 

"Old Ivory" Pin

Of course if it is creative I wonder how to make it into jewelry.  Thus, the idea to create limited additions and one-of-a-kind small pieces of wearable art.  As you may know Beads in a Box and SFE Jewelry are discretionary programs for Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska.  A non-profit community based agency helping people and changing lives.  Check us out at http://www.communityactionmidne.com/  

Most of what we have created thus far is OOAK pins.  Kyla, Megan (my granddaughter), Karen (my SIL) and myself have enjoyed designing.  We continue to develop our individual styles as we practice and learn.  We plan to share with small businesses, museum gift and specialty stores to see if they be interested in our new jewelry concept.   

We will share more as we move along.  Thank you for your support and interest.

Until later ~

       Karen

Treasures and Time

We have organized & found places for our new "treasures"  from the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show -- I call it treasure because that's what it feels like when you look at the piles of wonderful stones we now have to create with. Remember when you were a little girl sneaking a peak in your mom's jewelry box - it feels like that, full of wonder and possibilities.

Now, trying to find the time to sit and create with this "treasure" while keeping up with your normal work schedule and personal life is a challenge.  Thank goodness we have a wonderful volunteer, Deb - what a blessing. 

She joined us several weeks ago and, in addition to enjoying the creative process of making jewelry, she is very excited about our mission.  We are doubly blessed in that she has a very good eye for color & proportions and has created some very lovely pieces for us.

We will attend the Equine Expo in the Lancaster Event Center in Lincoln, NE this next weekend, the 11th, 12th & 13th of March.  We have been stockpiling horse-themed jewelry and plan on having a great 3 days.  This will be a new event for us and we hope to make it an annual one.

In addition to a few other events, our Signs of Spring Craft Show is on April 2nd.  We will be the first craft show to christen the building and we plan on this being a huge event for us.  It's hard to contain our excitement!

We have so many new and exciting projects coming up this year - it's more than I can express to be associated with this group of passionate, creative women!

Keep tuned -

      Janice

And Here We Stay

We spent Friday night packing up the goods, organizing the car and picking up the house. Out the door at 6:00 a.m. My flight didn't leave until 1:00 P.M. which meant I was going to have to sit in the airport for five hours so Karen insisted that I ride home with her and Janice. We were also concerned about the weather in Denver.  I was able to see territory that astounded me. The desert can be quite beautiful even in the dead of winter. It was disturbing to me to see so many mountains with no snow on them; THAT changed in Trinidad. Heading east on Interstate 10 to Deming, NM. Then north to Truth or Consequences, Socorro and  Albuquerque. I never really thought about it before but it is all mountains. I thought we'd never get out of them and at the time of this posting, we still haven't. The last hour and half we fought snow as we made the trek to Raton Pass to make camp in Trinidad, CO.

Our hotel personnel let us know they were expecting three inches of snow during the night. We made plans to meet for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and then take off. Karen and I packed all our goods and headed out. We were stopped dead in our tracks with the overwelming realization that we were in a full out blizzard. At least a foot of snow was on the ground and visability was pretty much nil. Travelers came to a halt and so did we.

Karen, our hero, geared up and trekked out to the car to get our beads. Might as well make lemonade out of the lemons we were dealt. We made camp in the motel restaurant pulling a table up to a booth and spread out the beads. We stayed there for eight hours beading and creating new pieces for Beads in a Box. It was fun showing all the curious snowbound travelers what we were doing. They were quite interested in our story. I adopted a little friend right off the bat. Ten year-old, Asia, daughter of the owners, was quite taken with the beads and ended up joining us for the whole day. I was missing my daughters and got my daughter fix by teaching her how to string. She had been snowed in all week and missed school. Boredom had taken over and the chance to do something different really excited her.

I guess tonight was the Super Bowl. Silly me, could have cared less. I finished my book and took the time to blog. Our new plan is to try again in the morning. If we don't get out in the morning, another front is coming in on Tuesday and the next chance for us to return will be on Wednesday. Can't do it folks. Need my family!

One thing for sure that we'll all agree on is the excellent service we've received from the Quality Inn here in Trinidad, CO.  Harry, Nemi and their kids Asia and Rog run a great  family-owned business with loyal, hardworking staff. Gary (a.k.a. The Hero) was the desk clerk when we arrived on Friday night, worked until 1:00 a.m. and was back at it early this morning. Greeting all the snowed in travelers, running the front desk and serving the guests in the restaurant, he was tireless. Then to top it off when he finally did get to go home, he made a special trip to the pharmacy across town to pick up my much needed meds and delivered them back to me. Kindness comes in all kinds of packages and it reaffirms that there still are great people out there in this crazy world. We greatly appreciate the hospitality given to us and hope you will stop here if you get a chance.

Tootles for now, Kyla