The Best Little Bead Box

This is the exciting project that I've been meaning to write about on my blog since it started last week! I can't believe that it's taken me this long to get around to it, but here it is: The Best Little Bead Box.

Carol Dean Sharpe contacted me with the idea for putting together a box similar to the one that is currently circulating called The Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads, but this one is going for a good cause: Beads of Courage, a program that uses beads to help children who are dealing with serious illnesses and their families.

This is how it works: Carol, myself, and some other extremely generous sponsors all donated a large quantity of beads that were put into a box - and the box weighed in at 11 lbs! Then we chose a list of 12 beaders, most of whom are well known bead artists, some of whom are not as well known but who are no less talented and respected. Then Carol set up a schedule, and sent off the box to the first recipient, Marcia DeCoster.
























This is just some of what I donated for the first box: a few ceramic faces by Diane Briegleb, some brass embroidery blanks from Designer's Findings, gemstone beads, fibers, vintage Lucite, vintage seed beads, and some other goodies that I've collected over the years...

When Marcia received the box, she took out some of the wonderful beads inside and replaced them with some beads from her own stash. The idea is to leave the box bigger and richer than it was when it was received. Then Marcia will send the box on to the next person, and so on until the box is finally returned to Carol at the end of December.

Once Carol receives the box at the end of December, we will be auctioning off the contents in packages of 1 lb. All the money raised from these auctions will be donated to Beads of Courage to help them continue their work.

You can follow The Best Little Bead Box project on the blog, The Best Little Bead Box. You can also "Like" our page on Facebook, The Best Little Bead Box on Facebook.

Because of the incredible generosity of our sponsors, we are going to be able to do a second box sometime after January of 2011. And we've received even MORE interest in donating beads to the project, so we may even do a third box after that!

So make sure you follow the blog to see where the box travels next, and we'll let everyone know when the auctions are ready to go so that you can have a chance to bid on some of the amazing beads that will be collected in this box and help us raise money for an equally amazing cause!