I went to Bead Fest Philadelphia for the first time. I had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful, beady friends, that I hope to be able to make lasting connections with! My husband, Josh and 10 month old, daughter, Nora were unable to make the trip with me. Nora is in the middle of teething and we decided traveling with a cranky, teething baby wasn't such a good idea. So instead, my Mother-In-Law, Nancy Siegel made the trip with me. When we arrived Friday night, we met up for drinks and dinner with my friend and Co-Author,
Lorelei Eurto along with
Nancy Schindler,
Lisa Petrillo,
Diana Ptaszynski and her husband, Colin,
Mary Hubbard and her daughter, and
Melinda Orr and a few others. Later that evening, the amazing
Melissa Cable came over to our table. What a treat. A fun night of meeting, drinks and chatting!
On Saturday, at the show, we went straight to the Ornamentea booth, where I met owner, Cynthia Deis and ceramic bead artist, Elaine Ray.
And also, Diane Hawkey, who was my Bead Swap partner.
After that, we headed over to meet Barbara Lewis at her Painting with Fire booth.
Diana Ptaszynski at the bead swap with a button by her swap partner, Kristi of Artisan Clay.
At the bead swap, I met
Kristi Roeder,
Jenny Davies-Reazor,
Marsha Neal and
Anne Gardanne for the first time. After the swap, we all met up for dinner Saturday night at Legal Seafoods, which my MIL and I were fashionably late for. A
BIG thanks to Diana for making this event extra special and fun! She even made us all cute "Bead Snob" buttons. The whole experience was so much more fulfilling with the get-togethers and that was the main reason I even wanted to come to this show in the first place. To meet creative, like-minded people and make connections.....and well, the beads aren't bad, either. ;)
Here's the rest of the bead stash I snagged at the show on Saturday:
What a great time! Looking forward to it again next year.