Thanks Genea!!

Last week, I was one of the three speediest mouse clickers online and managed to snag a set of Genea Beads uber cool Wing Ding sets that she had on sale. Today, I got home from a long road trip ~ hot, tired, hungry.... and guess what was in the mail!??! YES!! Genea's beautiful, colorful beads!! Awesome!!

Now ~ if I could just find a little free time to play......

Pantone Fall Colors

For those of you who are in the 'need to know' fashion category - here is a chart of Pantone's best colors for fall 2012. I love that the entire palette isn't brown! I'm a fan of bright, bright colors so I'm happy to see the Ultramarine Green, Tangerine Tango and Bright Chartreuse! I think these colors will lend themselves really well to the current trend of big, bold, chunky pieces. Of course if you're more of a traditionalist - the Honey Gold, French Roast, Titanium and Rose Smoke are perfect choices for you! Now that you've seen the new colors, start rooting around in that stash of yours and get creative! Feel free to share what you make with us!

OOOooooo

This is a set of glass rings that I picked up at Beadfest Philly in August. I loved the colors - the glass bar is actually from another toggle I had in the stash. It was too large to use for a bracelet and the little ring that came with it made the bar look gigantic - this turned out to be a perfect solution.

Look What I Found!!

   What about that? So much fun crammed into one great piece! This beauty was made by Marianne Bernsen (BernsenArts on Etsy) - if you've never seen her work it's all very cool. She uses some pretty unusual items in combination with more traditional components and the results are really amazing. All of it makes me smile, there are a lot of bright colors, shapes and textures. Pop into her Etsy shop, it'll make your day!

A Beadfest Bonanza!

What a fun weekend! I headed up to Beadfest Philly Saturday morning with my daughter, Maggie and my daughter-in-law, Jamie. We decided to make a girls weekend out of it, starting with a day at Beadfest. Here are some of the amazing goodies we found...

Have to start this show with a set I got from Kerry Bogert. When I grow up I want to be a lampwork artist of this caliber. Kerry does the most amazing work - this picture doesn't do justice to the hollow bead. I love the bead in a bead and the colors are just poppin'!

On my list of places to get to is always Bergamini Beads. Furnace glass has always been one of my very favorites to work with, and the glass made by the artisans at Bergamini is absolutely the best. The satuated colors and variety of shapes make it almost impossible to choose which ones to buy, but I managed to pick a pile!

A new stop for me was A Grain of Sand where I picked up some great vintage pieces. They had tons of Bakelite in a huge variety of colors and shapes.

Hobo Glass was Maggies favorite place, she scored these great glass rings for a necklace - the plan is to make the large ring into a toggle - when it's completed I'll post a pict!

This was a fun stop too... and FREE is always appreciated! I love the idea of having a stamp with my initials so I can have a little tag to put on all my work - branding is an important part of making jewelry and this is a good way to do that. Look into it - its worth it!

You can't go to an event like this without hitting the big commercial sellers They're a great place to get inexpensive 'filler' beads, spacers, crystals and all those odds-n-ends that make getting your jewelry together easier!

.... and finally - I'll leave you with the biggest piece of glass I bought this weekend. This actually didn't come from anyone at Beadfest. I got this foot tall handblown drop at a crazy little place on Rt. 30 not far from Gettysburg called Desert Flower - definitely worth taking the time to visit this place!

This doesn't even scratch the surface of the exhibitors and amazing items at Beadfest. We had a great time checking out all the booths, chatting with other artists, watching demonstrations and just enjoying a weekend off!



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You're Gonna Love This!!

 My DIL saw these metallic bits in the craft store - and suggested using them to make earrings - brilliant!

Are these adorable or what?? I love to find unusual materials and re-purpose them into jewelry. Yvonne Irvin is the queen of this - I've seen her turn cat toys into amazing fun necklaces! Look at everything as something you can use to perk up whatever your working on.... jewelry (of course!), clothing, purses, quilts, decorating -- Everything!

Don't Miss #2!

Bead Soup Round 2 is this Saturday!! More fun! I can't wait, I've had such a good time looking at the over abundance of creativity here. Truly, some of the pieces I saw were absolutely jaw dropping. Great work artists! Bravo!