From the ashes rises the phoenix! Charming Beads, the former brand of Something Crafty Ltd is now officially back as a new start up venture. This time I am partnering with a great third party company in order to fulfil our orders to our amazing customers. My main role and focus is procuring the best products at favourable prices so that one day Charming Beads will be back as the no.1 brand for Gemstone Beads in the UK.

Temporary contract, looking after quotes, invoices, purchasing and reconciliation on Xero for a busy broadcast production and systems integration company

I started Something Crafty Ltd in June 2010 with an initial pot of just £10K. Having created the brand 'Charming Beads', it became a leading crafts brand in the UK and beyond, turning over £2.4M in it's peak year.From small beginnings in the box bedroom of our house, the business relocated to a 5,000 sq ft warehouse and employed 169 staff locally. The business sold over 24,500 different products on multiple marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and it's own webstore www.charming-beads.co.uk.My primary role, as well as day-to-day running of the business, was product research and negotiating/buying. Getting the right products at the right price allowed us to continue to beat our competitors on price and enabled us to be trend setters for the UK beading industry.I was a leader to the many staff we employed and many ex-employees moved on to bigger and better things. I was also responsible for HR and accounting.The business became insolvent in early 2023 due to the cost of living crisis in the UK which ultimately led to a dramatic drop in sales that was unprecedented in the 13 years history of the company.