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Meet the Lima Pets

Matt

My wife and I have a Maltese, Minnie, and a dwarf hamster, Sebastian (we call him Sea Bass). Now that we have our own place, Minnie can come live with us again. We’re so happy to have her back. We would try to sneak her in to the apartment every once in a while, but every time we walked out the door, she would bark like crazy. She obviously didn’t understand the consequences!

As for Sea Bass, he loves to run on his wheel. So much so that the constant  squeaking was keeping us up at night. After a few applications of olive oil on the plastic axle, I think we’ve finally fixed it.

Kevin & Ali

Ali and I adopted Dakota from The Humane Society 7 years ago. They told us he was 2 years old, but in the first 6 months after we brought him home, he gained 25 pounds. We figure he was more like 6 months! He’s about 8 years old now and still acts like a puppy — endless energy, high-pitched bark, and all. We like to play fetch with the tennis ball to see who gets tired first. It’s always me…

Steve

I don’t have any pets myself, but my closest animal companions are my girlfriend Shannon’s dog Reesey and lovebird Lanny. Reesey is an Irish Setter mix from an adoption shelter who is usually being lazy somewhere (except when there is a bird in sight). She has a wonderful temperament and loves walking on trails and sunning herself on the patio. Lanny the lovebird doesn’t care for me that much, but she loves cuddling up in blankets and looking out the window. Her beak is powerful (trust me), and one time she sat on Reesey’s head and pecked her, causing Reesey to keep her distance from then on!

Cathy

I have two crazy dogs. Their names are Diamond and Onyx. We probably spoil them too much.  We have had Diamond for 5 years now and Onyx for 4. They still act like puppies even though they are approaching middle age! They love each other and would be lost without one another. They love going for car rides, walks and bunny rabbits! My house would probably be a lot quieter without them, but I would not have it any other way!

Amy

My cats are strays we took in. Their names are Toots and Skittles. Great cats and apparently both are pregnant. My kids are excited but the possibility of maybe 12 kitties is crazy!! Anyone want one?

My dog’s name is Kira. She’s an 8 year old chocolate lab. She like swimming in our pond and has become an expert frog hunter! She pretends to not like the cats but we’ve caught her playing with them! I don’t know how she’ll do with the new kitties. Again, know anyone who wants a kitty?

Ingrid

This is my cat Max, who I adopted from the local humane society nine years ago.

He basically sleeps all day long, but those rare hours when he is awake he is underfoot, looking for attention, and is without a doubt purring. Unfortunately, he had to stay home with my parents when I went off to school, but luckily he still remembers me when I come home! Even though I probably have a biased opinion, I truly believe that he is the best cat ever!

What about you? We’d really love to hear more about your animal companions in the comments below. Take the poll, then upload photos or tell a funny story! The poll is multiple choice, so select as many furry, feathered, or scaled friends as you’d like.

As I mentioned last time, now that we are moving into a new space and starting to pack up all of our belongings, we are finding beads we didn’t even know we had! Ali and I were digging around in the order checkin room last week and we found these great little green vein jasper nuggets. This is an interesting stone. The base is a dijon mustard color and the veins are a forest green color that seem to glow from the inside. This tumbled nugget is one of my favorite shapes too because of its versatility and variation. Each one is different!

The Fresh Daily Deal

This deal will be available through Wednesday July 8th. After that, it will be removed.

Green Vein Jasper Tumbled Nugget 7-11x10-14mm

16" strand: $1.85 (53% off!)

This expired on July 9. Watch for more deals soon!

• These deals will only be available on The Fresh Daily Blog for a predetermined amount of time
• Once the deals expire, we won’t be able to offer rain checks
• Available while supplies last! The items will not expire from your shopping bag, but as with any item, once it sells out, it will automatically be removed. If that happens, we won’t be able to replace it, so place your order quickly! Again, we won’t be able to replace items that are removed from your bag and we’re unable to offer rain checks or substitutions. These items will go quickly.
• If we sell out before this deal is supposed to end, we’ll have to take it down early.

I’ve tried big breakfasts and small breakfasts. Bagels and English muffins? Check. Breakfast bars are stashed in my car (cereal bars, granola variants, and toaster pastries). I’ve combined the above with breakfast shakes, and I have a mug of coffee each morning. You’ll notice that all these things don’t require much prep work, and I prefer to eat in the car I’m going to be trying more fruits for the summer, and once in a great while I get a craving for the golden arches.

I’m convinced of two things. The more sugar, the worse off I am! The frosted pastries and sugar-suffed cereal bars are tasty, but they definitely don’t sustain me. Secondly, I need some consistency from day to day… random meals means random performance in my case!

What’s on YOUR breakfast menu? Let us know!

Corpse Bride by Wickwire Jewelry

Well, that was a week ago and so far, the gallery has functioned properly (for the most part) and there are already 270 designs uploaded, so I think we know the answer to #2 as well I can’t believe the awesome designs that have been shared so far. I knew that we had some talented customers, but to see the actual photos makes us really happy. So far we’ve seen cool combinations of stones, incredible wire work, custom made beads, symmetrical designs, asymmetrical designs, large focals, small focals, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, sets, and more!

Step-by-Step Instructions

With each design added to The Gallery, the designer has the option to provide design instructions. These instructions are shown as a step-by-step list and if desired, photos can be added for each step. If you’ve ever wanted to teach a beading class or help beaders that are just getting started, here’s your chance!

Designs that have instructions:

• Para Ibeth
• Kenya
• Carnelian Queen
• Royal in Blue
• Colour Stone Necklace

Matt bought a necklace!

The day we launched the gallery, Tab (a Lima customer) promptly added some of her designs. Matt liked her Sterling Silver Necklace with Cubic Zirconias and Freshwater Pearls so much, he decided he just had to have it for his wife. He contacted Tab and let’s just say that within a few weeks, Matt’s wife will be getting a surprise!

Tab's Necklace

What do you think of the design gallery so far? Have any favorite designs or designers? Do you plan to share some of your designs? Let us know!

Last, but not least — thank you so much to everyone that has shared a design. It’s so interesting to see all of the different styles and materials. I know that everyone is having a wonderful time browsing the gallery.

1. *Laurel* by Valentine Chick
2. 精衛 by D D Mystic Chick
3. A Mermaid’s Necklace by Cuban Queen Crazy Chick
4. Walk on the Beach by Smoky Rose
5. The Clouds in the Sky by Elaine aka Belly Chick
6. Summer Dreams by Fashion Chick aka SC
7. Droplets by Sandy S
8. Waiting for a sunny day by Wemai Coffee Chick
9. Beautiful Summer Evening by Allure of Gems by Julia
10. Starry Midnight by Southern Chick

What stands out with this set of favorites is how much blue, green and brown are being used.

*Laurel* -  This is great, your pick definitely evokes images in my mind of the mountain laurel we had in our yard growing up. I like the combinations of pinks and greens — really rich.  The silver green keishi pearls we are adding tomorrow would look great with this :) 

精衛 – Kudos for creative inspiration!  The Chinese ocean jasper looks great with the mystic blue… who knew?   I like your description, it really helps imagine how these would all work together. 

A Mermaid’s Necklace – As I’ve said so many times, I love green fluorite, I think because it reminds me of beach glass.  Sticking with the “beachy/mermaid” feel, I think I would probably use Green Girl Pewter Starfish Toggle Clasp to finish the piece.  I love how subtle this combination is.  

I have been compiling a list over the past few months of things that make for great inspirations when designing and thought that it would be nice to share an abbreviated list with all of you:

What is currently inspiring your designs?

The Design Gallery has photos and descriptions of the pieces, along with a listing of components that the designer used. Some designs will even include step-by-step directions on how to create the piece yourself. And of course, anyone with a Lima Beads account can comment on the designs and share their thoughts, ideas, and compliments.

Adding your own designs is easy…

• Log into your account
• Head on over to The Design Gallery
• Click “Add Yours Now!” to start your submission!

We’re excited to see what all of our beading customers create! And we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have in the comments.

On the About Lima page, we talk a little bit about the kind of work environment we like. We definitely don’t want to be out in a boring warehouse in the middle of some industrial park, but we’re also getting a little too big to be in our downtown loft. For the past 5 years we’ve managed to grow every year with no elevator, cramped spaces, and bathrooms that are showing their 70 year old age. We set out 6 months ago to find an office space that would give us the convenience of a warehouse environment (large open space with an overhead door) and the “coolness” of a loft/downtown that we have in our current space.

A cool loft-type space WITH a warehouse, downtown, in a college town? We’re an ambitious team, but even most of the real estate agents in town just gave us a funny look when we listed those requirements. I’m proud to say that our stubbornness paid off! We found a space within walking distance to downtown that used to be an old dance studio. You know what that means… TONS of open space. The owner of the building has agreed to do an extensive buildout for us, so we’ll have our cool work environment, complete with open floor plan, nice kitchen with a bar, lots of natural light, etc..

Warehouse A

Here are some before pictures. The one on the left is the view of the open (warehouse) space. We’ll fill it up with shelving in no time The picture below is a portion of the office space. There’s not much there that will stay the same. The wall on the right is being torn out as we speak and this space will open into our kitchen. The bar will be running along the space where the wall is now. The flooring, colors, and lighting will all change. The wall on the left will be opened up with glass and that will be where our creative team works. There’s space up front where we’ll be putting a conference room, a coat/break room for the team, and of course, a big room just for hanging out!

Office area before

We can’t wait to move in. We’ll be sure to post some “after” pictures so you can see how it turned out.

Thanks everyone! We appreciate your business so much. We’re so excited to keep growing, keep getting our hands on great beads, and to keep doing cool stuff on our site. The delay on carrying silver, glass, findings, chain, and all of the other things you want to see has been caused by our lack of space. As soon as we move into the new space, you’re going to see our product offering increase exponentially!

Thanks again,

Kevin

Your Profile

A profile page

In The Garden, everyone has a profile page. It’s an overview of what you’ve been up to, along with your bio (if you choose to write one), your picture, and a link to your web site. Your profile page also has a “comment wire”, which is a place for your friends to leave you a short message, or for you to post a status update (more on that below). So check out your profile to begin!

Finding Other Beaders’ Profiles

To see what everyone else is up to (and drop them a note if you want), you can look at their profile pages. To find other beaders like this, just click on their name or picture when you see it appear somewhere (a good place is the “Who’s Online?” section on the main page). We also have a directory of the members–check it out!

Your Wire

In The Garden, a “wire” is just like a whiteboard where you and your friends can write little comments, messages, or status updates. You have one on your profile page, and you can type a message on your wire anytime you want (going on vacation? having an inspirational moment? your dog just did something that you can’t resist sharing?)… and your friends can drop you a line here, too! Anyone can see your wire (just check out someone’s profile page to see what I mean), so if you’re looking for a way to communicate privately, I’ll explain in a bit…

Groups

Groups are collections of beaders with similar interests. Right now, we have a handful of groups to join. There are two unique things about groups: a group “wire” and forum topics. The group wire is just like your personal wire–it’s great for sharing short ideas or messages with the whole group. There’s also a forum where group members can start topics and post back and forth for more in-depth conversations. Check out the Jewelry Sellers group for an example (and once you have a Garden Profile, you can click “Join Goup” to join!). Have ideas for new groups? Leave a comment below!

Friends

Just like on other web sites, you can “friend” people by going to their profile page and clicking “Add Friend”. It will send them a request that they can accept to complete the connection. This will help in two ways… for one, your friends are listed under your profile so you can access them easily to check out what they’ve been up to lately. Secondly, once you’re friends you can leave messages on each other’s wires. So get going and make some friends!

Messages

Looking for a way to send a more private message? When you’re looking at someone’s profile, you can click “Send Message” to send them a private message. This is just like an e-mail but you don’t need to know that person’s e-mail address. Whether it’s a note of encouragement, an invitation to a craft show, or a question–this is a more private way to communicate than posting a note on someone’s wire that other people can see.

More to Come: Design Gallery

Next week, we’ll be launching the Design Gallery. We’re really excited to see the awesome creations that you make–and this will be a place to share them with the world. It’s coming June 18th! Stay tuned, and get your digital camera ready

Any questions? Feel free to leave a comment below. Or, if you’re a member of the Garden, you can check out my profile and send me a message or post on my wire.

Our New Home!

I briefly mentioned this in my “Matt Needs Help Beading” post, but my wife and I have been house hunting for awhile. After 2 realtors, 50 viewings, and 4 offers, we’ve finally found our house! We close this Wednesday at 10 a.m.

We’re obviously really excited about it. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1447 square foot colonial with a full basement. It’s nestled in a quiet cul-de-sac and the neighborhood seems really nice. It comes with all of the appliances and a gas fireplace. It’s way more of house than I ever would’ve imagined for being our first.

It was built in 2002, but it hasn’t been lived in for two years. So, the yard is in horrible condition and there are some minor cosmetic updates that need to be done before we can truly enjoy our new home. What was once well-crafted landscaping is now a mix of overgrown shrubs and weeds. The lawn consists of dandelions with grub-infested crab grass. It looks like there used to be sod, but the grubs, or something, has ruined it.

Here’s the Honey-Do list that my wife has so lovingly crafted for me us:

1. The lawn: This is probably the biggest and most rewarding project that we have to work on this summer. I’ve been reading up on how to keep a beautiful lawn, but I have no idea on how to restart a lawn after years of neglect.
2. Paint the living room, dining room and the kitchen: We’ve already picked out colors for those rooms, so the fun part is over. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind painting, it’s just one of those things that can get expensive if you’re not careful.
3. Weed the garden: I really enjoy gardening. I’ve been gardening with my Mom since I can remember, so I can’t wait to get my hands dirty in my own soil. Speaking of “Gardens,” isn’t there a new Lima feature launching tomorrow?
4. Clean the bird doo-doo off of the siding: Some birds have been nesting in our attic vents and trim, so they’ve made a mess of my siding. If only I could charge them for room and board.
5. Level the patio: There’s a patio attached to the back of the house, which is nice, but they must not have packed the ground good enough before they poured the cement. Since the patio is actually attached to the house, it’s pulling some of the siding as it’s falling to one side. I think it’s probably done falling, but I’d like to level it without cracking.

Not a very hefty list, but unfortunately, a lot of these things won’t just happen overnight. It’s going to take a lot of time, hard work and dedication, but it will totally be worth it when it’s over.

If you have any tips or advice that might help me in my homeownership, please post them in the comments below. Wish us luck!