A little announcement.

Ok, well not so little :-)

Wow, how do I start this? It was just over 10 years ago that I dreamed up beadFX - At the time, I was unmarried, and without kids. I was 27. We've come a long, long way from those early days. My very first employee was Dwyn. I had known Dwyn from my days at Passport Online, a Toronto ISP where I was Network Manager. Her husband Dan had been my boss in the early days. Dwyn walked into the store one day about a year after I opened. I don't think she knew that I was running it - she was just stopping in to buy beads. I hired her on the spot!

Next came Marg, she and her friend Brenda would come in for our open beading nights. At some point along the way, Marg would come in at other times to help out. Sometimes she would watch the store, or help package beads. In time, both Dwyn and Marg had become instrumental in the success of beadFX. Dwyn went on to be our webmistress, and Marg became our buyer.

After the births of both of my girls, my priorities of course had to change. Even with all of the help my staff gave, I found balancing family, the business, and creative time (which is why I started a bead store in the first place!) increasingly difficult. My oldest just turned 6, and my youngest is now 4. My dreams for beadFX was never for it to be 'just another bead store'. I'm far too ambitious for that ;-), but I'm at a stage in my life where I really want (need) to spend more time with my family, and pursue a more creative path.

I am in the process of selling beadFX to Marg, our longtime friend and head bead buyer. We're hoping to have everything wrapped up by the end of July. But, you don't get rid of me that easily! I will be staying at beadFX in a more creative roll - dreaming up new projects, classes, and inspirations. I will also be keeping an eye on my first true love - the lampwork studio! - and of course to all of my metal clay friends - I will continue to host Metal Clay Play days.

Some of you may know Marg, but I'm sure many of you do not. Marg is a bit of a night owl, and of course is always off traveling to New York, and the bead shows to dig up interesting goodies. beadFX is in great hands! We have had many ideas for growth, and improvements that my schedule just didn't allow. Marg, along with the rest of the staff are in a great position to bring these ideas to fruition. Marg will be posting an update on the blog within the next couple of days. I hope you all welcome her as the new 'head bead'!

Thank you for all of your support over the years - I would say goodbye, but I'm not really going anywhere :-)