Some couples are really lucky as they not only share common interests but also pursue their passions together professionally.  The husband and wife team of Lily Mordà and Timothy James behind Beaded Lily have a truly remarkable story.




It starts in Seattle where they met and married.  Both loved all things Italian. Lily herself is of Italian heritage.  When they eventually vacationed in Italy, they were so charmed with the place and the Italian way of life that they stayed.  They sold everything they had in the US - Tim's cafe and Lily's bead shop - and eventually settled in the historic city of Florence, the capital of beautiful Tuscany.

They have a studio/shop there in the Oltrarno artisan district, complete with a shop dog named Siesta! Tim is now a noted lamp work artist supplying designers including famous design houses like Ferragamo and Escada.  He also teaches - people from around the world attend his classes.  Lily is the jewelry designer/instructor.  They not only sell hand made beads and  hand-picked locally made products but also one of a kind jewelry supplies.

Check out this video to learn more about them and what they do.  There are some lovely pictures of Florence too to inspire future vacations.



The lovely young woman modelling the jewelry is their daughter Leah who was just 9 when they first moved to Italy. This promotional picture taken by Mollie Pritchett has the medieval stone Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge in Italian) in the background.  Makes me want to book the next flight out there!






Tim makes really lovely lamp work beads in the traditional Venetian style.




One of the wonderful supplies they sell in their store is Italian tubular wire mesh ribbon. They add "because we are located in Italy and this is indeed an Italian product, our prices are virtually 1/3 to 1/2 less than American distributors of this unique product."  Shown below are a couple of Lily's design inspirations using the mesh and Tim's beads.  Also check out the tutorial page for tips on how to use this material. There is also the recent color graduated wire lace necklace tutorial I wrote about.



 
A 10% discount code is also available to readers on orders over 20 Euros ( their checkout will handle international currency). Just use "BEADEDLILYDESIGNSVIP" during Step 2 of the checkout process under the discount code heading.  

Giveaway
If you'd like to try your luck for their 25 Euro gift certificate giveaway, all you have to do is make a comment below.

Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway,  those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

This international giveaway ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, March 19, 2012. I will pick a winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Good luck!

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips