Tag Archives: 2014 Bead Shop Hop

Who knew Upland, CA was such a cute, quiet, sweet little town? That’s the impression we got rolling in off the 10 fwy and it was a welcome one. You can’t help but get antsy in that last stretch of the day – and the Hop – when you’re this close to finishing.

If I were in the middle of nowhere with the nearest other bead store 30 miles away, Garden of Beaden would fill my needs quite nicely. All the basics, and more to boot. There was an added bonus of some lovely vintage glass you don’t see in every store..kinda of like going to the sticks to find that one antique chair or table that’s the last of its kind. With a nice area in the back for classes, this is another one of those stores I can imaging the local secret society of Beadin’ Babes would hang out on Friday nights ordering pizza, trading tips and techniques and teaching those new to the craft their age-old rites.

It was a Jungle in there – no, literally a jungle, right out of the Jungle Book. The pineapple punch was particularly good and they were quite generous with the snacks. This store has a nice vibe, along with a steady, store-packed stream of Bead Shop Hoppers like us. When they showed us their Make n Take I was so tempted to stop and make it there, having gotten the Make n Take fever from the last store, but my stomach was growling and we had one last store stop before our victory dinner at Slater’s 50/50 in Pasadena. I could see my husband itching to get there as well.

Here’s what they offered –

Theme: The Jungle Book

Charm: a cute little monkey in silver or gold AND one that had moving parts and one that didn’t. I took a silver one that didn’t move and Dennis took one that did.

Goodies: A discount upon returning in the future. Not sure what they had as far as if you bought $25.00 or more as I was hanging on to those last dollars for dear life!

Not surprisingly low on funds set aside for this trip, the only item I picked up was their Make n Take Genie’s Lamp. It was just too darn cute to pass up!

After discussing the possibility of me teaching a class there, we jumped back in the car, enjoying what we could of the nice (and cooler) evening air settling in and headed for our Final Destination – Pasadena Bead & Design Company.

We interrupt this blog and store #10’s review to announce that the SCLBSA (Southern California Local Bead Store Association) announced the winners today of the So. Cal Bead Shop Hop.

I knew today was announcement day, but was still surprised when my husband called saying a store had called him to say HE had won the Participation Prize! How did he do it?!? He had only signed up to do the LAST THREE STORES!!!

I told him on the drive home Saturday night that this would happen. That HE would win something and I wouldn’t and that would be the funny part of all of this. I just didn’t think my joke would actually come true!

Now I know what I’m getting for Christmas.

The Eastern most store in Region 1 of the Southern California Bead Shop Hop is way out in Redlands – about an hour and 40 minutes from my studio in the San Fernando Valley. So close to the Autumn Equinox and the season change into Fall, we were blessed with slightly cooler temperatures both at home and this far out into the desert. My husband, Dennis, being the chivalrous soul that he is, was willing to accompany me into the deepest regions of San Bernardino County IF we hit the Spaghetti Factory for their legendary mizithra cheese AND finished the day off with a trip to his newest favorite restaurant in Pasadena – Slaters 50/50.

It was an equitable trade for dragging him all over the county bead hopping.

This was the first of virgin territory bead stores for today, and, it turns out, the most fun. Easy to get to off the dead-ended 210/10 freeway junctions, a HUGE Bead Shop Hop sign gave no doubt we were where we were supposed to be. (That was a tricky sentence to write!).

This year’s Hop has themes of books and there was no friggin’ doubt what their book was when we were stared down by this imposing greeter RIGHT INSIDE THE DOOR!

This couldn’t be much more perfect this close to Halloween!

The friendly staff checked us in, giving us goodie bags and explaining the prizes and Make n Take on the cute little white desk behind us.

The Make n Take was necklace centerpiece of a small photograph in a frame. There were pages of beautiful retro images featuring nature, bird’s nests, etc., but when I saw the page of Disney Frozen images, the one of Elsa somehow reached out, grabbed my hand and I was sitting down making not one but TWO necklaces! To see the video tutorial on how I did it, go here.

This store really gets the prize for best presentation of theme throughout the 11 stores so far. The store had converted their classroom into this:

So, here’s where the store fell as far as what every store was offering:

Theme: Little Red Riding Hood

Charm: The little girl from Little Red Riding Hood (complete with basket!).

Goodies: Wow, so many! A little cardboard basket stuffed FULL of beads (even the clasp was a button bead!), a bottle cap necklace pendant with Red Riding Hood on it for spending $25.00 or more, TWO spinners – one for what discount you got and one for an additional a charm like the one we made, but with a butterfly.

Now on to our haul:

There was no surprise after making the pendant and seeing how easy it was, that the haul is ALL pendant-oriented with complete supplies to make more. Top left, clockwise: 3D Crystal Lacquer, some BEAUTIFUL peacock pics for the centerpiece of the pendants, double-sided, sticky Jeweler’s Dots to hold the finished image firmly in the frame, crystal domes to protect the image and the frames to hold the whole thing together.

And here are the goodies we came out with:

What a great store! This, so far, as far as creativity and fun with their theme, was the crown jewel in Region 1.

Tomorrow – Garden of Beadin’, Upland.

Ahhhh….the store I have been waiting to do ever since the heat wave struck Southern California! We are finally within sight of the Pacific Ocean, walking distance from Santa Monica Boardwalk. Beadahs, you are a welcome sight for this heat-stroked bead hopper!

A block West of the fabled (at least the signs say it’s world-renowned) outdoor Third Street Promenade, Beadahs is tucked away amongst clothing stores and vegan restaurants. Steering VERY clear of the vegans (hard-core carnivore here, thank you), the husband and I have an easy time of finding our target. Yes, the heat has gotten to the significant other so much, he decided to follow me to cooler climes.

I love what they have done with their chosen book theme – The Great Gatsby. The greeter and staff are decked out in lovely 20’s dress. As we check in, we are given our charm and the chance to play a boardwalk game of tossing olive ping pong balls into champagne glasses. My aim only started to get better with the last couple of throws – which I bet happens to everyone. They still gave us a beady gift for trying and turned us loose to shop.

The store interior is a pleasant mix of touristy and African trade style with wooden trays, bamboo legged tables and ethnic decor. As usual, I hit the seed bead wall, then looked for unusual items.

With a budget wearing thin and three more stores left after this in order to complete Region 1, I was very picky about what I procured. Sometimes, yes, a girl can have too many beads – and definitely not enough time to do anything with them. I stuck with some beautiful, antique raspberry satin seed beads, an unusual, oval copper spacer bead tube and some STUNNING, iridescent insect wing beads I have been longing to get but have not seen in all seven stores until now.

Stats:

Theme: The Great Gatsby

Charm: I believe it was an olive glass. I can’t locate the charm to confirm this, but that’s what I recall.

Goodies: a welcome bag of candy and a $5.00 off coupon with a $30 purchase in between October 31st – November 26th.

The Haul:

Clockwise, starting top left: iridescent insect wing beads, TierraCast Charm samples, oval Copper Spacer bead tube and Size 11 and 8 Raspberry Satin Seed Beads.

Beadahs was a fun store and a pleasure to visit. Thanks for the olive toss. Can I bring one home?

Next – A Rolling Stone, Redlands.

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!!!

After leaving Chino to go West, our second stop was at Brea Bead Works in Brea. This was another store completely new to me and that is the worst possible thing you can do to a Bead Whore’s pocketbook, believe me!

Tucked in a largish strip mall right off the 57 freeway, you can’t beat it for convenience. Fairly certain nothing could beat seeing a pony today in Chino, I was still taken aback when the greeter said we were going to do some trivia to start with, opened a book and it started yelling, “WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!!!” at me. I had to laugh at the song, being completely unfamiliar with their theme book being “Marley and Me”. So this place is about canines today. Okay, I get it now.

I really like this little store – it is well laid out and has a nice variety of anything a bead whore like me would want. The first thing I saw were the tools and remembered my need for a hammer for tempering jump rings – something I want to experiment with. Plastic vs. rubber mallets…they had only plastic and the store greeter was very helpful with advice on what to use and if it would work with what I wanted to do.

The wall of seed beads called me next, as they always do. Frosted autumn colors and Halloween orange caught my eye, as well as some smaller tubes of purple iridescent drops and super duos. Heaven knows I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with all these duos yet – I have an inkling, but until I sit down to do it, I seem determined to collect all the shiny colors I can get my hands on as well as check out what is available locally. I NEVER buy seed beads online and wouldn’t unless I had an exact item number. Do not trust the colors as interpreted on your computer monitor – they are NEVER completely accurate!

Oh and one more thing before the stats – even though their theme is dogs, I HAD to buy a cat bead bracelet #1 because it is so cute and #2 because it is for a good cause. Oh, and it’s in Halloween colors, too.

Stat time!

Theme – Dogs (of course)

Charm – Guess what? Another dog! (a really tiny one, too)

Goodies – Spacer beads YEAH!, a funny-looking black dog bookmark, a portable measuring tape and 20% off any purchase from Oct. 1 – Dec 31st and these:

Homemade sugar cookies that morning by the owner. They were very good and I am liking this store more and more now!

The Haul:

Left, clockwise starting from top left: Size 8 Gold Luster Raspberry seed beads, Size 8 Opaque Frost Sunset Orange seed beads (you should see the color in person – GORGEOUS!), 4 vials of Super Duo and Teardrop purple iridescent beads, 3 tubes of frosted greed seed beads in Sizes 8 and 11 S/L Frosted Peridot and Size 11 Matte S/L green. (“S/L” stands for “silver lined”, by the way). Unpictured – the plastic head hammer I picked up. (A hammer’s a hammer, right? You don’t have it see it to picture it!)

Right panel: the giveaway goodies for coming in and handing them my credit card: a fuzzy, black dog bookmark, portable measuring tape, a coupon for 20% off the next purchase in the next two months and 3 packs of metal spacer beads.

Of the two stores way out here in the sticks (as far as my house is concerned), I would definitely make an effort to come back to Brea Bead Works if I started a project with their beads. Then I would take the half hour and go back East to Bead It! to have a slice of pizza and chat with the locals – even if the pony isn’t still there.

Thank you Brea for a great experience in miserable, triple digit conditions!

Next – either Beadahs in Santa Monica or a progress report on my beading – better get to it so I have something to report!

With 100+ temperatures running rampant in Southern California, the day I dreaded had finally come – the day I HAD to tackle the Inland Empire stores in Region 1. If you glance at the map above, you can see what I mean when you look at stores #6 & #7. They creep Eastward, towards the desert. And when I say desert, I mean DESERT. See that little lone #12 store out in Palm DESERT? The place of nearly eternal 100+ temps? Yeah, that’s the direction.

I was headed towards HELL with a water bottle in one hand and my Shop Hop map in the other.

Store #6 (or #7 on the map), has the monopoly on the cute little town of Chino off the 60 and 71 out near Pomona. I had zoomed past this area a dozen times on the way to my favorite dried herb and pagan-friendly store Dragonmarsh, but had never venture into this area. I like the small town vibe and the very friendly local beadwhores (like me) who were gathered inside at the make-and-take table, beading, chatting, eating pizza. I would fit in here perfectly and would be there every Saturday night if it weren’t an 80 mile drive there from Chatsworth.

This store takes the prize for best themed mascot. I could literally say I drove 80 miles into the deserts of California to see a ladybug because the ADORABLE little black pony just outside the front door in the parking lot was named Ladybug. Inside were horseshoes on the walls and store mavens with black horse t-shirts – they were all over this theme like flies around, well, a horse. But Ladybug, to her handler’s credit, had no flies and was being pampered under her own tent with lots of water on her back and much love from everyone store hopping.

The wall of seed bead tubes is very reasonably priced – so much so that I again lost my mind (I do that a lot in bead stores) and bought wayyyyy too many vials. The czech pearls also got me, but I stocked up on something I had been eyeing at every store so far and kept in the back of my mind – tools! Tools I need and tools to craft jewelry a little more expertly than what I’ve been doing in the past. Yes, it is time to step up my game!

Their theme and goodie stats went something like this:

Theme – the book “Black Beauty”, hence everything horse.

Charm – a black stallion (very pretty!)

Goodies – a choice of beads or tools – I took a triangular bead scoop – been wanting that for a LONG TIME. A 20% off coupon good in October, a fuzzy mat to keep beads from escaping onto the floor and a strand of free czech pearl-like beads.

The haul:

Left to right – chain nose pliers, round nose pliers, Thread Burner, ShowOff Pen, Bead size and quantity wallet reference card, containment “fuzzy” pad for those runaway seed beads.

Left to right – Burgundy Czech Glass Pearls, Dark Blue Czech Glass Pearls, 2-holed Czech Glass “Brick” beads in Iris Blue and Matt Iris Blue. The rest – thank you for visiting goodies – charm, bead scoop, textured pearl beads.

Top – Left to right – Size 8 seed beads, a whole slew of seed beads in various shades of purple…8’s, 11’s and teardrop shaped, silver beads.

Bottom – Left to right – more 8’s in beautiful blues, super duos, small dagger beads.

None of these had color names, just numbers.

They also included FULL SIZED water bottles in the thank you bags. No, THANK YOU! Just what the travelling bead whore ordered.

Since I only tackled THREE stores this weekend, I will intersperse the posts with plans for all this treasure. Stay tuned for tomorrow as I reorganize my workspace and introduce the new beads to the old residents. Will they get along? Who the hell knows!!!

Okay, so now that you know how these crazy Bead Shop Hops work, want to know a bit of history about it? How did all this insanity get started?

So did I. I wasn’t actively looking, but found the answer on, of all social media platforms, Pinterest. A Pin there led me to Wild Things Beads website where they chronicled the adventure. I like Wild Things – I’ve bought many of their beads in the past at Santa Monica Gem & Jewelry shows and probably other local So. Cal. shows too many and for too long to mention.

According to them, it began with the team at Brea Bead Works and a customer who brought them the idea of a Yarn Hop and said why doesn’t someone do this with bead stores? It was at a time in the late 2000’s when the economy was depressed and in flux with the increased interest in the Internet. Times like these are fertile ground for new and innovative ideas and thanks to their perseverance through a rough start, it took off once the proper organization was formed to run it.

To read the whole story and how much fun even bead store owners can have Bead Shop Hopping on their days off, read the whole thing here.

Sunday was the day of a local meeting for the convention we run our annual blood drive with, so there was only time to run to a single store – Beadtopia in El Segundo.

I was in such a rush I forgot to take a pic of the outside of the store, but it is easy to find, nestled in among older storefronts on a quaint side street downtown.

Beadtopia is one of the smaller stores on the Hop so far, but no less packed with goodies – a few of which I had been kicking around needing, such as Tool Magic tool dip and some dragonfly charms of a higher quality than the ones I had tried in the past from a store just down the street from my house. Note to self – closer is NOT always better.

I was charmed – pardon the pun – by a Make and Take bracelet at the counter. The hard decision was what finish to get it in – gold, silver or copper. I always go for silver, so this time I got the gold one, just to be different and because it was shinier!

Their selection of charms, as I have mentioned earlier, is of a much better quality than a certain local store who shall remain nameless. It’s just a shame that Beadtopia is a freakin’ 50 minutes away through the worst traffic corridor in Southern California – the San Diego 405 freeway. Future forays here will have to be well-planned and thought out, but they could potentially be worth it.

Their stats go something like:

Theme – The Poems of Emily Dickinson

Charm – a beautiful, filigree, silver heart

Gifts – a large, beautiful silver feather charm on a carded poem and a punch card for 25% off five strands of beads on my next visit, good until March 31, 2015.

Being wretchedly ignorant of all things Dickinson, the store owner’s attempts to get me to enter their poetry contest failed, but it didn’t put a dent in my enthusiasm to check out a new store. Something on the back wall I really liked (and wished they had more of) were LARGE TUBES of Miyuki Delica Beads. I mean, I’ve only seen them in tiny vials before. Who would have thought they came in bigger quantities?!? Nice! I gave a vial of silver-lined and oil-slicked seeds a new home.

To say they are friendly here is an understatement. There were cookies out and we got into at least 30 minutes of discussion on Doctor Who, James Bond and family stuff with them and the other customers. No one was in a hurry on this quiet Sunday and that was worth the trip in of itself. I gave out business cards and may have gained a new peyote stitch student if she calls me.

Here’s what I gave a home to:

Top, left to right – acrylic roses, key charms, silver filigree toggles.

Middle – left to right – Silver dragonfly charms, Miyuki Japanese Seed Beads in oil-slicked and silver lined colors, more dragonfly charms.

Below Middle – left to right – silver feather charms.

Bottom – Make and Take “Heart Strings” bracelet, 22 gauge silver bead wire.

That’s it for this first weekend of the Shop Hop. Store posts will resume on Monday, but in the meantime, check back tomorrow for The History of the Southern California Bead Shop Hop.