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Hi Everyone, I missed the first ‘blizzard’ here in Oklahoma as I left the previous Sunday for Tucson and the BIG Bead Show that Tucson hosts each year. So there I am in sunny Tucson – well not really ! I arrive and Tucson is experiencing some ‘cool’ weather. Really quite cold - so much so, that there was substantial impact to the shows under the tents. Fortunately, I never venture to the tents, so survived the low temp’s comfortably. And having a warm winter coat also helped me to survive the rest of the shows.
Spent my first week totally dedicated to taking as many Swarovski classes that could be squeezed into my trip. All I can say about them ---- WOW ! Took classes with all my favorite instructors, but was thrilled to have the opportunity to take two classes with Diane Fitzgerald. I took a total of 10 classes and I will share/demo them (in Midwest City) during our anniversary sale.
Yes – the magic words that most of our loyal customers like to hear. We are having a BIG 8th Anniversary Sale. Eight years ago it all started – 23 March 2003. So for that reason our sale will go on for an 8-day period starting Sat - 19 Mar and running thru Sat - 26 Mar. And as always, we will have an extra day at our Midwest City store on Sun – 27 Mar.
During our sale, we will also have ‘Employee/Instructor Appreciation’ displays. Our instructors in Midwest City make beautiful jewelry and this will be your opportunity to purchase some of their treasures.
So stop on in for our sale or to check out the instructor’s jewelry or to sign up for our door prizes or to just sign up to take that special class on jewelry making. Below is the class schedule for Midwest City – there are some really neat projects listed. Photos of these classes are on our web site.
Oh and the big one – what did I bring back from Tucson – I have lots of new Czech Glass – mostly flowers, leaves, more lady bugs (they are so popular), some fire polish replenishments and several other little treasures. A good selection of some really nice pearls. Did some replenishment of our stone and semi-precious. Lots of new pewter, including some antique brass colored pewter – many can be used in your ‘Steam Punk’ creations. Acquired some really nice large sized filigree brass pieces along with a distributorship so I can get more. I found several new chain distributors that we will be using in the future. Some new pendants and several new decorative clasps. After Tucson, traveled to seed bead heaven, to hand-select what I thought we needed – picked up six boxes full, a full day of dedicated shopping. Acquired some Mijuki delica’s.
Loved a couple of Swarovski’s new products – each year there is an unveiling of new colors and new shapes. They demo these new shapes in huge ‘fist’-size pieces under glass. A couple that caught my eye, a lovely wide teardrop shaped bead and a new heart. We will have them in the shoppe ! They are on pre-order right now with Swarovski.
Had a great time in Tucson – attended several vendor and publishers parties and my husband Rob made it there in time for the big Swarovski party Friday night. That was a hoot – the party address on the invite was the Starr-Pass Marriott. So everyone arrives there and we were all bused into the mountains to ‘the party location’. What a captive audience – but a great time had by all.
Now that I have you all excited, I know the first question that comes to mind – when will these lovelies be out. Yes, we’re working on getting them ready to go out, but it’s going to be somewhat slower than normal because of - that nasty word – inventory. We must finish it before we merge any new products onto the floor. So once that chore is finished, we can get back to getting all this beautiful new products ready to go out onto our floor.
I hope everyone has a great month and do take care,
loretta
