Holiday Memories

What are your favorite holiday traditions? When I was a child, I loved decorating fancy cookies with my mom. We shipped cookie tins to both sets of grandparents, as well as giving plates to all our friends. The funnest part was decorating gingerbread cookies to look like the recipient! When I grew up, Grandma Helen gifted me a gingerbread cookie cutter that her father had made. It's one of a kind and I treasure it.

Do you like to bake for the holidays? Or what about avoiding baking at all costs?? :-)




I have a funny memory of dressing as angel for a Christmas pageant when I was in first grade. I remember the costume my mom and grandma made for me, and the lights onstage, but funny how I forgot everything else.

Do you have a little angel in your life?

Do you have a special place you go to see HUGE trees dressed up with lights and decorations?

What other traditions does your family have? What ways did your grandmother decorate and your own mother? What do you do that's a tradition? Does anyone make gingerbread houses?

We started a new tradition five years ago, we took up skiing. It's wonderful to book a cabin in the snow for a visit just after the holidays. It's a special event we look forward to. We all learned to cross country ski that first year, enjoying a groomed trail through the woods and along the lake. Last year, the boys tried downhill skiing and I was sick....... so now I have to get caught up and try it this time around. I'm a little nervous..... I hope I don't have to design special charm for some sort of downhill skiing failure! :-)

Happy Holidays from me,
Aly, designer of all things Charmish
These beads are also known by their name brand, Ohm Beads :-)

Celebrate Halloween with Charmish

Hi, if we haven't met yet, I'm Aly, head designer at Ohm Beads. Charmish is my little corner of the world, where we can chat, preview my new designs and you can get your Ohm Beads directly from the designer. If you we are familiar, hello and welcome to the purrrrfectly delightful release party!

Halloween is so much fun! I have a few decorations up already and plan to have all the funky witches, cats, pumpkins, ghosts, and lights up by this weekend. I like the cute, glittery and vintage style decorations rather than the truly creepy.

Will you dress up for Halloween? My kids are 8 and 10, so we are big into home made costumes and trick or treat and parties with friends, not that one really needs an excuse, right?

What is your favorite Halloween memory as a child?
That's funny, I ask you, and immediatly think of the time I thought it would be awesome to glue sequins to my cheeks for my alien costume. Great effect, but Ouch later!

What is your favorite thing about the holidays now?
Along with decorating, I love going on the crazy hay ride to pick out pumpkins with my kids, then carving them on the kitchen floor while baking the seeds.

Are you ready to see what I have in my bag of tricks for you?

Tomorrow, Charmish (my etsy shop) will be filled with treats for you and your friends. All the Halloween classics from us at Ohm Beads, plus my brand new designs for this year, hot off the presses.



Classics include Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spinners, Vampire, Chainsaw Dude, The Good Witch and her Cat (of course), Wizarding Hat, Werewolf (or the Vampire/Werewolf set), Frankenstein, Skulls and the Angel/Devil set.


Introducing the new Halloween Flip Bead exclusive: Puuuurfect for the occasion, Ms Kitty and her Bat buddy adorn one side, flip to the other side, for the Halloween spider web. Don't worry, Ms Spider will be your new friend. The edges are adorned with orange glittery bling. Want to see this in 3-D ? Only 50 of these were produced, and I have 10 for sale. Be the only ghoul on your block to have one!




Frank has been a single fella for two years now, in bead time, so I hope you'll be enchanted to meet The Bride of Frankenstein. Congrats Frank! Collect them as a set, or just your favorites. I love her tall hair (hello Marge Simpson!) and sweetly bandaged hands. She's ready to rock this Halloween.




Let me introduce you to the wild and wonderful, Vampiress. Fans of the Halloween season, and shows like True Blood, and Twilight rejoice.

Fly your brooms on over for a cheerful cup of cider and a wiz around the shop.
Aly of Charmish.etsy.com

Celebrating Summer - Charm Bead Sale

Celebrating Summer Sale!
Today through the end of the week: All summer themed Charmish beads are $5 off.
Visit Charmish shop and type "summer" into my shop's search bar to find all summer charm beads- take $5 discount on each one.

Free shipping as always.

The summer list includes goodies such as: Tropical Drink, Sand Castle, Daisy Garden, sparkling Watermelon, Burger, Camper, Picnic Basket and more.

August 18-20, this week only. Enjoy summer savings at Charmish. Charmish is the only place to get your Ohm Beads brand charms directly from the designer - that's me! Happy Summer!
~Aly~

*** Charms are listed as the usual prices: I'll refund your paypal account as I ship. Or let me know what you'd like, and I'll set your reserved listing with the prices discounted. Thanks! ***

Avatar The Last Air Bender - choose your element!

The Last Air Bender movie is out. Have you seen it yet? I'm a big fan of the cartoon series, which was probably a sub-conscious influence on my Elements series, one of the first sets I designed for Ohm Beads.

While designing, I was thinking of the classic Chinese elements that relate to one's birth date, and imagining the beads to look like hand carved wood, with inlaid jewels. One of the few horizontally laid out designs, which is especially great for necklaces and rings designed to hold European Charm bead jewelry or Pandora style glass beads.

Wear your favorite tribe's charm on your bracelet, or choose the element associated with your zodiac sign. See each bead's listing in Charmish Beads for more information about the symbolism behind each one.

Fire!
Earth!

Air!

Water!

The four tribes united.

Summer Designs Release Party!

You are invited to the Charmish "Summer Charm Beads Release Party"
Wed July 6th,
at 11am West Coast USA time

Be the first girl on your block to wear the new designs, like this cutie, "Beach Trip" above. She's got her convertible, sunglasses, mini board, picnic, and tunes. She's free for the day and heading to the beach!

Others in the list? Roller Derby, Lighthouse, Tree of Life, Love Birds, Flip Flops, and the newest Sock Monkey charm........ wait, I can't tell you EVERYthing! Come see! Also new are charm bead jewelry boxes and travel pouches.

All my charms are solid sterling, threaded, and will fit on bracelets from other major brands. I also carry bracelets to get your collection started. Convo me on Etsy if have any questions about compatibility. I'm always happy to chat.

Aly
Designer of all things CHARMISH

New treats for Twilight fans

Good news for Twilight fans, my Vampire and Werewolf Love charm bead set is back in stock. These are my charm beads designed for European style charm bracelets, in solid silver. Free world wide shipping. Click the photos or this link to find your way to my etsy shop. Vampires and Werewolves are also available separately in case you have your heart set on your favorite. I won't tell who's more popular.

I also recommend the Books charm bead. Just to think, it all began with a book...........

Zodiac Charms!

This week's " What's New Wednesday " features the new Zodiac series. Oooo, la la! The charms have three sides, so there's room to show off all the special features for each sign. You get a picture of your sign's representation, you get the symbol, and a special stone for each one.

These are first run, so I have only one of each to start, then I'll get a restock.

Charm bead give-away!

Share the LOVE give-away.

To enter in this drawing for a free LOVE charm bead, simply subscribe to Charmish blog or facebook fan page and leave a comment at either site. Check back next Friday to see who won! For Charmish Beads fans only. Happy Friday!!!!

Charmish Beads Facebook Fan Page link - join in the fun!
Or subscribe to this blog and leave a comment here to get in the drawing.
Or join my fav customers mailing list! You get occasional emails from me about new designs, specials, holidays, new releases and fun. (see box to the left) Leave a comment at this blog post to get into the drawing.

Have a CHARMING week, Ladies!
xoxo
Aly

Spring Fling at Charmish

Come on over to my castle on Sunday, pull up a chair, have yourself a fancy vacation drink, and check out the Spring Fling new designs listing party at Charmish! New charms will be listed starting at noon PST (Oregon time) and free prize drawing! Come see what's new for Spring!

Locks and Stoppers

Greetings! I listed my first set of locks over Valentines, and since they've sold I've had several requests for more locks. So let's chat about what locks are and what they do and don't do for your charm bracelet.

There are two types of locks. Pandora locks clip over the little built in bumps on Pandora brand bracelets, allowing the bracelet to be divided into three sections. This is a wonderful feature for people just starting their charm collection. No matter how you move, some beads will always be on top rather than all sliding to the bottom.

Stopper locks are for bracelets without the little bumps. They have a strip of silicone inside to keep them from sliding. Clip them anywhere on your bracelet to create sections. Be GENTLE with the silicone as it can peel out. Pandora wearers can also buy stopper locks and just remove the silicone so the lock will fit on the intended bump.

Once the bracelet is full, your locks look like any other lovely charm bead, or you can take them off and start a second bracelet. You can have two matching locks or two different ones. Enjoy!

These are my two new locks. The top is the Spring stopper lock (with silicone for bracelets without bumps) and the bottom is Magnetic Hearts for Pandora bracelets with bumps. Now available in Charmish.

The Gnome Set

Awww, the whole set is together at last. I designed these charms about six months ago, and Mr Gnome was released first, then by the time Mrs Gnome came out, Mr Gnome was all sold out. It's lovely to see them all together at last!

Mr and Mrs Gnome and their unique Mushroom house:

Mr. Gnome will love to give you advice on your garden, walk in the woods with you, and tell stores of all his woodland adventures. Mrs. Gnome will love to tell you happy stories about the woodland animals she cares for, the right herbs to cure your cold, and share her recipe for hazelnut tea cake. You'll also want to wear their cute little Mushroom house, with tiny windows and mailbox.

A great bead for everyone who loves gnomes, woodland charms, forest, mushrooms, gardening, and cuteness!



You can find the set for sale at Charmish. It's always a good deal to purchase my sets because you get a discount AND free worldwide shipping.

Woodland Tree is a good Gnome set companion and also currently in stock.

Have a great Friday!

The Elemental Charm Bracelet

The Elements at your fingertips: Air, Fire, Water, Earth. Pandora style European charm bracelet. Collect the beads that represent who you are, what your life is about, who you love, what makes your world go 'round.

This is the first set created from my original drawings. Now all the pieces are united. Sold as a full set or individually. You can look into the symbolism of each element, choose the one that goes with your zodiac sign, or that of your loved one, choose an element that brings balance to your personality, or goes with your profession! Are you a pilot? Air! Do you teach scuba or windsurfing? Water! Are you a trail guide? Earth! Are you a firefighter, or chef? Fire! See what fun we can have with the elements?

Definition: The four basic elements are air, earth, fire, and water. Understanding what each element represents helps us evaluate where our individual strengths and weaknesses are.

Air = THOUGHT and represents intellect, mental intention, and connection to universal life force.

Earth = STABILITY and represents grounding, foundation of life, substance, connection to life path, and family roots.

Fire = DESIRE and represents energy, tool for transformation, connection to personal power, and inner strength.

Water = EMOTIONS and represents emotional release, intuition, and inner reflection.

Every day we warm ourselves by Fire,

Wash ourselves in Water,

Feel the Wind in our hair,

Walk upon the Earth.

I Heart......

I heart my new Aussie Charmish friends! Thank you all for finding me.

Stay tuned for all the fun new designs coming this year: new ways to play with bling, new characters, goddesses, Easter, fairy tales, and more. :-)

New Designs Sneek Peek - charm bracelet beads

Look who's here?! It's Mrs Gnome! While I'm waiting on a refill for Mr Gnome, his sweetheart came to visit. I will be listing Mrs Gnome charm beads later today. I have a small first batch, then restock will be higher. So don't worry.

She's cute and forest-rustic style, just like I had planned. She has a long braid down the back.

More new goodies are on my desk! Unicorn, Lil Devil/Lil Angel set, new pieces in the hands series, and lots of lovely, Love-themed Valentines charms. Shop early to get the best selection!







The Kangaroo Mum and Joey charm is in. As many of you know, half of my family is Australian. It's a special pleasure making Australian themed charms. I've seen so many of OZ special creatures depicted as the lone Koala, the single male kangaroo, and I've chosen my series to be about the marsupial MUMS. :-) I have Sydney Opera house, Koala, Kangaroo, Echidnea, Clown Fish, and I am open to other suggestions you have for Australian animals and sites.

Here is the proud mother kangaroo, with cute Joey in her pocket. I'll never forget the visit I had to a kangaroo sanctuary where a friendly mother let me admire and gently pet the gorgeous Joey in her pouch. He looked up at me through incredibly long eye lashes, with an air of complete contentment.

************ ****************

The List: as you all know, The List is the place I collect the charms you each would like and I convo you when I'm able to get a refill. As the year turned over, the List has been able to turn into pre-ordering. My jewelers are able to get my restock orders faster now, so pre-ordering is easy! Yey! I'm very happy about that. Order what you like, and I'll get them in for you at record speed.

Current work:
Some of you have been asking what I'm currently working on for this year. I will scan some of my sketches to show you in my next blog entry, but shhhhh, don't tell Pandora, I don't want any of them stealing our secret plans.

I thank each and every one of you for your orders, which allows me to design more of the good stuff. Happy happy!
Aly

Love is in the air...........

Hearts have descended upon Charmish. I have new heart designs, including several very pretty glass pieces. A great time to shop for early valentines gifts, AND tell your sweetie where to buy for YOU.










Love Makes the World Go 'Round



Vining Hearts Locks for the bracelets that have sections, like Pandora.
Come see what's new at Charmish - designer beads for charm bracelets.

xoxo

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

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

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!

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

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!