Beads of Courage

First, if you are looking for my Bead Soup, please click here.

This is a long post, but please bear with me.

 Beads of Courage is a wonderful program.  It is an arts in medicine program for children with serious illness.  It is currently implemented in over 100 children's hospitals in the United States, Japan, and New Zealand. Every bead tells a story of strength, honor, and hope.

This weekend our local group rented the West Michigan Glass Art Center in Kalamazoo. They have an awesome set up, including a fusing area, a hot shop, and a lampworking area with 14 torches.  *sigh*  It is truly glass and fire heaven.

 Our only goal on Saturday was to make beads strictly for Beads of Courage.  We made nearly 179 beads.  We had such a great time.  I've posted some of the beads we made.  We made fish, pumpkins, snowmen, ice cream cones, hearts, and so much more! In fact, we actually ran out of kiln space before we ran out of ideas.

So many people to thank for this weekend.  First and foremost, HOWACO GLASS.  Jamey brought the entire line of Effetre glass for us to use.

In no particular order, here are my glassy peeps that participated in this fun event:
Barb Reed, Sandra Rathbun, Tracy Bell, Sandra Humphrey, Marion Walter, Deb Harlan, Dawn Ceccacci, Karen Klomparens, Annmarie Stanesa, Deb Kauzlarich, Robin Moore, Chris Fisher, Laurie Stover, Sharon Pribble, and Jill Daniels.

Thanks for reading this far.  This organization means a lot to me, and these crazy people even more.