Happy Black Friday

Well, it's over. The day has come and gone and we are left with memories. Memories of loyal customers and friends we have encountered, shared with and look forward to seeing again. The day was a great steady flow of traffic from 8 am when we opened to 6 pm when we closed. It felt like 2006 all over again. My heartfelt and a sincere THANK YOU to all who showed up and took time from their busy schedules to stop by.

For the month of December, we've put a coupon on the sales and discounts page for you to print out the page, bring it in and save 25% off you purchases any day we're open during the Month of December. Take your time, plan your execution and attack! 123, come on in.

Handmade Holidays at Adelia's Closet - 2009

Have you seen our webpage? Once again, this is our fifth annual 50% off sale. In prior years, we've offered it only on the strands, but this year we figured why not have it off for the whole store! The customers always asked for it, and sure, why not give it to them!

We will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday this week for some rest and relaxation.

Jay remembers growing up, his mother was an avid knitter. For Christmas every year she would start in mid summer and every night after dinner, she'd park her fanny in the chair and continue where she left off the previous night. All tolled, she would make about 20 sweaters. There were mostly the scandinavian style with the fancy colors around the neck and shoulders. Most of the sweaters were given as gifts some she would drop off at a local resale shop and some were special orders in specific colors as gifts from the guys she worked with.

It wasn't so much of a money saving exercise, but more of a way to keep her mind active and busy. Man, that women knitted so much she got tennis elbow! Working with a different medium was also fun for her. She would cross stitch, embroider and needlepoint. My dad on the otherhand, spent his time in the basement, puttering with building something, and he was an avid reader. Dad would have loved to have the internet in his day, he'd never sleep! My Dad was the jewelry maker in the family. He'd carve pendants out of wood, make molds and create plaster casts and had a rock tumbler that ran 24/7. Vibrated throughout the whole house.

Well, this wasn't hard, I was reminded by Michelle and Jean the other day that i've been too lazy and hadn't updated the blog since the end of August. Well, I don't have to wait to New Years to make a resolution. I promise to be a little more active, thanks for the reminder.

Jay

Recent thoughts...........

There are many social networking sites available. Blogging is one of them, then there's Facebook and Twitter and you can chat on your phone, IM, etc. We like blogging because it's informative and easy to use. About once a month I'll jot down my thoughts and try to keep up with it. It's easy to forget, even though it's a Marketing tool as well as an insight into the life of Adelia, it's not always easy to write things that people will care about. (Being from Boston, I'm practical as well as cynical and maybe I think TOO much and answer my questions before I even ask you?)

So, what's on my mind? Well, i've been looking at other bead websites and getting inspiration for ours and I noticed that some of them have oodles and oodles of happy smiling people on their pages to project a look and feel of happy people buying, giving a feel of wonderfulness to the store. That's a great idea, so your wondering why our site isn't filled with happy faces? I'm sort of shy person and one, not comfortable asking someone for a photo and two, I prefer to not have to go through all the rigamarole to get permission forms filled out (lazy too?). However, I like using our camera to take pictures of what our customers ask for.

For almost four years, we have been whacking out a class schedule, in the beginning I had it in a calendar format with pictures and then changed it to a brochure piece then had both versions available and now we have it as a calendar with words and no pictures. Believe me when I quote "You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time." So yesterday inbetween customers, I got out my camera and took pictures of class samples.

We figure, since many people, or most, have a computer and access to the internet, then having pictures available on the website as well as the schedule of classes makes sense, DUH!! In my defense, it is time consuming and takes practice to take photos of jewelry. The silver sometimes is gold colored, the lighting almost always isn't right and paying for a professional photographer isn't something that I can do in my impulsive American way of "I WANT IT NOW" mentality.

So, click this link and you can see some, not all of the class techniques we teach at Adelia's Closet. The last picture wasn't taken yesterday, but last week. Curious? Have a look! Last weekend I actually did a video, not a great one, once again spur of the moment and posted it to YOUTUBE. Another fine example of preponderance, where do these people find the time to do all this?

Enjoy what's left of Summer, It's back to school and next raking leaves and hoping I fit into the cooler wardrobe of yesteryear!

Jay

Just playing with the new camera

This summer, we are hosting a spectacular event - Beading with Tiffany!

For $20 per child, you can drop them off for two hours of crafting/beading with Tiffany!

There are different crafts they will do each day. Dream Catchers, necklaces, earrings, rings, decorate a jewelry box and scrap booking.

Reservations required,
Space is limited so call Luz today at 847-966-2323 to learn more.

Closed for the holiday weekend

Everyone takes vacations to recharge, relax and spend time with family. The hardest part is deciding when to do it when your a small business owner with no employees to cover when your gone.

You know you'll miss some revenues and there are bills to be paid, but planning and budgeting can make this all happen. Jay and I will be taking off three whole days! Staying home and keeping the cats busy, and taking the old Harley for a cruise.

See you on Monday, enjoy your weekend.

Luz (Lucy)

Glenview festival

Jay spent a very relaxing and sunny day Saturday at the Glenview Chamber of Commerce street fair. Besides his sunburn, his other comment was "WOW, i'm surprised how many people know you!"

If you stopped by to say "hi" I appreciate you and will return the "HI" on your next visit.

Luz

Memorial Day Weekend

After the events of the past months, Luz and I will be taking this weekend off to recoup, clean the house and maybe "Go Fishin' " We will be closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Have you seen this site? 

 Seems like a good resource to help support the backbone of the United States.

Jay

Krystal passed away today

For those of you who have been keeping up with Krystal, this morning we laid her to rest. The cancer came back and the tumor was interrupting her breathing and swallowing. A great dog and she had a good long 13 years with her family.

Our strand table is BACK!

$8.00 per strand, no discounts, sales or coupons on these strands. It's a special price on all 16" Semi-Precious strands.

First come first served, there is about three strands of each stone. You will receive penguin points for your purchases over $25.00.

BTW, Krystal isn't good.

Krystal has lived with cats too long

Seems she really has nine lives. Currently she's sleeping more, eats alot and at normal times, and even has much less discharge from her sinus'. Overall, we think she'll make her 13th birthday!

A sad day

Last night she ate quite a bit, pork steak, three chicken legs and a half a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I swear since she been sick, the only dog food she'll eat are the Senior Milk Bones!

Anyway, today we're making plans and getting our minds ready to ease her pain. 

It's hard seeing your friend/child like this and in pain.

So, we bought this cancer medicine from Canada from http://www.petwellbeing.com/ called ES CLEAR. Then we bought the ADULT brand of the Milk bones specially designed for older dogs.

Well, she's been taken the medicine for a week now. Her tumor has reduced, based entirely on the amount of snot coming out her nose. I know it's gross, but Jean would send me an email because I can't spell "solely"

Anyway, Sunday we realized she acts like she hasn't slept in days because of her breathing. The tumor is on the roof of her mouth and pressing the sinus. Pretty much making her breathing as difficult as mine. If you don't know me personally, I always sound like I have a cold. I don't, i'm allergic to cats and Luz has MANY of them!!

On Sunday we got her a cake! Her birthday is April 16th. Based upon Sunday's performance.

Well, Monday, she slept like a rock, found her way into a bedroom. The medicine and cookies kicked in. So on Monday night she ate her favorite Fried shrimp, cheeseburgers and I was a little strict, I didn't make shrimp eggrolls!

SO she begged and begged and begged. She got fried shrimp.

Now we have our dog back! Man is she picky!!

Bad news for Krystal

high malignant melanoma invasion is what Krystal has. Bad news for us and her. We'll try some homopathic therapy on her. Keep her in her prayers.

Krystal - day ?

Well, she had a blood test. Krystal's pretty healthy except for a low/normal thyroid count. But they did a biopsy of the growth today and we'll find out early next week. The vet's hesitate to call it cancer but they've propared us for the worst.

Tonight she's a little groggy having had surgery today to remove a sample from her palette and except for eating she's still hanging in there!

Our oldest baby.

While several of our customers and others are taking care of their aging parents, we've been lucky to have Krystal for almost 13 years. In April she will turn 13.

We had another scare last week, the vet suggested she had a tumor on her palette. As a precaution, he gave her some antibiotics and yesterday we thought she wasn't getting any better when we brought he back to the vet. On Sunday all she did was sleep and seemed confused and wouldn't eat.

This time we had a surgeon look at it and after 10 days of antibiotics, to her, it looks like it's an ulcerated ulcer or infection and not cancerous. We had prepared ourselves to have her put to sleep, but she's home and ate like a teenager last night. Sandwich steaks, shrimp, scallops, eggs and cheese. How do you get your 140# baby to eat her medicine? Guess she was tired of fried eggs and cheese.

On Thursday am, we have a follow up visit to get the results of her blood work. I'll keep you posted!

wow, it's been awhile since i've blogged!!!

Time flies by. Yes I don't blog over every thought or brain fart that I get. Maybe I should? Everyone has been touched by this depression. I do believe it's not a recession anymore. The federal reserve has to update their M1, M2, and M3 thinking as well as the tools they use to determine a recession, depression and so on. When the guidelines were constructed many decades ago the United States was a manufacturing country. Government should, they tell me they are the greatest minds, have the knowledge to grow and sprout new ideas such as since the USA has become more involved in the service sector they have to adjust their prehistoric thinking.

Well, that's for the present. What have we been doing? Had a great annual sale the week after Christmas and those of you on our mailing list have been enjoying our 25% off sale. If your not on our mailing list, please visit http://www.adeliascloset.com and sign up! We offer many unadvertised sales to our customers. There has to be a benefit for joining our list, right?

Well, have a good time and try to stay warm. It's gonna be 5 degrees this weekend.

Jay

birthday parties in your home!

Well, we had a great Sunday! We went to a private home to have a birthday party for a 6 yo girl and had a blast! This is the first home party we "entertained" at and it was a lot of fun. The kids loved being in their friends house AND having a wonderful craft party.

If your interested in having us come to your home for a 1.5 - 2 hour party, call me today to block your space. The package was the #1, we brought the kits, (beads, supplies, balloons, table covers and tee shirt).

Call today to lock in your date!
847-966-2323 Luz (Lucy)

Handmade Holidays for 2008

There is so much talk about the economy, finances, Presidential race, and what YOU should be doing or looking out for. For many of the boomers as they start to retire they have taken the biggest kick in the seat when they switched to bond funds and now two of the undoubtably largest, Freddie and Fannie are down and out.

This is reminicent of the great depression the economist say. SO like then we can move forward and push the same values and concerns to todays time.

Given the anemic environment, Wells expects discounters to keep faring well as shoppers focus on price. Joshua Thomas, a spokesman for Target Corp., which has been hurt in this weak economy because of its emphasis on nonessentials such as trendy jeans and housewares, said the chain is focusing on gifts under $25 in its holiday marketing.

Just by reading this blog, your aware we are a full service bead store, a small little niche market in a smaller global economy. We buy our beads from around the world and besides the cost of shipping, manufacturing and inventory holding time, everything is getting more and more expensive thus making the margins of profit smaller and smaller for the retailers.

Above is a logo and link of a pledge we took. Shopping locally helps everyone in our communities and fostering HANDMADE items restores the warmth, love and consideration of those who you either make or buy it for.

Whether your a beader, quilter, painter, artist or wood worker, check out the site and this holiday season, let's all band together to make it a HANDMADE HOLIDAY!

Class schedule for the remainder of 2008

Well, it's almost the hardest thing to do in the bead world! Try to create a schedule that has new items, times where most people are interested or available and have that work around the times when the store isn't busy so you can get the most out of your class.

Once again, I think I did it! If not, just call me and we can schedule a private class for you and your friends or children.

The picture above is a new class. Made of Swarovski bicones and seed beads, this beginning weave is a great beginning to test your eyes and learn new skills. Pick your colors from over 64 available and let's get busy!!

Call me today @ 847-966-2323 to schedule your class.