Serving It Up

We hope you have noticed that our new website is up and running, serving up good things for you. Customer comments indicate that you are pleased with its look and enjoy being able to put things in your cart and return to them at another time. Remember how they used to disappear at the old site? We're pretty proud of how gorgeous Gibby's photos of the beads look and hope you appreciate the clarity. I wish I thought he could make me look that good in a photo!




Now that the new site is complete, we can serve up new articles and free tutorials again. We have numerous things in the works for you and hope you will be pleased with the offerings. If you haven't previously perused our library please take a moment to see what you can find in our resources. Our new tutorials are announced through the Jewelry Makers and Bead Lovers Facebook page too.







BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY

The last blog entry told you about Bead Soup, a nice adventure put together by Lori Anderson that enabled duos of designers to share beads. Today, the first group, including Szarka, share the creations made from bead soup contents.

Others who are revealing their finished products today can be found at   http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/2012/06/participants-of-6th-bead-soup-blog.html .



Don't forget to check mine out, too! I think you will be pleased to see what the designers simmered and served from their bead soup contents.


Szarka's soup partner, Tammy Jones, who has a great etsy shop Southern Baubelles challenged her with enough beads that she created three unique pieces of jewelry. I think the necklace, shown above left, has a nice vintage look to it. Good job Szarka! To see the bead soup Tammy sent and the soup Szarka sent her look below (or click above to see old blog posts, it was blogged about previously).

This month's Facebook Fan of the Month is Heather Otto who won free beads for being our number one fan. You can find out more about this give away at https://www.facebook.com/MagpieGemstones/app_118098318208381 and http://www.magpiegemstones.com/freebeads.html .


You can see some of Heather's unique jewelry, like this one, served up in "Mama's Craft Room", on the Facebook page she helps moderate and in her etsy shop and Craft Star Shop.


Heather has come onto the jewelry making scene with a flourish, she is a natural and pretty new to it too! We have really appreciated her energy and outlook in the groups that we are involved in online and off. Thanks for being such a great member of this community Heather!

    

We'll be serving up more information for you soon about upcoming shows and happenings.

Serving it up for you, we are Magpie Gemstones.

Karen Meador, PhD

Dreamcatcher Designs

Up and Down and . . .

Szarka's bead soup arrived this week and you should see what Tammy Jones mailed to Texas. (If you don't know about bead soup, please read the last post.) Many of you may know Tammy and appreciate her words as she writes Jewelry Making Daily. Her shop, Southern Baubelles, displays some of her great pieces. The soup contained Citrine, Fluorite, Resin, Cebu Shell, Opal Nuggets and Amazonite Nuggets. She also sent the lovely focal piece shown below. Although I was "up" and excited to see the soup Tammy sent, now I'm "down" and anxious to see what Szarka makes from these lovelies. I guess we'll just have to tolerate ambiguity until her reveal date.

On another up and down note, let's talk about the new website. All of us were excited to see the new site up and running this week. It has a truly outstanding look (in my opinion) and makes it so much easier to shop with all the new bells and whistles (and then there's the SALE going one). The only "down" part has to do with some of the bells. The website had to be shut down briefly while some of those technical difficulties were ameliorated. We certainly hope that didn't cause you too must trouble and that you will stick with us while everything is worked out. As you know technology is definitely up and down! I fear I have less patience with the woes of technology than with simple human falibility. How about you?

Working to stay "up" for you, we are Magpie Gemstones.

Karen Meador, PhD

Dreamcatcher Designs



The Heats On

You may have noticed that we've taken a short hiatus from this blog. No, we're not sick or lazy, but things around here have been heating up as we prepare to launch the new, improved, super duper website. I've been amazed at the amount of time and work it has taken to get this on the launch pad. It seems to me that the folks at Magpie have spent months of sleepless nights. Have you seen the new look? Below is a peek.

During the late stages of this website preparation, we are unable to post new beads, tutorials or articles. We have several of these heated up and ready to go for you when the new site comes up, so hang with us during this intermission.

Don't forget that even though we can't show you the new beads, we still have plenty of sale beads. This week, the O beads are on sale (as in Oh, aren't they pretty!). I think I would be especially happy with an opal or two like the one below. How about you?

Meanwhile, Szarka and I are both involved in Lori Anderson's bead soup exchange. Just in case you've never heated bead soup, it involves the pairing of beaders from around the world. Each person receives the name of a partner and sends that person a bead soup package that includes a focal piece, a clasp and some other beads. That partner then creates and posts a photo of their work with the soup. Szarka's partner is Tammy at www.etsy.com/shop/SouthernBaubelles. We hope Tammy likes the bead soup Szarka sent and anxiously awake the birth of Szarka's creation with the soup from Tammy. (I'll post about my partner in my own blog)

We hope that your summer has you heated up and ready to sit in a cool place and bead. If so, we've got the gemstones you need.

Heating up our website for you, we are Magpie Gemstones.
Karen Meador, PhD
www.dreamcatcherranch.net/designs