Archive: September ’09 on The Fresh Daily

Autumn Sunset

It’s that time of year again! Freshly harvested apples, changing colors of the leaves, apple cider, frosted pumpkin spice donuts, cider mills, corn mazes, caramel apples, weekends filled with football and nights filled with playoff baseball.

There’s also a smell in the air that I can’t quite put my finger on. Some would say it’s the smell of dying leaves, which is partly true, but I think it’s mostly nostalgia.

Some of my fondest memories take place in Autumn. My wife and I were married just last fall up in Mid-Michigan. It couldn’t have been a more picturesque weekend. The sun was shining, it was about 75 degrees, and the trees were dressed up in their full Autumn colors.

This year, for our first anniversary, we’re staying up in Northern Michigan for a long weekend of rest and relaxation. It’s a resort about 20 minutes south of Traverse City, the self-proclaimed cherry capital of the world! As cheesy as that sounds, it’s a neat little town that reminds me a lot of Ann Arbor. It has that “artisan” feel, but it’s quite a bit smaller and right on the water. Michigan’s wine country is just a drive down the Leelanau Peninsula and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is also close by.

In between naps, we might find time to play some golf or visit the newly renovated spa. Then, we’ll take the ski lift to the top of the mountain to listen to a couple of the live bands play and soak in the beautiful scenery. On a clear day, you can see the sunset on Lake Michigan! We’re certainly looking forward to creating more wonderful Autumn memories this year and all of the years to come.

Fall is most certainly my favorite time of the year. It seems to be a favorite among our Fresh Pickers, too! There are dozens of Fresh Picks inspired by the season. Just do a search for “Autumn” or “Fall” on the Search the Picks page to see what I mean. I’ve made a pick of my own called “Autumn Sunset” inspired by my vision of how I’ll be celebrating my first anniversary.

Do you have a favorite season? Let us know in the comments below.

If you’re an avid Lima Beads fan, you know that we’ve been talking about adding chain, findings, wire, and more metal beads for years!

As far back as I, Ali, or Steve can remember, we’ve always spent the majority of our time focusing on our line of gemstone beads. We wanted to build a line of stones we could be proud of and we all feel really good about what we’ve done so far, but it is time to expand. We wanted to expand much sooner, but as many of you know we just moved into a new building and our old office space made it impossible to add new products lines.

Lima Beads has chain!

We’ve spent over a year researching and quality testing chain, wire, findings, and metal bead lines. We’ve chosen a lineup that we know we can be proud of and that we feel will be a great addition to the Lima Beads family.

In the coming weeks, you’ll be seeing thousands of new items, including:

• Over 100 styles of chain in 5 different metals
• 1000’s of metal beads
• Findings, such as: earwires, headpins, eyepins, leverbacks, clasps, links/connectors, bails, lobster clasps, etc. in sterling, copper, and gold-filled.
• A full line of TierraCast beads and findings
• Wire
• A wide variety of metal beads and charms

But, is Lima Beads still going to be focused on gemstone beads and its other product lines?

Yes! Have no fear, we have big plans for our other lines as well. A huge load of new gemstone beads is on the way here as I’m writing this. Ali tells me that we also have some crazy cool new designs on the way from Green Girl Studios.

With that, we all take a big, deep breath (ahhhhhhhh) now that we’ve gotten the ball rolling on these lines.

Let us know what you think as we continue to add items!

To all designers (everyone reading this blog, right? )… I have a short announcement about the Design Gallery. Some people have expressed a desire to share their displays, spreads, and booths from craft shows. We wanted to give these pictures a home of their own, so we created a new “Displays” area in the gallery. If you’ve got a display to share (or any other jewelry you’ve made lately), head on over to the gallery and add your design!

We’ll surely be adding more categories to the Design Gallery in the future. Do you have any ideas of what the categories should be? Remember, we’d like to keep everything focused on beading and jewelry, so we’re primarily looking at wearable, beading related ideas. We’d love to know what you think for the future!

Hi everybody! My name is Andrew and I am the newest “new guy” on the Lima Beads team. My official title is “Director of Marketing” but my real job (and passion) is making sure the Lima Beads community has the best customer experience possible each and every time you visit our site, interact with other beaders, or purchase and use our products.

We have so many good ideas to improve your experience and expand the Lima Beads community that Kevin decided it was time to make it an official function. Over the next few weeks we will be reviewing and prioritizing each of these ideas to continue to bring you the freshest products at the best prices and with the highest level of customer service that you have come to expect.

A Little More About Me

Some of you may recognize me from infrequent appearances in The Garden or mentions on Kevin’s Twitter account. After working with Kevin, Steve, Matt and Ali on a few projects over the past year, it seemed like a natural fit to officially join the team.

When I am not hanging out in the new Lima Beads office, I enjoy hiking, camping, fishing, woodworking, reading, and biking. My newest hobby is cooking and my wife thinks I’m pretty good, or at least improving quickly. I still make the occasional mystery meal that didn’t quite turn out the way I would like. At my house, we call that “pizza night”!

My wife Elizabeth, our Yorkie Sammy, and I moved to Ann Arbor from Richmond, Virginia a couple of years ago when she enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). We love it here but we are planning to move back home to Richmond in mid-December to finally settle down near family. At that point I will become the first “remote” Lima Beads team member but thanks to modern technology and frequent trips back to Ann Arbor, we won’t miss a beat.

I Need Your Help!

I will be the first to admit that I don’t have Ali’s detailed knowledge of each product (yet), Steve’s technical abilities, Matt’s design expertise, or Cathy’s ability to keep the orders flying out the door like greased lightning. But I do love to read and learn new things, which is where you come in.

Which books, websites, blogs, magazines, or online communities do you like? Where do you go for inspiration or motivation?

Feel free to leave a comment here or write on my Wire in The Garden. My door is always open and I am looking forward to getting to know you!

OK, the title of this blog post is a little scary. But don’t worry, we won’t be sharing any horror stories about the beaders who shop at Lima. Instead, we have a few anonymous stories about how awesome our customers are! We get to hear these little bits and pieces by phone and e-mail, and wanted to share.

Unfair Refund

I spoke with a customer the other day who received a refund of $8 for beads she returned to us. She demanded that we take the money back! There was a misunderstanding and we had actually sent her replacement strands because the first ones were damaged. How honest and sincere of her! We truly appreciate it.

If you build it…

Recently, we received feedback from a customer about the Big Green Bead Machine. She said she loved it because it was like “building your own sale.” I liked the analogy so much that I wanted to publish it here! It really sums up the Machine because it churns out deals especially for YOU.

Secret Santa

Several months ago, we were contacted by a customer who wanted to send a gift to another beader who was having a bad few weeks. They had never met before (only through creating Fresh Picks), and we were honored to connect the two so the gift could be shipped out. How cool!

Smooth Move!

During our move to a new warehouse, we received countless e-mails from our customers wishing us a smooth and safe move. We’re ecstatically grateful for your notes along the way–it really helped during the late nights! So, thank you again.

Be a part of the story…

We truly value the opportunity to be a part of these storylines. Whether you’re a first time shopper or a long time Lima Beader, we’d love to play at role in your beading story. Who knows what will be next!