The show is now archived! Feel free to take a listen and send me some feedback/suggestions. I can always do a followup program if there is enough interest.

The organizations I mentioned for children’s financial literacy are:

Kelly’s Loving Hands  – founded by one of my 2011 Hotties

Childrens Financial Network

Next month is “love month” so the topic is “Black, Female and Single + Getting Married in New York City”.

Beaded Laughter

A blog by Sylvia(Sylvie) Lansdowne, combines witty beading comments with very hunky photos. Sylvia is a lampwork artist, and teaches classes.  At the moment she is taking requests, but be patient–the girl has to make a living.

However, it kept me away from the beads for a bit.  On top of that, some components took almost two weeks to arrive. So now it’s scramble time to get the stores updated.

Which brings me to this month’s topic: the value of a second opinion. As some of you know, my mom is a valued customer. She is also a retired clothing designer, so she knows her way around material, clothes, and needle & thread. The other day she took a look at my revamped needle container:

Second attempt with different color

She picked it up. She looked at it. Put her (tiny) hand around it.

“Hmm..it’s too heavy for a needle tin. And the beads are getting too thick around it. I liked the first one you did better. It was flatter and lighter.”

She was right. I picked it up and it was too heavy for the intended purpose.  So, back to the loom. It’ll be two loomed segments, one for the front, one for the back. If Mom hadn’t tested it, a whole lot of beads would have been wasted. Same theory as obtaining a second medical opinion. Why go under the knife if you don’t need to?

If you have a chance by all means get that second opinion. An objective one is best, but a good friend who has your interests at heart can offer feedback too. Feedback is nothing to be ashamed of. Constructive feedback makes you better. It points out things you may not have noticed, or something that works well or not.  Feedback early in the game will save a lot of material and frustration.

If you want to follow along, here are the resources I’m using:

Glinda Bridgforth’s books: Girl, Get Your Credit Straight, and Girl, Make Your Money Grow. (Click on Glinda’s name to visit her website.)

Barbara Stanny’s    Overcoming Underearning

Suze Orman  How could I not reference her?

As always, the show is on NBDMedia via Blogtalk radio, 10pm Eastern.

So, let me wrap up the year by discussing a few things I discovered both in beading and life.

1. Color of the year: Tangerine. Actually it’s more of a deep orange/red. Can’t wait to do some more with this color.

2. Purchased Margie Deeb‘s “How to Extract a Color Pallette” download. Very helpful guide for how to coordinate a color scheme without the “matchy matchy” feel.  Also got a sneak peek at her upcoming “coloring book” for jewelry artists.  THAT’s gonna be a hit fo sho’.

3. Purchased some wonderful finds from Singing Cat Studio, Bead My Love, SilverSilk, and the “Cabachon Man” at BeadFest this August. Here’s a piece for sale using SilverSilk and Singing Cat’s art:

Mixing it up, chain, SilverSilk and a beautiful pendant

4. Made a few new “Twitter” friends, including CraftOptics. I’m digging the magnifiers, that might be a New Year’s gift to myself. Can’t wait for BeadFest 2012.

5. Discovered BeadUnique Magazine is now Bead Design Studio. There’s new features, redesigned project pages and more. I love the new look!

6. Totally enjoying using Zibbet for my Mens/Home lines. Had a few sales right away, so it’s promising. And a special “shout out” to Dani Breitwork for tweeting my stuff. Thanks!

7. Personal stuff: Love my new position. Learning more about the business side of having a business while combining with health care experience.  Lost a good friend, but made/found some more.  Made it through a year at NDB Media, can’t believe the fun I’ve had so far. Woot woot!

As for resolutions, I have none. I don’t make them ’cause the end up broken. However, my quest to lose weight will continue.

Stay safe, stay fun, stay funky fresh.

See you in 2012!!

For 2012, it’s the hot, vibrant, dare I say “sexy” cousin of red:

Tango Tangerine

(Click on the color to visit Pantone’s website.)

Here’s a brief quote from the site:

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

It’s time to get out those “tangerine” beads you couldn’t figure out what to do with! Embroider a cuff with a dark background, string some with a light brown, or even a light green. Here’s a pair of earrings I worked up a few months back:

Guess I was ahead of the trend.

Get vibrant and sexy in 2012 with Pantone’s new Color of the Year.

Those ads on Facebook (the ones that are obviously phishing sites) are annoying also.

People who constantly post funny photos and tag you without thinking–gets old quick.

However, what if the only legal way to use the internet was to shop? Or pay a bill?

That’s it. NO Facebook, NO YouTube, NO fanfiction.

Personal blogs ranting about poor customer service–poof–gone.

Blogs like this one discussing art, creativity, politics–gone.

How could this happen?

If this bill in Congress passes–the “Protect IP” Bill, that’s how.

Go to this page: American Censorship Day

Contact your Senators, spread the information.

Doctor Who Review with ShyRosalind.

Yes, I know Treknation is on that night as well, (Science channel 8pm) so you can catch me in the archives too.

Had my first “in house” trunk show last week. First I have to say THANK YOU to the folks at PHlex Health & Wellness Studio for hosting it.  They’re a great group.

The plan was to introduce my items to clients, and hopefully sell a few “early” holiday  items. It was an interesting experience. First, the table adventure. I rush ordered a folding table from Amazon after the first table I ordered didn’t ship in time.

Well, the other table arrived Monday afternoon–the middle of the first day of the show.  Yeah, big help that was–it was returned the next day.

The display turned out better than expected. Each day I rotated items out, so clients didn’t see the same things.

Nifty set up

The table met expectations, lightweight, yet sturdy enough to hold the display. I did use risers, which made a big difference. No one had to bend over too far to look at the offerings.

Total sales: well, less than $50. However, considering the space was free, I made a profit.

Will I do it again? Not sure. I think the clients just want to come in, work out and keep moving on. We’ll see. One client did comment that my prices were too low. So I made changes at both stores.

If one flips to the wall page it appears this person plays Cityville. Other people are sharing points with said deceased person, commenting on their photos, and such. A fan/tribute page should say so up front.

As a matter of fact, tribute pages have a slightly different look than a regular profile. For example, if you search for Nat King Cole: The basic information comes up first. You see that it was created by the Cole family’s agent, with his contact information. The page is listed as “musician/band”.

No employment, or other such information. There is a friends list, and interests, but they all relate to the person. There’s no Zynga game on NKC’s page. Why does this bother me? If you’re going to do a tribute page, do it right. Maybe I’m hypersensitive, but it feels disrespectful to create and use a profile as if the person is still with us.