Bead and Button 2014, the Recap

I'm BACK! Grab a coffee and snack. This is gonna be a long one!

If you've never been to Bead and Button, it is all you could imagine and more. If ever you have the opportunity to go, make it happen. Not only is the convention filled to the brim with all of the most beautiful beads and components you could ever dream of, but it is FILLED TO BRIM with the most creative bunch of people you could ever meet. The room Buzzes. I'm not kidding. There is this electric energy, a buzz - all through the room. But it's easy to get disoriented. I got lost several times because the vendor grid pattern they have on the floor just makes it so confusing to get around and I'm sure I probably missed a whole section because I'd leave one booth and totally forget what direction I was going in.

Anyway, I roomed with Loralee Kolton and her friend Martha Scott and they were the best roommates ever. It was so nice to finally meet Loralee in person as we have been online Facebook friends forever now. What a treat to be able to chat the night away, we have a lot in common and enjoyed the bead talk and kitty talk too. I just love her and can't wait to be able to spend time with her again!

I got to see all of my online bead friends. Started my shopping trip in Artist row of course, and stocked up on my favorite goodies and even found a few new things! Bead shopping can be a daunting task, it can be exhausting too. And unfortunately being that focused means the camera kind of stays in my pocket because there is so much chatting and hard concentration. ;) Ok so I'm lazy - and didn't take many pictures. I'm sorry!

I spent Saturday shopping for the other stuff like chain, metal sheet, and czech glass and stones.

Here is the loot: (click the pics for links to their websites)

I have an idea to put together a few kits that will coincide with the beaded chain ebook that I wrote.
Still have to get some seed beads before I can assemble them. I will make 5 to start to see how they sell.

Brenda sold me some dark annealed steel wire and she's going to be lending me one of her Jig's to play around with for a blog post. Stay tuned for that!

Now the artist beads!

Dwayne is Andrew and Cynthia's older brother and was at the show for the first time exhibiting his new components! They were really incredible! He made the stars, wings and cicada.

Julie Nordine's birds are to die for.

The little lock from Elemental Adornments has me completely smitten.

and I could not pass up a few new Anne Choi goodies!

There was bead shopping but also some important stuff like networking, and talk about book possibilities, and social media, and even some conversations about some new business ideas like creating bead kits. Lots to think about and very exciting! I had a nice dinner with the Innovation team from Nunn Design, including Becky Nunn. Enjoyed chatting about jewelry and what the girls have been up to since we were on the team last year. I even learned a few things, including a new way to promote using a program that could be replacing my neglected newsletter! Stay tuned for that!

Another highlight was following Andrew and Cynthia Thornton around while they shopped for beads. Talk about inspiration- if there were ever a pair you'd want to shop with it's these two. They know their beads.

Sunday morning over morning coffee we ran into Kristin Oppold, whose work I've have admired and looked up to for quite a while now- what a fun place to finally meet in person! We got a nice picture to commemorate it!