Silkys and SuperDuos and Shipping!

Silky Beads - another new player in the arena of shaped, two hole beads for your bead-weaving pleasure! Silky Beads are square beads with two holes on the diagonal. They lend themselves very nicely to being strung in diagonal patterns, as they nestle together very nicely. They are smooth on one side, and have a raised and cut centre on the other - also adding to their design potential. Lots of design ideas out there on the google! We have 17 colours so far - and I'm sure there are more to come!

Also new on the two-hole shaped-bead front - SuperDuos in the new Nebula finish. I'm not entirely sure what makes the Nebula finish - but I can say - the colours are pretty gosh-darn interesting!
By the way - SuperDuos are made by Matubo, who has a gorgeous page of free patterns, if you are looking for a few good ideas!


We have some other interesting new findings and links too - these two strand links are part of the pretty, floral, Nosy-Posy line up.

And these findings are just shapes made out of circles, so you can use them as links, bases, a design element, or hide completely with something beaded over it, or embedded in something else.

Shipping During the Postal Disruption

And now we come to the elephant in the room. Shipping. Canada Post will be in a legal lock out/strike position on July 2. What does this mean to you?

To our beloved customers in the U.S., this means - nothing. Your shipments will go as usual without any delays for the usual flat rate ($7.95 Cdn, about $6.20 US as I type this) - shipped from Buffalo - no customs, duties, border fees or delays.

To all our loyal Canadian customers - this means that we are pleased to offer you some options.

Option 1 - To keep the beads flowing - we are pleased to offer alternate, couriered shipping - at the rate of $11.95 per package. Sorry - no free shipping for the duration of the strike. This option is available starting Monday, June 27th.

Option 2 - not a hurry - the usual flat rate of $7.95, and your order will ship after Canada Post resumes operation. We will hold your order and put it in the mail after we know the mail is moving.

Option 3 - You are welcome to pickup. As always - dropping into the store if you are in the area to pick up your order is an option. Please email us to get a time-line on when it will be ready.

Option 4 - You can also arrange for your own courier company to pick up. Happy to accommodate you - again, please email us for timeline on your order and to make arrangements.

If the disruption ensues - any mail sent after Monday June 27, will get warehoused and we would rather not have packages stuck somewhere. Once the mail starts moving again, it generally goes in reverse order of arrival at the Canada Post warehouse. So to that end, we will not be putting packages into the mail after next Monday. Soooo - if you want to get your order shipped Canada Post - please get it in by this Friday, June 24th, so we can pick it and get it out the door Monday.
 
We're all hoping, of course, that it doesn't come to this - that the parties involved will come to a happy and satisfactory settlement, but, as the saying goes - those who are forewarned are fore-armed, and those who are fore-armed - need more bracelets.

Anyway - I encourage you to check out all the new items here and see what floats your boat!
Bead Happy!