The Fresh Daily Blog —
Find out what's fresh at Lima Beads! The Fresh Daily is our blog to talk about beads, Lima, and life. Join in by adding your comments!
First, I’d like to thank everyone who commented on last week’s “Matt Needs Help Beading” post. They were all great ideas and useful hints, but I couldn’t decide on just one of the Fresh Picks that were suggested. Therefore, I created a new Fresh Pick based on the stones, colors and textures that I liked from your Picks.
Since CAS was nice enough to create a Fresh Pick for the occasion, I decided “Merry Christmas Newlyweds” would be a good place to start. As you can see, I chose a similar color scheme and even some of the same stones. You’ll find Plum and Orchid Freshwater Pearls as well as Smoky Quartz in both of the Picks.
The Bead Board
A few of you suggested the use of Vintaj Natural Brass in the piece. I’ve always liked the Vintaj pieces and use them frequently in my other Picks. I decided on the Pineapple Round Bead and the Filigree Ball. Using the antique brass allows me to incorporate more of Deidra’s favorite color (brown) while adding a new dimension with the metal.
Working with Ali
Today, Ali took me through the stock room so that we could pull a few strands for the final design. I had an idea of what I wanted to do before we started, but ended up with a completely different lineup. Originally, I wanted to use Champagne CZ and Freshwater Pearls with brown gemstones and purple accents. But after we started pulling strands, we added chrysocolla, berry pink pearls and garnet to help make the plum and wild orchid freshwater pearls ‘POP!’ Next Ali showed me how to use a bead board, which was pretty helpful.
I’d like to know what you think about the colors, textures and stones that I’ve decided on. If you click on “The Bead Board” image above, you can see what the finished necklace might look like. If you think one stone might look better than one that I’m currently using, I’d be happy to hear about it. Let me know what you think!
The winner will be the closest guess (without going over).
If there’s a tie, the earliest entry will be the winner.
You can guess up to once per day. At the end of the contest, only your most recent guess will be considered.
If someone guesses the exact amount, we will announce it immediately. That person will automatically be the winner and the contest will end.
The Prize
The winner will receive a Lima Beads $100 gift certificate. The gift certificate can be used for absolutely anything in the Lima Beads shop and must be redeemed within 1 year. The winner will also be announced on the blog, so the whole beading world will know how incredibly awesome you are!
The first person to guess within 25 beads of the actual amount will receive a $25 gift certificate, so hurry and start guessing, but remember — you only get 1 guess per day!
Helpful Hints
We’ll be giving you a new hint every day. These hints won’t be free, it may take a little bit of research to get the numbers Here are a couple of hints to get you started:
11/17 - The dimensions of the jar are 3.5″ W x 3.5″ D x 7″ H
11/17 - The number of beads in the jar is less than the length of the Mississippi River (in miles) divided by 2
11/18 - The Atomic Number of Lithium is not one of the digits in the answer
11/19 - The answer is greater than the number of fluid ounces in four U.S. gallons of milk
Please join me in welcoming Riki to the Lima Beads order distribution and customer service team! We’re very excited to have her here so we can continue to get all of the orders shipped out on time and into your mailbox as quickly as possible Read more about Riki…
Me at Halloween This Year
Hi! My name is Riki. Yep, that’s my real name, not short for anything else! I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life and am probably much too sentimental of a person to be moving elsewhere anytime soon. As a young teenager, I took advantage of a charter school program and had the opportunity to attend college early. I obtained my degrees in Photography and French. I really do love photography and am one of those people who constantly has a camera on her. My dream is to one day have a gallery show! I also really enjoy cooking, especially for other people. Food is always better when it’s shared! I especially relish Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines!
We’ve got lots of different inspiration here this week! Chocolate (always awesome), fall in the Southwest, aloe, snow and rain (not sure how I feel about these two), starry skies, marine life, flowers, and one of the most popular songs of all time. For those of us in the northern parts of the country – winter is coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it, so we might as well make picks and design lots of pretty things.
I’m in need of some expert advice! Since Deidra and I are newlyweds and saving for a house, we decided that instead of buying expensive gifts, we would make something for each other this year. Naturally, the first thing that popped into my head was jewelry. The only problem is, even though I work at Lima Beads, I’ve never even held a beading tool or cracked open a beading magazine.
That’s where you come in. Ali has already agreed to teach me a few beading techniques, but I’m not sure what beads I should be using. So as my first step, I want to choose a Fresh Pick that will be the inspiration for my design.
Each Monday afternoon, we choose what the lunch specials will be. They start getting sent out at around 9pm EST because all the Lima Beaders in New Zealand are eating lunch.
We have chosen the first 6 specials, but we want your help choosing the final 3. Of the following items, which 3 would you most like to see in the Lunch Specials?
This fall, Kevin and I decided to do some landscaping in our yard. When we first moved into this house 2 years ago, there were two big, ugly cedar shrubs that literally covered half the front of our house. We tore them out in the spring, so it was time to replace them with something. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, so we got some quotes from some local landscape companies. They proved to be pretty expensive and who was I kidding – us creative types like to do everything ourselves. As I’m sure most of you do, I have a hard time giving up creative control on anything :) So, we decided to do it ourselves.
I began by marking out the beds and then I went on a search for interesting plants so I could surround the house with focal pieces.I do the same thing when creating a necklace – I have a habit of using more than 1 or 2 focal pieces. Why let one piece get all the attention?
Our Moms
Usually the process of stringing my design is relatively quick. I thought that this would also be true of planting – I had convinced myself that planting an entire yard worth of plants and trees could be accomplished in a weekend. Ha! 1 week later everything is in the ground except my bulbs. I need a day of rest and most of this Saturday has been spent on the couch. It’s that feeling you get after a jewelry-making marathon for a holiday craft fair or trunk show.
Here at Lima we like to focus on the inspiration behind the designs. After all, it’s the reason we created Fresh Picks. It’s the brainstorming… the bad ideas put aside and the good ideas put to use… that wild spark of energy that inspires you to create. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional artisan, there’s an inspiration behind every piece you craft. It might be humble, it might be bold, but it’s definitely there–and today, we’d like to offer a way for you to share it with us.
Is it the season? Your friends and family? Fashion trends? The weather? Antiques? Estate sales? Photography? Your peers? The music on your iPod? The city? The countryside? We’d like to know!
Share pictures of your creations!
Starting today, we’ll write special articles on The Fresh Daily that call for pictures of your designs… and you can post them below. When you write a comment below, just click the “Attach a Picture” link, and you can attach up to 3 pictures of your designs along with your comment. This is a special feature that won’t be available for every blog article… so listen for announcements on the blog about new opportunities to share your designs.
So tell us… what’s inspiring you? And post pictures of your designs!
The favorite Fresh Picks this week make me want to start a fire and find a blanket to get under. You can tell that winter is starting to make it into our minds and what could be better than being beside a fire with a great book (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), wearing a cozy cashmere sweater, drinking a hot coffee (or green tea) while a chilly nor’easter wind is blowing outside (Brrrrr!)?
I was curious about “Birch Beer” so I looked it up. Apparently it is a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts (usually from birch bark) with a taste similar to root beer, but mintier - sounds interesting!
I Love the dark and luxurious night effect when the black and purple stones are combined with gold pearls and Stampt antique gold filigree balls. The touch of olive green pearls and fern cz adds that summery leafy feel. Just like Shakespeare’s play, there is that special touch of fantasy thanks to Green Girl’s pewter butterfly faery and romance thanks to the use of the filigree pieces in gold and pewter. Great contrast in shape and texture, love the splashes of sparkle! This pick definitely creates the right mood, I might actually have to go and read A Midsummer Night’s Dream now rather than the cliff notes like I did in school (sorry Mrs. V.).
The other day, Kevin alluded to some upcoming additions and updates to our web site. We’re happy to announce that you’re looking at some of the changes right now! We reorganized The Fresh Daily blog into sections, which are listed in the right-hand column. The Lima team members that write on the blog are now listed there as well–so you can get to a page with only Ali’s posts (that is, if you like her writing better than mine!). Finally, you can see the recent comments around the blog posted by our customers–so you can stay on top of all the chatter!
We hope this makes it easier to find out what’s fresh at Lima! We’ve got more in store… stay tuned!
This past weekend, I finally moved into my new apartment! When I first decided to move to Ann Arbor, I tried to find a place really quickly and ended up in a generic, stale apartment complex. For the entire past year, I have been waiting to find a new place that had more charm and a better location. Well, I found it about a month ago and snatched it up immediately because the price was amazing and the location is perfect. I was so excited!
It’s an older building, but maybe only from the 1920’s or 30’s, which, in the grand scheme of things, is not ancient. I believe the landlord said it was originally a single-family home, but has been has been apartments since at least the 1960’s. The reason I know this is because he also mentioned that woman had just moved out recently that had been in the same apartment since 1964! I can’t imagine staying in the same apartment all those years! Needless to say, the place has a bit of history.
The first day I started to move in, a strange thing happened. My mother was helping me move in and just as she was leaving my apartment a woman with a couple of little girls came out of their apartment. One of the little girls, skipping down the hall, stopped in front of my mom, pointed at my door and said “There’s ghost-tss in there.” What?! What would make a five year old girl say such things to a stranger? When my mom told me, all I could think was “Oh boy.” The next day, it came time to move my cats. These cats have moved a few times and while it takes them a bit to adjust, they are always pretty calm about it. However, in this place, it seems to be quite the opposite. They have never acted this frantic! They have been staring at nothing with eyes wide and running around screaming and crying like they don’t know what is happening. Now I know people say that cats are extra-sensitive and are often a good meter of paranormal activity, but I don’t want to believe that at this point!
Have I really rented a haunted apartment? Just in time for Halloween. Perfect!
I love dogtooth amethyst. Lima Beads first started carrying this stone a couple of months ago, but we were only able to get 2 shapes to start. This week, we’ve added a full line of it and I’m so excited. I must admit, I already took out a few strands for myself
Amethyst with Calcite
When we initially added it to our shop, it wasn’t as popular as I thought it would be. I think the fact that we only had 2 shapes to offer made it more difficult for all of you to use. I think it’s going to turn into one of our most popular stones. It’s a natural purple stone that isn’t very expensive and that’s not an easy combination to find. It has the same gorgeous purple tones of amethyst that we all love, but also introduces white banding. This white banding is caused by a growth of calcite on the amethyst. This is commonly referred to as “dogtooth calcite” — which is where the name for this stone comes from.
The Lima team has been experiencing a string of terrible customer service lately. From restaurants to coffee shops to lumber yards, we’ve seen some shockingly bad service over the past few weeks. It’s strange – we’ve all experienced bad service here and there, but lately it has been much more frequent and much, much worse!
Here are some examples:
Rachel and Riki went to a bar and grill (national chain) for dinner. At the end of their meal, they politely asked if the server could just split the check in two, so they could pay separately. He acted annoyed and told them that he couldn’t split their onion rings onto two checks. He said he would put the onion rings on their own check, which of course didn’t really help Rachel and Riki, but not wanting to cause trouble, they agreed. Now, the funny part – when the server returned to the table, he presented the checks and said “Here’s the $9.00 one for the onion rings, that’s $4.50 each in case you didn’t take high school math.” Wow.
The Lima team spent most of today planning out the next few months. It was cold and crisp in Michigan this morning. That late-fall kind of cold that you’re not prepared for and takes you by surprise when you step out the door to start your day. After getting our (essential) morning coffee, we all crowded around the conference room table at 9:00am, and started talking. Depending on our role here at Lima Beads, we all have different priorities and concerns to talk about.
The conference room
Ali wanted to talk about our winter advertising campaign. With each new season, we try to come up with a new look for our BeadStyle, Bead&Button, and Stringing ads. The next round of ads will come out in late December, which means it’s too early to start talking spring, but too late for a holiday theme. We’re thinking of focusing on silver (and metal in general) because we plan to have our line of silver available by then What do you like to see in bead magazine ads? What catches your eye and makes you want to visit a web site?
This past week’s top picks are a great example of seasons changing. Almost all of these picks are inspired by something outdoors – events, moments, favorite places, the weather, etc…
Lunar Eclipse – This pick reminds me of midnight. I love the addition of the chryscolla diamond. The turquoise-green color adds a bit of zip to the deep purples and blues. The blue rainbow fluorite is an excellent choice if you are looking for blues, purples and greens – very economical The Stampt Pewter Filigree Beads add a beautiful “mist” to the pick.
I have always enjoyed using offbeat parts in my jewelry — found objects, costume jewelry from my grandma, sparkly vintage buttons, or “hippie beads” from my Aunt Jackie. I feel like using these kinds of pieces in my jewelry adds a special touch to the already cool combinations of stones.
My Vintage Buttons
In my college days, I could be found selling my jewelry each summer at the Ann Arbor art fair. I always tried to have a variety of pieces available from low to high prices and from simple to super fancy Some of my most interesting pieces contained vintage buttons or other random things that I came across as a thrifty college student. These were always my favorite pieces, but they didn’t seem to sell very well. It may have something to do with the fact that I priced them really high — maybe I wanted to keep them for myself
I recently found my box of vintage buttons and I was so happy. We moved last year and for the life of me, I couldn’t find them. I started to get inspired immediately!
Hi beaders! I just wanted to make sure you had your fingers on our pulse at Lima Beads for the Fall season… Here’s a quick list of the autumn happenings here at Lima.
New Fall Beads
We’ve been busy adding new beads during our Fall Bead Harvest (see the stack of boxes on the right!):
Not only am I a new Lima Beads team member, but I am also a novice in the jewelry and beading worlds. When I was much younger, I dabbled in beading, making bracelets and necklaces for all my friends with those microscopic seed beads, little charms and found objects like shells and sea glass that I had, albeit very poorly, wire wrapped and formed into pendants. That little hobby eventually dwindled away.
Vintage Owl Necklace
When I got older and became interested in shopping for vintage clothing, my attention was quickly focused on all of the great jewelry I could find. Not only was it affordable, but it was a practical guarantee that others would not be found wearing the same thing! Let it be known that I am not now, nor ever have been, searching for those valuable family heirlooms. My taste has always been quite the opposite. I adore the things most people refer to as “tacky” and “garish.” If shopping with a friend, I usually hear “I wouldn’t wear it, but you could pull it off.” I’m okay with that.
Fall colors, popping patterns, and old favorites: that sums up the new gemstone beads we just added to our store–a total of 24 brand new beads! You can see them all (with photos) on the new beads page. I’ll cherry-pick a few of my favorites and tell you about them below. Read on (and don’t miss Kevin’s post about last week’s fall beads)….
Labradorite facets = sparkly
First, we’re adding 8 (!!!) new labradorite shapes, including freeform drops, a horse eye, rondelles, and some ultra-sparkly faceted shapes. It’s hard to capture the wonderful blue “flash” with a camera–but these cuts really show it when you’re holding them (or wearing them!). The faceted labradorite shapes have more facets than normal, which means more sparkle!
The winner will receive a Lima Beads $100 gift certificate. The gift certificate can be used for absolutely anything in the Lima Beads shop and must be redeemed within 1 year. The winner will also be announced on the blog, so the whole beading world will know how incredibly awesome you are!
Here are a couple of hints to get you started:
The first day I started to move in, a strange thing happened. My mother was helping me move in and just as she was leaving my apartment a woman with a couple of little girls came out of their apartment. One of the little girls, skipping down the hall, stopped in front of my mom, pointed at my door and said “There’s ghost-tss in there.” What?! What would make a five year old girl say such things to a stranger? When my mom told me, all I could think was “Oh boy.” The next day, it came time to move my cats. These cats have moved a few times and while it takes them a bit to adjust, they are always pretty calm about it. However, in this place, it seems to be quite the opposite. They have never acted this frantic! They have been staring at nothing with eyes wide and running around screaming and crying like they don’t know what is happening. Now I know people say that cats are extra-sensitive and are often a good meter of paranormal activity, but I don’t want to believe that at this point!
