Brand New! Pick Up Sticks Recycled Charms

What if you had the chance to buy Pick Up Sticks charms that were a completely new concept, but vintage in the truest sense of the word?  One of a kind?  So gorgeous they make your eyes water? And still as affordable as all our other charms?

We heard you when you said you wanted cooler than cool sustainable jewelry. Except that, just as you might expect from Pick Up Sticks, we used something old and intriguing to create it.

Recycled paper photo charms.  Created from actual antique and vintage paper, embellished by the Pick Up Sticks crew, these charms are green works of original art unlike anything we’ve ever created before.

Long ago, before anyone had ever heard of Pick Up Sticks, before Pick Up Stick was even a concept in anyone’s overactive imagination, Sabrina had a thing about paper. Old paper. Postcards. Letters written at the turn of the last century. Envelopes with postmarks from the 20’s and 30’s and onward. She spent her Saturdays scouring estate sales for that box of aging documents. She wasn’t really sure why, except that she felt like she needed to save all those pieces of other people’s lives from the trash bin and ultimate destruction.  “I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into an estate sale asking for old postcards and letters to be told, ‘oh honey, we were going to throw those out in the trash! Here’s a box, I will just give them to you.’”

“I’ve always loved the fingerprints, the delicate penmanship, the funk and smears and water stains and the crazy way old paper looks and feels.” Sabrina says. The Pick Up Sticks logo, a collage of an old envelope, postmark and antique type, is a reflection of that.

She’d take her treasures home with her, going through piles of postcards, and sometimes she’d find one with a wine stain, perhaps carelessly spilled by a tipsy ex-lover who was trying to bolster her courage before she wrote a “Dear John” letter in 1929. She’d find notes that were obviously written with quill pens and notes mailed across town with invitations to Easter Sunday dinner. She was holding personal histories in her hands. And she loved it.

Now, years later, Sabrina and Glena and the Pick Up Sticks crew have decided that we all deserve a chance to hold history in our hands. And to wear it as a charm on a necklace or a bracelet.

The charms in these images are just a sample of the recycled paper photo charms that are brand new to Pick Up Sticks this season. Each one is created from an actual piece of antique paper often with our own Pick Up Sticks hand-embellishment added. Imagine the excitement of finding a postmark over a hundred years old from the early 1900’s encased in glass ready for you to wear!

You might have questions, so we created our own little FAQ section below to better introduce this new line we know you’re going to love.

Frequently Asked Questions (that we dreamed up):

Q:  Yes, in fact, we’re cutting up actual antique and vintage paper.  Is this art of crime?

A:  Of course it’s art! If it were a crime, you’d first have to imprison Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and dozens of other artists who used pieces of old paper in their works of art.

Q:  I can’t imagine any reason to destroy a perfectly good vintage postcard. Why is this good idea?

A:  We’ve all heard about desirable postcards that fetch big money because of their historical or artistic significance. But that’s not the kind of postcards we use, so don’t panic.

Instead we use postcards that were produced in abundance that aren’t desirable today.  We even take it a step further and only use postcards that are damaged, stained or torn. These are the beauty marks to us

We would never cut on collectible paper. We look for paper and cards that are so damaged even a fanatical collector would refuse to buy them.  Dealers who sell paper will freely admit that common postcards are dumped into the trash daily. Why not repurpose them into something beautiful? Think of it as saving them from the landfill.

And the big question:

Q:  Why don’t you just scan them and print them out? Why are you cutting them up?

A:

1. Because you would be able to tell the difference!  A common desk printer just can’t capture the beautiful printing processes that were used, much less the beauty of age.  Postcards get outrageous handling, bumps, bruises, discoloration, creases, writing, postmarks, stains and smudges. And we love that!
2. We are saving resources by not using ink or new paper. The process of manufacturing both ink and paper is detrimental to the environment and results in tossed away cartridges. We’re working on reducing our carbon footprint here.
3. In this digital age, handwriting is rapidly becoming scarce and people are throwing out documents by the truckload. Let’s save these beauties!
4. Now you get to wear a piece of history.  Imagine where this lovely piece of paper has been and the stories it has to tell.
5. No two are the same!
6. Everyone wants a juicy “story” to tell. We’ll even help.  Just say, “This is a postcard my aunt Bertha sent to her boyfriend while she was dancing at a cabaret in Paris. She was ready to dump him, and did it on a postcard. A postcard! Right there where everyone could read it! I love that!”

Finally:

Q:  When will they be available and can I buy a truckload?

A:  Date of availability RIGHT NOW, but quantities may be a tad scarce.  We hope to have a lot available soon, but maybe not a truckload. These are labor intensive and very unique, requiring hands-on time in the studio.. Despite that, the cost to you will be the same as our other Pick Up Sticks charms.

Find Recycled Charms on our Website!

Pick Up Sticks Retailers – Find Your Favorite

Just one example of the Pick Up Sticks necklaces jewelry you can create after locating your favorite Pick Up Sticks retailer.

We’re always telling you how much we love our Pick Up Sticks retailers, and we try to feature one of them in a blog post on a regular basis.  But have you found one near you?  Do you have a favorite Pick Up Sticks retailer of your own?

If you’re really going to go green and support your hometown economy, there’s nothing like shopping and buying locally.  Pick Up Sticks retailers already know how fabulous the line is, and they’ll show you their bestsellers as well as what’s new.

Probably one of the greatest advantages to buying from one of our retailers is that they’re happy to help you assemble your necklace and bracelets once you find the perfect combination of charms and trinkets.  They can keep you informed about when new designs arrive so that you can add to your collection.  Another benefit of buying from a local retailer is that  you don’t have to pay for shipping.

And if you are looking for a favorite charm from the past that might have been discontinued from our line, call around to a few brick and mortar Mom and Pop stores to see if they have it in stock. Often you can find special charms that aren’t available from an online store.

As you already know, getting your hands on Pick Up Sticks is a satisfying shopping experience – they’re even better in person than in these pictures!

You can always go to our website and find a store carrying Pick Up Sticks near you.  Or check out the links in the column on the left of this blog post – we’ve been pleased to link to several retailers who asked to be included here.

Happy shopping. If you already have a favorite Pick Up Sticks retail store, let us know who they are so we can give them a shout out on our Facebook page.

If all your best efforts to find a local retailer are unsuccessful, suggest to your favorite store owners that they carry the line.  And finally, if all else fails, or if you’re living in a remote area that only the UPS guy can find, you’re welcome to shop the Pick Up Sticks retail website.

The Inspiring Spaces of Pick Up Sticks – Bunny’s House

My charming little house on a side street near downtown Santa Fe

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Bunny Terry, the Pick Up Sticks blogger, copywriter, editorial submissions queen, etc.  If someone at Pick Up Sticks needs a piece of content created, they call me.

My front door, supposedly installed in 1928

Remember those previous posts about the Inspiring Spaces of Pick Up Sticks?  Sabrina’s funky, eclectic home filled with light?  Glena’s colorful, comfy, gorgeous space?  Candace’s warm and inviting home she shares with her hubby and adorable Jemma the toddler?  I had fun writing those posts, and was just a bit envious (as we all are when we see someone else’s fabulous home).

My work space, with doors that open to the back patio

Then I looked around.  And I realized that my own space was pretty inspiring, especially given my sometimes scattered, hard-to-pin-down style based almost entirely on whatever strikes my fancy at the moment I see it.

Entryway/Library. Check out the oversized Mexican chess set. Made of papier mache, picked up at a little junk store in Texas for $25.

I didn’t plan to make it creative space.  I recently moved to Santa Fe into a nearly 100-year old adobe home and furnished it with my collection of Mexican folk art and eclectic furnishings.

Kitchen/dining room

There’s an odd mix of memorabilia here in my home – a Tom’s candy cabinet from my childhood, a collection of aluminum cups and pitchers from my 20’s, a full set of Frankoma dishware I snuck out of an estate sale in Albuquerque for almost nothing, brightly painted furniture (some by me, some by a Santa Fe local with a crazy paintbrush), interesting artwork that probably wouldn’t please anyone else besides me. . .

In my prior home in Logan, New Mexico (the hometown I share with Glena and Sabrina), I had a very efficient little office with lots of shelves and a view of Ute Lake.  But it wasn’t necessarily inspiring (unless you count wanting to leave my desk and walk down to the lake as a form of inspiration rather than distraction).  It was utilitarian.  And I wrote there, creating blog posts and web copy and a few editorial submissions.

Of all the things I own, my “No Sniveling” sign may be my favorite

But Santa Fe is different.  I’ve made this space my own.  I love my little house with its wide portal and picket fence.

Back patio

I love the back patio with its flagstone and coyote fencing.  But best of all I love the interior space where I can display my odd collections while the sun shines on the brick floor in my office.  It makes me want to write for hours.

Front portal with my pew from the San Antonio Catholic Church in Logan, NM

And when I’m done with the blogging and copywriting and editorializing?  I’m four blocks from the Cowgirl BBQ and the Railyard District and Second Street Brewery.  About seven blocks to the Plaza and Del Charo.  Because, no matter how creative your job requires you to be, a girl’s always gonna need a break for a margarita and some green chile enchiladas at some point.

Pick Up Sticks Display Ideas – Jewelie

Wow!  The response to Judy, our full-size black mannequin loaded with Pick Up Sticks, has been incredible.  We never knew that adding a loaded Judy to our catalog would be such a great idea. If you missed our post on Judy, check it out here.

Because of the overwhelming interest in Judy, we decided we’d better add a loaded Jewelie to the mix.

Jewelie is our 20 inch tall counter-top mannequin.  Think of her as Judy’s little sister. Equally as eye-catching, just not quite as big.  If you don’t have space enough for Judy, order a couple of Jewelies to grace a tabletop or counter.  Or consider her as an add-on to your Judy – a complimentary bust form loaded with Pick Up Sticks that will create even more interest.

We’ve heard from lots of retailers that Jewelie’s a great point-of-sale display.  She just might be the perfect way to turn on-the-fence-buyers into jewelry-purchasing-customers.

One of the most frequently asked questions when we’re at market is:  “How should we display Pick Up Sticks in our store?”  It’s also the highest search engine term that takes customers to our blog. And because we’re in the business of helping retailers sell our product, we want to give you the chance to display Pick Up Sticks in the most profitable manner. That’s Judy and Jewelie.

Now you have the chance to order Jewelie fully loaded.  She’ll come with our best-selling two-sided bubble charms and photo charms, our 12 best-selling word candy, our 12 best-selling dot initials, our 12 best-selling trinkets and spacers and 20 assorted necklaces and bracelet chain. She’ll also be wearing our very popular logo price tags. Call the studio today to get the price on this great display value.

Everybody needs Pick Up Sticks!

Simply order, unwrap and display.  And start selling!

Pick Up Sticks Employee’s Favorites – Treyla

This post is our “Welcome” piece for Treyla, the new girl in the Pick Up Sticks studio. She was born in Clovis but grew up in Eugene, Oregon.  After high school she decided she missed the eastern plains of New Mexico, and came home.

She has a daughter, two year-old Austyn, and is very happily married to Oran.  Besides her family, her favorite things in the world are her two Labs, Tiki and Daisy. She’s also a bit of a Modge Podge fanatic and a fan of the Oregon Ducks.

Best of all, Treyla is  full of energy and fun and loves working at Pick Up Sticks.  We asked her to choose her favorite Pick Up Sticks necklace combination, and here’s what she said:

“When I saw charms  Live the Life (LV051) and Life is Good (BB011), they instantly became my favorite! Everywhere I have been shopping recently, I have been drawn to anything with birds on it. The chain (NK001) has an adorable little bird that sits up higher on the necklace and it adds a unique look you don’t see in other jewelry.

I try to live my life with a very positive outlook, and these charms remind me every time I wear them, how truly blessed I am. I have a beautiful little girl, Austyn, and a wonderful husband, Oran, who are all healthy and very happy. I truly do “love the life” that I have been given, and try to always “look at the bright side”. Not to mention that these charms are extremely colorful, and match almost any item in my closet!”

We’d love to hear about your favorite Pick Up Sticks necklace.  Send us a photo and your own story at marketing@pickupsticks.net and you just might be featured in a future blog post!

Judy, Judy, Judy – Pick Up Sticks’ best sales tip

Pick Up Sticks.  We hope you associate the company name and this blog with our continuing search for ways to help you make your business a screaming success.  That’s why we do this – we want to give you ideas that help you sell, sell, sell.

And that’s why we now offer our loaded Judy in our catalog.  And why we throw in the mannequin for free.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Null.  Zilch.

We do ask that you pay for the charms and trinkets and necklaces she’s wearing.  But the mannequin and the ribbons that separate price points and the approximately 12 hours of studio labor to load her up?  Free.

“Who’s Judy?” some of you may ask.  Do a search of the term “Judy” in our blog archives and you’ll find several posts dedicated to her.  She’s our “loaded-with-Pick-Up-Sticks,” looking-gorgeous and selling-jewelry-like-crazy Mannequin. We introduced her about six years ago, dragging her to market all dressed up with every photo charm, trinket, and chain we create, as well as the top 12 of our initial charms. We thought she was a fun display.

And then customers started asking if they could take her home with them. Immediately.

What we found was that Judy was a sparkly-girl, catching the eyes of passersby and creating an entirely new kind of excitement in our market booth. And our retailers who bought her told us that she created a fun forum where customers could see a wide variety of jewelry, touching and turning Pick Up Sticks every which way, laughing with their friends at our designs, choosing two or three charms and trinkets and necklace combinations in the process.

What we found was that our Judy sells. In fact, a number of our current Judy orders are from retailers who ordered Judy in the past. She’s been so busy that she’s worn out and they need a replacement.

And the best news is that now you don’t have to wait until market to get your’s. She’s in our latest catalog, just waiting for your order.

She comes shipped to your door looking very chic and  wearing one each of every single Pick Up  Sticks two-sided bubble, dot, candy, chicklet and photo charm, the top 12 initials in five styles, one each of all our trinkets, spacers and locket, and an assortment of necklace and bracelet chain.  She also comes ribboned – meaning that we separate the price categories so that you don’t have to. (Here’s a link to the catalog page – take a look at this beauty!  http://www.pickupsticks.net/US/CATALOG/packages/packages.html)

How good is the deal?  If you order a pre-pinned Judy right now, you’ll get the mannequin free (Yes, we’ve already said that, but it bears repeating.  She’d cost you $120 if you ordered her separately).  You’ll also get the expertise of the girls in the studio pinning and ribboning her so that she’s an eye-catching sales genius.  That alone takes 2 girls 6 hours, so in addition to the mannequin form, you’re getting 12 hours of free labor.  And you get our exclusive logo price tags showing the price for each separate category of jewelry.

Don’t want all the chain?  We can leave that off and you’ll be charged less.  Since we can’t really reveal our wholesale prices here, please feel free to contact the studio for prices.

One thing you don’t get?  All 26 initials, because we know that some of them are hard to sell.  We only send you the 12 top selling initials from each of our initial lines.

We know that getting customers to make a purchase is tougher now than ever.  That’s why we promote our Judy.  She sells, she adds interest to your retail space, and customers love her. What more could you ask of a pretty girl?

Facebook Giveaway a/k/a “Are You Feeling Lucky?”

St. Patrick’s Day. The holiday that gives you the excuse to wear green, drink green beer, try out your incredibly lame Irish accent, and brag about your very distant and possibly fabricated Irish lineage.

As you’ve probably gathered from our Halloween posts, we love ourselves a goofy holiday at Pick Up Sticks. So much, in fact, that we design jewelry that commemorates the alleged luck that comes with being Irish and St. Paddy’s Day in general.

And because of all that affection for green and the possibility of being pinched and luck in general, we decided a Facebook contest was in order. Did we say we also love a contest?

Here’s the scoop – if you’re not already following us on Facebook, we’d be quite pleased to have you as a fan.  Find our Facebook page here.  Check out this week’s post on our contest.  Share the post and then comment to let us know you’re shared it and you’re immediately in the running for the necklace shown here.

We’ll randomly draw a winner’s name on March 4.  So HURRY!  Get your name in the proverbial (cyber) hat.

Because we think luck isn’t just for the Irish and it isn’t just for St. Patrick’s Day.  We figure you’re probably a Lucky Girl every single day of the year.  And Lucky Girls need jewelry to show the world just how lucky they are.

Plus, if green isn’t necessarily your color, this necklace will ward off all pinching on the day in question.

Can’t wait to see you on Facebook. . .

Pick Up Sticks – Just Another Day at the Studio

We know there are some incredibly interesting jobs out there, jobs that we’ve all dreamed of.  Secret shopper for Neiman-Marcus. Rolling Stone reporter assigned to hang with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Taste tester for Ben & Jerry’s. Ski instructor at Aspen. Personal Assistant to Bradley Cooper.  Those are all good, right?

Yeah, we’d like one of those. We’re pretty sure we could be VERY helpful to Bradley Cooper.  But since we don’t get to hang with celebrities, we’re going to go out on a limb and say that working at Pick Up Sticks is pretty crazy amazing.  It’s never boring, it’s creative, it’s relaxed, and, honestly, it’s almost always fun.  Here’s a quick look at what we do all day, some days.  Other days we sit around the studio and brainstorm while eating taquitos from The Foxy.  Just another job hazard – great New Mexico fast food.

The above photo is Candace and Leigh dressing Judy up for her wholesale show debut.  This is just one example of how we load her with Pick Up Sticks. . .we’ve seen lots of different pictures of our customers’ own Judy and we’d love to see more.  If you’ve perfected the Judy-loading method, let us know your secret.  As far as we can tell, you’re all doing a great job of creating your own beautiful versions.

“Which wholesale gift shows to attend? Who is going where? Where should we stay? How should we get there? And most important of all-what great restaurant do we get to try while we’re there?” These are just a few of the questions that get asked and answered daily at Glena’s desk.  Other tasks like talking to Sabrina on the phone about the creative process, paying the bills, payroll, inventory control, design decisions, and bookkeeping are just a  few of the jobs she tackles. If there’s a number to be crunched, Glena is the girl to do it.  Just hand her a pile of data and she’s a happy camper (there’s that finance degree showing itself. . .).  Of course getting to come to work every day with her dogs, her Mom, with Candace and Leigh and with Treyla, the newest Pick Up Sticks girl, is the biggest treat of all. (Hmmmmm. . .would you like to see a post on the “Dogs of Pick Up Sticks”?  I’m thinking YES.)

Ever wondered how the “pulling and checking” process works when you order? This is Leigh checking an order she’s just pulled from the stacks of bins of inventory behind her.  Those bins hold every single charm in our line.  Leigh picks up the order from our fancy printer, walks to our “Walls of Bins” and removes all your charms from their assigned bins. From there, the charms and trinkets go through a two-pronged cross checking process. Leigh and at least one other Pick Up Sticks girl look over your order to insure that it’s shipped to you as quickly and accurately as possible.

Check out that great orange wall. We are all about color and whimsy at Pick Up Sticks.

Here’s a glimpse of Candace at the heart of the studio, on the phone, typing an order. Behind her is our handy-dandy fancy printer that basically does everything except pick up lunch from Twin Cronies Drive-In (more of that New Mexican fast food). It not only prints your typed, emailed, or faxed orders, it prints our catalogs, the post cards, bio cards, images for studio use, AND your order forms (whew)! It is possibly the hardest worker in the studio!

By the way, Candace is wearing the 30” Small Link Chain with a AN058 Grow Strong Charm.

Judy isn’t the only display that gets a face lift before a new show season begins.  The display boards have to updated with all the new season’s designs.  Glena is somewhat of a p-touch (label maker) guru, so she get the boards measured, p-touched and ready for Candace and Leigh to pin all the new charms and trinkets on the boards.

Here’s Candace attempting to organize the board that holds the potential/proposed new trinkets.  This highly systemized process (most days) is studied intently and rearranged daily to make sure we’re creating the perfect trinkets to go with all our photo charms.  How are we doing with that?

And finally, here we share with you the highlight of our day. Leigh (lucky Leigh) is handing your orders over to our favorite FedEx driver(eat your hearts out ladies)!!!

We didn’t get a chance to include a picture of Treyla in this post, but plan to do an entire blog post introducing you all to her soon. Hopefully she’ll agree that working at Pick Up Sticks is almost always entertaining and interesting!

We love what we do. Now if we could just get Bradley Cooper to drop by with a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry, life would be perfect.

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Pick Up Sticks – Glena’s Favorites

When we started talking about favorite necklaces a few weeks ago, Glena, like Candace, was unable to narrow her choice to just one.  Like some of you out there, she wears Pick Up Sticks every day, mixing and matching various charms and trinkets.  But we did get photos of her favorite combinations – here’s what she had to say about them:

“My newest favorite charms is DT011. The saying on the front and back, “My child”, and “Born to Fly” is perfect for me since my son is a pilot. I wear the charm both front and back, with the Bali Spacers, PT167, and my son Cameron’s, initial, CWIOC.  This charm is ideal for all mothers to wear, because we all know that our children are born to fly and succeed – mine just choose to do it in a helicopter.  And of course I couldn’t be any prouder of him.”

“I love wearing a 36” stainless steel necklace with a collection of charms and trinkets added, because the long necklace goes perfectly with my winter sweaters.  My latest choice is ANO62, ANO64, PG147, PT185, and PT183.  I’m loving the bling of the new trinkets and the messages, “fly baby fly” and “it takes courage to become who you really are” remind me to do the best I can every day, and most of all—don’t sweat the small stuff. When I change my sweater and my mood, I use the “magical clip” and simply add different charms that match both.”

Like Glena, the rest of us find it tricky to narrow our Pick Up Sticks choices to just one or two necklaces, and given the versatility of our two-sided charms and the ease of using the magic clips, you don’t have to!

Pick Up Sticks Employee Favorites – Candace’s Choices

If you’re one of our retailers, we hope you’ve been fortunate enough to meet Candace, the Pick Up Sticks girl who enthusiastically greets you in the booth at market and takes your order when you phone or e-mail the office.  She’s indispensable as well as being our biggest fan.  We couldn’t do our job without her.

When we asked her to tell us about her favorite necklace, charm and trinket combination, she couldn’t limit her choice to just one.  So here are a couple. .

In Candace’s words:

“I love to wear the My Family charm (DT010) with the  You & Me 4 Ever (BB012). I wear the BB012 on the 4ever side because the wording on both of those charms side-by-side sums up the lifetime dream I have, which is that my family will be forever. Another great perk of wearing these two charms together is the fact that the colors match perfectly, and are sure to bring attention to them (just another excuse to brag about my family). I wear the Bee Necklace (NK004) with these two charms because it reminds me to always ‘Bee’ thankful for my family.”

And for her second choice, Candace says:

“Here is another favorite family-related combo. I am wearing the  Two In Love (LV050) with the Bubble “J” (BBIOJ) and a Magnifier trinket (PT182)  on a 36” Stainless chain (SS036). I really like the 36″ chain because of its simplicity and perfect length, which allows me to layer it with my other favorite necklaces. The LV050 means so much to me because I have the best little girl I could have ever prayed for due to my husband and me falling in love. The BBI0J is my new favorite initial because of its bright eye-grabbing colors, and because it describes my life perfectly with my little Jemma in it -Jubilant! Lastly, I chose the magnifying glass because it symbolizes my love for my family. It magnifies with every new day. . .”

Do you have a favorite necklace combo?  We’d love to hear about and see it. . .just e-mail a description and images to us at marketing@pickupsticks.net and we may feature it on Facebook or right here.