Boston Bead Company

I'm so lucky to have a bead shop in the town I live in! I think I must have made that an unconscious priority when considering where we would live. The two consecutive towns I've lived in for the past 10 years have both had bead shops in them and I've been intimately involved with both in one way or other. I mean, what jewelry designer fortunate enough, wouldn't want a relationship with their local bead shop? I know that's something I've always been passionate about.

I recently made a connection with the owner of Boston Bead Company, Carson Eddy. She has two gorgeous store locations in Massachusetts. One in Cambridge and one in Salem, where I live. Carson's shop is beautiful and well stocked with findings, components and beads. She holds exciting events, like bead trunk shows and also features local bead artisans, like my friend Keith O'Connor. Her staff is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Oh, and the classes rock! I've taken several classes here. I regularly fall in love with the projects they select to offer.

Recently, Carson graciously invited me to celebrate the local Salem Arts Festival with them by hosting a book signing for my book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry and offering to have me teach a class as well! I'm so honored and grateful that she extended this invitation. I didn't waste any time saying "Yes!". Since our initial email contact, I've enjoyed several meetings with Carson and her staff while we were planning the book signing event and the class. Carson is so friendly, inviting and easy to talk to, as is her team of employees. It was a pure joy to work with them. I couldn't be happier with this collaborative event and every effort that was made to make it a success!

Although, I wished more local people would have come out to our events, I loved meeting and chatting up the few folks that did come. I was content to just put myself out there and participate in my town's art scene. I'm also happy I had more time to visit with Carson and her amazing team. We had a fun time chatting about family, business, books, beads and the beading community and craft industry. It's nice to have someone local that "gets it" to talk to. I've had some interesting enlightenment during our conversations about such things as well as some confirmation on some of my own thoughts.  I feel fortunate that I have a great business owner like Carson who cares deeply about her customers, her community and local artists. I'm thrilled to pieces to now have my book sold in both of her shops. I'm proud to have her business establishment in my community and recommend it to you.   If you are ever in the New England area, Boston Bead Company is a can't-miss-it, must-visit and a must-shop bead shop!

NYC Weekend Bead Trip

I had a beadiful time in the city this past weekend with friends Lorelei, Nancy and Kelley! These ladies are the BEST friends a girl could ask for and so much fun to hang out with! We all met up in New York City on a serious mission for BEADS! (This is a looong post with lots of pictures, so grab a cup of something yummy and join me!)

 Lorelei and Kelley in the middle of Times Square! 

Nancy flippin' in Times Square!

Nancy took a few Flip videos during the trip. I can't wait to see how those turned out!

 Kelley in Times Square.
Kelley is an excellent photographer! She took a lot of great photos during the weekend. You can see her pics from the trip in Kelley's Album on Flickr!

 Kelley, Nancy and Me in Times Square!
I absolutely ADORE this photo that Lorelei took of the three of us! I want to frame this one and keep it on my desk. The only thing keeping it from being perfect is that Lori isn't in it!

I'm sorry to say that my picture-taking for the trip was sad, sad, sad, I'm afraid. Most of my pictures are all from the very beginning of our trip when we first arrived. After about 5 minutes of those fridged New York temperatures, the enthusiasm for pictures was quickly lost! Check out Lori, Kelley and Nancy on their blogs for more details on our trip and PICTURES! When we were in the bead shops, I was pretty focused on the BEADS, what I was going to get and how much I was spending, so sorry, no pictures of the bead shops either, but at least I can show you what I came home with and that's all that really matters anyway, right? Right!

So, without further ado, here's the tour of the NY bead stash!

Our first stop was Tinsel Trading Company! This shop was beautiful! It was filled with many vintage treasures and stocked from floor to ceiling with a vast array of trims and ribbons! It seems very strange that I didn't get any ribbon there, but I think I was just overwhelmed with the selection!

 Lorelei shopping at Tinsel Trading Company.

 Here's what I did get there. Some vintage metal sequins and a vintage metal button.

Next stop, Phoenix Stone & Beads Imports, Inc. Probably the best deals on stones at this bead store! Very nice people. It's wholesale, but if you pay cash they will let anyone shop. 

 Strands of metallic pearls, dyed agate, florite, turquoise, blue crazy lace agate and not sure what stone the purple teardrops are.

Next, was City Beads! This store had an amazing selection of Czech glass beads and seed beads! Very nice and helpful staff.

Some great quality wood beads and a selection of Czech glass.
 
Next, Toho Shoji! A Japanese bead shop! I love experiencing foreign ideas and concepts. It's especially exciting to see what's going on in the jewelry world outside the US. I really enjoyed this store. They had all kinds of different beads.

I ended up buying this book on wire mesh ribbon lace. It's all in Japanese! I can't read a word, lol! It's full of pictures of jewelry, though and that's enough! I've been wanting to try the wire mesh ribbon lace for quite a while now. It's on my list of materials to try and this book will help provide some inspiration!

Last stop on Saturday was M&J Trimmings! It was at the end of the day by the time we made it to this shop. We were pretty tired, so we didn't do much shopping. We barely made it through half the store! It was HUGE! Floor to ceiling, buttons, findings, leather, cords, ribbons and trims of all kinds!

I picked up these cool metal findings! I thought they'd make great earring components!

On Sunday, we went back to M&J Trimmings for another spin since we really didn't get through the whole shop the day before.

I'm sooo excited about these! I got these awesome faux leather flowers! I love the colors and finish they came in. I'm sure they are supposed to be appliques for embellishing a bag or hat, but I'm going to make them into pendants! L.O.V.E!

And last but certainly not least, Bead City New York Bead Center! This was a great, well-stocked shop! We spent a while in here. They had just about everything and a nice selection of EVERYTHING!

 Wood beads, silk beading cord, copper beads, copper flower pendant, turquoise donut and Japanese seed beads.

And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed the pics and the tour of the bead stash! Thanks for joining me! :) I had a great time with my beady friends. Couldn't have asked for a better trip and I can't wait for the next adventure!