For those of you who were here last year, it's time for the Beads of Courage Art Charm Exchange and Auction again! Yay!
For those of you who weren't here's what it's all about...
The exchange is run by Jennifer Cameron (
Glass Addictions) and each year a new theme is set. Each participant makes 11 charms and sends them to Jennifer who then sends us 9 different ones back, plus one of our own. The 11th charm is put in to auction to raise money for the Beads of Courage program.
Beads of Courage is a fantastic charity providing support for children and their families dealing with serious illness.
The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path.
Last year we raised just over $1500 from the sale of the extra charms, and I've got everything crossed that we can match if not beat that fantastic amount!
So, back to the charm swap... this year, the theme chosen was 'Soar'. I thought long and hard about what I'd create for my charm. Try as I might to come up with something different, the idea I kept coming back to was a bird on the wing, soaring high in the clouds.
Here is my charm...
It's made from one of my lamp work beads and finished with silver plated wire, heart charm and jump ring.
There should have been a picture of more of them, but being so excited that I'd finished in time, I packed them up and sent them off before I remembered! You'll just have to join in the blog hop to see all of the different colours ;)
In return, I received beautiful charms from 9 other artists taking part.
In no particular order...
An amazingly detailed ceramic feather charm from Terri Del Signore...
A beautiful sparkly embroidered dragonfly charm with a heart from Chris Eisenberg...
Cute polymer angel wings from Cory Tompkins...
A gorgeous blue ceramic bird soaring over a little cloud from Michelle McCarthy...
A wonderful ceramic Dragonfly charm from Jenny Davies-Reazor...
A really sweet birdy and nest in polymer clay from Nan Smith...
I was lucky enough to receive 2 charms from Toltec Jewels, one with a lampwork disc and copper dangles, and one in tiny chainmaille with flying birds, both gorgeous! ...
A cute sparkly polymer flying heart charm from Andrea Glick...
And finally, an amazingly detailed polymer clay bead from Monique Urquhart.
I'm thrilled with everything I received and want to say a big thank you to everyone, they're all beautiful :) And an extra big thank you to Jennifer for all her hard work and organising!
If you'd like to join in with the fun and get your hands on mine, or any one else's charm, Jennifer is running a charity auction for the extras we made. I hope you will come over and bid high... it's for a fantastic cause!
Link to the auctions...
And to see what everyone else made and received, join us in the blog hop! Just follow the links...
