We've been back for about a week now after our Trip out to Philadelphia for BeadFest.  Normally a group of locals packs up in an SUV and we make a whirlwind day trip – driving over in the morning, walking the show, and then driving back!  This time William and I were manning the booth for my family at Green Girl Studios.  We also had a small selection of Allegory Gallery pieces available.  Despite being a little tired from running ourselves ragged, we had a nice time!  As always, one of my favorite parts of the shows is seeing old friends and meeting new people.  After so many years in the community, it's like a great meeting of the Tribe.  Makers from near and far all gather and we share in that creative energy.  We had a lot of great conversations and some awesome ideas for projects sparked to life!  Some of them are incredibly exciting and I can't wait to share more about them!

Since we were working at the show, we didn't really have a chance to get out of the booth very much. When we did, it was very quick shopping excursions to restock the store.  (We found a delightful selection of hand-dyed silk cord, components from Saki Silver, pearls, and gemstone strands.  We also did a little shopping at our own booth and restocked on lots of Green Girl Studios pieces!)  I tried my best to have my phone at the ready and snapped pictures all weekend long.  I tried to post them on Facebook each night to share in the experience.  (Normally we hang out after the show with our fellow artists and friends, but both William and I were so worn out that we grabbed take out or ordered in and then promptly went to bed every night!)

Without further ado, here are a few of the photos that I took during our trip to BeadFest Philadelphia:

Laurel Ross, Alison Adorns, and Donna Hoblit.

Kate Richbourg, Candie Cooper McCourt, and Gloria Allen.

Jenny Davies- Reazor and Nikki Thornburg, Marti Brown, and Tammy Jones.

Eva Sherman, Erica Cessna and Marsha Neal Minutella, and Maureen Henriques.

Michelle McCarthy, Saki Silver, and Anna Draeger.

Francesca Watson, Maria Richmond, and Dana Groves.

Patti Cahill, Diane Hawkey, and Marianne Kasparian.

Joan Miller, Meredith Roddy, and Ren Farnsworth.

Like I mentioned earlier... because we were at the booth most of the time, I didn't really get out much to shop.  I did manage to find a few things for myself.  It's not the largest of hauls, but I'm happy with my pile of goodies.

I found some incredible stones!  I found a few strands of tourmaline, hessonite garnets, chalcedony, amazonite, rainbow obsidian, jasper, kyanite, peach moonstone and more garnets!

I had to pick up some pearls for a customer and while I was finding things for her, I found these lovely heishi pearls.  I have a weakness for irregular pearls with a lot of character!

I've been a long time friend and admirer of Patti Cahill.  I've been enjoying her experimentations with fusing glass and have been stalking these cabs on her Facebook business page.  I made sure to make a beeline over to her booth to pick up a few to play with!

I've also been really enjoying the cabs that Joan Miller has been making lately!  I was lucky, because Joan and Patti were right next to each other, so I could do a little one-stop shopping.  I'm dreaming up some lovely earrings with these porcelain cabs!

Another person that I follow on Facebook is Staci Louise Smith.  She is mostly known for her polymer and metal clay, but she is abundantly creative and has been making prints recently.  I knew that I wanted and few and was lucky enough to scoop a few up before the show closed.

 Here are a few of Staci's beads!  Aren't they fun?  I love how organic they are.  They have a wonderful primal energy to them!

Our neighbors from across the aisle came all the way from Russia!  I found a lovely assortment of toggles and findings from Anna Chernykh.

We had a great weekend, but William and I were both exhausted.  We've been working really hard lately and have been running on fumes.  William ended up getting sick on the trip and is still trying to shake it.  It seems like every trip we have taken this summer, one of us ends up sick on the way back!  I'm looking forward to spending some time in the studio and making lots of pretty things with the pieces that we picked up in Philadelphia.