Bead Fest Philly

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.

 Ceramic beads, pendant and button by Elaine Ray from the Ornamentea booth.

There, we met back up with Lorelei, Nancy, Lisa and also Kelley Wenzel. From there, we popped over to Green Girl Studios and chatted with Andrew Thornton. Then, it was off to Earthenwood Studio to meet Melanie Brooks...

Ceramic pendants by Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studio. Greek Leather from Ornamentea.

And also, Diane Hawkey, who was my Bead Swap partner.

Ceramic beads by Diane Hawkey.

After that, we headed over to meet Barbara Lewis at her Painting with Fire booth.

Enameled metal beads and recycled sari silk from Barbara Lewis of Painting with Fire.

Then, a bunch of us met up for a bead swap hosted by Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio.

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:

From top left: Coco shell beads from Priscilla Beads, Hand-rolled paper beads also from Priscilla Beads. Seed beads from Bead Biz and Metal nugget beads from Hands of the Hills.

What a great time! Looking forward to it again next year.