Art Charm Benefit for Beads of Courage

I am participating again in the Art Charm Exchange and Beads of Courage Benefit Auction!

I believe this is my fourth time participating. A group of about 20 bead artists creates a set of art charms, where one of each set is auctioned, with the proceeds going to Beads of Courage.

If you're not familiar with Beads of Courage, it's a non-profit organization that provides "Arts-in-Medicine" for children who are suffering from serious illnesses.  Part of the program involves giving the children beads to string, where each bead signifies an obstacle they have overcome, or a procedure they braved, to help them celebrate their success as they deal with actions of surviving. Some of these beads are purchased by the organization, and many bead artists also donate art beads, so that the children can pick out some special beads for particular events.

For this fundraiser, each artist creates 11 charms, and in return receives 10 charms from other participating artists. (The 11th charm of each set is auctioned.) The artist who is hosting and doing all the hard work of organizing the exchange and auction is Jennifer of Glass Addictions. Jennifer is a lampwork artist --if you're interested in checking out some of her work, she has a blog and store on her Glass Addictions website.

The auction and charm reveal won't be until July 15th, but I'm currently working on creating my charms. As I was working, I came across some of the charms I've received in past exchanges that I had never used in a project. I decided to search around for any others that were still waiting for the perfect piece, and string them all together to give you all a taste of what has been created for past exchanges. It's a little hard to get them all in view. The center panel below is all of them, and the two sides are a slightly closer look at some.

Here's a closer look at just a few of them, including one that's such an amazing creation: It's the center left -a tiny jar with some cookies, and an attached hammer to break the jar in need. There are always so many wonderful interpretations of whatever theme Jennifer has chosen.

 Last year we (really Jennifer, since she does all the hard work) raised over $1000 dollars through the auction to donate to Beads of Courage. I hope you'll check back for later posts as we all reveal our charms, and check in to the auction to see if there are any charms you can't live without.

2016 Art Charm Swap and Beads of Courage Benefit Auction - See more at: http://www.glassaddictions.com/blog/2016-art-charm-swap-and-beads-courage-benefit-auction-sign-ups#sthash.FyBuuuK4.dpuf