Wicked Princess Beads is a small Brick & Mortar Shop in Galgorm Ballymena & an Online Bead supplier to the Jewellery making people that lives locally as well as in the UK and Europe. Our Blog is designed to showcase our products and our customers creations from those products. It also looks at trends and colours which are in season
Showing posts with label ballymena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ballymena. Show all posts
Friday, 2 October 2015
It Started With One Little Bead, Actually One Little Idea
How My Business Started
As some of you might know my business had 3 beginnings, I know, you are asking, how can you have 3 beginnings, hang on and I will explain, so I will break it down into 3 chapters for you.
It Actually Didn't, start with one bead,but it was one little Idea,
And so the Saga begins
One Summer, I had visited my Friend's shop in Ballymena, she owned a shop that sold food, drink and other stuff from her own country, which was Romania.
Her husband would travel to Romania, once every 6 weeks to get supplies for to sell in the shop. On one such expedition, he had to stop in Paris, as he had to stop over, as his ferry back to Northern Ireland was not till the next day, while he was there, he bought her a beautiful Amethyst Bracelet, which had been made using Memory Wire and Amethyst Chips .
She showed me this and we talked about how beautiful it was, Then she wondered if we could buy stuff to make jewellery, ( Now at this stage, I would like to explain to you, Firstly I had no idea how to make jewellery, or what memory wire or Amethyst chips were, or where i would even get any of this stuff.) So i agreed to have a look and see what I could find. ( Also remember I was no Spring Chicken, so this was a complete new and unknown Field for me)
And so, Sitting down in front of my Computer, I began to search eBay, I was smitten almost right away. There was so much, beautiful Beads & stuff , I was like a child in a toy shop. Eventually, I picked some beads and stuff and ordered them.
The next 2 days, were like forever, meanwhile, I discovered online Bead shops, that only made matters worse, More stuff was ordered, all I saw was Shiny Things, Different Colours, So much choice. Days after beads & supplies began to arrive, I had now one Box of beads, which then turned into 2 and then it snowballed into 8.
So I had got myself beads, now what was I do with them. another 3 days of sifting through Websites for ideas & tutorials, then discovered that a shop in town sold Beading magazines.
I first learned how to use a head pin with beads, then how to crimp, then how to open jump rings and on and on till I had made some Bracelets & some Necklaces, looking back now, my work was really not the best made, but I sold a few things , which brought some money back in. I bought some Chain and began to make Charm bracelets.
That first Year from November to Christmas week, I made over 300 of those bracelets. I was working full time in a Hotel and coming home at night and making them till the early hours of the next morning.
The Next year,with the money that I had lifted from the charm bracelets, I bought wood and so on and my Brother in Law, David, build a stud wall in the Garage and a Word Bench. Now I had a Workshop, simply because my one box of beads, now had expanded from a box to being in the Box Room, The Kitchen & The Living Room. Now it was all under one roof and I began to work in Earnest at my jewellery making. My sister became interested and I taught her, how to make jewellery. I was turning out pieces and selling them and having a great time. I had a friend who was staying with me at the time and she too, began to make stuff. At this time she met an american guy and they became good friends and then, she moved out to live with her sister and I was back to my own making.
Eventually they became engaged and she moved out to Las Vegas and that is where the Second Chapter begins
More to come
www.wickedprincessbeads.co.uk
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Thursday, 3 September 2015
Guess Who's Back
Guess Who's Back
Hi Folks, I'm back to my Blog again and I'm here to stay....
OH! Yeah....
Only this time around, I'm going to be doing a load of new things & Ideas
My business had 3 beginnings, so I will tell you all about that
Bet you can't wait to find out how we got our name ???
I am a Big Fan of Handmade Things, as you would expect and I will be showcasing some of the talent, I have met over the last year.
As well as that I will be supporting the 2015, Visit Your Bead Shop.
Loads of New Products to show you, as well as tips and ideas
A few ideas of how to use Social Media to help your business, as well as Quotes for Crafters & Beaders to make you Laugh and feel Inspired.
As well , as that there will be stories & tales to make you Laugh & some will just make you grateful.
There's loads more as well
Keep Following us on Our Blog as well as on our Social Media
Monday, 12 January 2015
Working From Church Street Craft Market... Doing Stuff and Selling Hand Crafted Goods
Hi Everyone,
Today I will down in Church Street Craft Market till 5.00.
Why not call in and see the choice of different Handmade Items for Sale
Check out Our New Window Display, entitled January Blues.
Hope to see you Soon
Saturday, 10 January 2015
20% Discount of all Bead Mixes & Bead Kits
All Bead Kits & Bead Mixes on Sale at Church Street Craft Market, Church Street Ballymena
20% of all Kits and Mixes.
Open 9.00 - 5.00, Monday to Saturday.
When you are there have a look around at all the other Crafters and their Handmade Goods
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Howdy, There folks. I can't believe how long it has been !!!!!!!
Hi Folks, I can't believe the last time I Blogged was October. The Time has flown, with working with my friend in the Restaurant, helping in the Church Street Craft Market in Ballymena and running my business, where has the time went.
So I hope you have all had a Good Christmas and a Happy New Year, so far. Myself, I have been busy, Firstly was not well, Great start for the New Year, but also had to do my Books for the Taxman, ( successfully finished and sent ), also had to redo and Stocktake all the extra Beads & stuff, that was in the Store. Major bit of recycling, went on as well, as I recycled Mushroom boxes, so as to keep my stock in. Now I can see everything and when I need to restock the shop, I do not have to plow through all the Cardboard boxes, tins and other containers.
My Now Newly Organised Store Room
So I hope you have all had a Good Christmas and a Happy New Year, so far. Myself, I have been busy, Firstly was not well, Great start for the New Year, but also had to do my Books for the Taxman, ( successfully finished and sent ), also had to redo and Stocktake all the extra Beads & stuff, that was in the Store. Major bit of recycling, went on as well, as I recycled Mushroom boxes, so as to keep my stock in. Now I can see everything and when I need to restock the shop, I do not have to plow through all the Cardboard boxes, tins and other containers.
My Now Newly Organised Store Room
So How was your Christmas, Did you sell all your creations, or did you make stuff for the people, special to you. Either way, I hope you had a Good time.
Did you do any Craft Shows / Market, this year. ?
How did you get on ?.
Was it worth your while or a complete waste of time & money.
They can be so hit & miss.
So, also took on the complete changing round of the stock in my shop, some of it is on sale on my website.
Moved Things around to make space for New Products, that I will be stocking soon.
So Be Good, Enjoy what you do and be Happy.
Friday, 24 October 2014
New Opportunities, Oh! Yeah
Hi Folks, Today Comes the Good News
A while back I told you about a new opportunity, that I had been offered, Well I was excepted for it.
Our local Business Centre, here in Ballymena, opened an Art & Crafts Business Centre in Church Street. Myself and 29 other Crafters of all kinds, were picked to breathe life and hand made items into this project. So, as I started out in business, I used to make hand made items, till the Bead Shop, became a reality.
So know I can get back into this and get back into making my stuff again. This is an exciting challenge for me, as well as the jewellery, I will be making. I am also producing Beading kits for all ages, as well I will be able to do a bit of teaching on a one to one basis.
We open the Doors, hopefully ( if my Shelving is finished and delivered in time) on the 1st November at 9.00. There is so much talent and beautiful handcrafted items, it will be prefect for Christmas Presents, everything from Handcrafted Silver Mementoes to handmade Cushions, Paintings of all different styles & techniques, beautiful crafted pictures, earthenware, ceramics and the list goes on ( Oh and Me!).
EXCITED I am..
Frantically, decided what to take with me and making Kits as well.
So I'm off again to the Shop to make more up
Have a Great Day and Sorry about yesterday's rant :)
A while back I told you about a new opportunity, that I had been offered, Well I was excepted for it.
Our local Business Centre, here in Ballymena, opened an Art & Crafts Business Centre in Church Street. Myself and 29 other Crafters of all kinds, were picked to breathe life and hand made items into this project. So, as I started out in business, I used to make hand made items, till the Bead Shop, became a reality.
So know I can get back into this and get back into making my stuff again. This is an exciting challenge for me, as well as the jewellery, I will be making. I am also producing Beading kits for all ages, as well I will be able to do a bit of teaching on a one to one basis.
We open the Doors, hopefully ( if my Shelving is finished and delivered in time) on the 1st November at 9.00. There is so much talent and beautiful handcrafted items, it will be prefect for Christmas Presents, everything from Handcrafted Silver Mementoes to handmade Cushions, Paintings of all different styles & techniques, beautiful crafted pictures, earthenware, ceramics and the list goes on ( Oh and Me!).
EXCITED I am..
Frantically, decided what to take with me and making Kits as well.
So I'm off again to the Shop to make more up
Have a Great Day and Sorry about yesterday's rant :)
Thursday, 23 October 2014
Small Business's and the struggle We have.
As you all know every small business, these days struggle at least sometime during the year. The Struggle isn't helped much by those who keeping moving the Goal posts, on a regular basis.
eBay and our Good friends, Facebook, don't help much, after promising a good time, then go and start making conditions.
Ok , some things might help us, bring in more business, but the time it consumes is greater, something small business's do not have.
eBay and their 101 changes, so that we sell more, if anyone has sat and tried to fix these ,what they want, is almost an impossible task. Ok my picture is this size and I have at least 3, Why?..... A week later they tell me to change them, or why do I want to add some word into my title, so as to sell more, when it tell everybody else to do the same. Oh and I forgot, they then charge us for wasting my precious time. I have things to do, eBay, I have customers to serve, I have website and Social media to update, I have parcels to make up and post.
Now Facebook is getting as bad. They are now talking about doing away with the Friend option and just making us like each other, Fine, but then this came along.
eBay and our Good friends, Facebook, don't help much, after promising a good time, then go and start making conditions.
Ok , some things might help us, bring in more business, but the time it consumes is greater, something small business's do not have.
eBay and their 101 changes, so that we sell more, if anyone has sat and tried to fix these ,what they want, is almost an impossible task. Ok my picture is this size and I have at least 3, Why?..... A week later they tell me to change them, or why do I want to add some word into my title, so as to sell more, when it tell everybody else to do the same. Oh and I forgot, they then charge us for wasting my precious time. I have things to do, eBay, I have customers to serve, I have website and Social media to update, I have parcels to make up and post.
Now Facebook is getting as bad. They are now talking about doing away with the Friend option and just making us like each other, Fine, but then this came along.
" FACEBOOK has recently changed its rules for Business Pages
A person has to be 'active' on your page a minimum of 3 times within any calendar month period.This means a 'like' of a picture, a comment or a full post on the wall.
If a person is not active on your page, as listed above, after a month of no activity, their 'like' will be removed from your page, as FB has decided they are not interested... in your page! So, if you are a fan of any pages, do make sure you are regularly active. Even just one quick post a week will ensure that the page will remain in your timeline..
It's also been found that the more Likes or Comments any one post receives, the more people that see it in their News feed.
So if you see a post or photo from any Business page you are a fan of make sure you like it, or even comment on it.
Help keep small Businesses running"
A person has to be 'active' on your page a minimum of 3 times within any calendar month period.This means a 'like' of a picture, a comment or a full post on the wall.
If a person is not active on your page, as listed above, after a month of no activity, their 'like' will be removed from your page, as FB has decided they are not interested... in your page! So, if you are a fan of any pages, do make sure you are regularly active. Even just one quick post a week will ensure that the page will remain in your timeline..
It's also been found that the more Likes or Comments any one post receives, the more people that see it in their News feed.
So if you see a post or photo from any Business page you are a fan of make sure you like it, or even comment on it.
Help keep small Businesses running"
Oh and don't forget you have to save everybody you like or you don't get their posts as well as that, you may have 10,000 likes, but only 4 people are seeing it..AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
I'm not even angry or annoyed.
Ok in Theory, this is fine, but , what happens if you have 500 likes, this means within a month, you have to take time to make 1500 entries on Facebook. Where am I going to find the time to do all this, especially when I get a big delivery in, or when I have to make jewellery, teach, keep my books and all the other things I have to do. Oh! and I have to work Part Time on top of that to keep a roof over my head.
Again Ok, they are only looking after us.....or are they.
Ok Rant Over
I hope everybody is having a good day
Oh and there is Amazon, Twitter & Etsy to keep going as well :)
So from all here at Wicked Princess Beads
Bye for now.
Good news coming soon
Thursday, 2 October 2014
Earlier in the Week ..............Good News
Earlier in the week , I posted a Blog, entitled New Opportunities.
Well this morning, I received a call, from Jenine McIlroy, to tell me that I had been one of the people picked to be part of their new Ballymena Business Centre Flagship Store in the centre of Ballymena.
I am pleased that now, I can exhibit, showcase & sell my products and jewellery.
This means a lot to me, as I have worked hard to even get where, I am now and has give me a boost and bring my business to a lot more people, who craft in the local area, as well as in Northern Ireland
Will keep you posted on an opening date, next week.
Folks, Don't Forget October is Visit Your Local Bead Shop
:)
Monday, 29 September 2014
New Opportunities
New Opportunities
Last Week I received an email from my local Business Centre , just across the way. It was about a new opportunity , a new idea for our local town and it was backed by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ballymena Business Centre, Creative Industries Innovation Fund and the Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure and I had been sent this, because I had done my first years business, with the help & guidance of the Ballymena Business Centre, who have also kept in touch with free courses and other help since.
This is part of the email, so as I fit the criteria , I have applied, now it is all down to the waiting and to see, if I am one of the lucky 20,
After I had handed my forms & pictures in, which are below. I headed into town to see the New Shop, that is situated in the Town Centre
So here's hoping, Fingers crossed, Etc, Etc,
Keep you posted on how I get on.
Last Week I received an email from my local Business Centre , just across the way. It was about a new opportunity , a new idea for our local town and it was backed by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Ballymena Business Centre, Creative Industries Innovation Fund and the Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure and I had been sent this, because I had done my first years business, with the help & guidance of the Ballymena Business Centre, who have also kept in touch with free courses and other help since.
This is part of the email, so as I fit the criteria , I have applied, now it is all down to the waiting and to see, if I am one of the lucky 20,
After I had handed my forms & pictures in, which are below. I headed into town to see the New Shop, that is situated in the Town Centre
So here's hoping, Fingers crossed, Etc, Etc,
Keep you posted on how I get on.
My Arts & Craft Business
Ballymena Business
Centre
Do you produce and sell your own arts & crafts? Would you benefit from free town centre
retail space in Ballymena and a programme of support to help you grow your arts
and craft business?
My Arts & Craft Business is a
Ballymena Business Centre Programme supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland .
Applications are open to any person from
Ballymena and Neighboring Council Areas.
Twenty participants will be selected to benefit from
this opportunity.
My Arts & Craft
Business participants will benefit from the following:
5
month free Retail Space in Ballymena Town Centre to exhibit, showcase and sell
products
Business
Mapping to position your business within the Causeway Coast and Glens footprint
Ready
4 Retail Interactive Workshops to maximize town centre trading, merchandising
and retail opportunities
Creative
Cluster Mornings to share experiences and learn from craft and retail experts
Promotion
of products tourism venues, galleries, hotels, retail outlets and craft organizations
To
be part of a new and vibrant town centre project within Ballymena
My Arts & Craft
Business application criteria will focus on the following aspects…...
Age
18 and over
Resident
in Ballymena or Neighboring Council Areas
Self
Employed Creator of quality arts and craft products
A
desire to grow your arts and craft business
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