Mother's Day is just a few days away, Sunday, May 12th, and here at Suzie Q's we've got oodles of FAB Gift Ideas...
The bead combos with our Serendipity BEAD STEW Kits are so yummy-looking, why not pick up TWO KITS for some fun Mother-Daughter Creative Time?
PLUS... Get a FREE Bead Mat (while quantities last) with your BEAD STEW purchase! It makes a FAB working surface!
The Calgary Spring FIBRE FEST 2019 is happening in the big tent at the Crossroads Market on Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, with a FAB weekend of fibre, yarn, classes and all kinds of equipment and supplies... What a wonderful event to attend with your Mom or Fibre Friends!
Suzie Q Studio will be at this fun event, featuring our NEW ❤️ Serendipity BEAD STEW kits... Yummy Ingredients For Easy Jewelry-Making.
After perusing the Fibre Fest, be sure to check the offerings inside the Crossroads Market... With 125+ shops, you're sure to find some terrific treasures and delicious bites.
Hope to see you and your Mom this weekend! ~xo Suzie Q 💕❤️
The Crossroads Market has a plethora of unique & creative offerings - 120+ Shops! - such as the whimsical characters that are hand-felted out of wool by the talented Ian Paquette (pictured above) of "Just Felting Around". Ian shares space with A & B Fiberworks and creates dryer balls, bottle toppers and all sorts of creations with humour and meticulous detailing.
When I opened my shop at the Crossroads Market last year and saw Ian's creations, I told him about the Trollbeads "People's Bead" competition, because I thought a lot of his designs would translate into wonderful Trollbeads!
If you'd like a little more information about the Trollbeads People's Bead competition, see my blog post >>> Design Your Own Trollbead.
When the competition opened up earlier this month, I reminded Ian again about coming up with a submission, and he decided to make the fabulous Viking that you see him holding in these photos above and below.
Cool, or what?! Don't you think it would make an awesome Trollbeads People's Bead???
I'm not sure what the name is of Ian's Viking, but he does have quite an elaborate "back story" to explain the partial horn on his helmet and the eye-patch on his eye! Ian mentioned to me that he'll be posting Mr. Viking's story, along with his submission to peoplesbead.com ... I'm looking forward to reading the story (and VOTING for Ian's entry)! :-)
The next stage for The People's Bead is the VOTING by Trollbeads Fans from all over the world.
Wouldn't it be great for the People's Bead WINNER to be from Calgary??? Do I hear a resounding YES!???... Then let's make it happen!... I'll be sure to pass on the LINK for Ian's "Viking" Trollbeads entry as soon as I have it and let you know when the voting starts.
In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the People's Bead entries at: peoplesbead.com and keep your fingers crossed for Ian's Viking becoming the People's Bead 2019 -- Good Luck, Ian!
FYI... Ian demonstrates the art of "Needle Felting" every weekend at the CROSSROADS MARKET, so come on down for a visit, AND... please remember to pop by my shop to say "Hi", just two "doors" down and across the way, from Ian (Just Felting Around) and A & B Fiberworks.
~ xo Suzie ️
They say that everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers them when they wake up. Do you like to dream at night and remember them when you rise in the morning? Do you find dreams interesting, entertaining or even helpful in your “waking” life?
For me, I’d rather not remember my dreams. My days and evenings are always crazy-hectic with running my business, and I look forward to a great sleep to rejuvenate. I find that when I do remember my dreams, they are even more chaotic than when I’m awake, so when I remember them, I don’t feel like I’ve slept at all… I feel totally ripped off of getting a good night's rest! :-(
Last Friday night/early Saturday morning was one of the rare times that I remembered my dream, at least the last part of it.
As usual, it had an inexplicable story plot, but what I remembered vividly was a good-sized turtle, jumping up and down beside me about waist height, like he was on a mini-trampoline… weird right?! (BTW… it’s impossible for turtles to jump… I just googled it!) Stranger still, the turtle looked exactly like the sterling silver Trollbeads bead called “African Tortoise”, almost as if it had come to life, in addition, of course, to being a lot bigger than the bead -- lol :-)
I didn’t give my dream fragment much more thought, in order to focus on readying myself to work at the Market that day.
It was a busy time at my shop, with lots of Trollbeads Friends stopping by to take advantage of the Troll BOGO Event. As the day was coming to a close, I spied a cool young dude (shown above), moving towards my shop like he was on a mission. Lo and behold, he and his Mom, Leanne, came to a halt, right in front of my Trollbeads display!
While it’s not unusual for a youngster to come in to get their Mom Trollbeads as a gift for a special occasion, Leanne informed me that her son, Tom’s wish for his upcoming birthday this week, was to start a Trollbeads bracelet for himself …. WOW! … Not only was this young gentleman sporting hair streaked with my favourite color, chartreuse, but he’s a Trollbeads Fan too…Things don’t get much “cooler” than that, in my opinion :-D
Tom settled on starting with a simple brown leather bracelet that’s easily adjustable and perfect for a growing boy. When I asked what kind of bead he’d like to start with, much to my surprise, Tom politely asked if there was a TURTLE Trollbead available, because he loves them!
Was young Tom's visit to my store the reason why I had dreamed of the turtle?... I’ll never know, but of course, I had to tell Tom and his Mom the story of the jumping African Tortoise in my dream. They were amazed at my tale and we all agreed that it was a “SIGN” -- The African Tortoise Trollbead was meant to be for Tom and his new Birthday Bracelet!
With the Trollbeads BOGO 50% Off Event, Tom wanted to get a second bead and he also loves dragons. First, I showed him and his Mom the “Lucky Dragon”, but as it’s a larger bead, the cost was a bit beyond his budget. I then showed Tom the “Dancing Dragons” which is what he settled on because he felt it symbolized him and his best friend… sweet, right?!
I rang through Tom’s purchases, gave him a silver polishing cloth, so that he could care properly for his new Troll treasures,, and off went one happy guy and his very fun Mom!
That night, happily, I had a "dream-free”, luxurious sleep.
Perhaps a different situation for young Tom, though… He may have had a “dragon-filled” dream, because, much to my surprise, Tom and his Mom returned on Sunday with additional Birthday Money, this time to make the “Lucky Dragon” Trollbead his very own!
Because the Trollbeads BOGO Event was still on until Sunday, 5PM, Tom’s Mom, Leanne decided to get a “Dancing Dragons” bead for herself, so that she and her son would have matching Trollbeads on their bracelets… Isn’t that incredibly sweet?
(BTW… Both Leanne and Tom have beads on their bracelets that aren’t Trollbeads, which is another thing to love about this heart-felt, inter-changeable brand. Most other large-holed beads will fit onto a Trollbeads bracelet, which makes them all the more unique!)
To see how “Grown-Up-Guys” wear their Trollbeads, check out the Trollbeads Men’s Collection by CLICKING —> HERE.
There are many, many things that are wonderful about Trollbeads, but what I love the most, are the heart-warming reasons that I hear about why people are drawn to certain Trollbeads to tell their own “meaning-full” stories.
Every story has a bead, so tell YOUR own with Trollbeads.
~ xo Suzie ️
… For All The FAB Beady FUN!!!
A BIG Thank YOU to everyone who came to Suzie Q Studio for our Trollbeads Glass Artisan Event! It was truly dazzling to see rods of glass being melted, twisted and turned into miniature pieces of one-of-a-kind glass art... pretty amazing!
For those of you who also took advantage of some Super-Sweet Trollbeads SPECIALS, I wish you much enjoyment from your recent Troll acquisitions!
The oh-so-lovely Ms. Mariela came all the way from Trollbeads Head Quarters in Princeton, New Jersey to enchant us with her glass bead making skills. From the sounds of the “oohs” and “aahs”, everyone was amazed and mesmerized!
See Mariela in ACTION in this short VIDEO… WOW, right?!
Pictured here is Marie, having her custom glass bead created by Mariela.
Marie is one of my earliest Trollbeads collectors, starting way back in 2003 or 04, when my shop was located in a little bright orange and chartreuse house, off-the-beaten-track, on 10th Ave. SE in the charming neighbourhood of Inglewood.
Marie has also taken a lot of Suzie Q jewellery-making classes and has created all kinds of wonderful, handcrafted jewellery… There’s always lots of fun to be had when Marie comes to visit!
This is Liz G. Liz is a longtime, avid Trollbeads Collector. She loves her Trollbeads to be big ’n’ chunky, just like me!
Liz is from Argentina so she asked Mariela to create an over-sized glass bead in the colours of the Argentinian flag… very cool idea, Liz!
The bead Mariela made was on the large side, as requested, so it had to cool down slowly overnight in a special blanket. When Liz returned on Sunday to pick up her “Flag” bead, as you can tell from her expression, she was thrilled with the results!
Shown above and below are only some of the glass beads that Mariela made. Some of the beauties went home with their owners before I could snap a PIC, but the ones that I was able to take pictures of, are very unique, representing a different story for each person, which is one of the best things about individually, handcrafted Trollbeads, especially with the beads that Mariela made for all of us who participated.
Can you guess which one is mine?
As you may have noticed, A LOT of people requested oversize glass beads to be made and Mariela happily complied… YAY!
I’ve always been of the opinion that, “Bigger is Best”, so of course, the glass bead that Mariela created for me is the largest one shown in these pics, featuring two of my favourite colours: bright orange and light blue :-D
Rae Parry, Director of Artist Relations for Beads of Courage Canada was on hand at our Trollbeads Glass Artisan Event to explain the Beads of Courage program to attendees of the event.
Rae is an incredible glass bead artisan herself and created all of the beads in the necklace that she’s wearing in the above photo-collage, including the whimsical “sock-monkey” bead… isn’t it sweet?
To hear about the Beads of Courage program, and to see Rae in action with her glass bead-making expertise, please check out the VIDEO below.
The proceeds from the sales of the custom glass beads that Mariela created will be going to Beads of Courage Canada and I’m happy to announce that $850.00 will be donated to this truly amazing program... A big “Thank You” to everyone who participated and generously donated to such a worthwhile cause!
Beads of Courage Canada from Beads of Courage-Canada on Vimeo.
Thanks to everyone who entered our Trollbeads Glass Artisan PRIZE DRAW!
The WINNERS are as follows:
“Wishful Sky” Limited Edition Trollbeads Bracelet: Georgette F!
“Northern Lights” People’s Bead: Lynn Ann G.
Trollbeads Canvas Tote Bag: Liz G.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Suzie Q Studio is OPEN Friday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM... and there's lots of FREE PARKING too!
Hope to see you there this weekend.
~ Ho! Ho! Ho! Suzie Q
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