DON’T WORRY… I'M ONLY CLOSING MY “PHYSICAL” SHOP!

Suzie Q Studio's storefront is closing July 28, 2019 -- but don't worry! We'll still be with you online and doing lots of new things with our Serendipity Bead Stew DIY jewelry kits such as jewelry-making parties, kids' jewelry kits and party-in-a-box.

Hello Suzie Q Friends!

2019 has been a roller-coaster of emotions and pivotal events for me. Most significantly, my Dad’s passing in January, plus, the launching my new line of jewelry-making kits in April, as well as turning my “round” birthday of 60 years in May.

All of these life-changing moments have inspired me to both reflect and look ahead to how I want to spend my time moving forward — time seems to be speeding faster and faster, with not enough hours in the day to squeeze everything in!

So much of the past 17 years of being in business has given me immense satisfaction and pleasure, but upon reflection, there are two things that have consistently not worked for me. One of them is my tendency to spread my energy over way too many aspects of my business, resulting in constant scrambling and feelings of frustration at never giving any one thing the attention it deserves. Secondly, over the years since starting my business in 2002, it very quickly became all-consuming, pretty much 7 days/week, from early morning until the wee hours of the night, so there’s been very little time for my non-business passions and interests, and for socializing with friends and family.

Since launching my new DIY jewelry-making concept “Serendipity BEAD STEW”, it’s been very well-received… people are loving it and having heaps of fun being creative. I have tons of ideas to make the line even more fabulous, but zero time to develop or implement them because most of my time is spent promoting the various aspects of my Suzie Q Studio Shop at the Crossroads Market, especially my longtime love of “Trollbeads”. As a result, I once again, find myself embroiled in the situation that I described above, so as much as I absolutely love Trollbeads and my retail location… something’s gotta give.

So short story long, I’ve decided to CLOSE my Suzie Q “Jewel-Box-Shop” at the Crossroads Market so I can focus my full attention on seeing what I can create with my Serendipity BEAD STEW DIY concept.

While I’m incredibly sad to be saying “good-bye” to Trollbeads (I was the first retailer in Canada to offer them in 2003!), I’m hopeful that my Trollbeads friends might give Serendipity BEAD STEW a try at one of my upcoming Bead Stew events, so that we might still stay in touch.

As I mentioned, I’m bursting with ideas for Serendipity BEAD STEW, so please take a read/look below, to get a sneak preview:

Being Creative Feels Good and is proven to be healthy for you too! My new Serendipity BEAD STEW jewelry-making kits are a great way for anyone to add some creativity to their lives, even the people who insist that they aren’t “artistic” or “creative”. The artfully combined beads are so “yummy” that no matter how you add your beads to the bracelet wire, you’re guaranteed a fabulous finished piece.

So of course, it’s my first priority to get the 60+ Limited Edition bead combos of Serendipity BEAD STEW kits uploaded onto my Suzie Q Studio website and out into the world for people to enjoy. I’ve had interest from as far away as Kentucky, so yup, it’s the big “Giddy-Up” on this for me in August!

Suzie Q Studio will be offering Serendipity Bead Stew Kits for Kids. Visit our website often for lots more information.

Suzie Q Bead Gal Lynn and I had a lot of requests for BEAD STEW kits for younger jewelry-makers, so we’re working on them now, and they should be launching very soon.

Angelica, pictured above, is a highland dancer, with long gorgeous hair… Isn’t she sweet?! Angelica was so excited by our Bangle-icious Bracelet kits that she decided to get the grown-up version “Pink Grapefruit”, so that she could make her own bracelet right away, instead of waiting for the upcoming “Little Miss” version.

Suzie Q Studio will soon be offering Jewlery-Making Parties using our Serendipity Bead Stew DIY kits. Visit Suzie's website or subscribe to our eNewsletter to get all the latest news.

Have you heard of those “Paint Night” events? Because our Serendipity BEAD STEW “Bangle-icious Bracelet” kits are so ultra-easy and fun to make that you can socialize while creating them, I think they'd be the perfect project for a “BEAD STEW” Night… Don’t you think? I think our kits would also be great for “Grown-Up” Birthdays, Bachelorette Parties, etc., so I’ll be working on these types of events to happen this fall… I’ll keep you posted!

Suzie Q Studio will soon be offering *Bead Stew* Jewelry Making Party-in-a-Box kits for people who aren't able to attend her Bead Stew Jewelry Making Parties. Check back soon for lots more details.

For people who prefer to organize their own group gatherings OR if you don’t live in Calgary to take advantage of local BEAD STEW events, I’m going to create a BEAD STEW “Party-in-a-Box”… Fun, or what?!

As I mentioned above, the last 17 years in business hasn’t allowed me much time for one of the things that I love to do… Prairie Road Trips, so I have this FAB idea to combine my love of Road Trips with my BEAD STEW kits and bring them to smaller communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan, hopefully the Spring of 2020… YAY!

Also, I’ll be doing BEAD STEW “Pop-Ups” and probably doing some of the Calgary Craft Shows, especially leading up to Christmas… they’re the ideal Stocking Stuffer.

Like I said… so many ideas and soon, much more time to make them happen. If you couldn’t already tell, I’m super-excited!

Back around 2008-2014, I used to go Las Vegas for business trade shows. On one of my trips, I went to see the spectacular Bette Midler in her “The Showgirl Must Go On” Show. I loved the show so much, that over the course of a couple of years, I went to Bette’s show TWO more times!

Out of the bazillion special things about the show, my favourite part was when Bette would sit alone on the edge of the stage and accompany herself on the Swarovski-embellished ukulele as shown in the pic above. One of these stunning instruments was available in the gift shop for US$3500.00 (signed by Bette) which, of course, was beyond my budget, and as I didn’t win one of them like the guy in the picture above, I became obsessed to “Suzie Q-Dazzle” a ukulele for myself!

First, I ordered my ukulele from the US with some birthday money that I got from my Dad around 2014. In 2015 I ordered all of the Swarovski “flatback” crystal stones, from various companies. With the chaos of several moves of my business, plus rebuilding and running my business, looking after my Dad, etc., I've made absolutely no progress on my ukulele project.

With the new priorities in my life, once I close my shop on July 28th, WITHIN ONE YEAR, I’m committing to getting my ukulele “Suzie Q-Dazzled”, learning a tune on it, videoing myself performing it, and uploading it on YouTube… Stay tuned for updates with my progress… nothing like a deadline to keep me on track!

Whether you’re a Suzie Q Friend from the first version of my shop in the little orange and chartreuse house on 10th Ave. SE in Inglewood, or you came along at one of the various locations through the years since 2002, I thank every single one of you for your past support of Suzie Q Beads/Studio, from the bottom of my heart and am grateful for all of the warm memories!

Be sure to take a look at my upcoming eNewsletters for all of the fabulous Closing Sales to take advantage of some incredible savings before my shop closes on July 28th.

Also, even if you’re not in need of Trollbeads or Sterling Silver Beads on Sale, if you’re in the vicinity of the Crossroads Market over the next two weekends, please stop by for a visit… I’d love to see you!

As well, it's my greatest hope that I’ll continue to see at least some of you, in one capacity or another, around Calgary in the coming years.

Once again, thanks so very much for everything!!!

~ xo Suzie ️