Trollbeads information that can inspire your creativity with your own Trollbeads collection. Share your thoughts, be involved and please leave comments!

 This is the Best Trunk Show Ever!!      

November 30th - December 3rd!  Four Days Event with the Best Deals Yet!!                                               

 Trollbeads Gallery's Holiday Trunk Show is coming up soon so save the dates and start choosing your beads!  Every year we look forward to this festive time of year and festive event to make our Trollbeads and Trollbeads products  more affordable for you our collectors and cherished customers!  This means making them more attainable for you to give as gifts! Is there any better part of your life to share with a loved one than your love of Trollbeads? I doubt it! 

The best news is that you can order now so you won't lose the beads you want!  Email or call us to reserve your Trollbeads,Troll-bangles and Troll-bracelets!  Seriously this is the best time to take advantage of this amazing list of specials including a huge $25 credit back for each $125 you spend! 

Call us at 888-758-3641 during regular business hours EST or email us through the site! We will begin shipping the orders on November 30th.

We also have fun gifts with purchase in line for you along with many great beads.  You can check the list below for Trollbeads gifts!

A suggestion for you! You may want to think about first are the beads that were retired in 2012, the limited edition that are getting low in inventory (especially the World Tour Beads) and of course the limited edition Holiday Kits in both 2011 and 2012.  We are one of the only dealers that is still offering the whole 2011 Holiday Kits so speak up now!

Trollbeads Gallery Holiday Trunk Show Specials:

1.For every $125.00 spent you will receive a $25.00 gift certificate for future Trollbeads purchases.

2.Purchase any 3 Trollbeads and get a 4th free, of equal or less value.

3.$100 off any Gold Trollbead $500 and higher inluding the 2 Trollbeads Gallery Special Edition World Within and Stay Positive Gold beads while supplies last. (Shown below...aren't they glorious??) and  $50 off any Silver & Gold Trollbead $250 and higher.

   ..and don't forget our all time special of a free Trollbeads bracelet chain with the       purchase of an upgraded clasp.

Gifts with Purchase:

1. Spend $100: Receive a Black Trollbeads Shopper bag.

2. Spend $250: Receive a pack of Trollbeads Playing Cards and a Black Trollbeads shopper.

3. Spend $500: Receive a Trollbeads Shopper bag and a 2013 Trollbeads Calendar.

Ever since this year's sensational limited edition Christmas Kits were released I've had  collectors and new dealers ask me for more history on the Trollbeads Christmas Kit releases.   If you haven't been a part of Trollbeads for the past few years I can imagine it does get confusing so I have decided to write a quick and simple blog describing the Christmas Kits with links (of course!) and their history to bring new devotees up to speed!

For the past three years Trollbeads has been releasing two kits with six glass beads each in late Autumn in honor of the winter holidays. The kits are released in a very limited quantity and due to that fact are not around for very long so keep this in mind when considering your options. At Trollbeads Gallery we have long been known as a good source for retired beads so although I purchase a large quantity when I run out I am always on the look out for these beads and let me tell you they do become scarce.

The first year in 2010 Trollbeads released the Hawaii and Australia Christmas Kits.  I have furnished links to the kits on our site but this is more for a closer inspection as the photos are larger there than on this blog.  Where at the time of writing this there are only one kit of each left but there are individual beads available.  Just an FYI: these initial Christmas kits were less expensive than the following kits. The Hawaii Kit comprised of cobalt blue, deep purples and it was the first time we saw the bubbles and stripes worked in together. The kit also has a purple based bead with white polka dots and as many collectors love the polka dots theme that one was sold out very quickly!  At the present we have only one Hawaii complete kit left.  We are sold out of the polka dot bead and still have one of the cobalt bubbles and only one of the purple and cobalt bubbles so the kit is pretty much gone at this point.

Along with the Hawaii Kit Trollbeads also released the Australia Kit which was more popular to the collectors who like lighter colors.  We also only have just one of these kits left with individual beads being rare.  The bead with the Tree with red berries was the most popular by far and sold out a long time ago! These two initial kits were popular as most of the special editions are but they came with a lot of negative discussion from the collectors that were longing for the traditional Christmas colors. The following year their wishes came true...

In 2011 Trollbeads released another two glass Christmas Kits.    The Red Christmas Kit and the Blue Christmas Kit. So many people were wanting these colors and it was clear just how much after they were released last Fall!  Both kits sold out in record time in both the U.S. and in Denmark...after only two weeks.  The Red Kit had the very popular heart design which had only been seen in rare unique beads and it had a stunning glitter swag bead with fine lines of glitter draping over a solid red base.  With the green holly bead, a deep red with green flower bead sporting whole new multi layered look flower and the first view of the "spinner" design in red and green the kit answered everyone's spirited holiday needs.  The Blue Kit was equally popular but this kit had 3 glitter beads and glitter is very hot!  Trollbeads Gallery has a few kits in stock as we were able to just recently acquire some from another retailer. Any white Trollbeads are always handy to have and with the gold details it's a must have! The blue and white theme is a year round color theme and with many blue and white unique beads it's always a pleasure to create blue and white bracelets.

This brings us to this year and we have all seen how stunning these 2012 Kits are.  The Sweet Christmas Kitand The Christmas Decoration Kit  have been selling well right from the start with both selling at the same rate.  It's interesting to see how the beads are developed.  At Trollbeads Gallery we purchase hundreds and hundreds of Unique beads each Fall so we have a good inventory for Trollbeads Fest so we get to see the Christmas Kits practice beads come through here first before the kits come out.  Last year we saw a lot of glitter on all sorts of colors and a variety of heart beads and then the Red Christmas kit came out!  This year at Trollbeads Fest the unique bead selection had many of the taupe, black and glitter beads in many styles not just the ones that came out in Kit form last week.  If you are lucky you can still find beads from the last year's Christmas kits come out in unique beads once in a while!

So have fun with your Christmas Trollbeads and very soon we will be releasing our ever popular 7th Annual release of Christmas Unique Beads... so keep your eyes out on our website!  You will see them listed on the side panel!

The top photo is the NEW Bangle Bracelet click on the link to see it!  We all love it here!!

PS: Please, pleae leave me a comment! I adore hearing just a few words from you so I know someone is reading my blog. Your comment won't show until I click it so don't worry if you don't see it right away.  Writing blog articles is very solitary and I'd love to know you read it so say a few words! Thank you!!

There has been such devastating news coming from the areas in New York and New Jersey where Hurricane Sandy did the most damage.  Daily we are witness to heartbreaking news and bearing witness to the sense of total loss it's time for each of us, in some small way to step up and do what we can. 

At Trollbeads Gallery we have some unique Turtles and Armadillos and we are planning on offering them for auction in the form of a loose auction.  We will be donating 100% of the proceeds to the organization we feel will pass on as much of the money as it can.  I will be doing some research and will report back.  For past disasters we have donated to the Red Cross but will feel better if we do some research first. Any and all suggestions are welcome.  If you leave a suggestion in the comments section it does not get viewed until I accept it so if you don't want the comment to go live just say so.

We are holding the Auction on Trollbeads Gallery Facebook Page and we will announce the winner at 5PM tomorrow, Sunday November 4th. I will be posting another bead after this one is over and will continue to do so until it is a viable way to raise money for this cause.

If you have any friends that may be interested please pass on the news!  The more the merrier in this case and we want the word to get out!

You can email me your bid at louise@trollbeadsgallery.com or leave it on the Facebook page. 

Thank you everyone!! 

Warm regards, Louise Rogers and the Rogers Gallery/Trollbeads Gallery staff.

How can you not love all of these amazing new beads?? Just look at the wonderful choices we now have for the holidays and for the year round. The new Winter Berries carry on the terrific texture of the large and small Berry beads but now gives us a middle size.  The Lock with Buds gives us this popular texture also plus it's always nice to have an addition to the lock category.

The new Soft Heart is a contemporary version of an old favorite and I find it has a subtle bit of sensuality...maybe it's all the soft curves and maybe what's left unsaid is better...but I'll bet if you thread this bead on a leather necklace and wear it alone...

And yes!  Our request has been answered-we have been given another Diamond Bead and what a beauty it is.  The only downside to this bead is that it is 100 times better in real life than in any photo I have seen of it.  Those of you who purchase on line...trust me you'll love it!

The new Limited Edition Ornament Beads are all unique and add more wonderful drop beads that add motion and sparkle to your Trollbeads jewelry!  There are multiples of some design and minimal quantities of others.  To see the variety of colors and designs visit our website. We will keep the varieties coming as long as we can continue to order them so check back when you can.  As with all Limited Edition beads once they are gone they are gone. Below is a dark blue one I especially love.

Now all you have to do is find your favorites and begin a season of sugared plums, candy canes and Trollbeads full of holiday spirit! 

A special note:

May all of our friends affected by the hurricane find the way to make it through the coming days, weeks or months while cleaning up and please know our best wishes are with you so you can move into the holidays with hope and good cheer. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

The new Holiday collection is coming to us on Friday, November 2nd.  Now did you really think I was going to show you the new collection here??? :-) But I've been loading the new beads on my website all day and I have to admit I'm more excited about this release than I have been for any other to date and that's saying a lot!  The "behind the scenes" loading and listing of beads is a lot of work.  Starting with processing the photos through Photoshop to bringing the relevant product information from the Trollbeads website, including the beads story and their numbers and even through all the monotonous keystrokes I found myself getting more excited with each step because I was getting closer to know each new bead and it was just plain beyond exciting! I've been told I should delegate more of the technical stuff to other people but if I did that I would miss so much!

Sure I know many of you have seen the pre-release images on a European blog but seeing them and having them in your hand are two different experiences. It's as different as peaceful patience and anxious hair pulling waiting for Friday to come.  There are so many great aspects to this release I don't even know where to start!  Each year for the last 2 years and again this year for a third there are 2 limited edition glass Christmas Kits each with 6 beads.  The 2011 kits comprised of such extraordinary beads that they were sold out in record breaking time in both the U.S. and in Denmark.  As usual I overbought last year and it was a good thing as the edition was sold out in 7 days. Why am I telling you all of this?  Because both of the 2012 kits are EVEN better than last year's kits!  Listing these beads individually is up to each website dealer who must photograph the individual beads and list them on their own.  Up until this year I've given each bead a number as in 1 through 6.  This year I got so inspired I actually gave each bead a name so when you see TBG's bead names remember it isn't a name anyone else will be using. To name a couple there is Red Berry Spinner and Grey/Black Exclamation Point. If you really want to imagine what the beads look like all you would have to do is visit the Glossary of Unique Beads and check out the names.  Many of the great new designs from these kits started coming to us in the form of unique beads earlier this fall and they were beyond extraordinary.

Included in the collection is a new bracelet style that combines the beauty of shiny classically formed sterling with a minimalist chic look.  These will be awesome when worn with the classic Trollbeads bracelet and there is even a man's size!  The price is a bit higher than the classic chain but it's worth it's weight in silver! Enough said.

  Ok, I've been teasing you enough and there are actually 2 reasons I am writing about this new release. One, as I told you,because I am really excited by it but the other is to remind everyone it's imperative for dealers to stay true to their contract with Trollbeads and not show any bead before it is released. I've heard some dealers have jumped the gun and that's just not cool. Why? There are many reasons but the most important one is because it is clearly stated in our terms of doing business and we are legally bound to deal within these terms. That's the only reason we need to concern ourselves with and we need to trust Trollbeads and accept it.  When a retailer, such as myself, has been given the honor to sell a brand as strong as Trollbeads we are not only legally bound, we are also honor bound to adhere to the company's guidelines.  When retailers of a brand ignore the parameters or change the way a product is meant to be sold they gain nothing in the process and they actually end up hurting the brand. Come on...do any of you for any reason really want to do that?

Ok...now we are only a couple of days away to the 2012 Trollbeads Holiday Collection so bring those piggy banks to you local bank get cash out now you are going to be needing it!!

  Having just had the largest Trollbeads event to date early this month I am still finding myself continuously going over the event's happenings. With the many "new" collectors and the many "experienced" Fest attendees I spoke to or worked with over the course of the event there is so much to recollect and process.  I've been trying to accomplish a great blog about the fest and share it with you but it's just too hard, so just let me ramble, OK?

What was originally designed to be a 2 day affair has actually turned into 5 days.  Collectors are arriving at Rogers Gallery a few days early and are staying a couple of days later each year.  This is a huge compliment to all of us that are apart of the Fest's creation.  Fall in New England is a reason alone to come but I think our ever growing enthusiasm for all things Trollbeads draws attendees from all over and it makes for a festive, fun filled and sometimes emotional event.  The photo above is Trudy and Lex Borger attending their 3rd Trollbeads Fest! from the Netherlands! They have traveled to attend every year!

Each year we have Trolbeads "people" join us to add personality and of course to add their knowledge of the creation of Trollbeads and for the closeness it gives us to the beads and the people that make the beads. Soren Nielsen, Trollbeads premier silver/gold bead designer for over 30 years came to us from Copenhagen this year.  It was Soren's second visit to Rogers Gallery in Mattapoisett and it was just as magical as the first. From my visit to his studio in Denmark, sharing Glog with him at Tivoli and seeing him at other events I have come to know Soren and I'll share a secret with you. I've only seen it myself a few times but if you look closely at Soren's left shoulder you'll see that Soren sometimes has a small shadow lurking there. Never stare right at it because it will hide from you but it's something that resembles a small trollish like imp sitting on his shoulder.  I'm thinking this imp plays tricks on those it doesn't know and by the mischievous look you'll see in Soren's eyes, Soren knows all about it, in fact they mirror each other in a curious way.  This little troll even switches beads on bracelets when no one is looking! But as naughty as Trolls are apt to be I'll bet anything he's been Soren's creative muse through the years. Think of the massive quantities of ideas and creations that just roll off Soren's fingers and form into miniature red wax sculptures destined to be Trollbeads. I've heard Lise Aagaard, Soren's sister discuss how prolific an artist Soren has always been and ever with her talent and energy she was expressing just how productive his talent is.  How can any one man achieve what he has without the help of a muse? Many of you have seen Soren as he takes your wish and creates a mold from it making your wish reality ... now if that isn't magic I don't know what is.  

Maria Af Rolen, winning People's Bead designer is shown here with Soren as he gives her some inside tips for creating a wax mold.  Maria was also a guest designer at the Fest and she signed Trollbeads Coffee Table Books and bead cards for her "Stay Positive" bead. Her bead has been a best seller at Rogers Gallery and at Trollbeads Gallery.  We special ordered her        Stay Postive in 18K gold for the event and it is stunning!  On a side note we donated one to our charity raffle along with 4 other beads and we raised almost $1500 for the inner city children of New Bedford, our host city's are museum for afternoon art classes!

Sarah Johnston, a staff glass bead artist from TrollbeadsUS and demonstrator came to Trollbeads Fest for a second time and once more gave such great inspiration with her "on site" glass bead making.  Each time I have seen Sarah I have seen her beads are getting more and more intricate and more glorious. So many people sat and just watched her as she stared at her glass and flame while rotating her mandrel with such ease. There is something so meditative about flame work and someone like Sarah can make it look easy but it is not!

  This year was Michael Belleveau's first Fest and he added so much with his professional air.  It's difficult for me to remain professional with all the emotions and madness around so I'm glad he added it! He gave a talk in the afternoon on the brand and on it's exciting future (as much as he could divulge anyway!) and he helped with the selling of the unique beads!  I don't think that part was in his job description but he was a natural. Thank you Michael!  Michael also helped judge the Trollbeads Fest bracelet contest along with Soren and my son Alex Rogers who was with us from Colorado where he sells Trollbeads at Starfish in Boulder.  Claudine Swan won the award and her winning bracelet is below along with her description of it's many meanings. Fellow Trollbeads Gallery Forum member Frede Wellons came up with this Fest challenge to design a bracelet incorporating the Joyful bead.

If you are a collector of anything you know the immense thirst you have to learn and absorb anything you can about that which you collect and when you add the collective emotion that occurs with a gathering of "like minded' collectors you can just imagine the outcome!  At Trollbeads Fest! 3 we tried to give everything we could to further the thrill of the quest and the satiation of fulfilling that quest. The unique Trollbeads we were supplied with were out of this world. Mind you we did have our issues with the length of time and of the line to see the thousands of unique beads but it seems no matter how we plan it there's always a line! The Trollbeads Museum helped with some of the waiting but in hindsight I always wish I had done this or that but then I wonder...how would we all feel if there wasn't a line? Trollbeads collectors are a serious bunch and with the quality of the beads Trollbeads supplied us with I know everyone left very happy and that's what it's all about.  

Everyone at Rogers Gallery and Trollbeads Gallery are so grateful for everyone who took the time from their busy lives to attend our event and want to say we missed those of you who were unable to attend (and wanted to so badly) and thought of you all often.  We had a few that due to family illness could not make it and hope all is well with you and yours.  We also want to extend a HUGE thanks to Trollbeads Denmark for sharing Soren and for providing the chance to offer the very special stone bead we received to provide in the gift bags.  The biggest thanks goes to TrollbeadsUS and for everyone there that supported us and even attended Trollbeads Fest!  Thank you also to Colin from Texas and Kim Murray who both worked so hard and thanks to all of my staff and our star rep Kim and her reps Judy and Liz for their help.

The Winning Bracelet

Claudine Swan, winner wrote the following about her design.

"Thanks everyone…I tried to show what Trollbeads Fest means to me.

Joyful was the focal bead…thrilled to be there.

Treasures, Stay positive and Ice Bear to salute the designers I met at the Fest.

Lighthouse and Water to remind me of the Harbor Tour I took last year.

The Crab because we always eat at Turk’s Seafood.

The Heart unique Trollbead as Trollbeads helps us meet new friends.

The dice is for luck to find great beads at Trollbeads Fest.

The amber and other beads reminds me of the beach at Mattapoisett.

Finally the Swan lock because I always drool over the retired Swan in Louise’s museum…and NOW I have a wax swan Soren carved for me."

If you haven't seen the Award Ceremony where we won the Hero Award in Las Vegas here it is and is shows Michael Bellevue speaking of Trollbeads Gallery and about Trollbeads Fest!

Click on link: Trollbeads Hero Awards

Clink in link: Images from Trollbeads Fest! 2012

Seriously...this is a very important blog for me to write and one that is terribly late so to the other serious Halloween lovers like myself, I apologize.  Next to Christmas this has always been my favorite holiday...yes, to me it is a holiday.  With all the nasty political ads running I think we should start a "Make Halloween in a National Holiday" campaign. How about it?? Now that is something I would march for, vote for and celebrate in a huge way! No school and no work on October 31st! You could spend all day designing your Halloween day Trollbeads bracelet, your costume and making your Halloween treats for the evenings' trick or treators!

Day 1 of Trollbeads Fest! 2012 fell on the day the NEW Halloween Trollbeads were released so I am just coming up out of the Fest-Fog and wanted to make sure you all have seen the new beads.  The Pumpkin Trollbead was the Fest favorite.  It is a perfect Halloween Pumpkin with a bat outline for a mouth and a bat outline on his back side, not to be confused with backside... which I don't think Pumpkins have. But this bead could not be more perfect in any way from its perfect pumpkin shape to it's size. The Pumpkin was designed by Thor Hay. Here is a photo with many Pumpkins on it.  We used the retired Coral Stripe Glass bead to highlight the orange and the black!

The bead that caused the most raucous (at Trollbeads Fest?? a raucous? Can you even imagine that? Ha!) was the "Inner Glow" glass bead which as many of you know glows in the dark and does so in a very sensational way!!  I now know how many Fest goers can actually fit in my ladies room...which was the only dark location!  We had many "wows" and a lot of laughs but after our perfectly dark display many were buying the "Inner Glow" in duplicates for their Trollbeads Necklaces and for their Skeleton necklace (which were released at the last Trollbeads Fest.) I did hear from a lot of people who were being pleasantly surprised by this bead as they were wondering if it would be as nice in the daylight as in the dark and YES it is a beautiful bead in both situations.  You can see it in the "dark" version the image below!

Personally I adore the new Spider Trollbead and although I know many who absolutely hate spiders, but  even the most ardent spider haters were charmed, tickled and very impressed with our new Spider bead. It hangs from the bracelet as one would hang from a web! I have named mine Charlotte but I have to say she will be living on my bracelet year round because she's just so sweet. You can see 4 of the Spider Trollbeads on the Fantasy Necklace above shown with the necklace of Pumpkin beads.  On the first version of this blog article I mentioned that Soren had designed the Pumpkin but he actually designed the Spider and that just tells you how crazed I was during the Fest and during the release that I didn't even figure this out! 

In addition to the 3 new Halloween beads once again offer our Halloween UniqueTrollbeads.  For 6 years now we have saved, hunted and hoarded all Halloween style/color Unique Trollbeads for the whole year and have been releasing them daily by adding them to our website. Below is a group of Halloween Unique Trollbeads! Beyond the Halloween deadline the beads we will then be highlighting will be the Harvest Unique beads which will feature any harvest tone beads you can feature on your late Fall bracelets.  It's all about creating new and exciting designs to celebrate your daily life and to honor those around you!  So once you are sporting your fun Halloween Trollbeads move on to your Harvest/Thanksgiving creations!

Trollbeads Fest! 2012

The actual excitement begins when we start our plans for Trollbeads Fest  a month after the previous Fest ends. This way our memories are fresh and we can proceed with planning so everyone has an even better experience at the next Fest!  It is important to change it up each year and we work hard on creating an event you'll want to come back to again and again.  After looking through the ticket purchases I can see we have a good number of people returning for a 3rd time!  Another fun note: we have attendees coming from as far as Wales and the Netherlands! 

Last year the bead table with the unique Trollbeads was quite overwhelming. Everyone wanted to see all the unique beads all at the same time! It was a frenzy of people and some had stronger elbows that others and some never left the table and there were some who never got to the table!  We love the enthusiasm but we would love all of you to have a fair time with the beads this year. Our plans are to have 3-4 tables each with one attendant with 3-4 trays each. When you have selected your beads, we will keep them aside for you in bags with your names.  When you are finished looking through the trays on one table you can move on down the line to the next table and start a new bag to be put aside and so forth.  After you have picked out all that you want, we will get your bags and take to cash out.  We will be replenishing the beads through out the day so everyone should have a fair chance at the unique beads. I am hoping this will be fair for all. There are some stunning beads and I think you'll all be happy with enough to go around. 

This year Trollbeads Fest will be host to leading bead designer Soren Nielsen who will be visiting from Denmark. Soren will be giving wax carving demonstrations showing how his ideas once formed in his head are then carved in wax.  From the wax a mold is made to use for creating the actual beads in silver and in gold.

We also have this year's People's Bead Award winning artist Maria Af Rolen who will be signing bead information cards for "Stay Positive".  The 2012 winners were just announced this summer and Maria is a member of our Trollbeads Gallery Forum.  Another member and winner of the 2012 People's Bead Award is Linda Karuso from Australia.  Linda cannot attend this year but has been good enough to pre-sign cards for attendees to receive with their "World Within" purchases.  To celebrate the event and the winners success we have commissioned Trollbeads to make their winning beads in 18K Gold in a limited quantity. We will be offering them for sale at Trollbeads Fest.  We are also looking forward to seeing "Ice Bear" bead designer Kristy Denning who has never missed a Trollbeads Fest event! She was the second People's Bead Award winner in 2010 for her "Ice Bear".

Michael Bellevue, the CEO of TrollbeadsUS will be speaking about the company and about the exciting direction it is taking. Only on board now for over a year Michael's team and the Denmark team work hand and hand in focusing their attention on the bright future of Trollbeads.  He will be sharing what he can and I for one am very excited to hear it!

Along with Bead Photography Lessons Ginger will be addressing our user needs for photography on Ipads and Iphones.  Ginger was with us for the first Fest and I am so happy she is returning for the third and with all the tech updates I know we all happy she is coming back! 

Sarah Johnston from Trollbeads will be back once more to give glass bead demonstrations on both Friday in Mattapoisett at Rogers Gallery and on Saturday at the event in New Bedford.  We love Sarah and how in the midst of pandemonium she calmly goes about creating glass beads and works her magic.  By the way for those of you who haven't tried it glass bead making is a lot more difficult than it looks!

 The post-fest dinner Saturday night has many treats along with a guest comedian from L.A.! So if you are coming to the Fest make sure you have dinner all blocked in as it will be the most special one to date.  The Trollbeads team will be staying for the dinner so please join us all for a final farewell feast. The food is great but the company will be the best!

Please view our quick videos on the first two Trollbeads Fest and smile along with us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByHPnE7X2PE&feature=plcp   Trollbeads Fest! 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK8RFLQi_as&feature=plcp      Trollbeads Fest! 2011

Just try to count the smiles on the happy group of collectors that come from all over the world and many different states to share a most memorable time celebrating their love of Trollbeads and the friendships formed around this outstanding bead brand. 

One more great link for you!  Today the jewelry trade's top magazine published a blog all about Trollbeads Fest as a way to honor our retail creativity! They wrote an article last year after the event and we were so honored.

September 17th In Store Magazine Blog on Event  Thank you In Store Magazine and Eileen!

To finish here is one more very quick video to entice you to come visit us on October 5th & 6th for Trollbeads Fest!  2012. There's only a few tickets left so grab a friend or two and come join us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glX2NcE128A&feature=channel&list=UL

The new Trollbeads Playing Cards bead was an unheralded introduction due to the fact that there were so many outrageously gorgeous glass beads released at the same time.  Well I am writing this blog to convince you go back to the new beads category and take a closer look and think about this bead and what it can mean to you. 

I don't know about you but my life has been peppered with playing cards from my childhood to my adult life and as I think back cards have nothing but positive memories for me.  Think about the rainy days spent in childhood playing cards with your friends or with your siblings.  I'm very visual in my memories and I can see myself lying on my stomach with my elbows entrenched in scratchy carpet while shifting my cards around plotting my next move.  Remember how hard it was peeking at your cards while trying to hold them close to your chest so no one else would see your cards?  My favorite game was "go fish" while "war" was the other one we played because they were the only two games we knew.  I remember taking cards and attaching them to my bike's spokes with clothes pins just so it would sound cool. Now that was fun! Then on the next rainy day we wondered why we couldn't find 52 cards.  I wonder how many packs of cards a family went through back before electronics took kids imaginations in another direction.

Then I travel forward to my late teens when I learned how to play "rummy" with my friends. We'd play while sailing and drinking brandy.  Now move a little more through the years and my husband and I played an endless game of rummy as we traveled through Europe on the U-Rail pass in the early '70's. I can't remember who won but the card game lasted us through France, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.  We'll still play once in a while when he can get me away from my Trollbeads and my computer!

Now I move forward a few more years and we have children and spend the winter holidays in Maine with my in-laws. In the eastern most town in the U.S. there isn't much to do in the evenings so cards were our main entertainment.  In my husband's family there's been a card game called 10,000 and it's a game everyone visiting played no matter how many cousins and siblings we were the table would shrink and grow accordingly.  It was the best time for all of us from the 6 year olds to the 80 year olds.  The memories I have of these card games are touched with humor and fondness as I think of the youngest generation each year, sitting higher in their chairs while the oldest generation were sitting a bit lower each year. We all played with the same competitive zeal no matter our age.  Through the years since we've had the enjoyment of sharing this game with friends and relatives and I love to think about the  memories everyone has and by sharing it, will have thanks to playing cards.

The saying goes that every story has a bead.  With the "Playing Cards" it's the bead itself that holds the stories...all 10,000 of them and for me they're my memories. 

Can you share what the "Playing Cards" bead means for you? Let us hear it!

 I have 3 easy questions for you.

1. Do you love Trollbeads?
2. Do you have a Pinterest Page?
3. If you answered NO to #2, why not?

If you haven’t discovered Pinterest yet please take a minute and check it out with me now.   It’s not scary, it doesn’t cost a penny and it is heaps more fun than Facebook.

If you have either a Twitter or Facebook account you can have a Pinterest page but you need to be invited but it’s easy for me send you an invite and you will love the ease and fun of being a part of the fastest growing social site ever.  Why is that?  Because it is easy and fun.

 To start your account with Pinterest all you have to do is just email me with a short note “Sign me up to Pinterest”.  Shortly you will then get an email inviting you!

Email Link: Louise@TrollbeadsGallery.com

(No, I will NOT keep your email as I am not that kind of business person and if you're reading my blog and are a customer I probably have it anyway.)

Pinterest is so easy!! Trust me on this and you should because I am almost 60! Your page is yours and you can have as many pin-boards as you want.  Just like individual bulletin boards for things you want to save!  You can go back and look at them for inspiration or just to be reminded of something! This is the best visual internet innovation yet!

Where do you find pictures to pin?  Everywhere!  Trollbeads Gallery has a "Pin It" button on every item and many other websites do now also. Or you can run a search on Pinterest.  If you search for Trollbeads you will find hundreds of other Trollbeads pages to re-pin from.  Our Pinterest page has the most original content and the most unique photos to re-pin but I am a little more obsessed/obsessive than most other dealers. 

Why am I asking you to join Pinterest? 

I am asking you to do this because I have a very strong belief that Trollbeads is the most honorable company in its field providing collectors with the highest quality of beads and the world needs to see it as well as hear it. Who else can tell the story if we can't?

Pinterest’s true value to Trollbeads will prove to be the absolutely stunning visual affect Trollbeads has on people and if we can share this truth through our Trollbeads photos and through our pages on Pinterest we can be hopeful that the world will see how beautiful beads can really be and really ought to be. It's time to let the secret out.

Trollbeads, as most of us know, was the original brand and in the past 35 years hundreds of copy-cat companies have taken the add-a-bead concept and created a market so vast it’s been difficult for many people to sort the good from the bad.   A comparatively small company, Trollbeads runs their business by strict business and artistic ethics and continues to design and create beads to the satisfaction of the family, a family of artisans.  In this fashion we are always offered the best of what they create and what they produce.

The subsequent brands, vying for the market’s share,  produces for mass market appeal and has distributed to the masses in the same way. When you have to appeal to the broad market ingenuity is vacant.  Management from what I can gleam is neither dedicated to the product nor to the retailer and when the shareholder is the only one being considered in the end the brand has nowhere to go but down. I don't want Trollbeads to be associated with these other brands.

Trollbeads stays true to their Mantra and as collectors we are extremely lucky.  How about we all join to  give back to them by forming the best Pinterest Boards for Trollbeads we can and share these boards with the world!* 

Let’s be the springboard of passion for Trollbeads and make the bead world a more beautiful place.

Think of your Trollbeads Pinterest board as a virtual bumper sticker but instead of honking...

"If you LOVE Trollbeads PIN!"

Please read on:

* What I have noticed about Trollbeads is many collectors like to keep their love a secret and that helps no one!   I’ve noticed in years of being involved with Trollbeads the sales have grown steadily but it’s us old collectors still collecting while the broad base of new collectors grows at a much slower pace.  I know why that is and it’s because we don’t have the time to explain to people the difference of this brand vs. the others.  I spend everyday doing it so I know this is true. Now we don’t have to explain, they can SEE for themselves. 

If you are on Pinterest an want to follow our page to re-pin our photos click on link!

Trollbeads Gallery Pinterest Boards Go see hunk Enrique Iglesias wearing Trollbeads leather!