The Bead Spot

A previous order from Fusion Beads Where I live, bead shops are few and far between, so most of the time when I buy beads, I'm buying them from a website. We do have some major crafts retailers — Hobby Lobby and Michaels — which don't carry the types of beads I'm looking for, as well as a few individual bead sellers, but the closest is an hour away, which means going there takes planning and taking a day off my day job. Therefore, most of my stash comes from websites. My top 3 go-to places: Fire Mountain Gems , Shipwreck Beads and Fusion Beads , but I'm always on the lookout for a new place. Here are the three sites I'd like to try: Harlequin Beads This site caught my eye mainly because it has Czech Charlotte beads, which I've used in projects such as the round earrings my grandmother was seeking . I love how Charlottes shimmer, and I can't find them just anywhere. It's been long enough since I've bought Charlottes that I don't know...

Store Decor Earlier today, I was browsing my Etsy shop and comparing it with those of some other sellers. I noticed that mine looks far more sparse than I had realized. It needs some dressing up, though I'm not sure what all to include. I had started a banner for it a few days ago, but I made it the wrong size initially, and when I went back to resize it, I couldn't get the software to do what I wanted it to do. Another Site for Sellers I recently stumbled across another site through which I could sell my beadwork, too, but unlike Etsy, it doesn't have any listing fees and it doesn't take a percentage of what sells. That means less overhead and the ability to lower my prices some I've signed up to be a seller, and I'm now working on building my shop. I don't want to just abandon Etsy. It gets a lot of traffic, and until recently, I had never heard of the other site -- StorEnvy . But I have decided to try a little experiment. Right now, I have thre...

I saw an ad for a site called Tophatter while I was online yesterday. It caught my attention because it mentioned auctions for craft supplies. So I followed the link and registered to see what it's about. I expected something similar to eBay, but it isn't because the auctions are live. It has more than just supplies, too. It has some finished work, such as knitted headbands, bracelets, earrings, handbags, rings, etc. I'm not sure everything on the site is handmade, like on Etsy , but I do think it's kind of interesting. It might be a better place for winnowing down some of my bead stash.