Tucson Day 3

Today we visited the Holidome, which is huge, and insane, and ridiculous, there were a gazillion people at this show. I guess a lot of people go on the first day of this show b/c they want a "good deal," but from chatting with other vendors after the Holidome today I figured out that there weren't that many good deals there. I wanted to go b/c some of my favorite vendors were there.


This is the Holidome, well the tents they set up at the Holiday Inn and call it the Holidome.



And these are all the people that were behind me in line to rush into the Holidome. It was crazy! I mean, I like people and all, but it's was too much. I heard from Ellie, (Mrs. Argenta Bead) that I was crazy to go on the opening day, but I didn't have a choice. We are only here for 5 days and they are booked.
















Vintage Lucite Owls, I will be sharing these with my friend Holly, (former owner of Crescent Moon Beads in Eureka Springs).















Vintage Glass Buddha's!!!















Contemporary Czech Glass















Mystic Carnelion & Champagne Mystic Topaz















Resin, Resin, Resin!















Horn & Resin!!! I bought some of these last year and ran out. I couldn't find the vendor on the first day when I got here. I was so disappointed but I found her yesterday at the Holidome.












My MAJOR splurge! Amehtyst stalactites, that I have been searching EVERYWHERE for! Garnet, Pyrite & my first Herkimer Diamonds that are GORGEOUS!















Shell, Resin, Wood















My new "business bag" a.k.a. a splurge for me!

Tucson Day 2

Today we visited a show I had never been to before called the Best Bead Show... it was cool... lots of glass makers & art bead makers. I did find some awesome pewter from one of my favorite companies....

I can't wait to start designing around these beauties!

I also bought some more stones at this show... I am finding it hard to resist these tables full of semi precious and precious stones. I wish I had a million dollars so I could scoop them all up!

From there we stopped at a large mineral show w/ loads of Amethyst geodes as tall as me, huge pieces of petrified wood, agates galore etc... This stuff is really fun to look at and oooh and awe over but completely out of my budget!

From there we headed over to one of my favorite shows, To Bead True Blue. I found a lot of goodies here and a lot of beautiful things that I couldn't afford and got really bummed that I couldn't buy them. I just couldn't justify the prices that were being asked b/c of a fear that I might not be able to resell the particular items. There is always next year and I am hoping that my business will be in a place to allow me to take risks like that. It is still fun to admire all the beautiful beads, stones & minerals.

After a day of shopping (10 a.m. - 6 p.m. solid shopping! well, minus 20 minutes sitting at Chick-fil-a) my Mom and I had a well deserved drink in the hotel bar and then headed to our class. My former boss, Ellie, at Argenta Bead Company attended the class with us. The class was "Explorations of Resin" with Linda Larsen of Objects and Elements. We all had a great time and came out with some interesting resin pendants (see last picture).

Today we are headed to the infamous Holidome show, it is huge and it is going to be exhausting and I am afraid I will spend ALL of my money here, which will be ok. I have actually been doing pretty good with budgeting so far. I hope you all are enjoying the blog posts. If you have any requests send them my way, I'd be happy to pick something up for you.

Tucson Day 1

Day one: pop a valium, 7 a.m. flight from XNA... brief layover in Dallas... arrive in Tucson by 11:00 a.m. Get rental car, Mom's GPS doesn't work, find my way to the hotel, walk to Mexican restaurant next door, order lunch and a beer... start the madness.
I am sure most of you have never had the chance to visit Tucson for the Gem & Mineral show so I want to tell you about my experience while I am here. I also want to share some of my daily purchases.

Today we started at the Grant Inn, which is right next door to our hotel. I tried to walk the whole  show once before I purchased anything but that didn't happen! My Mom and I even had a bet, loser pays for dinner, I lost...
Shopping in Tucson is extremely exhausting and overwhelming all at the same time, but it is still loads of fun. There is so much "stuff," it is seriously sensory overload. I don't think you are actually allowed to take photos in the shows (I haven't tried but I don't think you're supposed to) so I can't give you an idea of how much there is to look at, compare prices & quality on, and make a decision on, but I can show you pictures of some of what I have purchased thus far.

 

Mixed Stones

 

African Trade Beads, Mali, Bali, Vinyl

 

Solar Quartz, Green Quartz, Tourmaline

Vintage Vintage Vintage

I've been sorting & organizing my stash of vintage goods... enjoy...

Happy New Year!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, Christmas orders kind of took over my life for the last month. But it is all over and I can breath now! well sort of...

I would like to thank everyone that made 2009 such a successful and amazing year for me. My family & friends, my customers and my coworkers at Argenta Bead. You have all been so supportive and kind to me, I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for Bella Vita Jewelry.
Right now there isn't much jewelry being made, although I am DYING to bust out my new soldering kit. Let me tell you, I have a brain bursting with ideas for soldering!
I am hoping I get to play with it before I head to Tucson at the end of the month. But on top of preparing for Tucson I am also preparing to move and to wrap up all my end of the year paper work. Two words: receipt nightmare!!! This is what my work station looks like : (



But on to fun things, Tucson 2010! I am leaving for Tucson on the 30th of January and returning on February 5th. I am going with my Mom, my friend Kacey (from Fayetteville), and my new friends from Little Rock, Penny, Patti and Cindi. We are all driving out there in some sort of SUV that will hold us all. I CANNOT wait, I am soooo excited to get there and SHOP!
This years budget is about 3x's more than I had last year and I got a lot of stuff last year, I am still using some of what I bought. Going to Tucson for me is not all work, I call it a vacation too. And if I run out of money before we leave then I will find a nice sunny spot and soak up some vitamin D from the huge ball of sun. The weather is always so nice, 50-60 degree days and full sunshine! I am hoping to blog everyday that I am there, I want to share my new finds with my readers and tell about the trip in general. If you don't know anything about the Tucson Gem and Mineral show check out the Tucson Show Guide website for more info. It is the largest show of its kind in the world.

what I am working on

I bought my first bottle of Art Gel this week and made my first mosaic last night. I think I have found a new obsession!!! I can create little shrines and little mosaics of crazy "stuff" until my little heart is content and I am excited. What a way to express myself and what I am thinking. It really is so perfect for me because I love grouping things together and making sets of hodge podge junk that I think relates to each other. So here are my first two pendants.

two shows in two days and a mid week retreat in the Ozarks

I had two big shows this past weekend and they were both very successful. The first show was Saturday at Good Things Boutique in Fayetteville. This was my second time to do a show here and it was equally as good as the first one. Then on Sunday I traveled to my hometown, Harrison, to do a show at Sister's Flower Shop this was a great debut for Bella Vita Jewelry. I met a lot of new customers and saw ALL of my family, well almost all of them...

the pictures above, left to right, jewelry at Good Things, Happy Customer: Angela, Yummiesfor the show from the Little Bread Company!


I decided to stay in Harrison with my parents for a few days to take a break, even though I am working... I have been spending the days at my Grandmother's house working on the vintage pearl & shell button necklaces. She has a separate little building that holds her collection of vintage buttons, and let me tell you, it is a little slice of heaven in there. So much history and so much work that she has accomplished. My Grandmother is full of information and can tell you almost anything about any button in her collection, I love learning about the materials used, the history of the button, a lot of it relates to beads. Since this is such an amazing place to me I felt like sharing it with all of you that might be reading this...

Pictures below are, left to right, Part of the collection, The mess I have made to in order to select each button, The finished pieces! 5-button necklace $100, 7-button necklace $135, 3-button necklace $75.