SUPERSTAR!!!!!!!!!! Quiet on the set!

Did you know that Lisa Niven Kelly's new book comes with a bonus DVD? Now that the book is wrapped up, it's time to FILM!

Claudia was behind the camera...Zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out. That girl is a camera genius!

To get ready for a video shoot, it takes a lot of prep...


and a lot of powder!!! (It is really hot in our shootio!)


and a flatiron for Lisa's hair!


Kate played the part of wardrobe mistress, makeup artist, hairstylist and director. This is the wardrobe mistress part. (That is a clothespin, very important for keeping the wardrobe in place.)


This is the makeup artist part...the talent had to stay very still.

The talent also needed to have straight, shiny hair. (This, as you can guess, is the hairstylist part!)


There are no shots of the director part... Kate was way too bossy and everyone left! (No, not really. Okay maybe a little...)

We had a lot of fun filming the DVD. Lisa is a pro! (But you knew that already...) We'll keep you updated on the details, but for now..."QUIET ON THE SET!!!"

Move? What move?!

Did you ever have the feeling, you know... after you have made a major change...how on the EARTH did you ever function before that change?

We went from a SMALL...(no, really, small) office, to (count 'em) TWO (still kinda small...but well organized and not all THAT small) offices connected by a door (well, we will call it an opening, there is no door) in the wall.

Hallelujah! We are settling in...

The last drawer was built yesterday. (Thanks, Kris!)


And now we just have to "cute-ify" around here...

Here are a few pics of our cuteness:

Mindy "DIY"ed" that cool desk box out of an old silverware box, paint, decorative paper and some decoupage. She is a clever girl!


Lisa's daughter, Izzy is a great artist. This painting is hanging in the hall, along with our custom Beaducation aprons!


Back to clever Mindy...an embellished cork board and a cute corgi picture!



I hung the quilt that I made and entered in the County Fair. (On an unrelated note: how much fun is the County Fair? Funnel cakes, pig races, lots of weird stuff to buy in the "sales pavilion." I urge to to seek out and visit your local fair. Have a Cotton Candy for me!)



A place to work with power tools...( I see a bench buffer, jump ring maker, metal forming tool and some torches!!!!)




And lots 'o room for inventory!!!!

Whew! Now back to our regularly scheduled programing.

It's Chaos Out There...(or should I say In Here?!)

"Let's do it," we thought. "The printer next door is moving out, we need more room, let's just bust through that wall, put in a door and EXPAND!"

When you are basking in the glow of the potential of a whole extra office for inventory and dreaming about the extra room that you are going to have to put in a workbench (as in a REAL jewelry workstation, complete with ROLLING MILL)...you don't really think about what has to happen in between the old office and the new.

(This is our current workstation...IMPRESSIVE!)

Let us share our saga with you...


First, you've got to vacuum the vacant office. Or at least pretend you are vacuuming. That is Lisa and Danelle...pretending.


Pretending to vacuum led to playing telephone.


Danelle realized that all of this pretending did not stop the flow of orders from coming in, so she put herself back to work. Lisa kept on playing telephone. (D's desk is not usually wedged in among the inventory like that, we had to rearrange to make room for the door-busting).



Things started to look up for Danelle after she had a latte. Katie had one, too. Everyone was happy.

Then the wall-busting began. Loud. Everyone was not so happy.


...but the noise was totally worth it. Voila! A door! (Kate is doing her Vanna impression here.)

(Think of this as the "before" picture.)

We also busted out the dividing wall. Ah, such room! Now we are getting ready to fill it with inventory and cute new desks.

Next up...painting!!! We will let you know how that one goes. (and no, even though I made it sound like WE have been doing all of this construction work, it's really our handyman with a truck.)

Really August????

It may be cliche, but where has the year gone?

Check your calendars, it's August 4th. AUGUST. So how has your summer been? We have been busy over here at Beaducation.

Let me bring you up to date...
Lisa is hard at work finishing her fabulous Stamping and Riveting book. Here are a few sneak peaks:This is an actual photo from the book...each project has detailed step-by-step pics.

Lisa and Mindy taking shots for the book.

To find out the latest on "The Book" stay tuned to our Facebook Page!

In other news....Rocco is wreaking havoc at the office....(he is a real firebrand!) But he is learning to package orders. His rates are cheap, but he is a little slow.

The rest of the month brings an office expansion, more class filming and preparing for our fall shows. If you are at Bead Fest in Portland in late September or at the BABE show in Oakland, CA in November stop by and say hello. We always love to see our customers in person.

We also have a sale brewin' at the end of the week....starts on Thurs and runs through the weekend. Classes, class kits and pendant blanks are 20% off...check it out!