Picture HEAVY Bead Fest post

 Early Saturday morning I hopped into the Impreza and headed down to Cortland NY to pick up Nancy Schindler. Road trip to Philadelphia P.A. (side note: 2 min. in the car, I realized someone had stolen my GPS system while the car was in our own driveway! SO TICKED!)
We arrived in Philly around 11am and headed straight to the Expo center for the show. We picked up Erin Siegel at the hotel- It was so nice to see her - We finally had the chance to celebrate our book release and it was fun to walk around the show promoting the book. We handed out a bunch of post cards to vendors and friends. The excitement out there for the book is amazing and humbling. While there, I saw that Jean Yates reviewed the book on her blog. I am so grateful - she thinks the book is marvelous- check out her review here.

Ahhh beads. It was a much smaller show than the one in August, but some of the usual suspects were there.  As usual I didn't take many photos during the show. My camera is acting up so I only had the iPhone for pics. Here are a few random shots...

 Primitive Earth Beads- Chain!! This was a great booth- we were there several times over the weekend. And we learned the coolest tutorial on making this leather and rollo chain bracelet- come back later in the week for a post after I make one.

 Here's a shot of the day one goodies... we always have to go back to our hotel room and fondle the beads a bit. More shots of beads as you scroll down...

 Saturday night we met a bunch of our blogging and Bead friends at Legal Seafood for dinner.  Diana of Suburban Girl Beads organized the dinner (THANK YOU D!) Diana brought along her husband Colin.  Linda Landig travelled to Bead Fest all the way from Washington state!  Lampworker, Jan Onipenco joined us too! Melinda Orr was there sporting some awesome handmade jewelry she made- I made her take them all off to show me this weekend- She makes the most inspiring things! It was great to see her again! And of course, Nancy, Erin and I were also there to enjoy some seafood. Dinner was amazing.

It was nice to toast all our friends and be in the moment and enjoy each other's company! We are all looking forward to Bead Fest in August as well with even more bead friends...

And now here is the loot....

 Hand of the Hills- I stocked up on my favorite brass and silver spacers/beads and also picked up a few Tibetan amulets and some Saki Silver bronze goodies.

 Went to Theodoras Beads for some Czech glass. I think those seafoam green beads in the center are my most favorite beads I bought all weekend long. Got the last 2 strands.

 Fiber and Beads- Got some seed beads- glass and copper.

 Went a little nuts at the Holy and Pure Gems table-  I don't know what several of these strands are since nothing was labeled. But regardless, they're cool.

 Also stocked up on more polyester chain- They has some that had bigger links that I hadn't seen before.

 Metalliferous- I picked up some JAX patina for metal sheets, and got another sheet of copper with this pretty floral pattern on it. Anxious to try this!

Stocked up on chain of course from Primitive Earth Beads....

Andrew game me this sweet Fox charm, and I got the bunny from the Green Girl Studios booth along with the pewter pieces below! Excited to finally get some of their new pieces like the wolf charm, and Mermaid link and button....

It was such a pleasure to see Barbara Lewis again. She was teaching enameling classes over the weekend. I popped into her booth and bought some of her enameled gears and beads.

I stumbled onto Heather's booth- HMB Studios. I didn't know she was going to be there! I was excited to meet her in person and bought some of her bead sets. Such great colors! She was so welcoming and friendly and I can see we'll be fast friends- wish we lived closer!

Picked up some lampwork flowers from Susan Sheehan. I have seen her work on Etsy and have admired her flowers for a long time. It was nice to chat with her and introduce myself. I anticipate shopping in her store/booth again soon! I just love her work! She works in wonderful colors.

On Saturday afternoon, we all got together for a bit of a bead swap. I was paired up with Cindy Wimmer. She gave me these lovely lampwork beads (Top: DudaMart) and bottom: Melissa Rediger!
I gave her a baggie of beads with a little bit of everything- polymer, lampwork, ceramic, enameled metal- you name it!

I won a door prize from the talented and fun Staci Louise- This etched copper heart that she embellished with a stamped silver oval and rivets. It's really cool and double sided! I loved meeting Staci in person for the first time as well. She's fun and laid back and it will be cool to spend more time with her at the next Bead Fest.

Diana gave us all these fun stickers-  couldn't have said it better myself! A fun trip all around and I am anxious for the next trip this Summer!