Art Market is Through the Roof

Despite slumping financial market, the art market is soaring through the roof. And as the several blogs I've posted states, auction records for art has been breaking this year. According to experts, this is due to new international buyers with new found wealth, from Russia, China, India and Middle East. However art is still below the industry Dow Jones average compared to other industries. With more and more people with disposable income interested in art, this market might rise to the occasion soon.

Hope some of these people will buy our art! :-)

Visit our store at www.DaibeBeads.com or our etsy store at DaibeBeads.etsy.com!

Getting Over Our Disappointment

Daibe Beads would like to apologize to our readers that we will not be having our weekly featured seller this week. But it shall return in two weeks (if not by next week.)

Things have been crazy lately, having to deal with personal issues with my bf's ex (see this post), and now... she just stole ANOTHER $500 off my bf's paypal account. Somehow she found a way to hack into his account, no matter how many times he changes his information. At the same time, he can't cancel the account because then he'll never get his money back. (Chances are, his $1,500 total that were stolen is gone, I say he should just cancel it all together to prevent this from happening again... because it WILL happen again.)

But I digress...

Our promotions with Daibe Beads has slowed to a stand still. We were pushing very hard for the holiday season, putting up ads, being featured on Indie-Fixx.com's Holiday Newsletter, discounts after discounts after discounts, craft shows, word of mouth, blogging, just about every kind of promotions we can think of. And sales have been ultra disappointing these couple months. The season when we expected to have the most sales, we had the least. And it's very discouraging especially since we put all the extra effort into it, and the results were negative.

So being discouraged, we slowly promoted less and less, and eventually stopped promoting all together a few weeks ago. (And of course, no promotion = no sales). Faced with personal drama and no sales, it was tiring and disappointing, and it makes a person feel like quitting.

But then I see my mom (the other half of Daibe Beads) in her room, making her Swarovski crystal necklaces, she never gave up. I almost forgot why we did this in the first place, because we enjoyed our craft. It is our hobby. And if other people want to buy it, great! If not, it's not the end of the world.

So being a very business-minded person, I will take the start of the new year to re-evaluate Daibe Beads' model. This was our first year after all, and overall, we really didn't do that bad. We would like for customers to start buying our jewelry more - and will do more promos for that. We are also working on another craft - a clothing line! So watch out for that some time next year.

For anyone who is very discouraged over sales, don't be! Just take a look at your pros and cons and try to improve yourself. Giving up, like I did at first, won't do any good.

For Daibe Beads, it's very exciting times ahead.

Work of Art or Load of Crap?

When you see the above picture, what do you think the block is made of?

Did you make a guess yet?

Ready for the answer? It's CRAP! Literally, a bunch of crap! Santiago Sierra made 21 Anthropometric modules made of human feces. Each of these 215 x 75 x 20cm modules were made and collected from Delhi and Jaipur, India. The people from Sulabh International sponsored the project by working on it without any compensation. (Are they crazy??). They collected human fecal matters (I am shuddering just thinking of how they collect these things, not to mention slapping them on and making them into blocks), and let it rest for three years, mixed with Fevicol, an agglutinative plastic, and dried in wooden moulds. The stench must be horrifying! But apparently after three years, shit is no longer shit, but it is "equivalent to earth" from a sanitary point of view.

According to Sierra, "workers of the sanitary movement Sulabh International of India are mostly scavengers who, by birth, have to undertake the physically and psychologically painful task of collecting human fecal matter, being charged with the blames of a previous life of bad deeds."

The display is currently being displayed at the Lisson Gallery in London for the first time.

So... work of art? Or a Load of Crap?

Da Vinci's Drawings Invaded by Mold

Leonardo da Vinci's largest collection of drawings and writings, the Codex Atlanticus, has been infiltrated by mold. The damange is not known yet but it will be expensive to repair. Since there is no funding for the Codex Atlanticus, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, the place where the Codex is kept is looking for a sponsor to step up and save the treasure.

Featured Weekly Seller: Savor

Savor makes very unique soap that looks good enough to eat! Mint Chocolate?? Who can resist?

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?

I run Savor, a store featuring handcrafted soaps with a culinary twist.

2. How did you get into your craft?

I love to cook -- and growing up Italian, I was always around lovely, rich, tasty food. I took up soaping as a hobby, and I naturally incorporated my cooking knowledge into my soap making -- and Savor is the delicious result!

3. What is your latest project?

I am focusing on soaps with a lot of texture and character. I am looking at them as if they are meringues, or whipped topping. I want a sense of architecture and design to compliment the smell and color.

4. Where can we find your products?

My shop is located here: http://savor.etsy.com

Offensive Line's New Item!

One of our favorite stores, Offensive Line, available at http://www.cafepress.com/offensiveline just came out with a new item!
It comes in various colors and sizes, for male and female. Buy it now!

How to Make a Christmas Wreath

I recently made my first Christmas Wreath with my bf. It could've turned out better, but for our first time, it went pretty well.

Here's what you need:

1. 2 Wire Cloth Hangers
2. Thin Wire/Twistie Ties/Fishing Wire (Whatever is easier for you)
3. Plier/Scissors/Cutting tool
   
4. Collection of small fir branches with healthy leaves
5. Decorations of your choice
6. Red Bow

Here's what you do:

1. Take the cloth hangers and bend them into a circle shape, leaving the hook intact. The hook can be used for you to hook the wreath. Put both circle shaped hangers on top of one another. This will double the strength.
2. Start taking fir branches and piling them on the hangers, tying them to the hanger by using thin wire/twistie ties/fishing wire, etc. I find that it's easier to first secure the bigger branches on the hanger first, tying them with thin wire. Then start filling it out with the smaller branches, securing them by using twistie ties. Make sure the fir branches are all facing the same direction along the circle.
3. Keep filling out the wreath. Pick up the wreath once in a while to see which empty spots need filling
4. After you're done, you should have a full looking wreath. Now all you need to do is decorate it. Twistie tie the bow on, and any decoration you wish. Some suggestions are pine cones and berries.

That's pretty much it - quite easy to do! Here's the outcome of our wreath:

It would've look better if we place a shorter bow at the bottom of the wreath. Our mistake was we only used one cloth hanger instead of doubling it up. So the bottom was drooping downwards. To make the wreath look anything remotely like a circle, we tie the bottom to the top with fishing wire. And we put that long bow at the top to let it drape downwards, covering the wires.

Feel free to share pictures of your own handmade wreath! Post a comment here with a link to your wreath, or email us at daibebeads (at) gmail (dot) com.

Dealing with Ignorance

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't been blogging of late. It's the holiday so as you can imagine, we've been very busy!

Now, I don't like to air out personal issues in our public blog. But this is an exception. The real reason why we haven't blog is because I recently received a racist hate message and have been dealing with that since - yes that's right, an ignorant filled message about how Asians should be killed and how we eat cats and how we need to get back on our raft and leave. But the way the message was written, it wasn't some random racist attacking me, it was someone I know (from the way they described how I look like, to how she talked about my two cats, etc).

Usually the best way to handle these people is do not give them the satisfaction. But I had an idea who it was so I replied and defended Asians and myself, trying to provoke this person and get more info out of her. And as expected, she started revealing more and more of her personality each time she replies. Little did she know, while she's busy replying, I tracked down her IP address and is able to trace to the region she was at. And as I suspected, it was my bf's ex (I didn't know anyone else who lives in that region, so it was obvious.)

I've always suspected that when my bf and I started dating, she probably thought she had a chance to go back to him. They were already broken up, my bf was ready to move on, but she was trying to find every excuse in the book to see him. It was getting tiring. But as soon as my bf and I established that we were a couple, she saw she had no chance and finally moved out of state to live with her family.

But then the real trouble starts. She's obsessed! She won't leave my bf alone. When she moved out of state, she "accidently" took my bf's tax forms and bank records with her....And then the unspeakable, she got into my bf's paypal and took $1,000 from him. To this date he has yet to get it back. So when I started getting these racist hate messages, I knew it had to be her. I'm a generally easy-going person, I didn't think I can cause such hatred in anyone... except for a jealous ex.

Whatever the motives were, pulling the race card is a new low.

I sincerely hope that she can somehow move on with her life.

Weekly Featured Seller: Erin Lillies

A word that comes to mine when seeing this week's featured seller's jewelry is elegance. Erin Lillies' craft is stylish and classy. Let's meet her:

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?
Erin Lilies - Handcrafted Artisan Designs. I sell primarily jewelry in my etsy store, but will soon be offering jewelry boxes and pens.

2. How did you get into your craft?
I began making my own jewelry a few years ago. It stems from my love of all things shiny. My husband would frequently lose track of me in a store as a result. So instead of searching through the pretty, shiny items, I decided to start making them.

3. What is your latest project?
My latest project (which I hope to list within the next couple of days) is a phoenix pendant. It's so cool and I can't wait to share with everyone.

4. Where can we find your products?
You can find me on etsy at http://erinlilies.etsy.com or my main site: http://www.erinlilies.com.

Evel Knievel Passes Away

The famous daredevil, Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel passed away today (11/30/07) at the age of 69. He has been sick for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He also contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion 15 years previously.

I'm not old enough to see Evel Knievel do his live motocycle jumps (on TV) but I did see all the amazing clips of him making his jaw dropping jumps.

The one that made him famous was of course, the fountains in front of Caesar Place in Las Vegas. He was hoping to broadcast it live on ABC, but because at the time he wasn't famous yet, ABC did not eat up his tale of the stunt and rejected the broadcast. When Knievel made the jump in 1967, his motorcycle unexpectedly loss power and decelerate, which caused Knievel to come up short during the landing. Knievel hit the pavement and skidded into the Dunes parking lot. As a result, he ended up with crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in a coma for 29 days. After ABC got a hold of the footage, shot by Knievel's ex-wife, ABC quickly bought the rights, and that footage made Evel Knievel a household name.

The Six Flags at St. Louis was going to open a wooden coaster in 2008 after the legendary daredevil, too bad he won't be around to see it.

A man who escaped death so many times, ultimately gave in. Now he's jumping the sky.

EtsyBlogger HOLIDAY SALE!

Daibe Beads is participating in the EtsyBlogger Street Team's Holiday Sale.

From 12/1 - 12/8 only:

Get 10% off any items from our store. Type in the code ETSYBLOG10 at checkout to receive this discount.

Get an automatic FREE SHIPPING with the purchase of $35 or more! U.S. Only.

Visit Daibe Beads now!

DaibeBeads.com
DaibeBeads.etsy.com

Rare Faberge Egg Sets Record

A rare enamel-and-gold Faberge egg sold for $18.5 million dollars, which according to the Christie auction house, it is the highest paid Faberge work of art and broke the record for Russian artwork, excluding paintings.

A little bit about Faberge Eggs:

Russian Czar Alexander III commissioned the first of the eggs from Peter Carl Faberge as an Easter gift for his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna in 1885. The egg was an enameled egg with a gold yolk, gold hen, miniature diamond crown and ruby egg inside. The Czar was so impressed that he commissioned a new egg every Easter.

After the czar died in 1894, his son Nicholas continued the tradition until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Nicholas and his family were executed in 1918, thus ending the creation of the eggs.

Faberge created more than 50 eggs for Russia's imperial family, though not all survive.

CYBER MONDAY SALE!

For ONE DAY ONLY(11/26/07):

Take 10% off any items from our store (any of our store)!

www.DaibeBeads.com

DaibeBeads.etsy.com

Hurry! This deal ends at midnight.

Weekly Featured Seller: HeyLady

You have to check out our newest featured seller, HeyLady. She sells awesome cards that are made from recycle materials - crafty and environmental friendly.

What is the name of your store and what do you sell?
HeyLady. I sell vintage and recycled paper products. Mostly cards, but a few tags.

How did you get into your craft?
I moved across country, with no internet access, and only 700 anytime minutes to keep in touch with my friends and family back home. I started making cards out of scrapbooking supplies. But in my opinion, nothing made from mass produced products can ever really be unique, which clashes with my everything. So I combined my love for vintage, my love for our planet, and my love for snail mail. Viola, Hey Lady! was born.

What is your latest project?
Lately I've been working on my pinup pastie collection. Cards that display retro woman wearing nothing but rhinestones or (for the holidays) snowflakes.

Where can we find your products?
You can find Hey Lady! cards and tags at www.heyladyrecycledcards.com , or at my etsy shop, www.heylady.etsy.com. Our cards are also being sold at Texas Art Spot, in Cosicana Texas.

Homemade Light Box

A picture is worth a thousand words. How true is that! Especially in the e-commerce business, a picture of your item can make or break a sale. If your picture is bad, no matter how great your item is, it's not going to appeal to anyone else, because anyone else doesn't know how great your item is, all they have to go by is your description and your picture.

One of my biggest problems when taking pictures of our items is the lighting. My picture would come out too dark, or I'll have a snippet of my TV in the background because I don't have a great place for a backdrop in my apartment.

I figure a light box is the way to go, but I don't want to spend money for one. So I made one.

What you need (and you can probably find these laying around your house somewhere):

• Cardboard Box
• White Paper
• Ruler
  
• Glue
• Scissor
• Razor
  
• Tape
• Light source, of course

Directions (my description here might suck, but once you see the pictures, it'll make sense. Trust me)

1. Found a cardboard box, I taped the bottom to make sure it's securely in place
2. Using a razor, I cut out one side of the box. This side will be used as the bottom of the light box.
3. Using a razor, I cut out two of the four top flaps of the box. (Look at the picture for reference)
   
4. The other three sides, using a razor, I cut open three big rectangular holes. (Again, look at the picture, you'll know what I'm talking about)
5. I took some white papers, measured them to the measurement of the side of the box and cut them out
6. I glued the cut out paper to the respective three cut out sides of the box. Make sure to glue the paper on the inside of the box, not the outside.
7. I glued the bottom of the box with white paper as well, making this my white background when I'm taking pictures. You can use any background color you want, just find that color paper and glue it on the bottom of the box.
8. Place the box appropriately. The bottom of the box is now your background. The one side of the box that you cut out is now the bottom of the box. Find a large piece of white paper, and tuck it in between the background portion and the bottom of the box.
   
9. Place your light source, (light, sunlight, flash, whatever you use) in front of box, adjust your lighting according. And viola! You have a light box.

Here's what I took in the box: Finally, my background is just white! No snippets of my apartment appearing behind it!




By the way, you can purchase the items shown here at DaibeBeads.com

The Zig Zag Swarovski Jewelry Set

As featured in the IndixFixx Holiday Gift Guide!

The Zig Zag Swarovski Jewelry Set is handcrafted from blue and light champagne colored Swarovski crystals, this 7" bracelet and dangle earrings set shines and sparkles for any occasions. Custom length and colors are available. Get it today!

$39.99
Buy Now, Click Here!

From now to 12/31/2007, get free shipping by entering the code "indiefixx" during checkout!

And remember, there are lots more holiday goodies to choose from, visit our store at DaibeBeads.com or our Etsy store at DaibeBeads.etsy.com for the entire catalogue!

How Much Would You Pay For This?

This is the "Hanging Heart" by Jeff Koons, a sculpture of a stainless steel heart hanging from a golden bow. Ready to guess how much it was sold for? $23.6 million bought by the Gagosian Gallery. This almost 9 feet tall, 3,500 pound sculpture set the auction record at Sotheby's. Now if only someone would pay that much for my art....

Weekly Featured Seller: Creations by Cory

The thing that struck me when visiting Creations by Cory, was the vibrant colors used in the pendants. Let's meet our seller:

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?
My store is Creations By Cory. I make soldered glass collage art pendants. I take photo, vintage postcard images, and assorted images I have gathered, and collage them into one of a kind pendants. They are the encased in glass and then soldered with silver, lead free solder. I also make unique necklaces to accompany many of my necklaces.

2. How did you get into your craft?
I have always loved art, and took art classes for most of my life. My true love is painting in oils. I then discovered and feel in love with idea of taking different objects and mediums and making them into one unique piece. I am also a huge jewelry girl. So being able to take art and transform it into a wearable jewelry piece is just the perfect combination for me.

3. What is your latest project?
I always have tons of ideas brewing. It's just getting them all done. My absolute newest project are my soldered glass crosses. They have been a huge hit, and are definately a statement maker. I have also been doing a lot of custom photo pendants, which I love to do. Most of them are of little children, but they are the most fun to work with. I take these photos and collage them with butterfly wings, crown, and other objects I come up with along the way. The cutest one I did was a little girl with butterfly wings collaged as a jack in the box. I really enjoy doing the custom pendants. I have also done alot of school sport photo pendants, with school mascots and children's sport photos. That is probably the second best seller in my pendants.

4. Where can we find your products?
I would like to invite you to visit my online store at: http://www.creations.cory.etsy.com. And you can also reach me through my email for custom orders any time at: corym [!at] clearwire.net.

In you're in the New York Area...

Please come out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn for Artists & Fleas, where Daibe Beads will be selling our wares!

For direction, click here.


Here's a sneak peek at what we'll be selling. See you there!

Hey Ansel Adams, Let's Go!

For some reason, whenever I hear the name Ansel Adams, that's the phrase I am reminded of. If you're a Simpsons fan, you'll know what I'm talking about. In the episode "Marge Not Be Proud," the episode where Bart stole the game Bonestorm from Try 'n Save and got caught by the security guard and was warned never to step foot in that place again. When the Simpsons family returns to Try 'n Save to take a family photo, Bart was impatient, worry that the guard will catch him there, and he says to the photographer "Hey Ansel Adams, Let's Go! Take the photo." And I think... Bart knows who Ansel Adams is? Awesome.

But I digress...

The real reason for this post is Ansel Adam's proofs are on display, photos that were taken with a hand held camera that were not intended to be viewed by anyone. The pictures were taken in 1940 when Adams and his friend David Hunter took a trip through the Intracoastal Waterway from Virginia to Georgia. The exhibit of 50 photographs are being displayed at the Museum of the Albemarle, and was earlier displayed at Fitchburg Art Museum in Massachusetts.

Although these proofs are not the final art of Adams' and the photos might be interpreted differently in his final take, they're still art in itself, showing how the pictures look while they were a "work in progress." The proofs are still breathtaking. Here's one of them:

Our Weekly Featured Seller: Lani Robertson: Objects of Affection

When I logged onto Lani's etsy store, Objects of Affection for the first time, her banner caught my eyes, and I thought "very vintage and pretty!" - and that was before I even get to see her products. As I scrolled down, I was loving all her beautiful charms. Here is her interview:

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?

Hello ~ My name is Lani Robertson and I am the proud owner of Objects Of Affection. I love creating soldered charms from vintage and antique books, as well as soldered night lights, shadow boxes, sewn goodies, cards and photography! You just never know what you might find in my shop, as I am always adding more arts/crafts!


2. How did you get into your craft?

I am a huge fan of Home Companion magazine and I always check out all of the sellers and artists in each edition. I noticed an ad for a website called SallyJean.com, and checked it out. I loved Sally's whimsical soldered charms and I was inspired to learn how to solder and make my own creations! I searched the internet for any and all information that I could find on the craft and slowly taught myself how to solder.

3. What is your latest project?

My latest projects have been creating shrinky plastic earrings for children and teens! My daughter just recently got her ears pierced and I wanted to make her some unique fun earrings!

4. Where can we find your products?

My products can be found on my etsy website at www.lanisvintage.etsy.com. I also have a shop in the very small town of Kit Carson, Colorado. I fixed up a little run down house and made it into my shop where I offer my handmade items as well as vintage finds. For more information about me or my shop please visit my blog at http://www.shopobjectsofaffection.blogspot.com - or e-mail me at - shopobjectsofaffection [!at] yahoo.com.

King Tut's Face Revealed!

King Tutankhamun's face was finally revealed, 3,000 years after the Golden Boy was wrapped in linen and buried in his golden tomb. His fragile leathery black body is now out of the sarcophagus and placed in a glass climate controlled case to prevent it from turning to dust.

The youngest and most famous pharaoh took over the Egyptian throne when he was only 8 years old. He died when he was 19 years old. At death, he was 5 feet 6 and seemed to be healthy built. Though not the most powerful king of Egypt, he is certainly one of the most famous ones. His modern mystique, his almost completely intact burial ground in the Valley of Kings, and the trove of treasures he was buried with made him a household name. His mysterious death also causes many debates. According to a previous X-Ray scan of the body, his head revealed a dense spot at the lower back of the skull, that might indicate a murderous blow. But with a much advanced scanning with a CT scan conducted by Dr. Zahi Hawass, which obtains 3D images of King Tut, there were no indications of a dense spot. There was a hole in the skull but it was most likely done by embalmers. His left thigh was severely broken, which leads to the current theory that King Tut died of gangrene. The thigh was most likely broken due to a bad fall.

Now that King Tut has been restored and moved into a glass case, the tourist numbers are expected to double to 700 a day in Egypt. Over 225,000 tickets have been pre-sold for London's exhibition of King Tut. Then in 2008, Tut will make a trip to the U.S. at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Anyone want to take a trip to Dallas with me?

The New New York Etsy Team!

We just became new members of the New New York Etsy Team! We're proud Brooklynites.

Check out their blog!

"Last Supper" Goes Online

Now everyone can enjoy Da Vinci's Last Supper, all you need is Internet. The famed artwork was put online at 16 billion pixels (I wish I have a camera like that.) With such high resolution, experts can study the artwork online with full details, even details they cannot see in person, like the traces Da Vinci put down before the painting. All in the comfort of your own home, without the worry of wear and tear.

It's pretty awesome, see it here.

Our Weekly Featured Seller: Sweet Irie Originals

Meet our very first featured seller! Sweet Irie Originals has some fantastic jewelry. I can't tear myself away from her etsy store. Here's a little something about our seller:

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?

Sweet Irie Originals -I sell handmade jewelry and other accessories. You can find bracelets, anklets, rings, earrings, necklaces, cell phone charms, and bookmarks in my shop. I also sell gift certificates for those gift seekers who are not sure what to buy.

2. How did you get into your craft?

I started making hemp jewelry five years ago as a stress reliever and for fun. When my kitten was born, she made it pretty hard to create jewelry because she was constantly grabbing the hemp or my jewelry and stringing it all over the house. That was when I started doing just bead designs and working with more detailed and fine metals...and have never gone back. I have been creating beaded jewelry for almost four years now and love it!!

3. What is your latest project?

Yikes! There are so many....I honestly am trying to get lots of jewelry made to start going to flea markets so I can make some money. I have a lot of tuition coming due and gotta pay it. So, I have been working on making many different pieces with the new materials I have been getting in. Needless to say, all this crafting has my fingers tired and a little sore...but its worth it! ;)

4. Where can we find your products?

You can find my products online at www.sweetirie.com or by logging on directly to Etsy at www.sweetirie.etsy.com. I also sell my creations in two shops in Cincinnati and Bucyrus, Ohio and soon will be venturing to Fleamasters in Fort Myers, Florida where I will have a regular spot in the main market pavilion.

You can reach me via email at sweetirieoriginals [!at] hotmail.com or mbingham [!at] sweetirie.com.

Glen Wild Oktoberfest

Daibe Beads just had our first craft show! We debuted at Glen Wild Lake of Bloomingdale, NJ. It was full of Halloween festivities, with lots of cute costumes, and a kids parade! It was a good place to debut at because it was a community affair, thus keeping it small so that it could be more of a learning experience for us. Although we were disappointed that not as many people showed up this year (we were told that this year was the lowest turned out ever, possibly due to the extreme turn of cold weather) we made some decent sales. Our earrings turned out to be the hottest items!! We definitely learned some things that we will take with us to our next craft show, whenever that might be.

Here are some pics of our displays before the craft show began:

Featured Seller Guidelines

One of the original purpose of us starting this blog is to feature other crafty sellers. But we've been trying to fine tune this blog first, making it pretty, easily accessible and presentable before we decided to settle down and start featuring other sellers. You might have noticed that our blog look has gone through some changes since we first started, but we are finally satisfied with this template, so it is time to start featuring!

There are sooo many talented crafty sellers out there, and we can't wait feature them! Here are the guidelines

-We will make announcements in the etsy forum to look for other sellers to feature. Sellers must have handmade items. If you don't have an etsy store, that's ok, just leave a comment on our blog stating that you want to be considered to be a featured seller. But we prefer to feature fellow etsy sellers
- Photos must be in high quality!
-Once we make our choice, we will contact you and ask you to fill out a few questions.

Here are the Questions:

1. What is the name of your store and what do you sell?
2. How did you get into your craft?
3. What is your latest project?
4. Where can we find your products?

-In addition to the questions, if you are an etsy seller, we ask that you send us an etsy mini of the items from your store (thumbnails, 4x4).

Here is a sample to give you an idea (and of course shameless self-promotion!)

Our Weekly Featured Seller: Daibe Beads



What is the name of your store and what do you sell?

Our store name is Daibe Beads and we sell swarovski jewelry and figurines, all carefully hand-beaded.


How did you get into your craft?
My mom is a very crafty person. One day she discovered a beading book that instructs how to bead 3D animals. She loved it so much that she started making them that filled all the shelves in her apartment. Then she started making her own designs and got into making jewelry as well. I always loved beading my own jewelry, so we enjoyed doing them together. And I just thought that it would be great to share these cute, unique products.

What is your latest project?
We are having our first craft show this Saturday in New Jersey. Very Excited.

Where can we find your products?
Our official website is www.DaibeBeads.com You can also find us at etsy at http://DaibeBeads.Etsy.com. We are also on Lov.li and Blu Jay.

Mona Lisa's Secret

One of the reasons why the Mona Lisa is so enchanting is because of her mystery. Well Parisian engineer Pascal Cotte claims that he has unlocked some of her mystery with ultra-detailed digital scans of the painting

Here are his findings:

• Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyebrows and eye lashes. Through the scan, Cotte is able to see traces of them through the deeper layers of the painting.

• Da Vinci changed his mind about the position of two fingers on the subject's left hand.

• Her face was originally wider and the smile more expressive than Da Vinci ultimately painted them.

• She holds a blanket that has all but faded from view today.

• Cotte believes that he found the original colors Da Vinci used in the painting, including bright blue and whites.

Though these findings are fascinating, it's not without controversy of course. I mean this changes how the entire painting looks. But interesting indeed.

RealDolls

Read this.

The Movie "Lars and the Real Girl" stars a RealDoll, the silicone object of his affection. Until now I never knew about RealDolls (though the company's been around for 11 years): life-size, made of soft silicone to feel like real flesh with poseable joint skeleton, and takes 80 hours to craft. Customers orders them for companionship, muse, actresses, and of course an expensive sex toy (they cost around $6,500).

I guess it's easy to imagine a RealDoll as a real person and makes a great cure for loneliness (that is if you're rich). But frankly I think it's sad that you have to spend that much money to buy a fake companionship.

From a crafter's standpoint, I do admire the art that goes into these dolls though. They're very detailed and look very real.

Colbert Running For President

Stephen Colbert announced on his show that he was going to run for the White House.

I know it's a skit but won't it be great if he actually does it?

New Stuff Coming Your Way

My mom and I went bead shopping yesterday and found some really new and awesome beads. This means we'll have lots more new products soon! So far it's strange that what's selling for us thus far are the figurines rather than jewelry. (Then again, our figurines are cute!) But we do want to be noticed with our jewelry department as well and figure perhaps we don't have enough in our stores to even get noticed. We only had bracelets before, but now we have earrings and soon, necklaces! We're very excited.

The earrings for now are very basic designs, but we just got more materials yesterday to make more complex ones. To see the earrings we have now, click here.

Here are some of them:

We're Now a Part of EtsyBloggers!

Daibe Beads is now an official member of the EtsyBloggers street team! That's all the news we got for now..

Cali Got Spayed

My little kitty Cali got spayed today. She didn't go in without putting up a good fight and managed to scratch everyone who tried to come near her. (She's a feisty one!) Now she's back home, wobbly because she's been drugged, growling and hissing at everything. Poor kitty. Then she ended up peeing and pooping on the floor because she couldn't climb into the kitty litter box since her little legs are numb.

She'll be ok though, she's tough! Here's our version of Cali:



Get Cali now at DaibeBeads.com!

Daibe Beads on Indie Fixx!!

Yup, thanks to another fellow Brooklyn seller, Eternal Sunshine, who sells really cute stuff, one of our product was PICKED as Indie Fixx's Reader Fixx Top 10 Pick of the Week!

Check it out here!

The product picked was our Ox Crystal Figurine!



Thank you Eternal Sunshine!

NERDS!

Only nerds like me and my boyfriend will go to such things as Extreme Gaming Tour and ended up having a picture up on their website, ExtremeGamingTour.com. And to make us even more nerdy, we're a couple wearing matching theme shirts: me with my Super Mario's "Know Your Enemy" shirt and him with his PacMan shirt.

It was fun though :-)

Looking for a craft fair-mate

If you're in the Brooklyn area and have crafty stuff to sell, we're looking for someone to share a booth with!

Here's the details:

Date: Saturday, October 13, 2007 from 10am – 5pm
(Rain date: Sun, October 14)

Location: The fair is located on Lincoln Rd between Flatbush & Ocean Aves. in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and is just one block from the Prospect Park Subway station.

Subways: Q or S train to the Prospect Park Station, exit at Lincoln Road Spaces: $25 for a space (approx W10’ X D5’) and $40 for a space with a table.

For more info and vendor registration forms visit http://www.plgarts.org

It's a cheap price for a booth and great exposure! I'm only asking to share a booth with someone because the space for it is pretty huge and my products will only fill up half of it. No point in wasting the other half!

If you're interested, either post a comment here or email me at daibebeads (at) gmail (dot) com.

Monkey Love

If that's not one of the cutest picture there is, I don't know what is. And there's a cute little article that goes with it.

Basically, this 12-week old macaque was abandoned by his mother and close to death when it was saved and taken to an animal hospital in China. Even though he healed, his spirit was low - until he met the pigeon.

So so cute!

Speaking of monkey love, here's my monkey couple:



You can buy the guy monkey at DaibeBeads.com or at my Etsy store at DaibeBeads.etsy.com. The girl monkey will be posted soon. If you want them now, just let me know!

Give Britney a Break - Kinda

Everyone's quick to taunt Britney Spears and her horrid performance at the VMA, but give her a break. I'm not saying the performance was good, because it's not. The bad lip syncing, the lethargic "dance" movements and the blank expression that exudes exanimation. That's definitely not the Britney who built her career on performance - the sexiness, the dance moves, she was a great entertainer even if she didn't have real talent.

But c'mon, she's still in better shape than a lot of us. People who are calling her fat are probably fatter than she is. This just further promote the skinny-obsessed Hollywood. We want to make aware that eating disorder is not good, but we're quick to make fun of a little body fat that'll make people get into eating disorder.

Brit's performance however was no excuse. This was the "comeback" performance that'll probably make or break her sales with this new album, (if not make or break her career.) She needs to step it up. She really should've put more thought into practicing instead of partying.

In Honor of Pavarotti

Pavarotti had one of the most beautiful voice the world has ever heard, very sad that he passed away.

Here's a very cool video of him performing with the one and only James Brown, may they both rest in peace.

Halle Berry Pregnant with First Child!

Halle Berry is Pregnant! The 41 years old actress says she's three months pregnant and the father is Canadian Gabriel Aubry, a model she met in 2005. They're going to have a gorgeous kid.

I don't know if I can do this to my cat...

How to Untangle MP3 Headphones - Watch more free videos

Unicorns and Indie Public

Here's an example of what we meant by we can make *almost* anything out of beads. A customer asked if we can make a unicorn for her with crystal beads. We never did it before but were up to the challenge.




We're glad she loved it!

Also, Daibe Beads is now on indiepublic!


View my profile on Indiepublic


--
Edit: 9/4

We're now also on We Love Etsy:


View my profile on We Love Etsy

We Have Google Checkout!

If you wish to use Google Checkout instead of Paypal to pay for your beaded goodies, now you can!

Our ecrater store: www.DaibeBeads.ecrater.com is now equipped with google checkout! So check out the store now.

List of Fall Movies

For the complete list, click here.

I'm a huge movie buff. Some of the movies that I look forward to are:

Balls of Fury: I like ping pong ok? That and Christopher Walken is in it and he's always awesome.
Halloween: I don't particularly like any remakes of anything. I'm just interested to see how Rob Zombie will handle the Mike Myers story.
Lust, Caution:I watch anything when Ang Lee directs. Gotta support my fellow Asians.
3:10 to Yuma:I like Christian Bale
Elizabeth: The Golden Age:A continuation of the original Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett returns to play the Queen. I enjoyed all these Oscar-types flicks. It evolved from me taking loads of film analytical classes in high school and college. I love films that's full of metaphors, symbolisms, interpretations, etc. The original Elizabeth was really well done so I look forward to this one.
Saw IV: Well I saw all the other ones, I'm kind of forced to have to watch this too.
We Own The Night: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall star in a crime thriller set against New York's 1980s drug trade. Besides Marky Mark, great actors in this movie.
Beowulf: Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins star in the Norse legend of the warrior who battles Grendel and his mother. Tales of legendary characters are always fun when done well.
The Bucket List: Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? I don't care what the movie is about, I'm there.
Sweeney Todd:Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors and he's teaming up once again with Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter. And it's about a murderous barber! What else do you need?

2 Car Crashes

Hulk Hogan's son, Nick Bollea was seriously injured in car crash. Police says that alcohol is not involved and the incident is due to excessive speeding. The car hit a median and flipped over.

And John Singleton, who directed "Boyz N The Hood", "Shaft", "2 Fast 2 Furious" hit a jaywalker. The woman was pronounced dead. Police do not think that alcohol or drugs were in play.

I Keep Getting Bad Fortune

From fortune cookies that is.

Today I cracked open a fortune cookie and this is what I got: "Today your mouth might be moving but no one is listening."

The cookies are against me :-(

Please Bear with Us!

We apologize for the lack of inventory on Etsy. A lot of our items have recently expired and they will be added on again but not all at once. Please check back often for new items :-)

Thanks!

More Places to Find Daibe Beads

In case if you haven't noticed, there are a few more stores where you can find Daibe Beads. Just look at the links to the right.

Besides Etsy and Lov.li, you can find us at the following:

• Ecrater- where I just had my first sale!
  
• Blujay
  

Both of these places you can find our HELLO KITTY products!

My First Deadbeat Buyer

Yes it's true, I have experienced my first deadbeat (hopefully my last). This buyer bought an item from me and never paid. It's been a month! I sent her an email in attempt to contact her but never got anything back. I contacted the admins of etsy to try to get my fees refunded and re-listed the item. Hopefully it will now find a good honest home.

The item is an Apple Crystal Bead Figurine:

A shinny apple crystal bead figurine that's good enough to eat! Perfect for decoration or a fun gift!

Dimension: APPROX 2.5"X 2.5"X 3.5"

A Few Good Announcements

Daibe Beads is now also available on Lov.li! Currently we have only listed 4 products up but more will be coming soon!

Daibe Beads has also joined the etsyBEAD group! We're very excited to be a part of it.

New Item - Totoro!

What is a Totoro you ask? It is an anime character from the movie "My Neighbor Totoro." He's suppose to be a friendly forest spirit.

This Totoro figurine is carefully crafted out of crystal beads.

Dimension: APPROX 3"x 2"x 3.5"

Click Here To Shop Now!


Here's a picture of him!



I LOVE animes. One of the first movies I ever watched when I was a kid was an anime called The Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro. I fell in love with animes ever since. I watch all different genres in animes: horror, thrillers, kiddie ones , stupid love stories one... One of my favorite anime movies is Vampire Hunter D:Bloodlust.

New Item - Piggie!

JUST LISTED - a pig crystal figurine!

This pig figurine is made of crystal beads. Perfect for a fun decoration and gift idea.

Dimension: APRROX 2"x 4"x 2"

Click here to buy it now!

Vermont is the Official Home of The Simpsons

Read Article Here

Springfield, VT has beat 13 other Springfields and has the smallest population out of all the town competed (9,300)

Here's the video they submitted (it's pretty good), just skip over the Olbermann part.

Sold a Large Order!

Woo Hoo!

After a long hiatus after my first order on etsy, someone placed a "large"order (it's large to me)!

• Tiger crystal figurine
• Bunny crystal figurine
• Swarovski crystal purse charm
• Totoro crystal figurine
• Pig crystal figurine

My "sold items" section doesn't look so sad now. This actually encourages me to go out there and promote more since I really haven't done much of late. Check out my store at http://daibebeads.etsy.com - I will be restocking those sold items soon.

In other unrelated news, I played softball yesterday with my boyfriend, his cousins and friends. I love playing with them because even though I'm always the only girl playing, they don't show me any mercy. They pitch just as hard as they do with the guys, they expect me to do all the things they do. I love that because I hate it when guys purposely throw softer to you just because you're a girl. Anyways, my team won, I got a couple of hits and rbi's (and shamefully an error because I missed catching a ball). And i got a mean tan from being under the beaming sun.

Clay Aiken Gets Beaten by a Woman

Read Article Here

Clay Aiken got into a dispute with a woman on a plane that apparently got the FBI involved (but no charges were filed). The woman complained that his foot was resting on her arm rest and during an argument she shoved him down.

Funny.

But in reality, even a little girl like me can beat up Clay Aiken.

Avril Lavigne Sued

Avril Lavigne is being sued by a 1970's band Rubinoos for copyright infringement of her hit "Girlfriend." You make the call...

New Products and The Simpsons

Before I begin, since I'm a huge fan of the Simpsons (who isn't), I just wanted to share this article with you about how all the Springfields in the US are competing to have the movie premiere at their town.

Now onto Daibe Beads news...

I haven't had the time of late to make any new products or even promote Daibe Beads and sure enough, sales have been pretty sad. But rest assure that new products are coming out soon - new charms / zipper pulls in Swarovksi crystals and new figurines! Stay tuned...

Kelly Clarkson Cancels Summer Tour

Read article here

Kelly Clarkson has canceled her summer tour due to lack of ticket sales, one week after she fired her management.

Fame got the best of her. Ever since she won American Idol, she became a brat. She thinks she's above everyone, even the legendary Clive Davis. Clive Davis did not like the way her new album, My December was going and suggested changes, and Kelly refused. Um... Clive Davis has been in the business for ages, one of the most respectable man in business and has an instinct for making stars and hits. Maybe it's best that a young artist still early in her career to listen to him? How dare she blow him off. "I always go with my gut," she said. "My gut has obviously done pretty well for me thus far, so I don't see why I shouldn't keep listening to it."

And the result? Her single "Never Again" bombed and her ticket sales are poor. Looks like your gut was wrong Kelly.

I Love To Probe!

Check out a very talented designer's new product! His clothing/accessory line, "The Offensive Line" is all about tongue in cheek humor and it just came out with a new men's shirt called "I Love To Probe"

Click Here to Buy it Now!

It's also available in Boxer Shorts.

Click Here to Buy It Now!

For his entire store, click here!

My Boss Threatened to Fire Me

A little background: I've been getting to work the past 2 years around 10 - 10:30, but I always stay after to make up for the time and then some, meaning I leave 7 -8. I always stay extra hours to finish my work since I work 2 different positions in the company. Overwork and underpay? You bet I am, but since I enjoy what I do, I don't mind. My boss always was ok with it, said it herself a couple times that since I make up the time, who cares when I come in.

A little background on my boss: she comes to the office 2 -3 days a week, and when she's here, she leaves at 5, takes 2 hour lunches and 3 hours disappearance trick. She goes to take massages, shopping, and who knows where. 1 hour of gossiping. Which means her actual work day only consists of 2 - 3 hours.

Now all of a sudden she emails me telling me she has a problem with me coming in late. Um.. ok? But since she never go into details or talk to me in person, I continued to do what I do. Now she got someone working with me to relay her message for her (since she's never in the office to do it herself) that my lateness is unacceptable and that I was slacking off. It was "unfair" that I'm working "less" hours. Um... what? And since she is unavailable, I feel the need to defend myself somehow. I can't just justfiy myself to her dummy person. I wrote an email, stating how I stayed after hours and that there's a lot of people in the office that can vouch for me because there are a couple of them that stays late with me (including the owners of the company). I also said if you have a problem with me coming in at this time, I will try to get in earlier. I ended it with if you have a problem still, talk to me in person.

Today, she finally was in the office so she called me in. "I don't appreciate your email and your attitude, I forward your nasty email to HR to put on file" (nasty? "put on file"? what are we in high school?) I asked her which part of the email was nasty, she said all of it. I said I'm sorry you misread it because I wasn't giving you any attitude at all. She kept insisting that I was, so I asked her to read it back to me and pinpoint exactly where I gave her attitude. She said forget it (uh huh). She said since you don't care for your job, I should just get rid of you. HA! That's when I got piss. I dared her to, I told her "go ahead, do what you gotta do" if I didn't care I would've quit a year ago and I wouldn't stay after hours voluntarily. She was cornered. All she said was "I've always been nice to you, why are you giving me this attitude" I said funny, I was thinking of the same thing.

Afterwards, I decided to talk to HR, since she forwarded my email to him. He said he didn't think my email was offensive at all, and she was taking it one step too far. He also said she's the one at fault for not talking to him about this first. He said he didn't even know what was going on when she sent him the email. He ended by saying, ignore her, she can't fire you because I won't let her.

So now I have to go to work at 9:30, no big deal. She only made it a big deal and was mad because for once, someone stood up to her.

Barker ends run on `The Price Is Right'

Read Article Here

"Come on Down!"

The daytime TV icon Bob Barker officially retired at 83 years old, filming his last The Price is Right on Wednesday, ending his 50 years in television. Who else can fill his shoes and blow his signature kiss at the end of every show? It just won't be the same!

`Sgt. Pepper': It was 40 years ago today

Read Article Here

It is the 40th Anniversary of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the most important albums of all time. It was the first British album done with eight-track recording, running a pair of four-track machines in synch. It was also the first pop album to ever win the Grammy's Album of the Year award.

Harry Potter theme park opening in Fla.

Read article Here

Harry Potter is getting his own theme park at Universal's Island of Adventure called the "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." It'll feature famous location from Potter's magical world. I want to ride on a broomstick!

Baby Kitty!

My brother works for an animal shelter and he brought home a 2 weeks old kitten named Cali who is amazingly cute. Too bad we have to give her back when she's able to walk and eat on her own :-(

Speaking of kitties, I have some cool kitty figurine in my etsy store!

Click Here to Buy It Now!

Justin Timberlake launches record label

Read article here

It was only a matter of time before Justin Timberlake launches his own record label (and why the hell not, every artists have their own label now a days). I'm surprise he didn't do this earlier. He'll be signing artists to a record label he partnered with Interscope Geffen A&M label Group (naturally).

Timberlake says "We are all excited about the talent we have to offer already on our roster, and I cannot wait to introduce the world to my new discoveries."

Let's all jump up and down with high anticipation in Timberlake's discoveries - probably nothing more than clones of himself and clones of any artists that are out there today.

Paula Abdul found her purpose on 'Idol'

Read article here

Apparently Paula didn't discover her purpose in life until she joined "American Idol". She says "I knew since I was a little girl that I had this profound way of touching people. My purpose is bringing out everybody's best and being that cheerleader to other people's success."

Poor Paula, if her life purpose is "American Idol," she needs to find herself another life purpose and fast! Who knows how long "American Idol" will stay on the air now the ratings are steadily decreasing. Let's face it, the only winner who might have a lasting career is Kelly Clarkson - perhaps even Carrie Underwood. Where's Ruben Studdard, Fantasia (besides being in "The Color Purple") and even Clay Aiken? And I don't see this new winner, what's her face, will last in this industry. After her first album drops, it'll eat her alive.

Apple Debuts Unprotected Songs!

Read article here

Hooray! Apple is now selling songs without copyright protection on Itunes. This means tracks are no longer limited to a certain player or how many times it can be played. This also mean more selection! The sound quality is supposedly better. The catch is it costs $1.29 per song instead of $0.99.

The question is is anyone willing to pay more for it while they can get songs for free? I'm a sucker when it comes to music. I'd probably do it just for the higher quality tracks - but I guess that depends on which artists I'm purchasing. Some artists I could care less.

New Item! Tiger Bead Figurine

This tiger figurine is made of crystal beads. Perfect for a fun decoration and gift!

Dimension: APPROX 2"x 5"x 2"

And don't forget that this can also be made into a pendant, cell phone charm, zipper pull or keychain!

Click Here to Buy Now!