Bead Fest :: Swapping Beads (& Things)

One of the things about getting this many of us together in one place is that we're all pulling out beads and talking about them. And well, one thing leads to another and before you know it you've got some swapping going on. One of the big ones is Diana's of Suburban Girl Studio which she does every year. Her's is exclusively for Artisan beads (don't try sneaking in anything other than beads made by hand!) It is a fun swap, with an enormous amount of talent sitting around a table. Truly amazing to glance around and recognize all those people and faces you've been blogging with! I posted this picture on CBC last week and had a lot of fun watching people comment and identify all the faces! A really great bunch of people to meet!

I did do a fair amount of swapping all weekend long! I was shopping with my BCM (Bead Chat Magazine) crew Melinda Orr and Linda Younkman most of the weekend and then pulling out the stash once we were back at the room! Here is just a little bit of the loot. We went just a little crazy over all the charms! I mean at $3 a bag ... how could you go wrong? So we each picked out favorites and then swapped and traded later. Even my daughter got in on the action running back and forth between the three of us trying to entice us to drop one of the bags she'd found into our baskets. She was work'n it! And for good cause. I've already made several pieces for her with the charms since we got home. She had a motive. A girl after my own heart!

Linda brought a little extra stash of trade beads. Aren't these great! And she made these sweet muslin bags to drop stash into. Because a girl's gotta have a bag for her stash! We've been talking about packaging over at BCM for the last week or so, and Linda has been working on what she wants to use for her shop. These are just so cute and really fit the look of her store. There is a great piece in this month's BCM magazine by Natalie McKenna you should be sure to check out if you're working on packaging for your shop.

Ok, now Melinda. Darn you Melinda! I was perfectly happy with my beads and thread ... but then you had to go an introduce me to leather! I am completely in love with it. It is working its way into a lot of my designs lately. And then when we met up Melinda brought her stash. Are you crazy?! Opening up all that wonderful stuff in front of Linda and me? Yea, I went home with a nice new mix of leather from Melinda's shop Orrtec!

And as if that wasn't enough, I had to pick up more at the show? What have you done to me Melinda? Look at these gorgeous melon and bay blue leathers ... and they are so soft! My daughter, struck again throwing in her 'camo' .... she's in a phase. Sigh. Notice the camo clasps I bought to match. Yea, I gave in. I was so proud of my little bead shopper! She shops like a pro that one.