YOU’RE INVITED!
Creating a BEAD STEW bracelet is perfect for a group setting because this project doesn’t require intense concentration, which means that you can still be social with your fellow participants, at the same time as creating your bracelet… Fun, or what?!
At every Serendipity BEAD STEW Class, both public and private, included with your purchase of a bracelet-making kit, you’ll receive FREE expert instruction and design help with the creation of your one-of-a-kind “Bangle-icious” Bracelet, plus it’s always great to be inspired by other attendees.
The next Serendipity BEAD STEW Bracelet Making Class is happening on SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 1-4PM, at A & B Fiberworks, with limited spaces available.
FOR MORE DETAILS, please continue reading below...
A & B Fiberworks is a retail store located at the Crossroads Market (which is where the BEAD STEW CLASS is being held on January 19), as well as a fibre farm and fibre processing mill that is located approximately 100 kms north and east of Calgary, near the town of Linden.
Shown above and on the right, is the owner of A & B Fiberworks, Anne Goodwin-Estes. Anne has been involved with spinning and weaving fibre arts since 1979, was an avid knitter before that time, and she enjoys all aspects of working with fibre, including operating her fibre farm for the last 20 years.
On the left is Anna, who is an extraordinary felting artist, and she also teaches and works part time for Anne at the A & B Fiberworks store.
In the centre of the photo collage above, is Ian, who is another felting artist featured at A & B Fiberworks. Every weekend, Ian demonstrates the art of felting, while making his whimsical, and very detailed, felted figures, bottle covers, dryer balls, etc., so be sure to check out Ian’s pieces the next time you’re at the Crossroads Market.
On either side of Ian, are PICs of some of Anna’s gorgeous creations… shawls, scarves… her colour combinations are fabulous, and wearable art pieces are exquisite!
So, meanwhile back at Anne's Fibre Farm, all kinds of fibre-related activities are happening!
Anne raises some sheep, with exotic-sounding breed names such as: "CVM, BFL and BFL cross sheep”.
I’m not sure which breed of sheep is shown above, but his name is “ABE”. Isn’t he handsome?!
Anne raises Alpacas too. She currently has approximately 65 of these incredibly adorable animals at her Fibre Farm.
Not all of them have names, but the cutie on the left is “Tarzan”. Anne tells me that they’re very shy creatures, but maybe not so for the curious one on the far right.
The sheep and alpacas are sheared once a year.
All of the fibre is then sorted, washed and processed in the fibre mill into roving and yarns, which are available for sale at Anne’s shop at the Crossroads Market in Calgary.
Anne also does custom processing for other fibre processing farms from all over Canada.
In addition to her own custom fibres, Anne also stocks cotton, tencel, bamboo, cotton chenille, linen and other fibres from a Canadian company called “Brassard”.
A & B Fiberworks is a dealer for the Canadian weaving equipment company “LeClerc”, spinning and weaving equipment by “Louet” and “Ashford”.
As well, Anne carries the supplies for both needle and wet felting techniques.
With all of the colourful yarns at A & B Fiberworks, I think it’ll prove to be inspiring surroundings to create a Serendipity BEAD STEW “Bangle-icious” Bracelet at my Bead Stew Class on Sunday, January 19, 1-4PM!
BTW… To register for YOUR SPOT in the upcoming Bead Stew Class at A & B Fiberworks, please see the details at the bottom of this Blog Post :-)
EASY-PEASY!
If you’re not already familiar with Serendipity BEAD STEW, easy-to-make jewelry kits, each “Bangle-icious” Bracelet kit contains all of the yummy ingredients you’ll need to make one bangle-style bracelet, including unique, premium quality beads made from various materials such as: metal, stone, glass, enamel, resin, crystal, acrylic and more. Each one-of-a-kind bracelet will have that ultra-cool look of multiple bangles stacked on your wrist.
Whether you feel that you have no artistic talent, whatsoever, or you’re a long time maker-type, Serendipity BEAD STEW bracelet kits are the perfect, no-stress solution for some good, creative fun, because no matter how you string your beads onto the bangle bracelet "memory wire”, you’re guaranteed to have fabulous results with our gorgeous, high-quality, unique bead combinations.
With our BEAD STEW Limited Edition kits, we save you the time and stress that can be involved in gathering your supplies (all supplies are included in every kit), plus making these eye-catching bracelets requires very little in the way of tools and, best of all, no experience at all!
To see how it's done, click this LINK to watch a VIDEO>>> “How To Do The Stew”
Want to get a better idea of just how easy it is to make a Serendipity BEAD STEW, “Bangle-icious” Bracelet? Check out this "How-To" VIDEO with Suzie Q Bead Gal, Lynn>>> She’s an amazing “Bead Whisperer”!
Need some BEAD STEW Inspiration? Peruse our NEW BEAD STEW GALLERY by clicking here >>> BEAD STEW GALLERY
And, for some more specific DESIGN HINTS, take-a-look at the following >>> DESIGN INSPIRATION TIPS
In addition to BEAD STEW Jewelry-making Classes at A&B Fiberworks, I’ll be adding other BEAD STEW Class venues, as well as offering “Private Parties” for all kinds of occasions: Birthday and Retirement Parties, Bachelorette Parties, Bridal Showers, Christmas Lunches or After Work Get-togethers, and lots more!
Hope to see you on Sunday, January 19, 1-4PM at A&B Fiberworks for our BEAD STEW Bracelet-Making Class.
Being creative feels good, and now's the perfect time to start making your holiday gifts!
~ xo Suzie
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 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.
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!
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 ️
Hey everyone... I just found out that it might be possible to offer our FAB SuzieQ Jewelry-Making Classes in an event area at the Crossroads Market, which is where I just re-opened my shop as "Suzie Q Studio"! --- YAY! 🎉
Would this be of interest to you???
If YES, please "LIKE" my latest Facebook post here>>> Classes at the "New Q"? If you're not on Facebook, no worries! You can still enter the contest by emailing us. Either click on the CONTACT tab at the top of this page, or email us at info@suzieqbbb.com. 👍😀
ENTER to WIN one of FIVE $33 Suzie Q Gift Certificates 🎁, to use at the "NEW Q", by commenting on the Facebook post or emailing us about what kind of techniques you'd like to learn &/or the types of projects that you want to create ✳️❣️✳️
The draw for the Gift Certificates will be made on May 9th and announced in a Suzie Q Studio Facebook Post and on our website...
Good Luck & I look forward to getting your feedback and ideas!
~ xo Suzie Q 😘💕❤️
Get the early scoop on sales, promos and lots other juicy info by joining Suzie’s VIP Club!