Bead Loot

Yesterday I had a great time at the Innovative Bead Expo here at the Allentown Fairgrounds.  I was happy that it wasn't too crowded, but disappointed that three of my favorite vendors were not in attendance.  That being said, I still managed to spend almost three hours browsing, dreaming of designs in my head, chatting with others...and of course buying!

Every time I thought I was ready to leave, I made another loop and found something else that interested me.  I managed to keep myself under budget and came home with some great finds.  I passed on buying any semi-precious gemstones, as they seemed to be priced fairly high.  The vendor I like to buy my gemstones from wasn't there...hoping they will be there in the spring!

Here's a sampling of what I got:

 

Ceramic pendants in perfect fall colors.  My plan is to combine them with textured copper plate, knotted waxed linen, leather cord and some beads. 

I purchased these from my favorite ceramic bead vendor.  I previously made a couple of pairs of earrings with the light teal ovals and they sold before I could list them on Etsy.  So, I am delighted that I was able to get them again.  I couldn't resist the patina'd, dark iridescent purple and the rainbow ovals...ideas are brewing. 

 

Handmade lampwork beads. I love the orange and purple beads, that have a cute little flower design on the sides.  The designer of these beads (PJBeads) was super friendly and very helpful...she turned me onto the lilac and green striped ones, wouldn't have found them without her.  From another vendor I found these gorgeous olive green and deep dark red, two of my favorite colors (oh no...the photo makes them look bright red, but they are really deep dark red!). Already know what I am going to make with them.

I just couldn't resist these tribal beads, handmade in a small village in Africa.  Love the striped deep green color mixed with red, brown, gold, cream, blue and some other colors.  These will make a nice necklace and knotted bracelet. 

Believe it or not, these are ceramic charms.  Aren't those fish and hands cute?  The neat thing is that the fish have a copper finish that you can oxidize and then burnish to shine.  My head was swirling with ideas!

 

These were a great find and a steal deal!  Cute little pewter charms (apparently I was a in a flower mood ~ I am missing the summer blooms)...I have plans to combine these with knotted macrame bracelets. 

 

I always save the best for last!  I'm am over the moon excited about finding Gilders Paste at the show - my local art shops have stopped carrying it and I really didn't want to pay the shipping to purchase online.  I was finally able to complete my color collection.  This one is a gorgeous iridescent olive green.  I also got silver, dark red, violet and aqua blue.  These are great to use on textured metal to give a little pop of color.


I got quite a few more beads, mostly some rustic Czech glass beads and a couple of grab bags with some great finds inside.  I came home excited to start making stuff...however, my brain was overloaded with ideas - and I just wasn't able to concentrate to make more than two pairs of earrings.  Will save those photos for another day.

Hope you all had a great weekend - the leaves are changing, the air is cool & fresh...may you all enjoy the beauty of FALL!

Live. Laugh. Love.