Bead & Button Show Recap or A {Bead} Fool and Her Money Are Soon Parted

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations Emma!

The Mothership has left the state and headed back to the beady reaches of the Universe and try as I might to convince the bead freaks to take me with them they left me here in reality wallowing in beads and crying for the booths I missed and the peeps I neglected to photograph.

{Isn't this the sweetest welcome? My niece Evelyn is 7 and gives up her room each year so 'Ant Erin' can commune with the bead freaks. She is the sweetest little cutie patootie!}

First off, it is the most fun that I have all year. I get to spend time with Heather Powers (my best beady friend in the whole world) and her Aunt Rosanne (who has adopted me). I don't get enough time with just them, so we are plotting ways to make a getaway that doesn't involve standing at a booth or networking or buying. Just time to chill...

There was a great dinner I attended on Saturday with the President of Nunn Design, Becky Nunn and meeting some of the Nunn Innovation Design team like Rochelle Nation and Stephanie Gard Buss and Becky's friend Donna. We had a great time. I missed the dinner hosted by Lori Anderson but got there for the fun at the end. And Heather and I hosted a Bead Blogger's Breakfast on Sunday morning that was all sorts of networking bliss.

I carried my monster of a camera around with me most of the show. And who doesn't have any pictures to share? Me! But there are some great ones floating around out there (thanks, Diana, for the goofy eating pic!) so be sure to check out all the blog posts floating around. I never even got a picture of me with Heather or Rosanne this year, that should tell you how packed the days were!


But looky! I did manage to snap a pic with Diana Ptasxsydwekski of Suburban Girl Studios (oh crap, I can never spell it right ;-). She was always up for a laugh or two and always causing good beady fun wherever she went even though she felt icky most of the time, you wouldn't know it from her smile.

{Smile through the pain, Miss Diana!}

And I finally met Miss Erin Seigel, co-author of the great new book Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry (yes, you want a copy of this book, it is so pretty!). She is so very sweet, has the most lovely shade of red hair and the prettiest blue eyes. She was wearing my favorite necklace from the book and I couldn't take my eyes off it! I also got to meet Miss Lorelei, too and it was fun to connect with them and have my books signed (yes, I said books... watch for a giveaway coming soon of a signed copy just for you!).

{What the heck is going on with my hair? But doesn't Erin Seigel look pretty? That is my favorite design from the book, so it was exciting to see it in person!}

{Look how cute Heather Powers and Erin Seigel are!}

Of course there are too many beady friends to mention that I fear I will forget some, but I will try... Walking up to the booth was Tanya Goodwin who was wearing a pair of earrings she bought from me (mental note: make more of those!) that she said that many complimented her on... Sharon Misuraco shopped until we dropped (we get into all sorts of trouble)... Mallory Hoffman was having all sorts of fun... and then there were the bead artists that I love to connect with... Melissa Rediger of Sea of Glass...Kerri Fuhr and Stephanie Ann... Yvonne Irvin of My Elements... Melanie Brooks of Earthenwoods... Andrew Thornton and his sweet sister Cynthia from Green Girl Studios... Marianne Kasparian of MAKUStudios... Heather Wynn Millican of SwoonDimples (she is my hero) and her beautiful mom Pam... Trish Lincoln who just opened a new store called Rustic River Finds and she is my adoptive mom plus my Woodsy owls can be found there!... Vlad and Kremena Ivanov of Golem Studios... Marsha Hedrick of Amazing Porcelain... Jennifer Heynen of Jangles... I met Julie Nordine of Credit River Glass in the bathroom of all places!... Katie Wall of Fusion Beads.... and Sara Oehler and Jamie Hogsett of Soft Flex.... and of course Lisa Peters and her sweet mom Dona right across the aisle... oh, there are so many more and I am sorry if my memory is failing me! I enjoyed every moment I could squeeze out of it.

I know what you are thinking... how could Erin go to the Bead & Button show for almost an entire week and not have anything to show for it?

I have tonnage, I tell you, TONNAGE! I thought that I broke the bank last year but apparently I am into bigger and better things this year because I went a bit bonkers. But this is the only time that I actually get someplace where I can actually fondle... er... view the beads in person, so that is my excuse and I am sticking to it! I will henceforth let the camera do the talking since a picture is worth a 1000 words (and I am sure that my purchases topped $1000 this year! Yikes!). Click the pics to get a better look...

{Did you know that Jennifer Heynen of Jangles is not only an accomplished bead maker, but a quilter with a line of fabrics and coordinating buttons? And this year for the debut of her children's line she wrote a BOOK?! The cutest little critters grace the pages of this book about colors like Vermillion and Chartreuse and Magenta and I am gifting it to my co-worker's new baby Gianna Marie born 6/13/2012!}

{Left to right, top to bottom:
Melissa Rediger of Sea of Glass; Lisa Peters Art; Wynwoods Gallery
Golem Studios; Amazing Porcelain; Diane Hawkey
Jennifer Heynen of Jangles; Glass Garden Beads; Pam & Heather Wynn
Heather Powers of Humblebeads; Diana P of Suburban Girl Studios; Heather French of Vintage Meadow Artworks

{Great bead finds! Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Faux sea glass; aquaterra jasper eggs and three resin beads with red onion skins, eggplant skins and garlic skins!; MOP mosaic beads, more glass, cool wood shapes and some sort of funky stone
sparkly crystals; more sparkly bits and bobs; pewter for patina-ing!
BIG hole pearls; teeny tiny pearls; nice white pearls
funky basket weave beads and some Ojime; nut beads, coral and turquoise inlaid beads (these last two are necklaces I will pull apart!); wood carved Buddha beads with the most amazing color, texture and gold leafing!

{Piece de resistance... from Beads Direct. Amazing gemstones that are even more sparkly in person! Garnet, moonstone, carnelian, quartz, hessionite garnet, more carnelian onion shapes, smoky quartz cubes, can't remember - more moonstone with a diamond finish?, these funky shaped chalcedony, the most beautiful diamond finish on these onion shaped labradorite for a top secret project and bottom drilled teardrops like I have never seen before!}

Of course, now that I am done, I see there are some things I neglected to show... like the beaded beads and the cool resin chunks and the hill tribes copper pieces I plan to try my hand at enameling... and the waxed linen for making something Bohemian-Inspired for next week's hop... and the goodies that I plan to GIVEAWAY to one lucky reader... 

Yes. There is a giveaway. I have taken a smattering of what I bought and some other things that I would like to gift to YOU! So if you didn't get a chance to go to Bead & Button (and really, you should try for next year!), all you need to do is leave a comment telling me what you would look for if you were to come to Bead & Button... or what you would give to be at the Bead & Button (your left arm, your first born)... or just say Hi! I will keep the giveaway open until Monday, June 18th and then I will surprise you with a picture of all the goods.... sort of a reverse surprise! And the longer that I keep it open the more I keep adding to it! Oh, it's going to be good! ;-)