Bee's Buzzings

First Week Results - Fitness Group :)

Yayyy!  It's time for the next Phase of our Fitness Group, and we have 9 members total for this go around.  The Phase began on September 20, and will end October 31.  Members will be posting 6 weekly results, and will be awarded shop credits for cumulative losses of 3 pounds or more!

On my end, I'm down 1 1/2 pounds for the first week.  More importantly I got my butt back on the Treadmill and (finally!) back on our universal gym! 

Wishing you all the best!! 

Saw Cirque de Soleil Saltimbanco Today

Amazing.  That's the first word that popped into my head as my friend, Marguerite, and I watched the Cirque de Soleil performers today.  Their strength, balance and agility was absolutely magnificent.  The show was a great way to end a very good week. 

I'd never seen a Cirque de Soleil show, but Marguerite has seen quite a few (most in Las Vegas with her husband).  We had a fun time catching up with each other's lives, having a bite to eat, and enjoying the show, of course.

Tomorrow we're off to the neighbors to watch the Minnesota Vikings (we hope) win another game.  Will get orders caught up after that and on Monday . . . a day for new art!  Yayyy me!

Look at this BeeDazzles write up at The Little Black Boxes!

Had to share, this was so awesome seeing The Little Black Boxes' response to my submission *BIG GRIN*

Next thing (after TerBear's order and some new art) is to figure out how to operate my new camera and start getting some amazing pictures up on my Etsy sites!!

Also, the Fitness Group (9 members in all) will start reporting progress soon.  Let's cheer them (and me) on!!  I'm really, really ready this time.  With two of our four kids away at college, it's amazing how much more 'free' time there is to spend working out and eating better.  Am back up to 2 miles on the treadmill and finally began weight training again the other day :)

Hope you're all having a great night - the weather here is just glorious.  Hard to believe we'll be looking at our first frost in the next week or two!!

The Little Black Boxes . . . BeeDazzles will be in the September Box!!

I'm very excited (and tired) after preparing and shipping 42 of the sweetest little promos I've ever assembled to The Little Black Boxes, a special place for Indie Retailers to showcase their wares. 

Artists participate by sending in an assortment of their goodies.  They are then packaged up each month, and the LBBs (Little Black Boxes) are sent out to the media, and are also made available to the public for purchase.  It's a great price for a treasure box full of Indie goodness - and you can get yours starting next week (and there's a greater than 1 in 4 chance that one of these little BeeDazzles combo boxes will be in your shipment)!   

I included an assortment of pendants (Owls, Dogs and Kitties, and the ever popular trees - Autumn Tree, Tranquility and Whimsical Tree) along with a set of coordinating mini notes in a fun little package.  Kind of a trial run for a much larger offering during the holidays.


As you can see, it was a lot of work ~ but a lot of fun!

The paperwork is done, this media mailing is done, and now I have one more big wholesale order to go before getting to some NEW artwork. . .  will be previewing it here at Bee's Buzzings before it shows up in the shops.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Unexpected Surprises . . . Etsy Front Page !!

Today, as I was packing up a final order that needed to get to the Post Office before the deadline, I suddenly noticed two new emails pop up almost simultaneously.  Curiosity got the better of me, and I clicked on my gmail and saw they were both Etsy conversations.  A quick peek brought a huge smile to my face . . . one of my pendants was featured on the Etsy Home Page!


That got me thinking about a few other surprises that I really love . . . like:

1. Finding money (preferably dollar bills in high numbered denominations) in pockets while sorting the laundry, or in a coat or sweater pocket that hasn't been worn since last spring.

2. Forgetting about (and then re-discovering) a stash of mini candy bars.  We rarely keep them in the house, but when we do I will occasionally put a few away to tuck into Jim's lunch, and then tend to forget about them if they last over a weekend.   :)

3. Getting texts from the kids when they've done something exceptionally well.  Gives me the warm fuzzies!

and last, but not least . . .  (drum roll, please) . . .

4. Stepping on the scale after avoiding it for a long while, only to discover I'd actually lost weight!

Hope you are all having a great week, and have some really fun, unexpected surprises yourselves recently!!

hugs!
Bee

Recent Developments and a Coupon for YOU :)

Haven't done one of these in a while . . . so here we go!

The $5.25 items are in my http://BeeDazzlesGifts.Etsy.com shop (cut and paste in your browser window, or click HERE).  Selections include packages of 3 note cards, packets of 10 gift tags, and packages of 10 mini notes.  Hope you take advantage of this special offer!

NEWS!  We're getting ready to start up the next Phase of the Fitness Group.  More on that in the next post, but for those of you who 'know what it's all about' and know you want to join (free stuff is good!) just shoot me an email.

Tomorrow I'm doing some restocking in the local shops carrying BeeDazzles merchandise.  Then it's finalizing some bookkeeping details with our CPA, and then it's time to get ready for the next media mailing - courtesy of The Little Black Box.  Should be fun!

Also in the past week I finalized details with two new ventures.  BeeDazzles merchandise will be featured at Rivertown Artworks (Osceola, WI) when they open in November, and also at Applewood Hills Boutique (Stillwater).  Both shop owners had expressed earlier interest and everything came together around the time of Danielle's party. 

So busy, busy here at the shop!  Hope everything is well with all of you and you're enjoying some wonderful weather days in your area :)

hugs!
Bee

Why do they call it a sleepover?

Seriously.  It's like that old, "why do you park in a driveway and drive on a parkway??"



So, did you count nine of them up there??  Would you believe this picture was before the other four kids arrived??  And yes, I am officially out of my mind.  The only saving grace was that I go to bed early.  And Jim stays up late.  AND, we'd recently purchased a 'white noise' machine.  I remember snickering a few months ago as I tried out all the settings, as in, "oh come ON.  Do you really think the sound of trickling water, or rushing waves (or would you believe chirping crickets) is really going to help me sleep?"

You betcha.  We turned it up L.O.U.D. last night.

I was up at my normal 5:30 a.m. and went to inspect.  The girls were down in the basement family room, sprawled out on every imaginable surface.  It's always quite cute, actually.  Except for the one sleepover when I discovered someones big toe about 1/4" from another girls mouth.  Do you risk waking up a set of crabby, hormonal 13 or 14 year old - or do you just hope for the best??  (I chose the latter and just prayed the one girl didn't sneeze!)  Anyway, this morning they looked like little angels.  I didn't discover until a few hours later that they'd only fallen asleep about 45 minutes before I woke up LOL.

Four large pizzas. Twenty plus bottles of soda pop.  Candy, cake, cupcakes, cheese and crackers.  And pancakes, cheesy-eggs and toast for breakfast this morning.

I bet all the other moms just love me!

Free Pendant Winner!!

Congratulations to Jessica C!     

The Random Number Generator selected Jessica's August 22nd entry for the last contest period winner! 

Since I'm late in announcing the August 31 winner, I think we'll take a break on September 15 and instead choose TWO winners on October 1.  So remember - the more you post - the greater your chance of winning.  And any forum post during September (even comments on older posts) count as entries into the next contest.  And remember - the first 3 people to comment on THIS post get an additional 5 entries. 

Contests end on the 30/31st and 15th of each month, with one winner selected randomly from all entries (aka post comments) during the two week period.  You may comment once on each blog post during that time and receive an entry for each comment.  And comments on ANY posts during the contest period count - even if they posted several days ago :)

* Note to Jessica - it's time to go shopping!!  Receive an $18 merchandise credit (and free shipping) at BeeDazzlesGifts shop BeeDazzlesPendant shop or BeeDazzles art shop - if the total amount of your purchase is under $18, I will mark it PAID and ship your selection to you.  If the item(s) you select is over $18, I will send you a revised PayPal invoice from which to pay.)

My thanks to all of you for reading Bee's Buzzings and posting comments :)

hugs!
Bee

Congratulations to Jessica C!     

The Random Number Generator selected Jessica's August 22nd entry for the last contest period winner! 

Since I'm late in announcing the August 31 winner, I think we'll take a break on September 15 and instead choose TWO winners on October 1.  So remember - the more you post - the greater your chance of winning.  And any forum post during September (even comments on older posts) count as entries into the next contest.  And remember - the first 3 people to comment on THIS post get an additional 5 entries. 

Contests end on the 30/31st and 15th of each month, with one winner selected randomly from all entries (aka post comments) during the two week period.  You may comment once on each blog post during that time and receive an entry for each comment.  And comments on ANY posts during the contest period count - even if they posted several days ago :)

* Note to Jessica - it's time to go shopping!!  Receive an $18 merchandise credit (and free shipping) at BeeDazzlesGifts shop BeeDazzlesPendant shop or BeeDazzles art shop - if the total amount of your purchase is under $18, I will mark it PAID and ship your selection to you.  If the item(s) you select is over $18, I will send you a revised PayPal invoice from which to pay.)

My thanks to all of you for reading Bee's Buzzings and posting comments :)

hugs!
Bee

The best laid plans . . .

Does anyone else get as stressed as I do when things don't go as planned?  I swear . . . every time I say that I'm going to 'get "X" done' by a certain date, it never fails that things come up.  Many things.  And usually in a row. 

And no one thing seems to be valid enough in itself to warrant an excusable delay.  So I stress.  I told our accountant that I'd have my books to her by Friday (this, after delays in June, July and August).  Then it was Monday, and now I'm looking at Thursday at the earliest.  And that's Danielle's birthday, so it might get pushed back again . . .  *sigh*

On a lighter note, I wanted to share two fun areas in our home.  This is a corner entrance to our kitchen that I've always loved.  While I attempt to keep a 'grown up' look to most of the house, I enjoy having little gifts from friends and family displayed here (the bottom two roosters are from one of my favorite Etsy shops, RedCrowArts) , and of course some goofy photo-booth shots of Jim and me that never fail to make me smile.  They were taken on Danielle's birthday three years ago, shortly after Jim and I got married.  But even more dear to my heart is the doorway trim to the right of the corner shelf.  We've been tracking the kids growth (as well as many of the neighborhood kids) and it is so fun to see the progress. 

This last shot is of some little sconce-type things I got a few years ago at one of those Home Parties.  Can't remember exactly which company it was (Southern Living, perhaps?) but these sat in a drawer for a couple of years, unused.  You see, they had wire hangers coming off all four corners which never quite lined up properly and made the entire piece looking like some awkward metal spider.  So in a light-bulb moment, I used a wire cutter and snipped them all off, and voila! instant charm in our powder room without overwhelming the small space.

My photography skills have never been the best, so I'd also recently invested in a really nice (but used) Canon SLR camera.  The Rebel XT, for those of you 'in the know'.  Which unfortunately showed up with the spanish version of the owners manual.  Gahhhh, one more thing to add to my To Do List.  I'm hoping to find time soon to figure out how to use it.  So don't be surprised if I suddenly start taking beautiful, award-winning photos for your viewing pleasure!  (side note:  fat chance!) 

Well, off to get a few things done before bedtime, including using the random number generator to pick the long overdue Free Pendant winner!!

be back in a bit :)   

Back to School . . . and Back to Business

Yet another mini - break from the blog!!

I'm finally starting to emerge from the recent chaos of getting the kids ready for school.  Josh has been down at Rochester for over 10 days now, and Katie's been at Stout since Sunday.  Kristi and Danielle returned to their middle school on Tuesday, and with my new found freedom, I've been trying to catch up on everything that got pushed aside while we prepared for the start of the school year :)

Tomorrow and Saturday throughout the weekend I'll be working on long overdue paperwork, but will be announcing the August 31 Free Pendant Winner and catching up with the Fitness Group shortly - we'll be starting our next phase shortly - yayyy!  I'm anxiously awaiting this round, and have been back on the treadmill and doing a small bit of resistance training in anticipation of getting off to a quick start this time.

Over the weekend I hope to give you all a sneak peek of some of the new things I've been working on in spare moments lately.

Thanks for all the lovely comments and words of support.  And I hope you are all as eager as I am to see some new artwork (and more pins!) coming to Bee's Buzzings and to the shops soon!