My Favorite Costume from Halloween

Meet Danielle wearing her Halloween costume which is a strand of Beads of Courage beads.  What a wonderful costume!

 I had the joy of meeting and then making Danielle's Beads of Courage Dream Bead in person with her at FlameTree Glass in Roswell, GA.  It was so much fun sitting with her in person and having her choose the exact color of glass that she wanted for her bead.  Danielle is one courageous girl whose sparkling personality lights up the room and her costume says it all.

And of course a quick reminder...if you have some spare lampwork beads that can be donated to the program, they are always needing more.  3/32 clean holes in them and no sharp edges or metals used on the exterior of the glass.  From what I've seen, kids like everything.  So if you aren't sure they will, send it any way.  I watched a boy look through hundreds of beads and then pick out a plain blue one that was exactly what he was hoping for.  His favorite color and he thought it was perfect.  So send them all in, please.  Here is the Donation Information.

See you tomorrow.

Beads of Courage Needs Acts of Courage Donations

My headline pretty much says it all.  Beads of Courage is low and trying really hard to supply all the hospitals that they are affiliated with.  Is there a chance you can help?  Here is the link to their donation page which also gives you their address, what kind of beads qualify, (just about anything as long as it doesn't have metallics on the surface, sharp edges, annealed and well cleaned.  Pretty easy to find some spares, isn't it?)  And from my experience, kids love the less than perfect ones just as much.  I save mine with the slightly crooked smiles, color experiments or just doodling around, because I know some child will enjoy them very much. (As pictured in the photo above- some of the loot that will be heading their way:)

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/beadartists.htm

Here's a little story.  One time I was visiting one of the Atlanta hospitals with the Beads of Courage program and kids were coming by and picking out a special bead.  There were all kinds of fancy beads in the tray, but a little boy kept pouring through them.  His fingers were moving them around until his face lit up.  He found a very simple but really nice royal blue bead and said this was the very bead he had been dreaming about.  It had no decoration on it, but to him it was just perfect. That was when we were asking the kids to design a Dream Bead and he told me that he had just found his Dream Bead and didn't need anything else.  The beadmaker happened to be present and told him that she had brought two, so you can imagine his delight when he found and got to take the second one as well.

That stuck with me.  We don't have to submit the fanciest beads. Each of us makes something that will touch someone's soul and will be special to them for the rest of their lives.

I'm hoping you'll join me in a donation in the near future.  It makes a big difference to these kids, and I don't know about you, but I get just as much from it as they do.

Just Met Muno

So I recently found out about Yo Gabba Gabba's Muno.  One eyed and quite orange, he was a request for a Dream Bead from Beads of Courage.

When making these beads, I think about the age of the recipient and try to make them so they will be "durable".  The one I made is a little shorter and wider in proportion, but according to some little children, they knew who it was immediately.  Whew!  

Here is quick photo of my bead.

And he's on his way to his new owner as I write.

Beads of Courage is a wonderful program for sick kids. By collecting beads, it gives them and others a visual sense of the journey that they are traveling to get better.   If you aren't familiar with it, you can find it here.   It's so nice as a glass artist to have place that can use my skills to give back to others.  I'm hoping all my glass friends out there  remember this wonderful program and donate beads when they can.  

Donation Form? Here's How To Find It.

So I was getting my spare flamework glass bead donation together for Beads of Courage- you know they always need more "Acts of Courage" beads.  The ones that can be anything- as long as no sharp edges, fumed or silver glass and safe for kids.

And boy, do I have plenty of those.  

So I emailed my friend the Bead Czar (Ha, ha he does have a different title, but I like this one better) and asked whether I could give them to him at FlameTree Glass's Beads of Courage beadmaking day this Saturday.  Well, we figured that this load of them can fill a box, and they should head out early.

But in closing, Robert told me to remember to fill out "the form".  And my mouth almost dropped open, (relief that it didn't)  and asked him, "What form?"  I have never filled one out to my recollection.

Well here it is.  http://tinyurl.com/donatebeads  ( I made the url much shorter, and easy for you to remember, in case you don't see it on the website.)  You could even print off a few and have them ready to go in advance.  

And I'm adding tags- BOC donation form, donate lampwork beads, Beads of Courage to this blog post, so you can come back and find the link if you misplace it.  (That's what I do.  I added the search function as much as for myself, as all you readers.)

See you tomorrow here on www.studiomarcy.blogspot.com.  And don't forget you can friend me on Facebook under Marcy Lamberson...just write me a note and tell me you're a blog reader.