The Bead Place

Do you have what it takes to be the next Beading Idol? 

Abbi Berta of The Bead Place is hosting a jewelry design contest structured like the popular singing competition. Beading Idol will have a panel of celebrity judges who will decide who makes it to the next round!  Top designers will receive prize packages and the winner crowned "Beading Idol" will be awarded with a fabulous grand prize!

Our panel of celebrity judges includes:

Cynthia Deis (of Ornamentea)

Lois Venarchick (of Wynwoods Gallery & Studio and Diva Yarn)

Debra Saucier (Swarovski Ambassador, and of Crystal Clay and The Bead & Wire Shop)

Kellie Sutton (of Kellie's Bead Boutique)

Stephanie Harrell (of Bead Artistry)

Andrew Thornton (of Allegory Gallery)

Kieu Pham Gray (of The Urban Beader)

Kay Goss (of Stars Beads and Stars Clasps)

E-mail your name, city, and state to abbi@beadplace.net if you're interested in competing.

We announced the winners on our Facebook Page on June 1st, but we thought we'd announce here too!

Congratulations to Chou Campbell! She was voted our Grand Prize Winner in the Bead Stash Swap! Chou, look forward to a goodie package of prizes in the mail!

Congratulations to Stacia Hand, who won the Facebook People's Choice Award in the Bead Stash Swap! You will also receive a prize package!

Also, congrats to CJ Kinney who is the Bead Stash Swap Runner Up! You will also receive an awesome prize!

Ladies, we will be contacting you regarding your prizes! Thank you to everyone for your participation!

Here are the final entries for our Stash Swap!  Thank you to all the participants who made this possible!  Hopefully you all had as much fun as I did.  Participants, please take some time to appreciate the talent and creativity that went into all of these pieces.  Please e-mail the name of the one artist who created your favorite piece(s) to abbi@beadplace.net by Monday, the 28th of May.  The winner(s) will be announced June 1st!  Thank you! 

Note:  The Grand Prize Winner will be decided only by participant votes.

-Abbi

Carolyn Schneider

Carolyn's Classes

Stacia Hand

www.earthenwire.com

Cathy Wesemann

"Candy dish holds acorns, wrapped candy (lampwork), red hots (carnelian) and lemon drops (glass)."

Chelsey Workman

CJ Kinney

Heidi Hart

Hanna Bertulis

Hanna's Classes

Chou Campbell

Enchanted Pathways

Jill Kettler

The Fiber Finch

Jill's Classes

The Bead Place Stash Swap

Here's the scoop - Abbi Berta of www.beadplace.net is hosting a stash swap!  The idea of this swap is to revive your stash and your creativity by challenging you to work with beads and findings that are new to you, from someone else in the swap!  There's also prizes involved!

Here's the deal - Swap participants should collect approximately $25 retail worth of beads and/or findings from their own stash, plus a $5ish bonus item.  Shopping for swap items is discouraged.  Participants should then photograph what they're planning to swap.  Blogging a photo of what you're sending in, with a link to the swap info (this page), is encouraged but definitely not necessary.  Participants will then e-mail that photo and some other information to ME (abbi@beadplace.net) and I will drool over all of the goodies.  Once all of the entry photographs have been turned in, participants will be given the name and address of the future recipient of their loot (and a small note about themselves and what kind of beadwork they like to do).  Participants will have a week to mail their items.  Once the items have been received, participants should feel free to post pictures of what they've gotten to create their project.  Then, in a little over a month, a picture of the finished piece is due via e-mail!

Here's the catch - (...And by catch, I mean the good thing!) Once I have received all of the photos of the beautiful creations, I will post all of the pictures to this blog.  Participants, and participants only, will get to vote for their favorite piece.  The artist with the most votes will get a HUGE GRAND PRIZE! mailed to them that will be composed of $5 (approximately) items mailed in to ME by all of the participants, plus a bunch more stuff!  There will also be more prizes awarded to other participants.  Pretty cool, right?  Remember, the more people that participate in the swap, the bigger the prizes get, so don't forget to get your friends involved!

Here's the How-To - 

E-mail abbi@beadplace.net with a photo of what you're planning to swap and your mailing address by Sunday, April 1st at the latest.

Once you've gotten the name and mailing address of someone, mail them your loot and a small note about yourself and what kind of jewelry making you do.  You will also then mail your $5ish bonus item to ME so that I can assemble the prize packs!  This will need to be completed as soon as possible, but no later than Monday, April 9th. 

When you receive your goodies, get to work!  You will need to create a piece of jewelry made out of the beads from the swap.  You don't have to use all of the beads from the swap, nor only the beads from the swap, but it needs to be obvious that you've used your swap materials.  Take a picture of your finished piece and submit it to me, via e-mail, by Saturday, May 19th. 

You will receive an e-mail once all of the photos have been posted on this blog so that you can view them and vote for your favorite.  E-mail me back within the week with the name of the artist who created your favorite piece.

The grand prize winner will be announced on June 1st! 

I'm excited!  Have questions?  Leave a comment on this post or e-mail me at abbi@beadplace.net. 

If you are interested in donating prizes in return for shout-outs, or are interested in sponsoring the swap, please e-mail me.

Thanks so much for reading!  With your help, this is going to be fantastic and fun!

-Abbi

Here are the winners of the Summer's Last Blast Yarn Crawl '11!

Globe Trotters (12 stores)

• Hannah R. – St. Charles, MO

• Joyce K. – New Haven, MO

• Rita P. – Belleville, IL

Day Trippers (6 or more stores)

• Katie L. – Maryville, IL

• Cheryl S. – O’Fallon, MO

• Sue H. – Troy, IL

• Alison W. – Glendale, MO

• Beverly C. – Washington, MO

• Jessica L. – Glen Carbon, IL

• Margaret H. – Swansea, IL

• Barb B. – St. Charles, MO

• Kim C. – Webster Groves, MO

Shop Prizes

• Holy H. – Fenton, MO

• LaVerne W. – Chesterfield, MO

• Mary C. – Belleville, IL

• Kate B. – St. Louis, MO

• Karen F. – St. Louis, MO

• Barbara K. – Waterloo, IL

• Mary L. – St. Louis, MO

• Denese Z. – St. Louis, MO

• Nancy M. – St. Louis, MO

• Jessica H. – St. Louis, MO

• Amanda D. – St. Louis, MO

• Denise C. – St. Louis, MO

You will be contacted by the store that has your prize!

Congratulations to all winners and thanks to all participants!

See you next year! (...if not sooner!)

The Grasshopper Challenge-

Design Contest Details and Rules!

With your $2 contest entry fee, you will receive one grasshopper bead to design with.

You must use the grasshopper somewhere in your piece.

...Your project must be wearable (jewelry, garment, etc.).

The grasshopper does not have to be the focal, but must be visible from the front when worn.

All materials used in your project must be from The Bead Place.

The contest starts NOW. Stop in the store to enter. Grasshoppers will be available up until the contest ends.

All entries must be completed and brought (or postmarked) to the store by no later than May 30th, 2011.  If you are mailing your piece, please call the store to notify us that your project is on the way.

Contest pieces must be available for display and photography during the month of June. (Photos will be used by The Bead Place for promotional purposes)

Grashopper design contest entries are for sale in the webstore.  Please click the "Shop" tab on the left.

THE WINNER will receive a prize basket and gift certificate to The Bead Place!

Get creative and have fun!