...or $75, or $50...

…with Rings & Things gift certificates.

The holidays are coming.

Drop hints to your loved ones now

Vote for Rita Hutchinson

It’s voting season, so why not vote for the design: “Mystical Trios: Magical Butterfly Necklace”, by Rita Hutchinson?

Thanks a GR!

(Bead-supplier talk, for “thanks a million”!)

Subscribe to the “feed” from the Design Gallery.  You’ll have 10 new design ideas at a time delivered to your desktop.

How?  Click the orange RSS link, the iGoogle link, or the MyYahoo! link.  You’ll get a constantly updated list of our 10 latest jewelry projects.

Just like that!  We’ve had plenty of people say that they turn to us first when they have a new project idea.  Let us return the favor with some jewelry inspirations.

Enjoy!

My other car is a *real* bike!

The League of American Bicyclists recently announced 45 new Bicycle-Friendly Business (BFB) award winners, including Rings & Things. This was the third time BFB winners have been announced since the program’s inception in 2008, when the League announced the first 13 designees; it puts us in the ranks of businesses like Rodale Publishing, REI stores, and the World Bank.

BFB businesses make bicycle-friendliness a core element in the workplace, and use innovative tools to promote bicycling as an easy and fun option for transportation and recreation.

The BFB program recognizes socially responsible businesses that promote healthy, happy, and green workplaces, and provides a road map to become even more bike-friendly in the years to come.

BFB winners provide amenities such as secure bike parking and shower facilities, and motivations such as incentives to commute by bike and bike to Work Week promotions. When bicycling is infused in a company’s culture, great things happen: reduced health care costs; more productive employees; improved worker and customer satisfaction; smaller carbon footprint; and increased corporate social responsibility. It’s also fun to bike

Applying as a BFB is easy and free. Applicants receive technical assistance from the League staff as well as tools to evaluate and assess their bicycle friendliness through the application process.  Rings & Things encourages other businesses to make a difference by supporting employee bicycling.

Stacks of bead “shopping trays” spontaneously appear at our shows.  (These are action photos taken by cell phone…)

Mysterious bead stacks...

Been to our bead shows?  Know what these are all about?

...made by aliens?

If you have a theory, we’d be interested to hear it…leave a comment!

Introducing “Search by Color” for crystal beads in our CRYSTALLIZED™ -
Swarovski Elements section!  Thanks to Melissa for a ton of hard work to make this happen.  (Maybe I should say a gross of hard work…uh…)

Now you’re just a click away from seeing every single crystal bead color that we have, laid out in an attractive table.  As you can see, similar colors are grouped together — which makes it easy to build on a color theme, or find a substitute for a color you can’t get.

Let us know how you use “searching by color” in your crystal shopping…

Happy anniversary to Rings & Things!  We celebrated our 37th “birthday” this last weekend.  It was a big, fun bash.  I wanted to share a couple quick photos!

A Wubbers & wire (wrapping) demo with the EuroTool ladies

Visitors took in lots of demos: wire-wrapping, SoftFlex stringing with Sara, and metal-stamping “make & takes”.

Finding fun Czech beads was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel...

We had absolutely piles of great new beads that you haven’t seen in our catalog!

Dyed composite magnesite beads were an attention-getter!

]]> http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/08/19/happy-alabaster-anniverary-rings-and-things/feed/ 3 http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/08/10/love-our-bead-shows-win-a-guest-bead-helper-job/ http://www.rings-things.com/blog/2009/08/10/love-our-bead-shows-win-a-guest-bead-helper-job/#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:55:14 +0000 Dave Robertson http://www.rings-things.com/blog/?p=2215 If you live in the Northeast USA and can attend one of our late September bead shows, you could be a winner!

We’re scouting for our first-ever Guest Bead Helper!  You could be an honorary BeadTour bead-show worker, with all the fame and glory that come with that honor.

Who set that table so nicely?

For our first foray into roadie recruiting, we’re looking for someone who can say “Yes” to all of these questions:

• Can you leave a comment below, to enter?
• Can you attend one of these bead shows?

1. Rochester on Sept. 24
2. Boston on Sept. 26
3. New Haven on Sept. 27
4. East Hanover NJ on Sept. 29
5. Philadelphia on Sept. 30

• Can you “set tables” with trays of beads?
• Will you let us buy you lunch and give you a goodie tote?

Other perks of the “job” include meeting our friendly crew and getting a behind-the-scenes look at how bead shows are put together — not to mention getting to start bead shopping before we open the doors to the public!

PS:  It’s a bonus if you’re an active Facebook-er, Twitter-er or blogger.  We’d love it if you talked online about your roadie experience!

We’ll announce our winner on Wednesday, September 16th. Good luck to everyone who enters the drawing!

So enter by leaving a note below…mention which city you’d like to help us in!

Two Rings & Things artisans are featured in an art show celebrating the 70th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz”.  Appropriately held at the stalwart Tinman Gallery in Spokane, this OzVitational exhibit showcases artists’ unique takes on the legacy of Dorothy and friends.

Sondra Barrington, our Sales manager by day, mixed found objects with quality vintage-feel findings for a steampunk bracelet titled “Flying Monkeys”.  Like a wearable video clip (from the scariest part of the film!), this piece sports stills from the classic movie transferred onto copper stamping blanks.

When monkeys fly out of film onto charms!

• 37-189-9 gunmetal jump ring
• 40-377-9 gunmetal disk & loop
• 44-780-07 rectangle copper stamping blank
• 44-780-21 round copper stamping blank
• 37-145-00 assorted jump rings
• 86-910 image transfer solution (a really amazing product!)
• 86-343 Win-Ox
• 46-700-11 copper wire
• 37-422-7 copper head pins
• 49-993-06-AS zig zag edge beads *
• 69-299 metal stamping kit

Kurt (Metalman) Madison is our Art Clay Silver certified expert.  He and partner Margot Casstevens created a collaborative print/sculpture/jewelry piece that the Inlander newspaper called

“one-of-a-kind pendants — ruby slippers, a yellow brick road, the heart so sought after by Tinman himself — hang[ing] from inside their gray weathered box. A knothole in the wood becomes the “O” for Oz and the wood itself is said to be from Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse…if you let yourself drift to where childlike wonder lives, you can almost believe.”

The exterior of Kurt & Margot's "OZ BOX"

Many other gifted artists are in the show, too.  So if you’re in Spokane any time this month, head to the Garland District for a visual treat!

Great Southwestern-influenced earrings to introduce you to a really handy jewelry finding, the bead bar…

Our bead bars show off pretty amazonite beads...

Seasonally appropriate shark charms & rad surfboard pendants make this one a perfect guy / beachwear item… (update on August 13: I’m wearing this one to Rings & Things’ anniversary sale this weekend, so come see it in person):

A midsummer day's inspiration! The Shark Week necklace.

Here’s another finding we sell that will find an appreciative audience this time of year…

A fun, customized bottle opener for your thirsty customers! (Read the lettering)

So get yourself to the shade of a beach umbrella in a place that has wi-fi, pour some iced tea, and browse the dozens of fun new designs in our Gallery!  Did I mention we’ve added several whole new design categories?  Resin designs, beadables (great gift ideas), metal stamping, causes & awareness, and more…

Have a fun summery design idea?  Share it in a quick note below!

DON’T MISS OUR June-July giveaway:
* in our online store, find a fave product & review it there, then…
* …leave a comment about it at the contest article in our blog
* On August 3, five winners will receive coveted Rings & Things gift certificates!
* Enter often & see if you win!