Jewelry for a Good Cause: Ears to You and 7000 Bracelets of Hope

It's easy to get caught up in our day to day stuff and focus on the necessary and the busy things of life. However, every once in a while it's nice to take some time to be creative on someone else's behalf. I've had two such opportunities in the past couple of weeks and it's nice to be part of something bigger than yourself.

The first took place in October. Three of my wonderful jewelry students joined me for a couple of hours and we made 50 pairs of earrings for a wonderful organization called Ears to You. This great cause supplies earrings to women who are fighting cancer. The founder, Ruth Crane, is a cancer survivor herself, and wanted to give back to women by brightening up their day with pretties for their ears. There are many ways to support  Ears To You, and you can send in new earrings as well as money. Take a peek at the results:

The next opportunity I had was through the Znet Design Team. If you take a glance to the right of the blog, under Design Team members you'll see my name. How exciting is THAT??  This was my first time participating in a lightning round challenge for 7000 Bracelets for Hope.  The number 7000 represents the amount of rare genetic diseases that affect 1 in 10 people. The bracelets are distributed to the families that are fighting these rare, genetic disesases.

 If we chose to participate we got to pick 2 items from the Znet Shows website from the Tiara Chinese crystals, cultured sea glass or glass pearls. I picked the light Sapphire AB crystal rondelles and Light Sapphire 10 mm cultured sea glass rounds which you can see pictured below.. I thought I'd receive one strand of each since we were asked to make one bracelet and mail it in. To my delight, Znet sent me three strands of each. Aren't they pretty?
                       
And here's what I came up with...

7000 Bracelets for Hope

 In her email, Hope, who oversees the Znet social media, encouraged us to use designs that were a one fit all, so I did two on memory wire and two as stretchy bracelets. My mom had sent me the big chunky beads and they were perfect for the last bracelet. I used other beads from my stash and had a ball making these. Hope had also encouraged us to write a note with the bracelets and I was a little apprehensive. After all, what do you write to someone you've never met dealing with something you've no clue about? But after taking a deep breath and saying a prayer or two, I found something unique to say with each bracelet. I hope that it encourages and brings joy to each of the recipients.


One more look:

After these were in the mail, I realized I needed to make one more. My nephew, Josiah, has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is wheelchair bound. He's an adorable, funny, bright, articulate kid who I've only had the pleasure to meet a couple of times since they live on the opposite side of the country. My brother and sister in law are his caretakers and I cannot begin to imagine the energy, time, and sacrifice it takes on their part- especially with two other children, including a very active toddler. So, when I get back from Texas ( more about that in another post) I'll be using more of these gorgeous beads to make one for my sister in law- or maybe two, for my oldest niece too!

Thanks, Hope and the Znet team for letting me be part of this opportunity. Two great causes- two great ways to get involved in spreading a little splash of joy and a dash of hope....
Christie