Euro Beads Boutique

Let the Creative Process Begin!

Susan — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:08:25 +0000

There’s still snow in our backyard, but I know that beneath the snow is a hidden treasure of perennial plants and bulbs. Everything is so ready to burst into spring! The days are lighter and last longer, allowing me to take advantage of the natural brightness when working with glass.

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The women who bid on a group jewelry lesson at auction had gathered in my friend Nancy’s living room as she gave an interesting overview of glass jewelry. I loved hearing the enthusiastic questions. We moved to the dining room table and each took a seat. I was thrilled to see Nancy’s beads and findings laid out for us to admire. It was fun to hear the stories about how she came by them. I couldn’t resist asking to see her “bead room.” Nancy’s stuff was beautifully organized along the bookshelf on the wall. The desk below was a very neat workstation. It was perfect! I have to admit, I was completely jealous, but it inspired me to reorganize!

A friend, Allison, joked some years back that there were “pilers” and there were “filers.” I’m definitely in the “piler” category. My husband teases me about my “Susan piles” although admittedly everyone else in my family does the same thing. My piles are just more colorful! I need to see color to be inspired. So when I get in the mood to make jewelry I go with it. I like to ponder design ideas and keep beads on separate boards. I usually have about 10 boards going at one time. For me, the joy of working with glass beads is indescribable. I lose all track of time… and therein lies the rub. I never seem to have the time to put my stuff away.

It’s amazing what you can do when you are motivated! I’m still working on it, but I’ve already opened up more space in my studio and have found better ways to use it. In the process I’ve also discovered more beads and many pieces that need to be finished off and posted to inventory. I suspect the next few weeks will be fun. I’m ready to let the creative process begin!

~Susan

The Color of the Month is Teal!

Susan — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:05:40 +0000

A recent post on my

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Facebook Fan Page caught my eye: “Susan, can I ask, have you had ovarian cancer or is this more a cause near and dear to you?” A valid question to ask since I’ve been doing so

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much posting about teal charms lately. Teal is the symbolic color of Ovarian Cancer Awareness which takes place largely during the month of September.

At age 36 I had a complete hysterectomy. A month prior I had been in constant, agonizing pain, feeling as if I were in the last stages of labor. How does one not sound crazy describing labor pains when you are clearly not pregnant?! Turns out, my medical experience was the exception, not the rule. I was referred to just the right doctor at just the right time. He was so approachable, a good listener, knowledgeable, and a very thorough diagnostician. It also didn’t hurt that he was a fine gynecological surgeon and a true “old school” professional. The surgery left my body completely traumatized, but thankfully, biopsies determined that I was pre-cancerous.

How lucky I was to have access to my doctor so early on! I actually received “preventative” treatment and am so grateful that I was spared from developing ovarian cancer. At the same time I also feel a kinship and deep admiration for “Teal Warriors.” By the time many learn of their diagnosis, their cancer is in the later stages. My mom-in-law is now terminal after battling ovarian cancer for over 5 years. My sister died in April after battling bladder cancer for ten years. There’s a long and growing list of the many loved ones that I’ve lost to cancer.

It’s heartening to see so many Ovarian Cancer foundations spreading the word! During the past year I’ve included symptom cards alternately from

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Teal Toes, Inc. and

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Ribbons to Remember in the packages I send to my customers. I hope the cards get passed from one friend to another. Spreading knowledge is one facet of the work that needs to be done. Fundraising is also necessary for the Foundations to meet their mission. To that end, I carry a collection of hand-made European TEAL fundraising beads and charms. I donate 10% of proceeds to both organizations. Another website Fancy Scrubs sells teal clogs and teal scrubs to health professionals and donates proceeds as well. We both feel being involved brings more meaning to what we do. Although the official month for Ovarian Cancer Awareness is about to end, I want to keep the conversation going. This message is too important to limit information to just one month a year!

Be well!

How Many Shades of Green Do You See?

Susan — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:57:30 +0000

We’ve had snow in October and summer in March up here in New England!

You learn to keep transitional clothing on hand and then buckle up for the unexpected. This morning I walked in the gardens, looking for early signs of growth. Bursts of

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color appeared with the early blooms of Snow Drops, Lenten Roses, Daffodils, Forsythia, Weeping Cherry and such. But it’s the various shades of green side-by-side with the neutral tones of the garden bed that fascinate me.

How many different kinds of green can you point out on a quick trip outdoors? The spectrum runs from the bright greenish-yellow of early Day Lilies to the bluish green of the Spruce tree. I counted 27 shades of green in five minutes. I was ecstatic! My mind strayed to garden design; what I’ll move where and which colors I need more of and which need less.

Colors never overwhelm me. Quite the opposite! I immediately see patterns and color arrangement whether indoors or outdoors. It explains why I’m naturally drawn to gardening, photography, jewelry design, and working with the wide holed European glass beads and charms. This past month I was lucky enough to interact with many friendly new customers. It was so enlightening to hear their questions! Here’s what I learned:

Many people do get overwhelmed by too many colors.
It becomes tedious selecting colors and patterns that work together as a whole.
Many people don’t feel creative enough to design a bracelet for themselves, never mind for a gift.
Using the Wish List is helpful, but only if the beads are available by the time final selections are made.
Metric measurements are not intuitively helpful .

I’m glad I was given the opportunity to put myself in the customer’s shoes. I realize now that just because I ‘m fascinated by the many shades of green doesn’t mean you are! I’m always striving to exceed your expectations. I’ll continue to tweak the site and services so that shopping on-line is fun and efficient for you. Customer service is my mission! For digestible highlights of what’s up in the boutique follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eurobeads

Making a Difference One Charm at a Time

Susan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:26:52 +0000

“It’s better to give than receive,” is a phrase I’ve heard many times before. This year my husband and I decided to forgo buying each other gifts during the holiday season. Instead, we chose to donate to a hospice in our town that badly needed renovation. Instead of mailing the check, we chose to deliver it in person. The joy we experienced was incredible! It really makes your heart sing when you know that your donation will help to make a difference in someone’s life.

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September is dedicated to raising awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms and is symbolized by the color teal. It’s January! Why am I talking about something that takes place in September? The answer is that I want to raise awareness year-round. To that end, I enclose an ovarian symptom card with every order I send out. I’m grateful to the organizations Teal Toes and Ribbons to Remember for providing me with these cards.

By nature, I’m more comfortable giving things away than I am with selling them. I was so happy to discover that having a mission to raise money for a cause I strongly believe in has not only helped me overcome my shyness, it has actually brought me much personal satisfaction!

My plan for this month is to round up all of my teal European glass bead charms and organize them into a “collection.” The process is painstakingly slow as each bead needs to be photographed, numbered, described, and then uploaded to my website. I’m committed to donating 10% of gross proceeds for every teal bead charm and teal glass jewelry I sell.

As a fledgling website, I didn’t raise as much as I hoped during 2011. But I did meet many phenomenal women who have either had ovarian cancer or have lost a loved one to it. My mom-in-law has bravely battled this cancer for five years. She’s my inspiration! My hope for 2012 is to raise awareness and help researchers get closer to a cure! Join me, won’t you?

Why Do You Collect Murano Bead Charms?

Susan — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:55:15 +0000

It occurs to me that I’ve been a “collector” all my life. Some notables on the list: Barbie Doll shoes, Girl Scout badges, Scholastic books, pen pals, beads, Christmas ornaments, etc. If you’re a baby boomer, you’ve probably collected some of the same things. Most childhood passions I outgrew, but my love for collecting Christmas ornaments has never wavered.

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I wax nostalgic every year as I listen to Johnny Mathis croon my favorite Christmas carols. Warm memories fill my heart as I unwrap and examine each beloved Christmas ornament. I can tell you exactly how I came to possess each one and how it relates to my life and family. I smile as I finish arranging the ornaments on the tree. I’m comforted by the love and memories this life-long collection holds. I feel blessed to have a tangible way to connect to another place and time. It’s no longer just a hobby, it’s an integral part of the way I celebrate Christmas every year. It’s definitely one of my most avid interests! Isn’t that what collecting is all about?

We enjoy finding tangible symbols to mark the milestones in our life. Collecting European murano glass bead charms is a modern and timeless way to memorialize those special moments. Many jewelry commercials this holiday season reminded us how happy this meaningful and sentimental gift would make the lucky lady receiving it. Much like the ornaments on my tree, the bead charms arranged on a bracelet can beautifully display the story of your life. And unlike Facebook, you won’t need to have a timeline to do this!

Before I sign off, can I ask you a little favor? Would you leave a comment telling me your favorite murano charm colors? Your input will help me choose which color combinations to focus on next. I look forward to hearing from you!

Finding the Bright Side

Susan — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:47:37 +0000

My garden vista was recently swiped away by a freak October Nor’easter which split our 45 foot Bradford Pear tree down the middle. This romantic wedding gift was a beautiful part of our visual landscape for almost twenty five years. The gaping void has been filled with lots of bright light. When I noticed more sun

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pouring in I started seeing new color and design possibilities for the entire back garden. I was able to find the bright side of the loss. It’s probably not by accident that I sit in the sunniest room when I’m designing glass jewelry. Same goes for arranging euro beads into pleasing bracelet combinations. Let there be light!

This month I experimented with mixing spectra glass and millefiori glass to make some very interesting pieces. The texture created from glass being poured and dripped onto glass intrigues me. I love the softness of the color palette and the variation in texture. Venetian millefiori glass has colorful flower patterns. Whimsical and cheery, the design possibilities are endless. The glass necklaces in my collection were inspired by the warmth of the late afternoon sunlight filtering through branches.

Autumn colors are the back-drop for Thanksgiving, a time when we give gratitude for simple abundances. There’s something comforting about those bright red,

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yellow, soft orange, deep greens and purples. My greatest pleasure is watching these vibrant and seasonal color palettes rotate and using this as inspiration to incorporate glass colors and patterns into my designs.

I soak in every nuance and shadow. Of course I notice that the sun sets earlier, but by the time the sky slips into darkness my muse pulls me into a trance, and I am once again centered. Playing with color helps me relax and stay in the moment. I hope you find many of those moments as you draw your loved ones near. Happy Thanksgiving!

What Are Euro Beads?

Susan — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:43:25 +0000

My best days always begin the moment I walk into my studio. The west-facing glass wall provides plenty of natural light and a perfect view of my perennial

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gardens. This picture was taken in late spring. Can you feel the magic as the sun streams in? Each day I have a birds-eye view of the natural world. This private sanctuary is the one place where I can turn ideas into pretty glass jewelry. It’s also where I find inspiration coordinating Euro Beads into sets. Getting lost in the play of color is the easiest way to find my muse!

European bead charms are typically made from beautiful lampworked murano glass. These glass beads charms have wide holes and an inner core that is capped with Sterling silver or other metals. These are not the craft beads used by glass jewelry makers. When I started collecting these European beads I was intrigued by their miniature form and charming beauty. By combining murano glass with a silver core, each bead is transformed into a unique piece of jewelry called a glass bead charm. I had never before thought of a bead in quite this way. I nick-named my growing collection, “Euro Beads” as an abbreviated form for European bead charms. I had no idea how trendy that term would become!

What makes my Boutique unique is that I have an enormous, eclectic collection of Euro beads sourced from hundreds of artisans. The majority of my European

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bead charms are of universal size. That means they fit on a variety of necklaces and bracelets and can be mixed and matched, regardless of name brand. All measurements are included in the description section for each glass bead charm. Collecting Euro Beads is a fun past time. Use the Wish List feature to keep a record of your favorites. If you find a charm you really love, buy it now as there are no guarantees the bead will be in stock at a future date.

Now that you know what a Euro Bead is you can join in the fun! “Like” us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Euro-Beads-Boutique/159690330732711 By doing so, not only do you qualify for a one-time full purchase discount of 15% you will get the “head’s up!” on the newest inventory.

Thanks for your support!

Susan Condon

Teal Toes for September

Susan — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:20:27 +0000

When you go shopping what catches your eye? Is it color? Price? Name brand? What I’ve learned from my customers is that color is what predominantly attracts them to

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glass jewelry and euro bead charms. Whether it’s the clothes we wear or the colors we choose for our environment, color often reflects our mood and can impact us in

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profound ways.

I’d like to share a story with you about a fun and clever way color is being used to potentially touch millions of lives in a very positive way. My cousin, Lisa, who blogs, “Inspire to Thrive,” told me about meeting Carey, someone she tweeted with for a year, but living far apart, they had never met. Until recently, that is. Turns out, Carey runs Teal Toes, Inc. a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to bringing awareness to the silent killer, ovarian cancer.

Here’s where the color teal comes in: During the month of September, the idea is to paint your toes teal and have the curiosity of others help spark up a conversation about ovarian cancer. Most women don’t know much about the symptoms of this horrible disease which is why these conversations can make a huge difference in early diagnosis and positive outcomes. My mother-in-law is bravely fighting ovarian cancer. She, like many others, was in Stage IV by the time the diagnosis was made. It may not happen in her lifetime, but I hope one day we will find a way to detect ovarian cancer early and have a cure ready to wipe it out of our lives.

I gave it some thought and figured out how I could bring about conversations and fundraise at the same time. I decided to name a murano glass bead charm, “Teal Toes,” for this cause and will donate 10% of the proceeds to Teal Toes, Inc. Have I convinced you that color can have a positive impact?

I’ll be flashing my teal toes for the whole month of September! Hope you will too!

If you have only a moment, please “like” Teal Toes @ https://www.facebook.com/tealtoes. Thanks for your support!

~Susan Condon

Timing is Everything!

Susan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:30:02 +0000

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By late Spring I realized that I needed to do something more to make my on-line euro beads boutique more prominent in the search engine rankings. If shoppers can’t find me what’s the point in having a storefront? My second concern was that my site had become so difficult to navigate that it became a waste of my time to upload any more inventory! I felt like I was in limbo-land, not sure what to do. During that very same week while scanning my new Twitter followers, I was drawn to @BlueIrisNina. The name caught my eye because I’m an avid perennial gardener. What amazed me is that Nina offered the exact services that my biz required. I decided to trust my instincts and put the fate of my boutique in Nina’s hands.

I’m still shaking my head in amazement. Nina was able to convince me to make a small change to my business name and to build a new website on a very different platform. This was no small decision. It meant completely scrapping the old site and pouring all that time and sweat equity down the drain! The task of uploading inventory pictures and descriptions would be daunting enough, but I found working with an unfamiliar program to be the biggest challenge of all!

On the other hand, starting over was a great opportunity to create my on-line boutique with features that were not available to me on the old site. And so I entered the world of graphic web design, widgets, search engine optimization, site build-out and other unfamiliar jargon. No wonder I feel like I’m always learning a foreign language on the fly!

It turns out that my favorite part of the process was deciding which features to include. Knowing what I didn’t like and what wasn’t working actually helped me develop a sense of what my customers would find appealing. If you haven’t taken a peek at the new store please take a moment now http://EuroBeadsBoutique.com I promise you won’t be disappointed. Tell me what you think. What else might I do to make your shopping experience more pleasurable? Your feedback is very important to me.

It’s time for me to get off the computer and go back to doing what I love the most- playing with color!

One More Step Up the e-Commerce Learning Curve!

Susan — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:22:32 +0000

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Not so long ago I spent most of my time searching and collecting beautiful glass bead charms and making glass jewelry. Soon the bead containers began taking up lots of space. Am I a hoarder? Or, is it time for me to turn my passion into an on-line business?

I signed up for a web-site with merchant-processing capabilities through Intuit. The commercials made it seem easy enough. Not! For every glitch I solved, there was another one to take its place! I’ve finally accepted that uninvited “enhancements” are an integral part of e-commerce.

I’m living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. The learning curve looks steeper, or perhaps I’ve slowed. Either way, I’m ready for my entry into the world of e-commerce! I look forward to sharing the adventure with you.