Tuesday, October 26, 2010

United Way Fundraiser...



We had an auction fundraiser at work recently. I dug through my stash to see what I might whip up - not having a lot of time before the auctions started, I decided to go with a few brooches/pins.

This was through the United Way and while I'm not a huge fan of the United Way, I am a fan of giving back and we are offered the opportunity to designate the charity(s) that will benefit from the money raised by our auction items. That option is what compelled me to participate.

My chosen charities this year - StandUp for Kids out of Oceanside, CA and Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust out of Newport, KY.

I asked for suggestions from a couple of sources, then started checking those suggestions on Charity Navigator -a helpful website when you are looking to evaluate charities - it provides information on the financial health as well how responsibly the organizations function day to day.

I knew I wanted to help American Vets and found a great organization through the Charity Navigator site. I found StandUp for Kids through a friend of mine in Southern California (thanks Pam!).



This little heart started with a beautiful Lisa Peters Art Stoneware button. It is anchored to stiffened felt with a topaz Swarovski margarita crystal and a tiny bead. It is accented with copper colored fire polished beads and bronze colored seeds with hints of blue in the 15/0 seed bead accents.



It is backed with chocolate Ultrasuede.



This next one was very hard to photograph, the glass is deep blue with hints of green - those can't be seen in these photos and I'm not sure why. The dichroic glass cab was created by Deb DiSalvo of artisticflair.



It is accented with royal blue seed beads and vintage deep blue sequins that are secured with lots of sparkly black Swarovski bicones.



Then backed with royal blue Ultrasuede.

I auctioned off 3 other items that have already been shown on this blog, so I won't repeat the photos. I will link them though... this witch brooch, a pair of earrings (the gold pair in the second photo) and a Christmas ornament that was originally a blog giveaway item which was lost, then found after a replacement ornament was sent out.

5 comments:

Deb DiSalvo said...

These are WONDERFUL! You are sooo talented. It is really hard to get a good picture of dichroic glass - I struggle with that all the time! Thanks for sharing.
Cheers.

GraceBeading said...

Glad you like it Deb, I really wanted to do that beautiful glass justice!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Nice to see you posting your work again. You've been missed!! Of course your pieces are beautiful and worthy of the cause.

Perlenzauberin said...

Very cool Beadwork!
I like it!

Nice greetings from Austria
Claudia

Timaree said...

Wonderful pieces. Someone is going to enjoy some nice jewelry!

Leaves of Grass

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body - Walt Whitman