• A number of people, usually between 10 and 15 people, are chosen to participate in each Bead Swap.
• If you are chosen, you then make or buy bead items for all the other swap participants and yourself. The items can be charms, lampwork beads, seed beads, stone, found items, or something you make.
• Send the items to the swap organizer with return postage by the specified due date.
• A few weeks later, the swap organizer sends you one item from each of the other participants. In other words, you will receive a great goodie bag full of eclectic items!
• You then have until a specific date to create one or more items of jewelry with your new goodie bag. Use your own tools, wire, thread, etc. You can add chain, other beads, seed beads, or whatever you need to complete your beaded creations. Make one piece or many—it's up to you. You can use all the items or just a few. Whatever your creativity moves you to create!
• At the Sonoma Wine Country Glass Art & Bead Festival, each participant received a Bead Swap Button to wear during the Festival. The Swap beaders were invited to a private champagne breakfast with the Bead Unique staff on Saturday morning of the Festival, where we all showed off our creation(s) and had a group photo taken! This was our first Bead Unique University Bead Swap! (The participants who could not attend the Festival sent their pieces to us and we proudly SHOWED THEM OFF to the rest of the group.)
• Each participant then gets to keep the pieces they have created! The ideas are limitless and the creative jump start is a BLAST!

Bead Swap #2: Pamela Hawkins, Jenni Simpson-Ackerman, Bunny Crosson, Marcia Worman, Sandi Carter, Janice Wasser, Mary Jo Briggs, Chris Halaburka, Alyx Alyxander, Kathy Gover, Naomi Key, Beki Haley, Kati Gerner, Carol Warren