Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Happy New Year!


Thank you for the lovely welcome back! So many old and new Charmish friends have written in at the reopening to get new beads for themselves and tell me how their charm gifts went over during the holidays. It's one of the great pleasures of selling on etsy, the direct contact between designer/seller and customer. I love all your stories!

Holidays sales were greater than I ever expected. I want to thank everyone for being so patient with me- some mistakes were made. :-) It was great a bit of a frenzy, as well as great fun!

Second thank you: I appreciate each and every sale. You have all contributed to Charmish being able to carry MORE charms at once, so you have greater selection, as well as keeping me DESIGNING an ongoing new selection for all you wonderful charm collectors.

Everyone has been awesome about getting their charms on The List. Getting charm "refills" is happening faster and faster these days, due to volume of sales, so there's less wait. Yey! Looking for something not in stock? Jump on The List and I'll fill your order.

I am currently cooking up cute spring and summer themed designs, and have a big stash of Valentine's charms just waiting for the love to bloom. Are you ready for the love??

Happy New Years,
Aly

Monday, December 14, 2009

Happy Holidays Give Away


Thank you for all the lovely holiday orders! I've put all the Friday-Sunday night orders on strips of paper and into my drawing hat. I get to draw one name and the lucky winner will find a Gingerbread Boy in their package. All packages shipping Tuesday.



And the lucky winner is......... Gnome Angel!!!!! Weeeeeee!!!!!

If you need any last minute charm beads, it's not too late. Get your order in in the next two days, before I close shop for a little holiday get away. :-)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Friday New Designs Release Party





Dear Charmish Fans,
Thank you for all the lovely lovely orders November and December. Your support gets you fabulous charm beads, and allows me to create even more of my original designs for you, and keep more stock in my shop.

New Designs Release Party
I have some brand new Holiday designs as well as restock of some sought after favs, that I'll be posting tomorrow morning around 9am PST - Oregon time. Come in and see.

One lucky person will receive a FREE GINGERBREAD BOY charm! Each bead ordered Friday - Sunday night will count as a chance to win him for your very own (and order of four beads, puts your name in the hat four times, etc) . Random drawing on Monday night.

I'm getting orders out as soon as possible.
Love and Peace to you all!

Aly of Charmish

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

New Christmas Charms


Dear Charmish Fans,
Holiday charms are back in stock. Show off your holiday spirit with fun charms like: Gingerbread Cottage, Christmas Tree, Santa, and the little Angel. Or get your happy hands on some favorites like : Cuddle Cats, Books, and Vampire/Werewolf sets. It's a great time to pick up your gift charms!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bite Me Sale!


This is the BITE ME sale! 10% off all Charmish charm beads. Solid sterling! Yea! Bite! Bite!

No-no, Sock Monster, this is NOT the Bite Me sale, that sounds very rude to our guests! Please try to mind your manners.

Sorry about that. This is the "Pre Holiday Sale at Charmish" note. We are letting everyone know that on Friday, all the great charms in Charmish will be 10% off. Storewide savings to make room for new charms and Holiday charms coming next week! OK?

HOW do you get 10% off? Choose your charms, commit to buy, do everything on the etsy sale but the last step, then I'll take 10% off and invoice you through paypal.

What does this sale include? Charms, glass sets, everything EXCEPT empty bracelets and Christmas charms (not Santa, Snowman or Angel). Free shipping on orders over $100.

Sock Monster, if you are GOOD, I'll let you help me sort the laundry later....... :-)

Everyone on the waiting list: I have all your special treats duly noted and will contact you when they come in.

xoxoxo

Monday, November 16, 2009

HOliday Charms


Holidays are coming! And of course a refill on all my holiday themed charms- some that you have seen, and some you haven't, in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, check into Charmish on Friday for a big pre-holiday SALE! Need to make some room for new beads......


And of course, I am thinking ahead to Spring themes. I'm designing goodness for Easter and stocking new treats for your Valentine's pleasures. Now you KNOW how good I am to you!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Search Option

The New Designs Release party was excellent, thank you for all who came to par-tay yesterday! I still have lots and lots of stock, so please tell your friends. The more that sells, the more NEW beads I can order.

Now that Charmish has so MANY charms in stock, let's talk about how to search the store for specific things you are looking for. I do have categories, but you may want to jump in and look for something more specific. Once you are open to Charmish's page, you can use the search box at the top to find something specific. Want to search for "cat" or "car" or "fish", put that word in the search box for Charmish's shop (don't' go back out to the main etsy search engine).

Happy weekend everyone!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

New Design Release Party at Charmish!!!



Tomorrow, Friday morning, Charmish is having a New Designs Release Party (morning, Oregon time). I'll be listing many of my brand new designs one after the other. YEY!!! Some, like this Sock Monkey bead, I've been waiting on for 6 months. I'm so excited!!!

Sock Monkey is my new favorite bead, so come see him and all his new friends tomorrow morning. Please bring a friend. There may be prizes and specials going on!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Trick or Treat!

With Halloween coming, I'm excited to get all my friends set up with their fav new charms. Vampire and Werewolf have been the hot duo . Charmish is nicely inhabited by odd creatures at the moment. Check out some of the cute (or gruesome) newbies....... Happy Pumpkin....



Frankenstein.....

Wizarding Hat.........great for year'round Harry Potter fans, as well as young and old wizards, alike.



Cute Chainsaw guy (aka Jason)...... why, just tell me why, is he so popular with the ladies?



Angel......
and more. Have you met the Sock Monster yet?



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Sneak Peek:
The latest addition to the Crafter's Series: "I Love Knitting" bead. Soon to make her fuzzy debut in Charmish.





New addition to the Charmish jewelry line:

The latest way to wear your charms? On a charm necklace, of course. I searched high and low for a necklace that
- is made for our charms,
- a price we can afford,
- and looks great as a plain chain or featuring our favorite bead/s.

Ladies, I give you the Viking weave chain. It's chain made by hand, in an old style that's close to knitting with wire. The chain turns out to have a supple hand, and the same diameter as our bracelets. The necklace is 15", which puts your beads up by the collar bone, where they'll be seen. This chain is gorgeous on it's own, fits larger pendants with a big enough loop, and is the perfect way to wear favorite charm beads or glass. I've test driven one for months before listing them for you. (Do I go to the mat for my girls or what??)






Holiday savings:
My silver bracelets on sale through the Winter holidays for $32 (down from $45). I hope it makes gift-giving even sweeter.

My bracelets are solid sterling (of course, everything I design and sell is solid, healthy silver or glass), with a sturdy enclosure clasp, and the threads on the end of the bracelet, so your beads can't fall off when it's open. I've seen some magnetic clasps for sale on Etsy. Stay away from those, they can pop open.


Happy Halloween everyone!
Dress up cute, have fun, and rock the Casaba.!
Aly


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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

I Love Knitting and Talking :-)




Well, that's a theme. :-) I'm excited to present the latest pandora style charm bead in my crafter's series: "I Love Knitting". Can you see the little needles? I designed the needles to be short, so they wouldn't snag on thing. This will be available in my shop later this week. Etsy convo me if you would like to pre-order one.





Ah yes, the Cellphone charm bead! This one has typing capabilities.


Thursday, September 24, 2009

English Tea and New Necklace

English Tea Set is my latest design. I like the off-set feature, so they are different on each side.
Flower Tea Cup, Flower Tea Pot. I was tempted to sell them as a set......



I would like charm lovers to be able to wear their charms on a necklace. The one necklace I had in the shop was rather dear, so I've been searching for something more affordable. I bought one of these handmade Viking style chains for myself and just love it. It's made by basically hand knitting the wire, then drawing it down through wooden "drawplates" with a smaller and smaller diameter, until the little loops of wire are fine and smooth.

I've been wearing mine for three months now and adore it. I can wear pendants as well as my charm beads! 15" which is about collar bone length. If you are interested in a longer style, let me know.

I'm also going to carry a really simple silicone rubber necklace. It's fun and inexpensive. May also be a nice accompaniment to a gift bead.

These will all be in the shop in the next few days.

Happy week all!

PS, do you like the larger print? I think it's easier to read. Please tell me if it looks dorky.
xo Aly

Friday, September 18, 2009

Food Hobbies and Travel

I'm so excited about all the new designs that have come in this week!

Food, hobbies and travel? Those are some of life's great joys. Let's celebrate- European bead charm bracelet style.


Sushi Tray charm bead.
My family loves Sushi Station, where we sit at the bar, watching the chefs prepare all the yummy sushi, and place it on the conveyor belt for us to choose. The kids know all their favorites and are willing to try anything new. Here's one for all us Sushi lovers!





BoomBox.
For musicians, music lovers, dancers, this little boom box charm bead with get your groove on.



Lucky Sapphire Dice charm bead.
Feeling lucky? Maybe you'd like to have this sparkly sapphire and ruby cz to remind you. What do you feel lucky about in life? Or do you need a little extra luck? Bling bling.



Lil Camper charm bead.
I designed this European charm bead camper after the tiniest of Airstream style campers. It's so cute, I just wanna eat it, or go traveling!!!
Food, hobbies and travel? Those are some of life's great joys. I hope you get a kick out of my new designs debuting this week.

Important News: Please shop the "sold" section. WHAT? Yes, let me clarify: as it is my mission to keep bringing the latest, greatest, newest choice of designs into the shop, I can't possibly contain all my designs at once. I pick up a few of each new design as it comes out, and when those are sold, I move onto the next new set. BUT most of the designs are continuously available behind the scenes. So, please feel free to ask for things that have sold recently. I can either get them for you right away, or put you on a waiting list. My production team has made changes that get the "refills" to us sooner, so the wait won't be long in most cases.

Coming soon: my English garden tea set, and Irish pot of gold.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The World's First Gay Pride European Bead?

Could I be? I think I've invented the world's first Gay Pride European bead charm. Please welcome the Rainbow Spinner to the Charmish collection. My designs celebrate world culture, love, all positive spiritual beliefs, playful pop culture, food and nature.
Charmish hit 200 sales today. I'd like to send out a heartful Thank you to all Charmish's lovely friends.

Cheers!

Thursday, August 27, 2009


Happy end of August. Some Oregonians have complained that it's cooled down to 83 degrees. I love it. Warm sunny days, cool nights, and the last week of August. We are still visiting the outdoor pool most days, and walking the dog. Planning one more "big" camping trip before school starts. That reminds me: thank you to everyone who has been so patiently waiting for their orders as I get caught up from the last camping excursion.



You'll see more and more holiday charms wandering into the shop, having a look around, and hopefully being whisked off to new owners. I'm happy to have reunited Vampire and Werewolf beads at this time, and getting the second 1/2 of the pair sent off to those who could only capture one.

New Designs, Baby!
My business plan involves keeping some favorites in the shop, but a focus on new designs coming in. New goodies is great for everyone. This means I carry small batches of beads at a time. SO, I am formally inviting you to also shop in the "sold" section. My bead reorders are coming more promptly, so feel free to request beads you'd like that aren't currently in the store.


Saturday, August 22, 2009

Calling all wizards


Wizarding Hat is coming to Charmish. Will you wear yours just for Halloween or all year 'round? Makes a lovely gift for any wizard fan.



Jack O Lantern for fall celebrations. They will be listed in Charmish in the next few days.

Those of you on the waiting list for 'Cuddle Kittens" will be notified shortly. Cheers to August!










Saturday, August 8, 2009

Sale of the Day


Charmish etsy store now sports a "SALE of the Day" section. That means any bead you find in that section will offer $2 off itself. Discount to be given after purchase. I'll ship it back to your paypal account. This allows me to sneak different beads into and out of the SALE section at ease (no rewriting listings and fuss).

Be sure to check here to spot your new best friend!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Holiday Gingerbread


New bead friends for the holidays: Gingerbread Boy and Gingerbread House. Can you guess that I like gingerbread?

I like gingerbread cake with real chunks of crystallized ginger, and a dollop of whipped cream.

When I was little, mom and I made gingerbread people for all our friends and family, decorating each one to look like the recipient. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. Mom made frosting in cake decorating tubes, so we could apply appropriate colored hair, eyes, glasses, and clothing. I loved it. Now, I do the same with my kids.

Though I "cheat" when it comes to making gingerbread houses. We use Graham crackers!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Snow WOMAN- inside the design delema

Holidays are coming (sorry to mention, but designers must plan in advance) and I'm working on a snow woman charm bead.

How to depict a snow woman without giving her snow breasts? Does she need them? Do they define womankind? Yes and no. Would it be amusing in a fun way? I find this one cute.



I like the idea in some cartoons, but don't think I'd like it on my bracelet. I think this is funny, then have to wonder why humankind is so obsessed with breasts.



I object to the typical apron as definition as a woman. It's cute in the above cartoon, but you won't see that on my design.

Can she just be a SnowWoman because I say so?

I've come across this book about the History of Snowmen. The website is amusing. I may have to buy the book.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Charmish in Treasury- Cute Japanese Styled Goodness





My Charmish bead, Maneki Neko, landed in this etsy treasury collection. Many of the items were so cute, I had to visit their shops and mark favorites. The ninja buttons made me laugh.

Charmish beads are designed by me, but not handmade by me, so they must be marked as a "supply" which puts them outside of Etsy's regular search engines. "Supplies" are their own category. Thus, word of mouth is incredibly important in helping my Charmish business grow. It's fantastic and very much appreciated when Charmish gets blog coverage, makes it into treasuries, and excited customers share my business cards with their friends.

In an effort to get beyond a "supply" I'm about to market bracelets featuring collections of my beads. I've commissioned a local glass artist to make several sets of custom glass beads that enhance my designs. Collaborating with another artist is a great deal of fun. Im a big fan of lampwork glass.





Holidays: you will start to see a smattering of holidays bead designs entering my shop: Christmas Elf, Gingerbread Boy and Cottage...... other wee surprises. Planning ahead for holiday fun.

Happy August!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Crafter's Series

Please wave and welcome the new Crafters Series charm beads. Some of you might know I have a background in Costume Design and I also love to create in textiles. I sew almost every day.

As they are my favorite bead designs so far, let's have a little celebration. The first person to guess, and you must guess before the beads sell and arrive at someone's house, WHAT I've had inscribed in wee letters on the bottom of the Sewing Machine, gets a mystery prize. Hint: it's only one word, but it makes most of us creative types very happy.

The Pin Cushion Tomato. Isn't it so cute?? I'm selling them as a set because, it's like, like, um, a pool without its water! Trying hard to come up with a summer themed analogy.


The Sewing Machine bead charm. It's my favorite bead to wear. I love how the bracelet is seen through the machine and the bit of fabric being sewn.

Custom Jewelry Boxes




For the glass makers: I'm going to be carrying gorgeous bead display racks - available within the next few weeks.

For the jewelry wearers: I'm currently designing a special jewelry box just for your European beads bracelets and charm bead collections. Hope they are available by the holidays.

Keep your eye out for the Crafter's series coming out this weekend.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Let them eat CAKE!



Yey! I'm happy to announce the release of happy cupcake charms! Cherry on Top and Crown topped.

Let us also celebrate that the photos are now watermarked. The European beads market happens to be a little competitive. Knock-off companies will not only take my designs and copy them directly, they will also snag my photos for use in sales. Talk about lack of creativity. As serious as that sounds, I don't worry about it, or spend time looking to see who's got what. I'm full of new design ideas, and always moving forward. Creative, positive minded people rock, right? LOL!

I'm posting them in the store now. Enjoy!

Monday, July 20, 2009

To Glass or Not To Glass?

I am having some very special glass commissioned from a lampworking friend- details to be revealed soon- hush hush and all that!

I'm interested in carrying glass for my Charmish customers. I am a big fan of lampwork and have bought beautiful pieces from etsy artists around the world, for my bracelet.

I'd like your feedback on the subject. Would you like to take my poll? Left bar and scroll down... see it? If you have further comments, go ahead and leave them in the comments box. Love ya!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Celebrations and Symbols


New toys in the shop: Maneki Neko- wealth and luck symbol kitty......


This cute three tiered Wedding Cake to celebrate all the summer weddings.....



Lady Liberty! Our national symbol is liberty and justice. She's cute as a button here....

And Celebration Elephant. What in your life are you ready to celebrate? She's got her party hat and banner ready to go!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Care for your European Beads


Summer is officially ON! Time for the pool, hot tub, and the great outdoors. Please follow these tips to keep your precious, silver, European bead charm bracelets safe and shiny.

Pool? Don't wear your jewelry in the pool. Chlorine is rough on the silver and removes the lovely oxidation.

Hot tub? Don't do it. Chlorine issues, plus the hot water, damages any CZ crystals you may have.

Cleaning house. Be sure your charm bracelet doesn't come in contact with chemical cleaning products as it will ruin the finish. Natural cleaners are better for your health as well.

Sun block lotion? Good for you for remembering to use your sunblock. Your beads will look great sparkling in the sunlight! And will appreciate a quick rinse and towel dry at the end of the day.

Summer cleaning: some European bead experts suggest wiping your beads down each evening. That may be more upkeep than most of us care to do. I suggest giving your beads a quick weekly polish in the summer months. Use a soft silver polish cloth, available in jewelry stores and through Charmish. It's fun to buff the little beads and your bracelet, bringing them back to a gleaming shine. It only takes moments. Don't use liquid silver polish on your beads as it will remove the oxidation (the lovely darkened areas in the designs).

With a little care and occasional cleaning, your charm bracelet will gleam for a lifetime, and be handed down for generations to come.