Archive: April ’09 on The Fresh Daily

Getting up in the morning has never been my strongest suit. It’s probably because I’ve been a night owl most of my life, trying to squeeze out every last living second of the day before succumbing to sleep. But over the years, out of necessity and curiosity, I’ve tried to transform into an early riser. So, I wanted to take a little poll from our creative audience: are you an early riser or a night owl?

Here are some observations I’ve made about myself on both sides of the coin…

Me as an early riser: Breakfast is necessary. Put the alarm 10 feet away. Routine is key. Clear your mind the night before. Have your clothes laid out and coffee ready to brew. Try not to snooze it (haha).

Me as a night owl: My best work is done at night. Snack, but don’t chow down. Drink water all night, not Mountain Dew. Waking up naturally is the best. Avoid infomercials, they are evil incarnate.

I’ve got my theories. Now let’s hear it from you: where do you lie (no pun intended)?

I have some exciting news today. If you’ve been following along, you know that in 5 short years Lima Beads has grown from a couple of shelves in a college apartment to what it is now. This rapid growth hasn’t given us a lot of time to concentrate on efficiency, implement standard procedures, or stay very organized. I guess the best way to put it is: for the past few years, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants!

That’s all about to change. We’ve never had a real manager here — the management of daily operations has been something that Ali, Steve, and I have all shared. Lima Beads has reached a major turning point. This summer, we want to add several new product lines, get a new space (stay tuned for an announcement very soon), and we have a lot of fun ideas for the web site. It was obvious, to make all of this happen, we would need a manager and we found one. Today is Cathy’s first day. She has more than 10 years of real management experience. She is going to help us grow larger, be more efficient, more organized, and more fun! We couldn’t be happier.

Cathy’s bio and photo are below. Please join us in giving her a big welcome. This summer is going to be awesome. We’re so excited. You’re going to see lots of new products, lots of fun things on the site, and a much less stressed-out Lima team

This entry continues: Read the rest…

Click to Enlarge

We’ve recently received the most delicious looking product sample ever — Murano glass beads. If you’ve ever shopped for a glass anything, you’ve surely heard of Murano.

The island of Murano is located just off the coast of Venice. Since the 13th century, some of the most beautiful glass in the world has been produced there. Most of the beads are still manufactured using the lampworking technique, which was invented by a Murano glass master in the 1700s.

This entry continues: Read the rest…

I’ll admit, I never watched American Idol before this season, it’s just not the type of thing that would normally interest me. That all changed when I heard that a friend of mine from high school was going to be on the show. You might know Matt Giraud. He’s the good-looking, funny, soulful contestant on the show.

If you’re an American Idol fan, you know that he really needs our help. It was all a little confusing, but the judges used their save to keep him on the show last week after he was voted off by America. Last week’s performance was not his best, but when Matt is at his best, he is the best. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have any competition, but if he can remain consistent throughout the remainder of the show, he has a good chance of winning the whole thing.

This entry continues: Read the rest…

It’s hard to believe that over that past year, the community of Lima Beaders has designed over 6,000 Fresh Picks! These wonderful idea-generators are featured throughout the web site, but it’s growing harder every day to swim through the variety of concepts, colors, and combos that inspire us to create. So, we’re looking to get a little organized.

In addition to being able to search for Fresh Picks by name (think: “ocean” or “wedding”), we think it would be neat to allow you to browse through the picks by category. This brings up an interesting question, though: what categories do we use? Here are some interesting ideas we’ve had:

• Seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)
• Holidays (The typical ones…)
• Occasions (Weddings, Birthdays, Celebrations)
• Nature (Flowers, Landscapes, Water)
• Emotions (Happy, Sad, Thoughtful, Pride, Sympathy)
• Animals (Pets, Cats, Dogs, The Wild)
• Going Out (Food & Drink, Night Life)
• Locations (Landmarks, Cities, Countries)
• Pop Culture (Movies, Songs, Famous People)
• People (Family, Friends, Myself)
• And more…

What do YOU think?

Since you’re the designers, we want to know what you think! Love it? Hate it? Have any good ideas? We’d love to hear the different ways you think Fresh Picks could be organized so they’re easy & fun to browse. Let us know in the comments! And if you’re new to designing Fresh Picks, give it a try!

Back in March, I announced that we would be doing Fresh Daily Deals from time to time. We’re ready for round 2 and as promised, we have some African Green Jasper this time. If you’re not familiar with Fresh Daily Deals, check out my original blog post.

The Fresh Daily Deals

These deals will be available through Wednesday April 22nd. After that, they will be removed.

African Green Jasper Heishi 6mm

16" strand: $5.84 (33% off!)

This expired on April 23. Watch for more deals soon!

African Green Jasper Rice 30x10mm

16" strand: $9.93 (32% off!)

This expired on April 23. Watch for more deals soon!

African Green Jasper Thin Pillow 14x10mm

16" strand: $6.72 (24% off!)

This expired on April 23. Watch for more deals soon!

This entry continues: Read the rest…

Although 1368 of you participated in the first annual Lima Beads Easter Egg Hunt, only 22 of you found all 16 of the eggs scattered throughout the site. Of those 22, only 1 of you will be lucky enough to win the $250 gift certificate. That lucky person is…

Jill R. aka Classy Chick JbyJill

Congratulations, Jill! Who said that a bead addiction couldn’t pay off?

To everyone else who made this contest such an overwhelming success, thank you! I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Easter Egg Hunt Fun Facts

• 1368 beaders participated in the hunt!
• 1,437,588 pages were viewed during the contest.
• The average number of eggs found per person was 7.3.
• The most found egg was on the Gift Certificate page.
• The least found egg was in Lima’s Pamplemousse Fresh Pick.
• Surprisingly, only 20% of those who participated found the egg mentioned in the Easter Egg Hunt blog post.

This entry continues: Read the rest…

They'll look like this.

It’s the contest you’ve all been waiting for! A while back, Alice P came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt for our next contest in the comments of Steve’s 2009 by the Numbers post. Since Easter is right around the corner, we figured an Easter Egg Hunt would be a great idea. Okay, it’s not technically a scavenger hunt, but we hope that you’ll have just as much fun!

There are a total of 16 eggs scattered throughout the site. You have until midnight on Easter Sunday (April 12) to find all of the eggs. If you find all of the eggs, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $250 gift certificate! If you can’t find all of them, that’s okay. You’ll still have a chance to unlock some other great prizes.

The Prizes

• Find 4 or more eggs to get a FREE Bronzite Thin Pillow Pendant 60×40mm
• Find 8 or more eggs to get a FREE Brazil Sodalite Puff Square 14mm - 16″ strand
• Find 12 or more eggs to get 15% discount on your next order
• Find all of the eggs for a chance to win a $250 gift certificate

Continue reading for more information and a hint to get you started…

This entry continues: Read the rest…