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SPOTLIGHT ON ... ARTICLE
November 2009
Bead Cruise
Written by:
Heather Powers
Five years ago while on a cruise, I sat on the top deck watching the star-filled sky pass above and listening to the waves lap against the ship as we sailed across the ocean in the middle of the night. It was at this moment that I decided I must take a cruise every year. There is not a second on a cruise that isn't a slice of heaven. Well maybe the muster drill, but that is short-lived!
A few weeks later and with some encouragement from my mom and fellow beading
instructor, Beverly Herman, the Bead Cruise was a reality. 2010 will mark our 5th annual event. The Bead Cruise is all the pampering of a luxury cruise combined with a great bead retreat.
Each year we travel to different locations and on a different ship, which makes it fun and exciting for those joining us again. Our Bead Cruise participants make fast friends! My favorite part of the cruise is seeing our returning Bead Cruisers and spending another perfect vacation with them.
The camaraderie is important to our events. With a limit of 15 students in each class our cruise affords lots of one-on-one attention from our instructors. On the Bead Cruise we enjoy the feel of a close-knit community. Along with our classes we dine together in the formal dining room before gathering for evening sessions with mini-demos from our instructors, a Bead Bazaar, cocktail party, open beading and more!
Our incredible classes have something for everyone: off-loom beading, wire-work, bead embroidery, metalwork and unique bead stringing projects. Our instructors teach all over the world, including at the biggest beading events in the country. Our cruise focuses on quality classes with innovative designers! Instructors for 2010 include Margie Deeb, Tracy Stanley, Barb Switzer, Beverly Herman, Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood Studios and myself.
I've admire all the instructors that we've had on the Bead Cruise and wish I could pack them away with me for each event. We rotate instructors every 2 years. Some of our past instructors include Marcia DeCoster, Mary Hettmansperger, Rachel Nelson-Smith and Sharilyn Miller.
Another highlight of the cruise is our gift bags! We've teamed up with some
of our favorite bead supply companies, online shops and bead artists to provide goodies for our gift bags. Soft Flex® Company has been a sponsor of the Bead Cruise since our first year!
Last year we held our first Bead Cruise Design Contest. Bead Cruisers had a week to design a piece of jewelry using items from our gift bags and voted on by our group. On the final night of the cruise we were blown away by the entries that our talented bunch had created in between classes and spending days on the beach! I asked our winner from last year's design contest, Sherry Bercaw, about her favorite memory from our 2009 event, "My favorite memory had to be meeting all the other beaders,the awesome instructors and great classes. Oh and the gift bags were fabulous too. It was inspiring to see what all the other beaders were creating during the 'open beading' sessions! I can't wait until January 2010 to do it all over again!"
We try to schedule our events so that we have the best of all worlds - time to take classes with our nationally known instructors, fun evening events, open beading sessions, time to enjoy the luxuries of the ship and relax on the islands.
Join us January 17th as we set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida for 7 nights of beads, friends and fun! We'll sail on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas to their private island along with stops in the Virgin Islands.
Registration is still open, classes are filling up but not sold out yet. If this sounds like a great way to spend a week in January, then join us for Bead Cruise 2010! Visit our website for complete details, www.beadcruise.com.
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Heather Powers
Heather Powers is a nationally known beadmaker and jewelry designer. Her work has appeared in books, magazines and on TV!
To learn more about Heather visit www.humblebeads.com.
Heather can be contacted by email through humblearts@sbcglobal.net.
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