Bead Fest Bead Swap- Bead Fest Blog Part 2

Hello friends!

So my second Bead Fest blog is about the amazing Bead Swap put on by our very own, Diana P(like I am going to attempt to spell her last name from memory! ;P).

Here is a photo of Diana calling off winners for the extra giveaways!

Some of our ladies that attended the swap. 

We all received these very special buttons for our swap. ONLY members that were swapping received them ;) You wouldn't believe how many ladies wanted our buttons!

I was lucky enough to get Mary Welsh Hubbard of White Clover Kiln for my partner(SCORE!).

What a great action shot of our box exchanging by Linda Landig :)

Look how darling she is! I clicked this pic so I had a photo of her opening her goodies from me :)

I wanted to do something really special for Mary so I came up with this amazing idea to do "A Tour of Genea Beads". I decided to gift Mary with some of my most favorite and popular beads in my body of work. 

Here is her introduction card for her gift.

I then created a card for each bead with it's title and a little story about how the bead  came to be. These cards were then put into pretty crystal clear cello self stick bags.

Each bag was then filled with it's matching "bead"(clasp, headpin, etc). Don't they look so pretty?!

Next I wrapped each bead and marked them with a number. They were to be opened in the order of which they were created(this is part of that "tour" part). 

Here is a close-up of the "finale" package. 

Next I needed a perfect package for all of the pieces. The one thing that was challenging to fit was the headpins. 

I went to Target to look for some pretty packaging and came across this wonderful little plastic pencil box! Ricky brought this style box to my attention. We only found a crazy 80's style in zig zags to start, but upon digging in the demolished back to school section managed to find this awesome hot pink one!

The box was PERFECT! When you undo the snap you could slide out the interior to expose the contents.

I loaded up the box carefully inserting each tiny package inside and stacking the first numbers on top.

The finished box looked like this when Mary opened it. Inside was her  "welcome and instruction card" and a pretty business card with my popular Bright Earth Bubble Button Wing Dings on it. 

Here were some of the beads and findings she received. From left to right: Ocean Urchin Egg, Wing Ding, Weeny Ding, Rainbow spiral s-clasp,  Lime Stone textured glass headpin, Starfish headpin,  Midnight Jewel headpin, and Spiral Beach Stone Coins(not pictured). 

Here are the gorgeous beads I received from Mary!

In the center you can see what Mary calls "Hubbard Green". A super BRIGHT limey color with turquoise! Yum! The paper rolled beads were created by her youngest daughter. She paints paper, cuts the paper and rolls them up into these fanciful little beads :)

I hope you enjoyed a look into our bead swap! What great fun!

See you soon for Bead Fest part 3!

xo Genea

All Roads Lead Here... Bead Fest Philly August 2013-Part 1

Hello friends!

I am still processing everything from the show. I can't believe this huge life event has finally come and gone. What a bittersweet experience. From the beginning of my glass career (about 10 and a half years in the making) I had dreamed of becoming "famous" in my glass. I would tell people when I first started that "I was going to be famous". They would chuckle and I would say "No, I'm serious. I'm going to be famous." Usually they would either say nothing or be shocked and go "Oh. Ok." Like "Wow she really was serious." So, for me, going to Bead Fest Philly was "making it," finally "being famous". It was such a deeply spiritual event for me in so many ways.

 This being the main thing, but very closely behind it,  doing this show with someone I consider to be one of my very best friends. Someone who has always considered me to be an equal. Someone that admired my talents just as much as I admired hers. Someone that created with me in, now two collaborations. This wonderful friend and artists I am writing to you about is Staci Smith. You all know her as, Staci Louise, S L Artisan Accents, or Staci Louise Originals. 

Here is a beautiful photo of Staci and me that Linda Landig took :)

So let's start at the beginning...

A special thanks to Lori Anderson for unknowingly bringing Staci and I together through her Bead Soup Blog Party.

So my darling husband, Ricky and I had just arrived at Staci's house early on Thursday morning after driving a straight 20 hours with barely 2 hours rest. We arrived tired, and haggard, but excited.

We came inside and sat down on the couch where Staci's kids excitedly greeted us.

Staci was so sweet she offered us coffee and breakfast!

We had a few more things to do in the morning before going to the show in the early afternoon to set up.

After we ate breakfast Staci and I went into her studio. I was so excited to be here I had to mark this event with a photo of my feet on her beautifully painted studio floor. Yes, I was ACTUALLY in Staci's studio!! 

I brought the finishing touches to our special Collaboration kits for Bead fest. 

We needed to add wire, chain, and instructions.

Here are the finished necklace kits.

Awhile later we were off to the show to set up.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Look at our signs!! :D:D:D

Here you can see the beginning of our booth set up. 

You can see the display building here. Man was it HOT. The a/c was not on yet and it was balls humid!

Staci and me in our booth the first day of the show.

Here is our moment, our "Making It" our "Being Famous". I couldn't think of a better person/people to share it with!

Where would I be without one of the other very special people in my life, my darling husband and partner in crime, Ricky. 

Ricky ROCKED the booth! He was my resident math guy, money taker, and holder of the fort while Staci and I wandered about the show to visit or shop :)

Here is Staci in front of her table. Doesn't she look amazing with all of her little works of art?!

We ROCKED the corner with our good friends Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio and...

Her amazingly talented daughter and Wrangler of Wooly Wire, Nellie!

After the first show day we were STARVING! Thanks to Melinda Orr of Creative Bead Chat, Artisan Whimsy, and Bandana Girl Beads for setting up a wonderful dinner at Legal Seafood.

The group gathered around the table and chatted while we waited for menus.

It was great to unwind from the first day with a big glass of fresh sangria!

I ordered the gluten free Seafood bake that was topped with gf breadcrumbs and a side of fries. Yum!

Our dessert was a gluten free chocolate lava cake with ice cream and a coconut macaroon! OMG was it amazing!

After being fed, watered , and desserted the groups formed for some photos! From Left to Right: Diana P(Ha ha you try to spell her name correctly without looking!), Me, Diane Hawkey, Staci, and Linda Landig. 

I love this group hot of : Ricky, Karen, Staci and me!

I have so many more photos and memories to share, but I will leave you with this awesome photo of Staci and me until my next blog where I show you my Bead Fest Bead Swap loot! 

Staci and me the last day of the show. You can see the happiness in our faces. We had such an incredible weekend!

More Bead Fest stories and photos to come soon!

xo Genea

Bead Fest Philly Booth- Part 3- complete!

Hello friends!

Wow what an exciting ride it's been. It has been so amazing watching my booth transform! I seriously have a million things I could write to you about! 

So I will start out with the glass headpin display. Displaying loose headpins was easy. Sweet little bud vases from Walmart worked out great, but what about the pairs? When they are in the shop they are bagged up like this. The shiny bags make everything look nice, but when you are looking at a table you lose the detail :( 

BUT... my dear sweet friend, Marsha Minutella had the perfect solution for me! Itty Bitty rubber o's! Look how sweet and tiny! The 3mm rubber o's from My ELEMENTS work perfectly to hold 2 (even 3) glass headpins together, AND I have even put 2 on the pairs so that you have 2 sweet little rubber o's to use in your designing(thanks for the tip Marsha!).

Just look at how much better these look displayed! You can see the texture in the stone headpins and everything! Yay!

I decided on using Kraft colored price tags with this amazing "Bohemian Typewriter" font. I LOVE how the look! Here you can see them in action! 

Look how clear the font is on this large sign as well! Love it! Nice and easy to read.

Here is the "Bright Earth" tray of beads. They are even more saturated than they appear in the photo. Aren't they soooo pretty all in their home together?!

I also came up with a GREAT IDEA! So say you don't get to go to Bead Fest with your friends. Well you know all of your "True" friends couldn't leave the bead show without picking you up something, right? (hint hint to all of you out there going to the show while your poor friends sit at home ;P) So I thought how fun would it be to put a wonderful bead in with a super pretty mini card for a "Bead Souvenir"! You could pick up your dear friends a special beady gift of awesome on your travels! Sure is better than that hokey shit you find in the airports! :D

Some things just need a teeny display. Well my spiral s-clasps were no exception. My teeny ramekin was still too big believe it or not! I went on the hunt for a sushi dip container, but they didn't have them at the World Market by my apartment. I did, however, find these super sweet and teeny little squarish bowls!

OMG look how cute! I had a TON of wine corks lying around from these ultra awesome succulent plant holders I made for Christmas gifts.

Since "Necessity is the mother of invention," I used the rest of these wonderful little corks to create my tag holders. I am so pleased with my sweet little handmade elements for my display! 

Next I saw these INCREDIBLE wooden patinated looking boxes that my friend, Barbara Bechtel made for her booth. *swoon* I LOVE verdigris patina! I asked Barbara if I could borrow her boxes for the show. Since she was traveling over the summer she only had one on hand, but she very generously offered to tell me how she made the boxes. 

Ricky and our friend Brandon assembled the boxes while I did the painting.

Here was the first layer. They started out really blue so I was a little worried we weren't going to get the right green.

Second layer. This one was sooo pretty! lots of nice streaks of color. 

Third layer. I was a little scared that I over did the metallic. By this time it was midnight and I was working in a dark garage. 

Here is a photo of the box in the sun. It sure is GA-REEEEEEEEEEEN in the sunlight! I still wasn't totally sure about the box. I really love the free spiritedness of Barbara's boxes. You can tell mine or "more stressed" out and "tight". Everyone else seemed to like them and I was worried about over working them so I stopped here. 

Here are the boxes with my display. They are nice and green and have a good contrast from the more aqua table covering.

It looks so pretty with the sea themed beads displayed on top! 

Only a few finishing touches that will take place at the show. Staci was such a sweetheart and created these GORGEOUS drift wood bead displays for me as my "First Bead Show" gift :D So I will be working these beauties into my table set up framing a few trays in the center of my display :D

Thanks so much for stopping in to enjoy the process of my booth set up with me :)

Have  a great upcoming week!

xo Genea