May 2010

Hello Friends!
It has been a long time since my last post.. so if you are reading this you have seen our new cbysparkle.com page  which we are giving a makeover.  we have had a busy month at 
Creations By You as we have been renovating our beading area and working on new displays to grow our creativity. we are nearly finished ! can you imagine, we have been here for now 21 years!!   so to mark our anniversary, we decided to renovate GREEN! we purchased all our fixtures from a stationary business that was retiring, and repurposed them for our bead boutique.. all we bought brand new was a few plexiglass displays and peg hooks. what a task it was moving all the old grids and shelving units,  and moving in and installing the new fixtures luckily we had some strong volunteers to help us unload the truck (because Bruiser and I are weaklings) aka WHIMPS!  Debbie is stronger than we are and worked the hardest along with our dad  so thankyou DAD!! we wouldn't have a nice new space if it wasn't for you. renovating was a secret ...we closed for 3 days and reopened to excited customes who had no idea of the renovation but knew to come in and register to possibly win one of 3 gift certificates! and special purchase of kits.
     stay tuned for some new designs by our creative design team..... comming soon!
WE love love love our renovation! if you have not been in since... please come in and explore the changes.

First Weekend In March

 

   This weekend at Ward Wharehouse was the Soft Flex bead show,

   now I have to admit, I rarely every go to these type of shows, mainly because I am a slave to the shop and rarely venture out and because I really don't need anything.. ;)   but as a Swarovski Ambassador, I decided it was time to check out the show and besides, my friend Andrew Thornton  http://www.andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/ was going to be there selling for Green Girl studios. Dannelle aka Bruiser and I set off to the show looking for something to tempt us.. we looked at tables and tables of semiprecious, china metal, crystal rivolis, handmade glass beads, bruiser settled for a cupcake bead from JuJu beads, and I settled for a little bag full of fairy charms and beads by Green Girl ,I have to be honest and say, at this show I did not see anything different enough that really caught my eye.. I ran into Micheal  V. who is an amazing jewelry designer he bought a cool dragon necklace made with wireing and a glass dragon  it's an art piece. we ran into several customers who were surprised to see us and in our street clothes and not the CBY uniform :) we left the show spending less than $75.00 and we headed downstairs to visit our friends at the wedding cafe and then to find lunch and head back to the shop where they were super busy  YAY!!

 

Saturday afternoon my family and several friends headed out to Mailae Kahana beach which is a really long drive we chose that beach (as if we arn't surrounded by beaches right?)because of the circle island drive it would take us on and It's not crowded.. when
I got there, my sister handed me a beautiful purple shell.  she said there were quite a few here and there in the sand as the ocean washes them up so right away, I set out for a walk in the sand to find my own, I am in the process of reading a novel called Remarkable

Creatures, which tells a tale of finding shells and fossils on the beach on the east coast beach in the early 1900's  my little helper and I found a whole handfull of them with the clear bubble animal attached and a few that were empty.. we took pictures ofo them and showed our friends then we put back all the shells with animals back into the ocean so they could continue to live.

 the sky was picture perfect but it was really windy and the ocean tide was very rough  so all the babies had to be bundled in warm towels and jackets..

 

My 2010 Tucson Adventure

My trip to Tucson, Arizona began as I arrived at my hotel where I have to say is a definate oasis in the dessert my hotel is gently tucked into the hills surrounded by hills of saguaro cactus, each morning I awoke to a beautiful dessert view.  I checked into my hotel into my room, dropped off my luggage and went straight to Trader Joes (we don't have them in Hawaii) to purchase a list of goodies !

First thing the very next morning, I headed out the the Create Your Style  with CRYSTALLIZED-TM  Swarovski Elements where each day, I had a class to teach and one day I demonstrated how to make CRYSTALLIZED bouquet jewels ,   I held 3 sold out classes : Secret Garden Bracelet, and Bel Fiore neckalace I was so proud of all my students as they all finished and were able to leave with a new piece of jewelry.  I realize each time I teach a class, no matter how prepared you are? there is always something you did not think about, and although I have taught for many years I always leave a class having learned something from my students. 

  I was so blessed to have Kristin, who is a crafts department staffer for Martha Stewart take a class of mine she blogged the entire project!!  you can view it on http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/?s=live+from+tucson  thankyou Kristin! :) this was my closest  claim to fame.. it was so nice to meet Kristin after I had seen her on the Martha Stewart show a  few times and was always impressed by her as she delivered her crafts project on live TV.  

As I am part of the Swarovski Ambassador Program, we were priveleged to sit thru a launch release presentation where we learned about all the new and upcomming products....

and as always, myself along with the other Swarovski Ambasadors, are always alittle teary eyed as the Create your Style with CRYSTALLIZED-TM Swarovski Elements  show comes to an end . however at the end of the show comes the customer appreciation party where we along with other Sparkling customers can gather and let loose dancing, socializing, networking..  hundreds of pictures are taken and memories that will hold us until next time.

                                                     

when all the teaching was over I finally had the chance to shop.. and shop and shop it's amazing how fast your money can dissappear :( and how much time it takes to choose and pick over the thousands of vendors. this year I only made it to 4 shows.... Yes, I feel like i missed out on something but really, Did I have any more money to spend??? NO..... but what I did purchase and information gathered i felt like I covered enough ground and I am a happy camper!

off to Tucson!

Hello Fellow sparkle divas,

sorry that it has been so long since the last post so much has been keeping me busy and with little time to post  the Christmas and New Year celebrations have come and gone  and it was time to take a short break while the shop was quiet before the wedding season starts  we took our shop girls out to Cinnamon's for a indulgent breakfast of  gingerbread pancakes, guava chiffon pancakes, hambuger steak
YUMMY!    :) Thankyou Carssie Green you make yummy pancakes and coffee :) :) ;)

last weekend Creations by You exhibited in the Hawaii bridal Expo which is the largest wedding event of the year our friends at Kahala Caterers had the most beautiful display Orange and Yellow we made the favors and Menu cards to beautify the table. our booth was the most EYE candy we kept brides busy with lots to see and imagine invitations and favors full of Crystal  sparkling with the lighting.

so now.. it's that time of year again to travel to Tucson ,AZ and teach for Swarovski at the annual Create your style with CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements.  which by the way is my highlight event of the year I'm so excited that I have 3 sold out classes and a demo.. Secret Garden Bracelet and Bel Fiore Necklace keeping me busy for 4 days straight teaching along with me are wonderful friends who are leaders in the industry. 
as much as I adore my grandbaby, I have to admit, I am looking forward for a little R&R and some down time with good friends. and a day at the SPA!

I'll keep you posted on the events and what I find in Tucson!
val

Holiday Grinch and talented amazing people

My Sister is known to us as the drill sargent of the store.      she is always after us to clean up and put things away, or gives us work to do all day long.   I came up with a great idea a month ago, it was to make a DIY christmas bead book so my very talented brother in law has been working really hard on the layout of this book as the creative director I had no idea how much work goes into making a book even it is is litttle. my sister has also given him a list of projects that he needs to finish in a hurry (what's New?) we are always in a hury!    my brother in law is teasing my sister that she stole 2 of his HOLIDAYS from work so he as affectionally called here the grinch.. take a look at the face of the photo does it look familiar??  haha haha!! it's Debbie.  but my brother in law should not be to worried... since he did so much work for us we are sending him on a vacation to visit his parents in ASIA.. lucky ducky

Last night, I went to see the Micheal Jackson movie I have to be honest, I was not planning to see it my cousin took me to dinner for my birthday and her friend wanted to see it so I tagged along.   I always liked his music and wondered about some of the controversy that followed him .. just watching all the footage of the rehersals gave me chicken skin seeing and hearing, watching the talent and how this man thought out of the box how he encouraged the best out of each of his tour staff and how he loved his sparkle!!  do you know that the blue Billie Jean Suit he was going to wear had 7-1/2 pounds of Swarovski crystal on it?   If you have some time, it's a must see and a closure to his life work.

Newest colors of Swarovski

Twice a Year, CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements releases new colors, shapes, and new finishes, to the left, you will see a sample box that the CYS partners recieve to tempt us to buy.  this launch is very exciting!  there are new colors of beads super cool shapes for pendants, beads and stones the newest colors are the Cyclamen Opal and Griege  odd names but it's catchy..

the pieces will arrive slowly but surely so far we have recieved some in the cyclamen and griege in bicones and a copper fishy bead by mid Friday, we should have flatbacks .

weddings

Last night, Debbie and I were part of a wedding favor and invitation showcase at the Wedding Cafe.. at Ward Warehouse meeting rooms
for those of you who are not familiar with the Wedding Cafe it is place that holds information all about weddings in Hawaii a mixture of wedding professionals from invitations to photographers  the owners are an awesome young couple Tanna and Bryson ! they hold fun interactive seminars for brides and grooms to educate them in the wedding necessities..
Creations By You participates in 2 events
the invitation showcase and Wedding DIY night.
as you can see, Debbie is always the one who goes up to the front and does all the talking .. I am the shy one!! :) 

Last night was a fun event with over 200 people filling the room we were treated to the Emcee stylings of Gregg Hammer who announced the wedding professionals as we went up to the front to talk about our businesses.  our table linnens were supplied by le Saison . the event overall was a great evening with eager to learn brides and grooms and yummy treats to eat by the candy buffet company and bucca di peppo and wine samplings by the wine experience.