"As seen in" (or, thanks for mentioning R&T!)

May 1, 2009

There’s a nice custom over at Twitter called #followfriday. It’s all about recognizing people who are important to you online. In that spirit, R&T thanks some people who wrote nice things about us in the last week. Here’s what they talked about…

Tammy Powley discusses the hows and whys of lava beads.

Cyndi Lavin's award-winning design from the 2009 Rings & Things "Your Designs Rock!" contest

Cyndi Lavin wins a “Polly’s Picks” award in the 2009 Rings & Things “Your Designs Rock!” contest.

Robyn at the Gem Shows blog included us in her go-to list.

hopebird21

Meanwhile, back at Earthenwood….Melanie conjures an uplifting color scheme involving our Dark Indigo crystal beads.

Dawno has mentioned us too! Here’s the very latest of her frequent, informative posts.

Mentioning Rings & Things or our products in your blog? Leave a link in the comments here! We’re glad to send you some readers.

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!

Now that winter is safely over…

April 30, 2009

…we’re able to share this cool alternative-commuting story.

When our town was socked by a record blizzard this last December, Rings & Things people took it in stride. A modified, snowshoe-y stride. When other business were closed, we were tromping through the snowdrifts to bring you beads. Watch a local TV station’s story about our whitish-green commuting!

dave_snowshoe_2008

(Thanks to KXLY-TV in Spokane for permission to use this footage. PS: some of it was picked up by ABC national news that evening!)

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Featured bead: "Russ troll" bead

April 29, 2009

I’ll be occasionally presenting a Featured Bead in this blog, and to start off this series, what could be better than…

Featured bead: "Russ Troll"

A Rings & Things exclusive! Our “Russ Troll” beads commemorate our iconic founder & owner, Russ Nobbs. (He’ll probably ask me to remove those words once he reads this.) 🙂

These are handmade Peruvian ceramic beads, with a hole large enough (2.5-3mm) for just about any cording you’re going to string them on. On narrower stringing materials, you might keep Russ in his place with Bead Bumpers.

Russ stands about 32 millimeters tall, which is approximately an inch and a quarter. That makes him the Littlest Troll. He has a varied wardrobe, as you can see in the picture above, so order a bunch. Collect ’em all!

Want to nominate a featured bead? Leave a comment below, or tweet me: @Rings_Things on Twitter.

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Multipurposing: teapot bead cap => Aladdin's lamp charm

April 28, 2009

Multipurposing tip: Rings & Things’ sterling silver teapot bead caps also make a magical Aladdin’s lamp charm.

sterling_teapot_bead_cap_43-546-02

Sterling silver teapot bead cap (Rings & Things #43-546-02)

Credit goes to @tamdoll on Twitter for this great craft business tip! Just “cap” this finding around your favorite 10- to 12mm bead. It makes a fine addition to a charm bracelet, or earrings… Here’s another style that we offer:

Sterling silver teapot bead cap (Rings & Things #43-546-01)

Sterling silver teapot bead cap (Rings & Things #43-546-01)

This means you have at least three flavors of lamp for Arabian Nights-themed jewelry, because we’ve also added this new antiqued-silver plated Aladdin charm:

Aladdin's lamp charm (Rings & Things #44-940-17-AS)

Aladdin’s lamp charm (Rings & Things #44-940-17-AS)

How about an aquiline crystal bead as a lamp? Check out this Aladdin’s Lamp earring design from our Design Gallery!

normal_aladdins_lamp_earrings

Have more ideas for Arabian Nights jewelry? More multipurposing magic in mind? Share by leaving a comment!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Nice Earth Day present: a "worksite bike"!

April 23, 2009

Happy Earth Day! Rings & Things has been awarded a brand-new bike for employees to use for errands during the day.

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Left to right: Rings & Things’ Val, Mayor Verner, and R&T people Dave, Cindy, Selina, and Russ

Spokane mayor, Mary Verner, presented select participants in Washington state’s Commute Trip Reduction program with their new Worksite Bicycles on Earth Day. For its voluntary participation in the CTR program (and with 96% of employees taking part!), Rings & Things received one of these fine bikes.

Ten local workplaces were given commuter bikes in The Chase Gallery, just outside the City Council Chambers. A whole package of items was presented to each business:

  • A durable new Giant “Sedona ST” bicycle, built for comfort and “heads up” riding
  • A Bell “Venture” adjustable-fit safety helmet
  • A Kryptonite U-Lock/Flex Cable key-lock security locking system
  • A bicycle tire pump with gauge for maintaining proper tire pressure

In a nice bit of recognition, Rings & Things’ diligent Employee Transportation Coordinator, Selina Shehan, was interviewed by two TV stations, KHQ (in a story headlined “Spokane Residents Live a Little More ‘Green’ “) and KXLY. View and read more at their websites!

We’d like to recognize the other workplaces who were honored yesterday:

  • CH2M Hill
  • Coffman Engineers
  • Goodwill Industries
  • Red Lion Hotels
  • Riverpoint Parking & Transportation Services
  • Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC)
  • The Spokesman-Review
  • Sterling Savings Bank
  • Spokane City Hall

How did you celebrate Earth Day — with special beads, designs, promotions or activities? Share in a comment below!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

– How excruciating for readers…

April 23, 2009

– How excruciating for readers…suddenly every tweet of mine is a post on our blog…don’t worry, I’ll fix this! -☺Dave

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Announcing the Kreativ Blog Awards

April 21, 2009

Rings & Things’ blog received the Kreativ Blog Award from A Bead A Day.  We’re honored by Lisa’s vote of confidence!  Now to pass the torch…

These are the rules of the Kreativ blog award:

  • The winner may put this award on their blog
  • Please put a link to the person that presented you for this award
  • Nominate 5 blogs
  • Put links to all their blogs
  • Leave a message for your nominees

For blogging above & beyond the call of duty, Rings & Things gives the Kreativ Blog Award to these highly readable bloggers who help others grow their craft business:

  • Jen at Naughty Secretary Club
    (it’s as much fun as it sounds; new techniques all the time!)
  • Cindy at Polymer Clay Tutor
    (she’s an endless source of crystal-clear how-to’s)
  • Etsy’s official Storque blog
    (a superb resource for craft business tips)
  • The Craftzine.com blog
    (like an encyclopedia, only funner)
  • The Blog for Beaders
    (they’ve been putting up some entertaining stuff…and you’ve got to take a break for fun sometimes!)

Thanks to all five of you for some genuinely top-notch blog writing.  We’re looking forward to seeing who each of you picks out to give Kreativ Blogger Awards to!

Want to nominate more great bloggers for recognition?  Talk about them (with a link to their blog) in a comment!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Cute new tiny ceramic food beads

April 20, 2009

Rings & Things has carried great ceramic beads & pendants for a long time. Now, we expand the menu with a smorgasbord of new tiny food beads…

Lots of coffee shops sell unique artisan jewelry. How about a Java theme, with our new coffee-bean-bead-28-684-228 coffee bean bead?

And what could go better with that cup o’ Joe than pastries? We’ve noticed a regular cult of cupcakes in the crafts world lately (seriously, search on Etsy).

cupcake-bead-28-684-233

Following the idea that there can never be too many holes for beading, we serve up these little donut beads…

donut-bead-28-684-232

A healthier alternative might be our fresh new peas-in-a-pod-bead-28-684-224 peas-in-a-pod bead. Or perhaps some pumpkin-28-684-223-thmb pumpkin?

Stay tuned for more new ceramic beads…check our New Jewelry Making Supplies section in the online store!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

"CRYSTALLIZED"? What's that?

April 14, 2009

FYI: you’re probably used to seeing the Swarovski® name whenever crystal beads are mentioned.

The Swarovski company has changed the brand name of all its crystal beads. This is why you’re suddenly seeing this next to (I’m making like a bead maker, and rounding) several hundred items in Rings & Things’ store:

CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements

A really good discussion over at Hands That Create made us realize that people have wondered about this different labeling. So, a few quick pointers:

  • NO, this is not a new product
  • NO, this is not a new crystal process
  • NO, this is not a new coating
  • YES, these are the same old Swarovski crystals!
  • YES, this is just a new name

For bringing this up, thanks to cmydesigns, zettarose, bronzebullet, and noodles at Hands That Create!

Questions or comments about our crystals, beads, or findings? Leave a reply below!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!

Grow your business: Team-blogging

April 8, 2009

Everyone says you should have a blog in order to get noticed! You want to grow your craft business, but there’s not enough time in the day. What to do? Team-blog!

Collaborative artisan blogs like Collective Creatives rock my world. Many hands make light work, so the individual artists have more time for creating.

Multi-author blogs like this also make great reading! You get a steady supply of fresh perspectives, and nobody burns out from constantly having to write something interesting. With the pool of writers involved, the blog gets updated often, so readers find it a lively place to visit.

(A different solution to lightening the load of blogging is to have periodic guest bloggers. That approach might sound better if you want to keep control over your own blog. But then you’ll have to keep track of articles that have been promised to you, so the job of managing the blog just gets bigger.)

The Collective Creatives blog I mentioned has about a dozen members, and I assume all of them are able to log right in and post a piece by themselves. Any “co-editor” like this should also be able to edit any posts or comments that need sprucing up. So, all of the blog duties can be shared.

Art Bead Scene is another group blog that seems to always be lively, with five editors contributing on a regular basis. Each has her own strengths, including a specialization in a particular kind of beadmaking. When you set up your team blog, think about what each potential member can bring to the experience. Will each of you be responsible for posting on a different day of the week? Or take care of whole weeks, in rotation?

The Blogging Queen wrote a good post on the question, Should you join a team blog? She does a great job of bringing up the main questions involved:

  • What will be the common theme (idea) of the blog?
  • How will you achieve a common “voice” or tone?
  • Will a team blog be beneficial to your own craft business? Put some thought into choosing your co-editors!

Have experiences with team blogs? Questions about how they work? Want to recommend a favorite one? Leave a comment below!

April giveaway: “DIY Display Ideas”:
* You enter by leaving comments under the March 31 giveaway announcement
* At the end of April, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*So read the blog regularly to see if you won!