100 Beads for Beads Of Courage

Still sorting through old beads here and now I have a pile for Beads of Courage. 100 of them. A lady bug, some starfish, some hearts, some cats, some trees, a dog bone, some pumpkins, a seashell, some flowers, and a bunch of colorful odds and ends. I sure hope they help brighten a bunch of children's days.





It turns out that February is also a Beads of Courage bead drive - for each 25 beads you send in, you get a chance to win a new GTT Cricket Torch. I would love a chance to win that - perhaps I'd set up a second spot in my studio for Luke and/or other beady friends who want to come by and play?

If you have beads and want to send some in to support these brave kids, the address to send beads to is:
Beads of Courage, Inc.
5301 S. Houghton Road
Tucson, AZ 85747

Bead Soup for School Kids

Tomorrow I'm sending Luke to school with this stash... to donate to his new Metal Working class - beads only kids could love, I think - I hope they find some ways to work these into their metal and jewelry projects!



Look at these things. How small some of them are, I almost don't remember making those... some of them are probably 6 or 7 years old... nothing like going through the reject box to see how far you've come.

500 Beads for Alzheimer's

Twenty-nine! 29! bead sales left to reach my goal! The sooner the better. I am mixed with happiness at the thought that I can do *something* that might make a difference in the world about this, and sadness that my grandmother is soon to be moving into an assisted care home because things have just gotten so hard with her. It's very sad to me that it's come to this, and yet I feel great relief that my mother will soon be free to sleep and rejuivinate - she's given everything she had in her trying to do the right thing for Grandma - it's been so hard. In so many ways I have felt as if I were watching the two of them sinking deeper and deeper into this hell hole caused by Alzheimer's - watching my grandmother crash down and my mother getting pulled down with her.... and my 3000 mile rope just not long enough to pull either one of them up and out. So, this $500 - really, $1000 as it will be matched by my husband's work - is the least I can do. I want it to go to research so this disease can be stopped and countless families will no longer have to fall down in it's particular awful hole.

A big fat thank you to all of my customer who have gotten me this far, and for the next 29 of you who will help me finish this off!

Beads in Space!

I'm so excited about this! How cool would it be to get your beads out into space and back? And even cooler for the lucky kids who get one of these special beads that they can say went to space? Of course I'm talking about Beads of Courage - the program that rewards kids with special beads for things like going through tough cancer treatments and procedures and the like.



So here's the deal: Beads in Space in case you also make beads and want to get in on it. The deadline is SOON, so check it out right away.

I'm heading out to the studio now to try and make some Keith Graves inspired alien pet beads. I think I'm going to have fun with eyeballs. Wish me luck!

For a Good Cause

The Historic Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle is putting on another one of their great silent auctions and art shows to benefit the Haas Foundation. If you are in the area, you should RSVP - it's a nice night out and lots of great items to bid on.



This year I'm donating three pendant necklaces:

The Finished Auction Necklace

The School Auction Necklace is done. I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope someone wants to buy it, I'm a little nervous for some reason, maybe it's a good thing I'm not going to the auction!

School Auction Necklace

Luke's school has an auction every year - you might remember the projects I worked on with the kids the past couple of years - the fabric/paint collages? This year that didn't work out for various reasons I won't go into... but I wish it had, it was fun and the kids loved making them and they were pretty popular with the parents too - oh well! So, anyway.. I decided I'd make a necklace to donate instead. It's getting to be last minute, but I think it's going to be something with this stuff in it. Kind of fun, but I'm not sure where to start now! I think I have a week to figure it out...

Have a Heart

I've been trying to sell this bead to raise money for Tanya, a woman in desperate need of heart surgery. Actually, I've sold the bead three times, and each time, the buyer asked me to relist it and resell it so that someone else can have a chance to help. (Aren't people amazing?!) The third buyer suggested that I send the bead to Tanya herself if there are no other takers... which I will gladly do, if no one else snatches it up. I just want to help Tanya out and for my bead to go somewhere it will be loved, you know? So no guilt if you want to be the buyer to keep it!!

Read her story, you will see how desperate it is. And how great a job the community of jewelry makers and bead makers has done to get her so close to her financial requirements. Tanya has about $1600 left to raise, and only a couple of days to do so, so I'm throwing this out there another time to see if anyone will bite. All of the money goes to her mayday fund, and I'm offering free shipping.

Her story is here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6410706

The bead is here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39200170

And if you just want to help out directly, the link to do that is here:
http://pledgie.com/campaigns/7593

Thank you!

Craft Hope for Haiti

Craft Hope is doing something really wonderful: they are collecting donations from crafters and artisans and selling them on Etsy (like hotcakes, I might add) and all the proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders to help with the Haiti rescue efforts. I'm really happy to be a part of it, the first bead I donated has already found a new home and another is waiting to be listed. Plus I snagged a really great handbag as well.

If you would like to shop the Craft Hope for Haiti store, you can find it here: http://crafthope.etsy.com, check it often for new things and if you see something you like, act fast because it might not be there long.

If you would like to donate something to the Craft Hope for Haiti store, instructions are here: http://crafthope.com/2010/01/craft-hope-for-haiti/.