SNEAK ATTACK !!

Yes that's right... another Bead Faerie attack!

This one was an extra sneaky surprise attack on one of our own faeries! While I had her working in the secret head quarters on Lena's gathering, I was coordinating a second one for her through FB messages and email ! :) 

Yes I'm sneaky ;) She had no clue :)

So who did the Bead Faeries visit? Why, Shelley Graham Turner, whom you may remember from my first Shop Feature :)

ToriSophia

 Shelley's sister Jilly was a victim of Alzheimer's. Last year Shelley made a bunch of purple earrings, and her and her grandson handed them out to those who ran for the cause. This year she planned on making a lot more, but was running low on purple beads. She'd put in a trade request in one group but didn't receive many offers from what I understand. Marlene brought it to my attention, since I'd somehow managed to miss the news ( I blame not enough coffee on my end ;) ). And so, a Bead Faerie Sneak attack plan was hatched!  

Since Shelley is a busy little Bead Faerie, she'd have become suspicious  if she wasn't invited into the group for another round. And trust me, she'd have KNOWN if we had one running, whether anyone told her or not... the woman would KNOW. 

So... we ran one and invited her in. Luckily we 'd been considering two, so we just did both :D Since Marlene was already acting as the Collection Faerie for Lena, I asked Rita of Toltec Jewels to play Collection Faerie for Shelley. Let me just say, the woman had WAY TOO MUCH FUN! She took the purple theme and RAN with it BIG TIME! lol

I have a total of 24 photos she took, showing all the beads and ear wires that were donated, and all of these gifts wrapped in different shades of purple tissue paper and tied with ribbon.... several shots of the card, including the picture, the signatures& message, and the envelope  ( she even used purple ink! )... and the stages of packing the box ! lol  Plus, as the topper, she printed out the Project Bead banner and taped it to the top of the box!

I understand she's setting up a photo account somewhere to host all the Project Bead Photos, so when she does, I'll edit in the links here so you can see them all. In the mean time, I'll share a few of the highlights :D

The card - photo courtesy of Rita

Message inside card -photo courtesy of Rita

Pretty gifts to open! - photo courtesy of Rita

the goodies INSIDE the pretty paper - photo courtesy of Rita

The box with the banner :) photo courtesy of Rita

 

It's been decided that from now on, we'll have to include kleenex with the beads ;)

Shelley's Bead Faeries

Rita/ Toltec Jewels, Sandra McGriff, Marlene Cupo , Alicia Marinache , Heidi Kingman , Robin Reed , Jana Perex Stribel , Christine Crowe Smith , Sandra Wollberg  , Ali McCarthy, & Kristen Stevens

Sadly, Shelley's sister just recently passed, making this gift even more bittersweet. Her self appointed task of making these earrings will keep Jilly in the forefront of her heart and thoughts, and every single pair she makes will no doubt carry a piece of her love for her sister with it.  Now that Jilly is free of the curse that is Alzheimer's, I know she is watching over Shelley and loving what she's doing for her :)

... and now that I've made Shell cry again, I KNOW she'll be plotting some form of revenge... ;) I doubt even the little note I slipped into my donation will do much to save me.  What did my note say?  Just two simple words...

 'Blame Marlene'

:D

Attack of the Bead Faeries!

The ' Bead Faeries'  of Project Bead have struck again!

This time, we singled out Lena Adams, who agreed to make jewelry for a program in her home town - 'Dressed for Success' is put on by her local women's shelter, that helps provide women with clothing and jewelry to help them make a good impression for job interviews and new jobs :)  And committed herself to making 100 pieces of jewelry for them! Personally, I think with the big ol' box of beads we gathered up and sent to her, she can do a lot more than that ;)

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

Here's a glimpse at what was stuffed inside the box. This was tallied in at 8.6 lbs, and included a few finished pieces of jewelry to be donated to 'Dressed for Success' as well :)

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

The cast of faeries changes for each gathering, with no faerie contributing to more than three in a row.

Lena had 13  Bead Faeries taking part in her gathering ;

Sandra McGriff, Marlene Cupo, Alicia Mariache, Mimi Gardner, Gina Hockett, Tammy Everly, Shelley Turner, Michelle Dotson, Elaine Ray, Rita aka Toltec Jewels, Shaiha Williams, Robin Reed, and Ali McCarthy.

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

  Marlene was once again our 'collection faerie' - everything was sent to her, and she packed it all up and sent it to Lena :)

The first round with Kashmira, we had fun stalking the usps tracking page to see where her parcel was. For Lena's I didn't get a chance to even check! Parcels within the states seem to move quickly... as long as the weather doesn't get in the way ;)

Project Bead is a big success  and warms hearts, whether they take part or not :)  If you know of any one who works with beads, and donates their work or time to a cause, let me know and we might consider them for a future faerie attack ;)

Project Bead

So those of you around Creative Bead Chat might have seen some posts about this. I figured I should blog abut it and let you all know a bit more about it. ;)

First off... This was FUN, let me tell you!

The idea came to me when I contacted Kashmira about being part of my monthly blog feature. My plan had been to send business to her shop, thus my purchasing a gift card... she however suggested donating a pair of earrings. I think I said something along the lines of that being silly, since all her work is donated already.

Bingo.

Idea.

I contacted Marla James to discuss my idea, since she has more experience dealing with groups and fund raising, etc, and could let know what she thought of it... and perhaps who might be interested in hopping on board.

Within hours, I had created Project Bead. In total, we had 14 ladies taking part... each of whom packaged up some amount of beads/ beading supplies... Some just a few that they could spare, and some enough to choke an elephant under the guise of 'cleaning out their stash' … they know who they are ;) lol

I waylaid Marlene Cupo to act as a 'middleman' and we all sent our contributions to her, where they were all packed up together into one box... and sent to Kashmira :)

What I had expected to be a dozen ladies sending a handful of beads or so a piece, pulling together to fill a small box with maybe a couple pounds of goodies... turned into this...

photo courtesy of Marlene Cupo

this pic shows all the loot together.. but doesn't really let you get the full feel of JUST how MUCH is there...

For more photos, visit Kashmira's album in CBC 'Project Beads'.

That pile... contains NINE AND A HALF POUNDS OF BEADS!!

Can you believe that?! In two weeks, we got a little over a dozen ladies to gather up almost TEN POUNDS of beads and get them to Kashmira... and then we all bounced around on our toes waiting for it to arrive at her door... and some of us ( re ME) stalked the usps tracking page waiting for the delivery confirmation ALL DAY :D

So my little group of Bead Faeries pulled together to gift a box of goodies for Kashmira to create more jewelry out of to raise money for her Project Why kids :)

Sure, we could've just donated the money, but where's the fun in that?! ;)

Despite the gathering and delivery of goodies for Kashmira being finished, I've decided to leave Project Bead active.. There are plenty more angels out there, slipping past under the radar, and sooner or later they'll come to our notice... then we'll send out the call for beads again!

If any of you would be interested in joining and becoming a 'Bead Faerie', each bead drive will be done separately, so if you don't agree with the cause, or if you can't participate in one, there's no worries. You'll receive a new invite for each one and you can decide based on the info provided whether or not you want to join in :) I'll just add your name to a list of people to contact when the time comes; IF you're interested, send me an email, or a pm on fb :)

If you'd rather no one know you're a 'bead faerie', you can join the ranks of Anoymous B.F's and chose a 'codename'. I'll have your real/ FB/Blog name on my list, with your 'faerie name' beside it. The cards sent with the goodie boxes you took part in will have your codename listed among the participants :)

As for what to donate, that will no doubt change from gathering to gathering. Beads for the most part, but some times other items would be appreciated as well. Since each gathering will be done in a short span of time, you should be able to use only what you have on hand. If you want to purchase or make something special to send, it must be able to be ready to mail to our Collection Faerie with in a week. If something comes up where specialty items are needed, we will send out invites and notes in advance of the actual gathering, so if you wish to, you'll have time to make or order items in.

As for what not to donate- nothing too big or too heavy. Remember, these items are all being gathered together and sent to the recipient as one package. As well, we do NOT collect money - the sole exception would be if we were taking on an overseas case where we had no Collection Faerie close to them. If that were the case, we MIGHT consider doing a small fund for shipping costs, HOWEVER, we'd most likely just coordinate things so that each would be sent separately, but on the same day with a note stating it was from the group.

I can already see that Project Bead is going to be kept busy... so to keep people from getting burnt out, each gathering will be limited to between 12- 20 'faeries', depending on how big a gathering we need to accomplish. The participants will change through out, cycling through the list so people aren't being asked constantly to donate beads to various causes. 

My Beading Faerie List, however, is going to continue to grow. All are welcome :)

If you join my list and then something comes up and you find that you won't be able to take part in any for a while, or you receive an invite but don't agree with the cause... all you have to do is just respond to the invites with a 'sorry, not this time. Try me again next round' and we'll send that invite on the next person in line. 

 Being on the list doesn't mean you HAVE to accept the invite when it comes. No pressure to take part. 

If you DO accept the invite, then you ARE expected to get your donation into the mail as quickly as possible, and meet the deadline. The deadline will be mentioned in the invite note, so if you can't make it, don't accept! Wait for the next round when things might be easier for you.

... and whoever stuck that term 'Bead Faeries' in my head... thanks >.< Now I have this image that I'm totally going to need to doodle out and make into a logo or mascot lol

So if this sounds like something you want to be a part of... leave a comment asking to be put on the list. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you. If you don't want your contact info known, or don't want anyone to know you're joining, email me :)  mattiashogan@gmail.com  OR skye_sands@hotmail.com