Bead&Button: Day Two...

Cynthia and I got away from the booth for a few moments to walk around and we ran into Lorelei Eurto.  She and Erin came in today to do book signings at Melanie Brooks' booth.

I love the rough, earthiness of Marianne Kasparian of MAKUstudio's raku-fired ceramic pieces.  They have a primal feel to them and depending on the piece, there's a lustrous smokiness to them.

 Debi of Beads of Colour dropped in from Canada.  She's always nice to see.  One year she sent me a bottle of aromatherapy which I carry with me to every trade show now!  It feels like only yesterday that I saw Sara Sally LaGrand in Hilliards, Pennsylvania at the first Soft Glass Invitational.  It's always nice to see what she's working on... including this great piece she was presenting that had little faces in the pods.  Aisha from Beaducation dropped by the booth with an ad from the program.  In it is a picture of me watching Aisha perform a demo!

It's always nice to see Jennie K. Stephens!  She was working for Soft Flex Company and sporting a lovely labradorite necklace.  It is also very nice to see Kia!  I love her rough cut gemstones and beautiful rings!  We also had the pleasure of running into Tonya Davidson of A Whole Lotta Whimsy.  She didn't have her regular booth here this year, but had one focusing on her creative coach company, Artful Success.

 We quickly dropped by Joanne's booth and admired her glass beads.  She creates some really organic and earthy beads.  A rare treat was seeing Jamie Hogsett.  It seems like we're always missing each other, but it was so nice to see her at the Soft Flex booth.  She sounds really busy these days.  She just co-authored a book with Ask Sara and she works with several bead industry companies.  In Tucson, we heard some bad health news about Anne from Craft Fantastic.  I was really worried about her and was so happy to see that she was doing better!  It's good that she's on the mend and recovering nicely!

I got a little package in the mail not too long ago from Carmi.  She took one of my photographs and embedded it in resin.  It was nice to finally meet her and see the new Envirotex resins.  From my the usual stomping grounds, it was funny to see Diana in Milwaukee.  I'm used to seeing her in Philadelphia.  But it was a welcome surprise!  Another friendly face that popped by the booth was Lori Anderson of the Bead Soup Blog Hops.  She was there sporting her pink hair and smiling face!

 Innovative and always creating, these three ladies were doing wonders with glass in their booths!  But they're all multi-talented.  Not only does Bernadette Fuentes create some awesome lampwork beads, but she also makes soap!  Who knew!  Gail Croman Moore does just amazing things with the new cast pods and plant life, enamel, vintage sequins, and borosilicate glass.  It's been awhile since I've seen Stephanie Sersich, but it was definitely a good thing!  She had her colorful and charming beads, her book, and her beading boards.

And last, but certainly not least are two lovely ladies that work mostly for Interweave!  Michelle Mach and Jean Campbell!  They are both really funny and intelligent and I could pick their brains about the beading world for hours.  I'm glad that I was able to see them and everyone else today!