{VIDEO} Use a Head Pin to Connect a Clasp to Chain

Check out this quick video tip that Mel put together, demonstrating how to add a clasp to a chain using a head pin instead of a jump ring. Added bonus? You can add a cute bead to the clasp as well!

Check out the Beaducation YouTube channel for more FREE Product Videos and classes!

Pin Pointing Pinterest

Social media has become such a huge part of what we all do to support our businesses and stay connected in our personal lives. With new social media sites popping up all the time, how do you know if it's worth your time and energy to monitor yet another account?

Pinterest hit the scene in 2010 and has been gaining momentum ever since. What is Pinterest? According to Wikipedia, "Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for images, 're-pin' images to their own pinboards, or 'like' photos." Here at Beaducation, we LOVE Pinterest! It's a great way for us to visually keep our favorite things organized.

We have boards that represent our Core Values and our company's culture as well as Healthy Snacks, DIY Home Projects, Color (shown at left) and DIY Craft Projects. We also have boards that are more specific to what we do here at Beaducation: Stamped Metal Jewelry, New Products, Design Ideas, Online Classes, and Quips for those times when you want to stamp a phrase and your mind goes blank.

Each member of the Beaducation Team also has her own individual board. By sharing these boards with you, we are inviting you to get to know the Beaducators in a new and fun way. All of our boards are made to connect us to our followers. We love the sense of community we get from being active on Pinterest, following and being followed by other creative people -- not in a stalker-ish way, we promise!



Even if you aren't using it, you have probably figured out that Pinterest is a wonderful way to keep track of personal style boards, recipes, craft inspirations, gift ideas, your favorite YouTube videos, kids project, and countless other ideas. For those of you who have a business, Pinterest provides many opportunities to connect with that audience as well. You can spark interest in prospective customers by creating boards that represent who you are and what your business is. Create "Special Order" boards where your customer can pick and choose their own designs. Post your past work and inspiration boards so your followers can get a feel for who you are.

We recommend installing a "Pin It" button on your site to make pinning fast and easy. Pinterest is now offering business accounts that allow you to view analytics on what is being pinned directly from your website. You can watch the site traffic roll in!



Do you use Pinterest? If you do, are you as addicted as we are?

Maker Faire 2013 - What a Weekend!

Look what we got!!!

Hey everyone, Lisa here!

In late May, we had the super fun opportunity to host a booth at the Maker Faire held at the San Mateo Expo Center. I'll be honest, I really had no idea what we were in for. All I knew is that this is a big event and it's all about making stuff. I thought to myself, "We make cool stuff and teach other people how to make stuff all day long... it's perfect for us!"

After much planning and excitement, we set up our booth with six stamping on metal stations. You might have guessed I'd be teaching my signature technique! Each participant got to make a stamped pendant for FREE. Folks stamped their names, favorite words or just textured the blank with the Design Stamps. Most of Saturday's visitors even got a free chain to hang their handmade pendant from (we ran out of chain half way through the day).

Over 900 people came through and created at our booth. I couldn't believe it -- 900 stampers in two days! This faire was absolutely amazing! There were over 115,000 people in attendance at the show, with hundreds of hands-on activities and exhibitions to peruse. There was everything from robots, to fire-breathing dragons, to a human-sized Mouse Trap game, to a crazy electricity demo from Tesla. Pop over to the Maker Faire site to see some great videos and photos from the weekend.

We had so much fun teaching people and we were delighted to be chosen as one of only a handful of Editor's Choice awards given out. Not only that, but one blogger at Make even listed our booth as one of her favorites in the whole show. What a rewarding weekend!

Bead&Button Show - Open for business!

We arrived in Milwaukee on Tuesday evening and have been busy getting the Beaducation booth ready for business. 

We are not teaching any classes at the show this year, choosing instead to demonstrate as many techniques and features as many new products as possible at our booth. 

The fine folks from Wubbers will be stopping by the booth from 10 AM to noon on Friday to demonstrate their pliers. Have you seen the triangles, ovals, and squares? Then Kate Richbourg will be joining us on Friday afternoon for a book signing at 4 PM. 

Our prize wheel will be spinning and we'll be handing out fun prizes to everyone who spins.

Our booth came together faster than ever before and we're ready for the showroom doors to open in about an hour. We hope to see you in Milwaukee!

FREE STANDARD SHIPPING, June 1-30!

Customers who visit our booth at the Bead&Button Show next weekend (we'll be in booth 519) will enjoy the benefit of not paying for shipping. We want to extend that benefit to all of our customers, so we are offering FREE STANDARD SHIPPING on orders $35+ all month long! 

Here's the fine print:

• Only STANDARD shipping is free. If you need something fast, you should choose Priority or Express. 
• Valid for US customers only. For our international customers, we'll pay $4 toward your international shipping charges. Simply enter the code SHIP-JUNE in your order comments and we will refund qualifying orders within 7 business days.

So go ahead and stock up, we'll ship your stuff for free!

Blowout Sale ends at midnight!

Today is your last day to save up to 60% on over 500 items. Don't miss out on this huge sale!

BLOWOUT SALE! Save up to 60%

Have you ever really wanted to buy something new... but couldn't justify it because there was no room in your closet? Well, Beaducation has a little of that going on in our warehouse. We have so much new product on tap for June and we need to make space!

Let our planning mishap be your gain! We are blowing out our inventory, putting over 500 items on sale! The savings start at 25% and a few closeout items are an incredible 60% off!

This sale is good through Thursday May 30. Now is a great time to stock up on your favorites! Heck, with prices this low, it's the perfect time to try something new -- new blank shapes, new design stamps, new techniques!