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December Newsletter

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Things have been really hectic here to say the least!  I do apologize for not getting my November newsletter out.  My only excuse is that November was a wonderful and busy month for the Metaxas clan.  I was honored for my work with senior citizens by the United Adult Ministries with the Rose Kryzak Leadership Award.  Follow this link to read more about the award.  http://www.queenstribune.com/50plus/ThreeHonoredForSeniorAssis.html  My family and friends were in attendance on November 5th when I was presented with the award and since I knew Rose personally and worked with her when she was alive the award meant a great deal to me. 

Little did I know this was just the beginning of my wonderful month :)   We celebrated my daughter Brandi’s birthday on November 6th, my 40th wedding anniversary on November 16th and my 60th birthday on November 18th.  I though the celebrating was over.  LOL, shows you what I know.  My wonderful children threw a surprise party to celebrated my 60th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary on November 20th.  My husband and I were pleasantly surprised.  I’ve posted a picture of the favors they had designed for my party.

Our Anniversary Favor

January we will start again with our normal newsletters.

Beads & Baubles NY will be on vacation from Wednesday, December 16th until Wednesday, December 30th and no orders will be shipped during that time.  We will begin shipping orders again on January 4, 2010.

 Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

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History of Halloween

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

With Halloween aproaching I thought a reprint or out History of Halloween would be apropos :)

Halloween did not begin as an evil holiday and is still not an evil holiday unless you make it one. The truth be told, Halloween is whatever kind of holiday YOU make it History of Halloween The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in Ireland, celebrated their new year on November 1st. The celebration was called Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”, the sow is pronounced like the female hog). They believed that on this night the boundary between the living and the dead became crossable. To protect themselves and prepare for the winter ahead their priests, Druids, built huge sacrificial bonfires where they burnt offerings of food and animals to their deities. During these celebrations the people wore costumes made of animal heads and skins and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.

When the Romans conquered the Celts and ruled them for four hundred years this holiday became melded with the Roman holidays of Pomona (goddess of fruit & trees) and Feralia, the holiday in October when the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead. The tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween probable started when the holiday of Pomona was incorporated. When Christianity spread to the Celtic lands in the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st as All Saints’ Day. Many believe the Pope was trying to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowsmas (from the Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve. People being true to form, finding nick names and contractions for things, shortened it to Halloween.

Later in A.D. 1000 the Christian church would make Nov. 2nd All Souls day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. Together the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’ and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas. This is probably where the tradition of dressing up for Halloween began.  Also during this celebration poor people would go around to the various villages begging for “soul cakes” made out of square pieces of bread with currants.  The more sould cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors.  At the time, it was believed that the dead would remain in limbo after death until enough prayers were said for them to allow their souls to pass on to heaven.  This is probably one of the reasons for trick or treat.  The trick part was added on to the begging when industrious youth of America decided to play pranks on those who would not give treats In my opinion Halloween is just a time to let our inner child out to play and have fun. We get to spend time with our children, telling them about the fun we had on Halloween growing up and passing on the fun traditions of dressing up in costume, bobbling for apples (germs and all) and trick or treating. The holiday of Halloween is not evil, it is just some evil people have started to use it for their purposes. It is up to us to take it back and keep it just a fun holiday.

I hope you enjoyed this brief history of Halloween. If you are interested in a more in-depth history than what I have written here, here are a few of the sites I used a research for this blog. http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/halloween.html

http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm http://www.history.com/minisites/halloween/viewpage?pageId=713

We have added a few new items to our Halloween collection.  To visit our collection just click on any of the pictures. Halloween Wine CharmsBat Earrings - SwarovskiSkull Earrings - swarovskiGhost Earrings - swarovski

 

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New Designer Earrings from BBNY

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Here are some blue earrings with Sapphire Swarovski accents which make them a perfect choice for those born in the month of September. Just click on any picture to go to the Earring Collection.

Sapphire StarsBlue-Grey EnchantmentCorn FlowerKalapini

Did you forget any August born ladies?  These earring might help to get you out of the dog house :)

Peridot on ParadePeridot BubblesForrest MirrorPeridot Moon

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Shania Twain’s website has listed our Phone Charm!

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

We are proud to announce that the phone charm/zipper pull we designed and manufactured for Shania Twain’s fan club has been listed on her site here is a picture of the charm just click on it to visit the site.

 Kokopelli pc/zipper pull

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January Newsletter – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Congratulation to Judy B the winner of our Customer Appreciation Drawing.  We hope she enjoys her earrings.  Our next customer appreciation drawing will be held on April 2nd.  All of our customers who make purchases from us from 1/1/2009 until 3/31/2009 will be entered into the drawing each time they make a purchase.  The winner will have a choice of our E0382 – Violets of Spring – 30mm hoops or E0375 – St. Patrick’s Coins – 1.5″ French hook earrings.  Check out all of our earrings for your spring and summer wardrobe additions.  http://www.beadsandbaublesny.com/earrings.htm

Make sure to check out our Valentine’s Day Collection.  Besides having new additions we are featuring our free gift wrapping.  We are also making special boxes available for your purchase so you can make your presentation extra special.Thank you for your patronage in the past and we are looking forward to another year of being your personal jeweler.  Creating things for our customers is something we love to do.

Sincerely,

Suzy Metaxas

Designer 

January contest prize Soft Love earrings  

 

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October Newsletter

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Hi Everyone,


Can you believe that it is October already? Where did the summer go????  The first day of Autumn was last week and already the trees are changing colors.  We at B & B will be putting up the link to our Halloween Collection on the site soon, but you can get there now by clicking on the hyperlink.  Speaking of Halloween, congratulations to Raquel R our lucky customer who won our Halloween Earrings.  We hope she will enjoy wearing them.

Halloween Earrings


Our next drawing will be on December 31st all customers who have made a purchase between October 1st and December 30th will be entered into the drawing.  The prize will be our “Soft Love” earrings #E0392.  They will be mailed to the winner in January so they will have them before Valentine’s Day.  Check out our Valentine’s Day collection now and you can plan a head by buying your special someone a necklace from the collection for Christmas and then buying them the Earrings for Valentine’s Day.Soft Love Set


Beads & Baubles is proud to announce that we have designed  phone charm/zipper pull for the Shania Twain fan club. It will be available to her fans only at the official Shania Twain Fan Club site.  We will add the link to the fan club at our Beads & Baubles Café on “friends of Beads & Baubles” link list as soon as it is available for sale.


Please remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  You can support the cause by purchasing from our Hope Collection.  ALL proceeds from the Hope Collection jewelry sales are donated to Cancer Research.  If you are looking for information on breast cancer, you will find links to this information at the top of our Hope Collection page.  All customers who make a purchase from the Hope Collection in October 2008 will be entered into a special drawing for a 2009 Cancer Awareness planner.   The planner covers months from December 2008 until January 2010, has a pink hard cover and is spiral bound.

Pink Plannerplanner inside


I guess that’s all for now, keep safe and God Bless.


Sincerely,

Suzy Metaxas

Design Coordinator, Beads & Baubles NY

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October is Breast Cancer Awarness Month

Friday, October 3rd, 2008

This month is designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month in hopes of raising consciousness about this dreaded disease.  Get a check up yourself and encourage other women you know to do it also.  Support a Breast Cancer research organization of your choice and hopefully there will come a day when the phrase “you have breast cancer” will not strike fear and panic in heart of women every where. 

 Too many of my friends and family recently have been diagnosed with this dreaded disease.  True we have come a long way in the treatment of this horror and the survival rate has greatly increase, but I look forward to the day when every woman who is struck with this disease will live to tell about it and maybe, just maybe we can find a way to prevent it totally.  The only way this will happen is through research and the only way research will happen is through monetary support.  So women unite, dig deep and donate.  We here at Beads and Baubles are trying to do our part too.  Beads & Baubles has already donated over $500 to various cancer research program such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and Relay for Life and hope to do much more in the future.  All the proceeds from our HOPE COLLECTION are donated to these programs and others.  Check it out and see if there is anything that catches your fancy.

Huntsman Cancer Institute  is another great site for information on Breast Cancer.

Here are a few items from out Hope Collection

Susan' Song SetI Support the Cure BraceletI Support the Cure necklaceI Support the Cure earrings Support The Cure!  Wear your ribbon proudly.

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July Newsletter – Better late than never :)

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

 We were unable to post this here earlier due to server issues.

Wow, things have been really hectic around here lately!  I’ve just gotten around to writing our newsletter :)  I hope all of you have been enjoying our wonderful summer. 


You have probably noticed that we have introduced more copper jewelry into our line.  With copper jewelry being the new fashion statement you will be seeing more and more of it in the future.  Another reason you will be seeing more copper is because the price of silver and gold is on the rise with no relief in sight we are trying to find ways to keep our prices down but the quality and beauty of our jewelry as high as always. 


We will strive to keep the cost of our silver and gold filled jewelry at the level it is now but as we use up our on hand silver and gold filled inventory and order new items the cost our jewelry will be competitively priced to reflect our cost increases.


Our next drawing for free jewelry will be in the beginning of October.  All those who have purchased jewelry from us from June 1st to August 31st will be entered into to drawing for a free pair of Halloween Earrings.


Please note that Beads & Baubles NY will be closed for vacation from August 1st  until August 18th  -  All orders received from July 31st until August 18th will not be shipped until August 22nd.
 
Enjoy the rest of your summer, talk to you in September J

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The month of the Pearl is upon us!

Friday, June 6th, 2008

Although the pearl is the modern birthstone for June there are two other stones that those born in June can wear and call their own. One is Alexandrite the traditional stone and the other is a Moonstone cabochon.

The Zodiac birthstones for those born in June are:

 Gemini – Agate

 Cancer – Emerald

Pearls are a wonderful birthstone to have in this day and age. There are so many colors, shapes and sizes to choose from and there are grades that fit all budgets. You can purchase pearls from the least costly cultured freshwater type to the ultra expensive natural south sea varieties. A pearl is said to impart purity, faith, charity, innocence, integrity, focus, wisdom, spirituality, sincerity, and fertility to the wearer. This is why in the past the simple string of pearls was the choice of brides on their wedding day.

Pearl History

Pearls have been known and valued in many cultures throughout history. As far back as 2300 BC, Chinese records indicate that pearls were prized possessions of (and gifts to) royalty. Ancients Hindu texts from India also repeatedly refer to pearls, stating in one place that the god Krishna discovered the first pearl. In ancient Egypt, mother-of-pearl was used for decorative purposes as far back as 4000 BC, although the use of actual pearls did not come until much later — perhaps the 5th century BC.

The ancient Romans valued pearls highly, especially as a symbol of wealth and prestige — so much so that an effort was made to prohibit the wearing of pearls by those not deserving of them. Perhaps the most celebrated incident involving pearls in Roman history has to do with a banquet given by Cleopatra, the last Egyptian queen, for the Roman leader Marc Antony. The banquet was described by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in his book, Natural History. Although some current historians dispute the details and significance of the banquet, there is general agreement that the incident described did indeed take place. The essence of the story is that Cleopatra wagered Antony that she could give the most expensive meal ever provided. When the only thing placed in front of her was a vessel of sour wine (i.e., vinegar), Antony wondered how she would be able to win the bet. Whereupon Cleopatra removed one of her pearl earrings — said by Pliny to have been worth 10 million sesterces, the equivalent of thousands of pounds of gold — and dropped it into the vinegar. The pearl dissolved in the strongly acidic solution, and Cleopatra drank it down, winning her wager.

The ancient Greeks also valued pearls, using them especially at weddings, where they were said to bring love. With many natural oyster beds lying along the Persian Gulf, the Arab peoples also placed a high value on pearls, which are described in the Koran as one of the greatest treasures provided in Paradise.

 Be sure to visit our Pearls for Girls collection.  Here are a few of our pearl creations for your viewing pleasure :)

Sparkling CranberriesPrecious PearlPearls & PuppiesBimini BaublesJamiePearls, Baubles & HeartsSouth Sea Shell PearlsPassionate Rose

Posted in Announcements, Birthstones, Pearl Info | 1 Comment »

Congratulations to our Mother’s Day Drawing Winner!

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

Congratulations to Jeff B, he is the winner of our Mother’s Day drawing.  All of or clients who purchased jewelry between April 11th and May 11th were entered.  Jeff has won a set of wine charms.  We hope he enjoys them.

Tickle Me Wine Charms

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