Sorry for any confusion, but in an effort to streamline my blog I am eliminating the second section for the projects. They will now be on the main section
http://razieladesigns.blogspot.com/
Cousin Creative Circle Projects
Here you get to see what I am working on for Cousin Corporation of America as a Cousin Creative Circle Ambassador.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Five More Jewelry Makers Join the Successful Brand Ambassador Program
The News from Cousin Corporation of America.....
LARGO,
Fl., July 19, 2013 - Cousin Corporation of America, a premier
manufacturer of jewelry making components, has chosen five talented
jewelry makers to be brand ambassadors, joining the inaugural
ambassadors for the 2013-14 year. Cousin again received an overwhelming
amount of applications for the coveted five slots. The ambassadors were
chosen based on their unique contributions to the program, commitment to
jewelry making and social media and networking influence.
The 2013-2014 Creative Circle ambassadors are: Allison Cooling, Dawn Doucette, Vicki O'Dell, Lisa Stukel and Rebecca Utermohlen. As Cousin Ambassadors they will have a platform
to share ideas with the product development team, create projects for
publications in magazines and on various social media platforms, preview
upcoming programs and provide feedback about products before they go to
market.
"Our
Creative Circle program has absolutely surpassed our expectations,"
said Jeff Cousin, President. "We want to keep the craft of jewelry
making relevant and maintain it as a growing art. We are excited to
expand the program so we can show even more people that jewelry making
is accessible and rewarding, and also introduce them to the Cousin
brand."
The ambassadors were officially welcomed by the Creative Circle team on July 18th and will be highlighted on Cousin's website www.cousin.com and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CousinCorp.
About Cousin
Cousin Corporation of America is a family-owned company founded in 1970 as
Enterprise Art, a retail craft store in Largo, Florida. Today Cousin is a
premier wholesaler of jewelry making supplies. Their focus is to
design, manufacture and provide quality jewelry making products at an
exceptional value to customers who are inspired by the craft of jewelry
making. For more information about Cousin Corporation of America, please
visit www.cousin.com.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Calling All Jewelry Designers!
Cousin ANNOUNCES CALL FOR
APPLICANTS FOR CREATIVE CIRCLE Ambassador Program
Five New Ambassadors To Be
Selected To Join The Inaugural Group
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LARGO,
Fl., May 10, 2013 – Cousin Corporation of America is pleased to
announce a call for applicants for the Cousin Creative Circle™
Ambassador program for the 2013-14 term. Cousin is a premier
manufacturer of jewelry making components that supplies products to
craft stores, retail chain stores and professional jewelry makers all
over the world.
The
Cousin Creative Circle™ is a diverse group of talented jewelry
makers who have a strong commitment to the craft
of jewelry making and who use Cousin products
because they are the best in the industry. These brand ambassadors
have a platform to share ideas with the product
development team, receive Cousin products to incorporate into their
work and attend a team building retreat at Cousin Headquarters in
Florida.
"Our
Creative Circle program has absolutely surpassed our expectations,"
said Jeff Cousin, President. “We want to keep the craft of jewelry
making relevant and maintain it as a growing art. The Ambassadors
have shown thousands of people that jewelry making is accessible and
rewarding, and as a result we have introduced those people to the
Cousin brand.”
The
selection committee will choose five additional Creative Circle
Ambassadors to join the original members chosen last year. To be
considered for the Cousin Creative Circle™, each applicant must
complete a comprehensive application form and submit at
least 3 images of their work. The deadline for
submissions is Monday, June 17, 2013 at 11:59
p.m. EST. To apply, please visit
www.cousin.com/CCC.
About
Cousin
Cousin
Corporation of America is a family-owned company founded in 1970 as
Enterprise Art, a retail craft store in Largo, Florida. Today we are
a premier wholesaler of jewelry making supplies. Our focus is to
design, manufacture and provide quality jewelry making products at an
exceptional value to customers who are inspired by the craft of
jewelry making. For more information about Cousin Corporation of
America, please visit www.cousin.com.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wow...A year almost gone already!

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L to R: Jeff Cousin, Me, Lisa Crone, Suzette Bentley, Gail Devoid, Liz Heggy - This year's trip to Tampa, FL |
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Versatile and Easy Jewelry Making Made Possible by Cousin Corporation
In early March, Cousin Corporation of America rolled out a new kind of fashionable jewelry component - the leather slide bracelet program. This unisex jewelry components are available at select Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft stores as well as at Prima Bead.
Here is a great tutorial from Cousin Corporation's website:
The bands are very durable and made from bi-cast leather. If you don't know what that is, bi-cast leather is a man-made material made with a split leather backing covered with a layer of polyurethane that is applied to the surface and then embossed. The bands come in red, blue, black, brown, dark brown, cream (a rich tan color), gray, and white. The bands do stretch a bit so don't fret if it is too snug at first. I do suggest letting the band air out before you wear it. Some of them can have a bit of an overpowering plastic smell to them.

I have found that E-6000 holds the clasps on every well. If you have trouble cutting the band, try using some heavy duty snips or shears to cut it with. You do have to make sure the glue is fully cured before wear or it will not hold as you are adhering the band to metal.
Here is tip concerning the sliders: If you find that they are moving around too much, take a ball peen hammer and tap lightly on the underside of the sliders. This will close up the opening on the sliders and will not damage the overall look of the sliders.
Monday, March 4, 2013
A Foreign Beauty
I have this tendency to lean towards ancient jewelry designs. The the necklace I created while at Cousin Corporation is no exception. We had an hour to complete a design with the designers at Cousin. We had such a good time. We were allowed to peruse the bead library for our pieces.
This is what I came up with:
I was so inspired when I saw this pendant. The entire necklace flowed from it. I found all sorts of goodies that matched the theme of the pendant. I loved the spirals at the bottom and the way the sets are placed around the teardrop shape.
The chain was very different than what I am used to working with. The links were very tight with these little tiny rondelles set in perfectly spaced intervals.
I fell in love with these enameled brass discs. I also found lovely oxidized brass discs. The brown leather went well with the theme. I found some very interesting knotted look, cord covered beads. The antiqued brass sliders were so lovely, I had to use them too.
I couldn't believe how well this necklace came together. We ate lunch while we worked too so the pace was very relaxed. Before we knew it, time was up and my piece was complete. I am very happy with the way it turned out. I hope you like it too.

This is what I came up with:
I was so inspired when I saw this pendant. The entire necklace flowed from it. I found all sorts of goodies that matched the theme of the pendant. I loved the spirals at the bottom and the way the sets are placed around the teardrop shape.
The chain was very different than what I am used to working with. The links were very tight with these little tiny rondelles set in perfectly spaced intervals.

I couldn't believe how well this necklace came together. We ate lunch while we worked too so the pace was very relaxed. Before we knew it, time was up and my piece was complete. I am very happy with the way it turned out. I hope you like it too.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
What a Wonderful Time at Cousin Corporation!
On Wednesday, February 20th, I flew out with my fellow ambassadors to for our Cousin Creative Circle retreat at Cousin Corporation. I was a bit nervous considering I had never flown before. But I got through it.
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Longest escalator ever! |
The trip to Tampa was an amazing one even though I got lost at the Atlanta Airport thanks to my fellow ambassador, Suzette Bentley, who told me to meet her at date D-10 and I needed to be at gate B-10.
Anyway, the flights were great. Started out on Delta from Jackson, MS to Atlanta (a small puddle jumper plane) and then on to Tampa aboard a much larger and nicer Delta plane. We arrived in Tampa to be greeted by fellow ambassador, Gail Devoid, and Chris White from Cousin.

We ate at Carrabba's in the airport. Great company! Chris kept us in stitches while we awaited the arrival of ambassador Lisa Crone. When we all had gathered together, Chris went to get the "Cuz Bus". A huge Mercedes-Benz van/bus. Super cush! Somehow an orange and an apple got loose and started rolling around on the floor in the Cuz Bus. It became the running gag for the whole trip. The pair of fruit began showing up all over the place.
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Sunset at Double Tree Resort |
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L to R: Jeff Cousin, Me, Lisa Crone, Suzette Bentley, Gail Devoid, Liz Heggy |
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Sunrise over the water. |
I woke up early Thursday morning and sat out on the deck waiting for my fellow ambassadors and our ride.
We headed out to Cousin Corporation in Largo, FL. In route, we had to travel down Highway 666. Too funny!
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L to R: Gail, Lisa, Suzette, Me |
Big, yet small all at the same time. I was completely blown away on our tour of the facility. Cousin Corporation began as a small family owned business and has grown into a thriving company with about 175 employees. This is a major corporation that feels like a small business. It's unbelievable how the whole operation runs as smoothly as it does with just a skeleton crew. We aren't talking about just a few orders a month. They process about 5000 orders a day almost every day - worldwide. All of their orders are processed and packed by hand.
Community at it's best. There is a strong sense of community and family at Cousin that is undeniably the driving force behind their success. Everyone is involved in the day to day operations making strong connections between every employee. Everyone chips in together and helps out. I was impressed by the fact that Jeff Cousin himself had no problem leaving his office to pack and ship orders. That speaks volumes to me. Liz Heggy, Sales and Marketing Manager at Cousin, put it best, "If this company succeeds, it's because of all of us and not one person. If this company fails, it's because of all of us and not just one."
Family. All of us ambassadors felt an immediate connection to the wonderful people of Cousin Corporation. There was a closeness experienced by all of us that only be called one thing - "family". The people of Cousin Corporation had no need to impress us. Their interactions with each other, the joy on each one's face as they came into work and how they glowed as they talked about what they do there let us all know the truth. Everyone there loves their job because they feel they belong. Employees of Cousin Corporation have taken ownership of their company and represent Cousin well. When someone takes ownership of something, one tends to take care of it and cherish it. The people working for Cousin Corporation do just that.
Winding down. On Thursday night, we dined at a very nice restaurant, Salt Rock Grill. Awesome food and great fellowship occurred that night. On Friday, we enjoyed a shopping trip in the Bead Library at Cousin. We were given a huge box to fill up with whatever we wanted. Mine had trouble closing. I had filled it up!
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Gail and Lisa were the first to have to be at the airport. Our hot tamale chauffeur, Chris, took us all to see her off. Chris, Suzette, and I went over to the mall to await our flights. Suzette was next to go. Chris and I hung out at Target and then back to the airport. I can honestly say, that I felt like I was leaving my home. These were people in a very short time found a way into my heart, and I didn't want to let them go
Heading home. Sadness set in on the flight to Houston, TX. The plane was rather large with super comfy seats. Thank you United Airlines. I had an almost two hour layover in Texas. They kept moving my gate around so I had plenty of exercise going back and forth. The flight home was quicker than anticipated since the United Airlines puddle jumper caught a nice tail wind. We did hit some storms coming into the Jackson, MS airport. Saw some lovely lightning around the plane. I had never seen a storm from the top down before, so that was cool. All of the bumps weren't so pleasant though. We touched down and skidded a bit on the wet runway. I was met by my darling husband, my two adorable boys, and a half dozen roses.
All in all, it was a great trip. My goodie box arrived yesterday, and I am so stoked to make something pretty! I made a little video scrapbook of the trip below. Enjoy.
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