Flightoftheparcel.etsy.com is back!

I have had the shop in vacation mode for the last three or four months while I get Perlina up and running. I feel it is safe to open back up and I have missed my little Squirrel Kids and Fruit Head Kids way too much to go any longer without them.

Just before FOTP went into vacation mode I started having them printed as postcards and really love the results. It is a piece of art you just drop in the mail! Anyways hope everyone loves these little guys as much as I do.

Reindeer Kid

Veggie Head Kids Postcard collection.

Carrot Head Kid and Lettuce Head Kid

Meerkat Kid Postcard

Adora the Octopus Princess Postcard

Detail of Reindeer Kid

This is Samsa, he is a bug but he doesn't know it.

HI!

Remember me?

I know, I know, I have become the blogger that I have been known to complain about. The one who posts regularly and then one day falls off the face of the blogosphere. 

Maybe we can all agree to forgive and forget. 

I am back because these composed paragraphs keep scrolling across my brain and i need to get them out. People may find them and read them, or not. It's okay I just need to get these thoughts down. I suppose it is just another way that I know I am alive or someone somewhere in the future will know that I once existed.

The shop has bee open for three months now. Three is the magic number right? That is what I have always believed but here it is the third month and I am still wondering if the magic came and went and maybe I missed it. Nah, I know that it takes time and work. We are plugging right along. We have customers who are already calling us their favorite bead shop! That is a good feeling. 

I used to use Picnik to edit my photos, but the Picnik is over and i have not investigated any other free editing sites yet so if anyone has any suggestions I am open:)

My sweet husband and I at our soft opening in late April.

First time behind the register at Perlina!

Marianne is good at doing the stuff that I might mess up:) 

Czech hanks! My favorite:)

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We have been moving right along. Everything is priced thanks to a group of generous friends who gave us their friday night to help, sort, count, baggie, sharpie, and sticker, EVERYTHING!

Above is a little collage of the opening of our exciting first shipment! We worked hard all day at our current jobs, met up, walked down to the Fed Ex around the corner from the store and brought home our first little bundle of joy! 

Those are just tears of JOY!

We have so many plans for the future already, but we know we need to actually open first;) It has to happen before April is over, just not exactly sure when.

So stay tuned.

Here are a few pics of my progress on my watercolor on silk, beaded bird:)

I used mostly clear iridescent sequins so the color beneath would show through while also giving the little guy some sparkle. I did use a black sequin for the eye because I wanted it to be really dark.

I was not sure at first how the get the detail in the little spindly feet. I thought about using sz 15 seed beads but I did not want to have to wait on an order. I was too eager to finish:)

My solution: Embroidery! 

I stitched a little of the beak to make it nice and pointy and his little feet.

I like it.

And just because I thought it was neat looking:

So I think my experiment was a success:) 

Next I will give acrylics a try. I plan to water them down and use them like watercolor. Otherwise the dried acrylic will be too hard to stitch through.

I will keep you posted!

I am working on an experiment.

I want to paint a sweet bird very loosely on silk habotai with watercolor and then embellish with beads and sequins:)

Here are the first stages of my first attempt.

We have been working hard! 

Here's a slightly overdue update and sneak peek!

We were so lucky that our friend Lindsay had some left over purple paint that just happens to match the purple in our logo perfectly! 

So our entrance is a beautiful set of purple folding doors:)

After we removed the shelves, with Lindsay's help, that had been hammered into the wall, Marianne went to work giving it a nice coast of white to freshen things up. 

Here we go!

Tomorrow we get the keys. . .

Here is a quick peek and the rest will be a surprise!

But you have to wait until April, that is our projected opening month!

Yarn in the front, 

BEADS in the back!!!

We have experienced a few loop-dee-loops in the past few weeks but we have landed heads up and are ready to bring downtown Savannah a bead store. 

We are so excited to get into our space and fix it up so it is inviting and functional. All of the collecting and shopping and visualizing we have been doing will finally get to come together in reality!

Stay tuned for updates:)

CUBIC Right-Angle Weave

I have been working on many projects this month.

I am just so inspired in so many different directions that it is hard to focus on just one. 

I know it probably seems a little overwhelming to be working on a painting, well a FEW paintings, bead weaving, jewelry making, sewing and opening a store all at once but it all keeps me from getting bored:)

I have a list that I refer to often that keeps me from missing anything.

Here is a peek at my latest work in progress:

CUBIC Right-Angle Weave

Until a couple of weeks ago I had never attempted Right-Angle weave because of the way I had heard other people curse it. My impression was that it was more frustrating than rewarding so I never even ventured to try. 

So what do I do? I attempt CUBIC right-angle weave before I even do a plain right-angle weave. 

What did I discover?

I LOVE IT!

It is something like building blocks. The dimentionality of it is so satisfying. 

You have seen the pieces now and the work in progress.

The finished product probably will not come for a while. Once the base of the cubic weave is finished I will be adding waves of color on to the top. The pattern can be found in the October 2011 issue of Bead and Button, issue 105.

(The link will lead you to a tutorial on Bead and Button's site but not the same project I am working on.)

HELLO FRIDAY!

First day off this week:)

Here's is what I have accomplished so far:

I packed up and mailed two orders from Jamisson!

People like my needle books:)

I am so happy, and working to make and post more in the shop.

I also made a stop at Goodwill and found some more items to use in merchandising Perlina. 

and. . .

 I finally was inspired to use these awesome skull beads that my mother in law, Karen, gave to me last Christmas. 


I wanted to use them in the most perfect way and it came to me today!

 They have that celebratory, Day of the Dead, look that I just love and I have had these beads all along. I just never thought of putting them all together in this way until now.

What I also love is that I already had a necklace that I had purchased in Philadelphia at the Mutter Museum gift shop that has the same skulls on it. 

When I opened

 the gift I figured that Karen gets me pretty well to pick something out for me like this and know that I will LOVE them:)

Three sales this week from Jamisson.etsy.com!

Needle Books!

I think they are use full and oh so cute! And someone else does too!

Just a little peek into the studio.

Tiny vessel that I crocheted:)

Yarn from Wild Fibre.

 Knitted mug cozy and crocheted coaster, by me!

Once again we are wrapping up a week that has been full to the brim with meetings and planning. It really does take a lot of energy to plan a store into existence. I did not have any delusions about the task, it still wears you out a little. I have been hitting the snooze button more than normal this past week.

It is ALL GOOD though. I am working on something that I think I will be really proud of when it is finally here, Perlina!

Exciting News!

We have a Facebook Page now!!!

Perlina Beadshop

Marianne has been working on getting this page up for a while now. For some reason Facebook did not approve "Perlina Shop" as a real name:/ Not sure why so she went with "Plerlina Beadshop". 

Be sure to "LIKE" the page. That is where we will be posting all events, class schedules, sales, challenges, everything fun that you would want to know about Perlina and our goings on!

This is our "word cloud" we had generated for our "Project Perlina" Peerbackers page.

IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS!

We were made an offer by Peerbackers to extend out fundraising another week! It feels like a second chance to maybe reach some of Savannah that is not aware yet of the project. 

We have another week to go and have been really thankful for the support and love people have shown. We have an excellent head start now on the means to open a sweet little bead store! 

Thank You!

This is our logo that you will be seeing from now on!

Marianne did a smashing job creating this for us! I just love it and think that it suits us and Perlina just perfectly!