a special auction

'remember your humanity 

and forget the rest.'

~ albert einstein

there is a special auction going on for this gorgeous necklace which will benefit the people of haiti... it is a collaborative effort between lorelei eurto and andrew thornton...  i was so touched that they are continuing to remember and desiring to help - after all, when the tv coverage has stopped, people so easily forget... 

Auction Starts: Today, Monday March 29th 2010

Auction Ends: Midnight on Monday April 5, 2010   

Bids starting at $ 50

Place a bid by leaving a comment on this post. Be sure to post the dollar amount you are bidding, and your email address. At auctions end, I will send a Paypal invoice to you, the winning bidder. I will then make a contribution 

to The American Red Cross/Haiti Relief fund. 

what does one say...

when they feel as if nothing they can say is important? in the midst of witnessing a tragedy from afar, in the poorest country in the western hemisphere... i do not watch the news or listen to it on the radio... i don't even read the newspaper... and so with embarrassment i say that i did not know how bad this was... and i am saddened... 


with relief and gratitude (not selfishness) i say 'thank you'... i know where my kids are and that they are safe... my house is standing... i have water and food... i know where my friends and family are... i remember the panic in september 2001 when the reception had gone out in the city and we couldn't reach our loved ones... i cannot wrap my brain around this level of disaster... 


and i say 'how do i help?' ... 

'how wonderful it is that nobody need wait

a single moment before starting 

to improve the world.'

~ anne frank

the moment is always 'now'... 

please do not get swallowed up in the skepticism that can arise when thinking of donating... yes, there are scams... so stick with the names you know - doctors without borders, the red cross, hope for haiti, oxfam... 

every little bit counts... we can all make a difference together... 

there is another auction going on at nina bagley's blog 'ornamental'... that one ends at midnight tonight... 

only one more day...

just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to participate in mellisa's jewelry auction to help her raise money for komen race for the cure... 

all of the jewelry pieces include her beautiful ceramic work... 


and now, a thank you to heather of humblebeads for coming up with the 'fun with focals' challenge... she got me good and there is some serious brain stretching going on here... i have been walking around completely distracted with a blank look on my face... until the 'aha' moment occurs... she has even set up a flickr group to submit your entries - though you do have to post a link on the correlating challenge blog entry... 

'only as high as i reach can i grow, only as far as i seek can i go, 

only as deep as i look can i see, only as much as i dream can i be.'

- karen ravn

challenge #1 - create a horizontal focal:

'summer's stain' is all about copper and beautiful purple and toffee beads by leann of summers studio... i have had them a while, but no other beads were up to the task of complementing them... until i happened to get the faceted glass from artbeads last week... also used mykonos spacers and heavy gauge copper spiral caps... 

challenge #3 - embellish with jump rings: (got too distracted with this one to go in order, and we do have until nov. 6th to get the entries in...)

'dandelion diptych' was waaaay too much fun to make... decided to split a pendant 1/2 nickel and 1/2 copper but place the pattern of etching over both sides to make a complete whole... then put it together with the jump rings... it started to feel like a corset to me (i decided i need to try this laced up with wire as well)... because it was feeling really masculine even though the pattern was a natural motif, i thought i should add some things to soften the effect - a piece of amazonite, some light blue-green embroidery floss, small rustic ivory beads... curved some copper links for 'flow'... 

which challenge will you take on? :0) 

reach high ~

you're braver than you believe...

'promise me you will always remember:

you're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think.'

christopher robin to pooh

mellisa at chinook jewelry is participating in the susan komen walk for the cure... she has decided to have a jewelry auction to raise funds -  & what a great way to help... if you win, not only have you helped an incredible organization, you get to have a unique keepsake as well... as we have discussed a number of times on this blog, it is a disease that has affected so many of us or those we love... i worked with mellisa to create a number of pieces to add to her offerings...

'hearts aflutter' was made with mellisa's beautiful heart pendant... her work is very feminine and it was nice to switch gears a bit... vintaj always looks so great with pink, so we were off! mixed beads - pearl, ceramic, stone, embroidery thread, vintaj accents... 

'hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.'

- georges iles

'hope whispers' started with mellisa's matte pink button... i etched a vintaj blank and added an etched ivory lampwork bead by mika at pinocean with some raspberry delicas for color... pink czech beads and african trade beads... a wrapped circle link of vintaj wire ... everything about this necklace seemed soft... 

'hope never abandons you; you abandon it.'

- george weinberg

'hope will set you free'... when you are feeling like the world has you trapped, know that hope can liberate your heart... created a copper cage to hold a beautiful little heart charm by mellisa... etched 'hope' tag on vintaj and copper bird charm just outside of the cage to represent freedom... cherry quartz & smoky topaz... double vintaj chain... 

mellisa has also created some pieces of her own... please stop by her blog... the bidding has started at $10... the holidays are coming... if not for yourself, maybe one of these could be a gift for a loved one...

thanks to all of the incredibly talented beads-of-clay artists yesterday for their open house!

and promise me you will always remember... 

and this i hope for you ~

a very dear friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer last year... i made a promise to myself that she would receive earrings from me to help her feel beautiful even when she had lost all of her hair, was feeling sick, was feeling sad... last month she had her reconstruction, a year after her mastectomy... and i hope that this will be the last pair of earrings i give her with breast cancer in mind... 


a lover of quotes as well, she shared with me one of her favorites~

'in the depths of winter i finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.'

~albert camus

these 'double entendre' earrings are meant to be a play on breasts (or tatas)... and a farewell address, hoping so much for her that this closes out a chapter in her life's book... 

there are a number of women in the blogosphere trying to raise money for this disease... mellisa of chinook jewelry design and kelly snelling at 'a charming exchange' are two that i know of with auctions... erin of 'treasures found'  has shared information on blogging for a cause... 

hopefully, someday, we will be able to bid cancer itself 'adieu' ...