Czech Republic "Bead Trip of a Lifetime"

Wow....what can I say? We're back from our trip to Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic with major jet lag and oodles of pictures to download to the blog. Give me a couple of days and hopefully I'll get some images up here for you to enjoy. In the meantime, we're expecting shipment of our hand-picked Czech beads within two months. Yes, it takes a verrrrryyyy long time to get these beads shipped to us as well as time to get them up on the walls. It's hard for us to wait, too, but know that it will be worth the wait everyone.

Summer and fall classes have been posted!

WOW what a line-up!  We have tons of news project AND technique classes, including three new summer classes just for kids, bead stitches, silver fusion, resin projects, photo transfers on polymer clay beads, ceramic beads with colorful glazes...  Certainly enough to keep you busy for the summer!

Check out our new samples:

http://www.fandangle-beads.com/classes/newclasses.html

Also, be on the lookout for a new shipment of Czech beads that will follow Melanie home from Europe in a few months.  Photos of her travels through the bead factories and flea markets of the Czech Republic will follow soon, as well.  

Fandangle Bead Store Wins VMFA Muse Award!

Wow--what a night! Out of a pool of approximately 60 nominees, Fandangle Bead Store was one of nine businesses who received a Muse Award from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at its annual "Un-Gala" last night. A dozen of our beady-eyed employees, friends and family, donned in 1920's attire, arrived via James Limo Service (wonderful company, btw) at the Virginia Museum where we anxiously awaited for the winners to be announced. We share our award with all the creative spirits (that would be YOU, dear customers) who share our passion for all things beaded and sparkly, and who strive to blend beads, beauty and balance into your busy daily schedules. Our's is a recipricol relationship: You, the customer, ignite our creative spark as we strive to stay ahead of the creative curve and we hope that we provide inspiration to you as well. Our jewelry classes, beads and beading materials are a reflection of YOUR passion and we depend on you to let us know what you'd like to learn so that we can grow as a business, as artists and as educators. Likewise, we share our award with all those artists out there who were ever told you can't make a living "doing art". Intention and hard work paired with a good business plan go a long way to making dreams come true--oh, and did we mention a sense of humor is critical ???