Business, Beads and the Beach

I'm so excited to share what I've been up to lately! Life moves very fast, so it's hard to believe that it was 3 weeks ago already that I traveled to Florida for a whirlwind, amazing trip!

First, here's the souvenir... Squeeee Beads! Not that I have ADD or anything. ;)

The trip to Florida was an incredible experience. As an Ambassador for Cousin Corporation, one of the benefits to reward us for sharing & promoting Cousin beads was a retreat with all the other Ambassadors for 3 amazing days of business, pleasure and you guessed it... BEADS!

Instantly, Florida felt like home... warmth, sunshine and super wonderful people.  Jessica our incredible leader from Cousin set us up with the most amazing rooms at the Double Tree Resort.  Can I tell you, the view of the ocean was magnificent, but waking up to the sound of waves rolling in because I could leave my balcony door open was PRICELESS.  Seriously, I almost went down to the front desk and offered to buy my room because I could totally live there forever!

Day 1 was about getting to know you and lots of fun!  We took an amazing photo as a group with the Chamber-of-Commerce-Worthy Florida sunset in the background.  Then cocktail party fun that lasted until the wee hours.  Sleep was a minimum while fun was at a maximum!

Day 2 brought and EARLY rise & shine (translation multi-coffee kind of morning) and headed off to "work" while the coffee was trying to kick in.   We toured the Cousin offices and warehouse, client stores, brainstormed trends and new ideas and discussed the current products Cousin carries.  

What was fascinating to my entrepreneurial brain was the B-2-B side of business.  In my business, my clients are amazing women that wear the finished pieces of jewelry I design.  However, for Cousin, their clients are the stores and boutiques that carry their beads.  As a jewelry designer you can purchase beads through their daughter site, PrimaBead.com but the corporate site is designed to help businesses carry and sell Cousin beads.  So from marketing to various collections of designs, each step is very well thought out so that it resonates with their clients.

Then in the afternoon we had the chance to design with an amazing group of designers from Cousin.  Kristine was the designer that Vicki O'Dell (a.k.a. The Creative Goddess) and I worked with.  We had a blast and Kristine was super helpful to bounce ideas off of and create with.  The project we designed are for A.C. Moore to use in their advertising and marketing.  It was a blast playing with beads that haven't even been introduced for sale yet (coming soon to A.C. Moore.)  I can't show you photos of my finished pieces because they are highly classified... ;) BUT I will tell you I got assigned the turquoise color palette to work with and I was dancing all the way to the bead room!

That evening we shared an amazing dinner with Jeff Cousin, owner of Cousin Corporation and members of the management team.  We dined at Middle Grounds Grill in Treasure Island, FL.  Let me tell you, when I retire in Florida, I'm totally becoming a regular there!  The food was amazing and the service was exceptional!  They really know how to take care of their clients every need! 

Seeing my necklace on display was a nice welcome present!

Day 3 brought meetings in the board room, discussing social media, more about upcoming trends in jewelry design and beads.  Finally we went on a whirlwind no budget bead shopping spree in BeadLand before we had to head back to the airport to come home.  I won't regale you with the adventures of airport and weather suffice it to say I almost tossed my boarding pass and headed back to the beach to permanently become a Florida resident. 

The overall take away from the retreat was this:  Cousin is a family owned corporation.  I felt like part of the family.  Meeting Jeff & his wonderful wife Marie really allowed me to build a personal connection to the company and the family that started it.  The management team that helps coordinate all of us crazy, creative ambassadors are so kind and generous.  Everybody listened to what each of us shared and we were truly able to contribute to ideas, plans and future projects Cousin is working on.  We're really lucky to have gotten the opportunity to put faces with the names and online personalities we've connected with since I became an ambassador last summer. I loved getting to know the other ambassadors and spend time brainstorming and of course, collaborating over sparkly jewelry!  Thank you Cousin Corp and everybody there for making this trip so special! 

If you'd like to see the necklace I wore in the group photo, head over to my website!  You'll see all the beads and be able to connect with me, up close and personal! www.BellaAmoreLegacyJewelry.com

Until next time... peace, love & beads!
~Dawn

Where the Ocean Meets the Sand - A custom necklace inspired by Florida

Your walking along the shore.  You feel the wet sand under you feet.  Glancing back, you see your footprints leading the way back to where you've been.  Looking ahead all you see is possibilities.  You can go anywhere and your options are endless.  But you're called back to the water...

For my first custom design for Cousin Corporation, our assignment was to create something inspired by Florida because their company is based in Largo, FL.  We could choose anything at all about Florida to use as inspiration, but we had to use only Cousin beads in our creations.  Whether it was flamingos, citrus fruits, Disney, palm trees or something else all together.  I always chose the "something else" path less traveled. 

I created this custom beaded necklace I call Where the Ocean Meets the Sand. I started by laying out everything under the sun that might go into this necklace.  Initially I wasn't sure where my inspiration would take me... but here's what I started to play with.

Personally, I've always been drawn to water.  Sunrise, sunset, walks on the beach... and let's be honest, Florida being a peninsula has a LOT of beaches.  So I thought it was appropriate that my Florida inspired necklace feature the beautiful ocean and beaches.

As a focal, I selected an amber and teal colored geode slice. It's almost the shape of Florida (it's just missing the panhandle).  It paired perfectly with the teal seed bead mix and the amber seed bead mix from Cousin.  The mixes have a combination of bugle beads, 11/0 and 8/0 that worked to give this an organic, funky flow.  To finish the necklace I pulled in beautiful copper accents in bead caps and the toggle clasp, some amber gemstone nuggets and acrylic faceted beads.

A little wire-wrapping makes this necklace reversible

This is one of those pieces that will go perfectly with turquoise outfits all summer and will blend marvelously into the fall earthy tones.  It's artistic and fun.  It's asymmetrical and still balanced.  I think I nailed Florida so perfectly that this piece should take a trip to Florida just for good measures! ;)

And because I needed some instant gratification in the sea of seed beads and all the looping to make this necklace, I created a pair of matching earrings.  The kidney ear wires and copper charms with crystal accents are both Cousin products.  The lampwork glass beads are from Juli Cannon of StudioJuls.  Yet another staple in my array of turquoise and copper... can you say LOVE?!?! 

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