New Stuff Happening!

Hi!

We are just bursting with more new things, which I will list out in a minute, but I wanted to talk about our store space and ideas for expanding. Our little store was once a cigar store, so it has a room that was built to be a humidor, to keep the cigars at a constant humididy. We are going forward with our plans to open up that space for retail space and classes! One of our local artists is a very accomplished beader and writes for Bead and Button magazine. She is interested in using our store space for classes of her own, which I think would be a great addition to the classes Renee and I offer. I am excited to organize the room and get it looking great for retail use too. Right now it is storage, so it is a bit messy. In the next few weeks we will be applying ourselves to getting it straightened up. :)
Okay, how about all that new stuff I teased you with at the beginning? Here we go:

• Tanner Glass sent us some awesome paperweights, magnets, wine bottle stoppers and a few other things. These are neat, neat, neat! Renee has a love thing going on with the fortune cookie paperweights and I think the magnets are tres cool.
• This Is It! sent us some more journals. One didn't even make it out on the floor, I bought it right out of the box! We got great spiral bound journals, several more large books and a great selection of the small books too. I love her work and admire her eco-friendly approach. She also did a special order journal lightning fast for us too.
• Did I mention Teague Beads last week? Even if I did, they deserve another mention. What did we get? Well, lampworked cufflinks, pens with a big lampworked bead inserted in the barrel and the cutest lampworked ornaments. You have no idea how hard it is to lampwork a hollow creation that large. Amazing!

I think that is all for now, since I can't think of more. I am going to be at the Gem Faire here in Portland this weekend, doing one of my other jobs, selling lampwork beads for a lady out of San Jose. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by!

Time Flies When You Are Working Hard!

So, I noticed that I last posted 6/15-ish, which was two weeks ago! It is amazing that time just zips by like that! An update for you of things new in Storeland:

• Connie and Diana did visit, bringing garden crow masks and a couple other one time specialty garden people. One of the crows found a new home the next day!
• Jeanne brought in a delightful selection of floral arrangements. She puts together artificial flowers and containers in an amazing way. You must stop by if you can and see what magic she brings to the world of unreal flowers. I'll see if I can't get a few pics up here too.
• Amethyst Soaps have arrived!! If I seem over excited, it is only because you have not seen these things! Realistic soaps that look like turquoise and amethyst- just flat out amazing!
• Teagues Beads has arrived- they do great glass ornaments, bead pens and cufflinks. I love increasing our "man items", it helps keep the store well rounded.
• Julie from Gems and Treasures has sent us another shipment of little beautiful hair things. It makes me almost want to be more girly, almost! ;) She has new calla lilly hairpins that are so pretty. I just want to grab the "toe girls" going to the nail salon next door and tell them, "hey, these are perfect for you!" I think me running screaming down the mall might not work the way I want in a customer service aspect, but I can imagine, right?
• Sky brought us some cool hair sticks to go with his hair clips and other things. I took some of his things with me to the Recycled Arts fair in Vancouver this last weekend and the Oregon ornaments sold very well. btw- that was the best show for me ever! The recycled nature of it meant that I couldn't bring all my items, only the ones that featured broken china. I sold about thirty pendants! I will be on board to do that show again next year, that is for sure.
• New chocolate flavors have arrived. Melissa from Missionary Chocolates brought in some new babies, including mint, peppermint and blueberry. Her five truffle gift packs are perfect for that hard to buy for person.

So, if you are going to the Largest Fireworks Show west of the Mississippi, look for Renee at the Belle Sirota booth! We just got a great pink and black banner done that is going to be a standout at the show, I just know it. She has been working so hard to have enough things on hand for this show, I just know it will be great. :)