A story worth telling

I had received an email from MzuriBeads awhile ago telling me about their efforts to make a film documentary about the Ugandan bead industry.  They were asking for support by purchasing a bracelet made from a bark cloth bead, recycled paper bead, and a cow horn bead. 

I made the purchase and I just got the bracelet in yesterday's mail and am so happy with it. 

It's simple yet effective.  The beads are huge (1") and compliment each other nicely.  The cow horn bead has a beautiful finish to it and has taupe and cream accents, which are just barely visible in the pic (I should have turned the bead before I took the shot).

Check out the cool recycled magazine page gift bag it came in.  How clever is that??!

If you want to help support Kirstie Maclean in her efforts to help the beadmakers of Uganda, you can read more about the project here.

~ Bead happy and often ~

The Whole "KIT" 'n kaboodle

I'm holding off on any bead embroidery projects until I get my order of Nicole's BeadBacking.  From what I hear, its some pretty fantastic stuff.  So in the meantime, I was scrounging around the studio and came across 2 kits gathering dust.

The first one is a simple bracelet kit from Mzuribeads featuring those awesome handmade paper beads.  I'm not a 'stringer' kind of girl, so I  tried to embelish the beads.

Neither attempt was any good, and I was getting annoyed.   Simple stringing it is then.

Next I came across another one of those fan-tab-u-lous Toho Ring Kits that I got at Artbeads.com.  I have said it before and I will say it again:  I LOVE these kits!  So organized, clear illustrations, gorgeous beads and takes just a bit over an hour to put together. 

Just look at the focal bead!  Just beauty-full.

Sunlight brings out some gorgeous turquoise green hues

You can see how domed the ring is - just loaded with beads!

A Family Portrait....

Psst,  my ring family will soon be expanding.  I just ordered another kit!

Links to the goodies:

  Beadbacking -- Beadwright

Paper beads -- Mzuribeads

Ring Kit -- Artbeads.com

Bead Happy and Often

New Toys!

I received a comment on one of my posts last week from a company called Mzuribeads.com.   I went and checked out the site and well, ya know, hard to resist beads made by Ugandan women.....

I bought myself a few -
These are made from banana leaves. 
Can't say I've ever held a bead made from a banana leaf before!

Tell me these bring a smile to your face :

Every one is so unique, yet there were a few matches which I'm thinking are going to be earrings some day.

The colors are fantastic and the finish is super shiny and glossy.

Here's a set of what they call "jumbo" beads.  Really Nice!

I am so impressed with these beads and hope you have the chance to support these women too.  Here's the link again:  Mzuribeads