In 2008 my brother Mike lost his battle with throat cancer, 7 months later my father also died - among other things prostate cancer had been a factor, 2009 was a sad year... I was involved with the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life and decided I needed to find something to raise funds all year long. While some people don't believe in giving to a large organization like ACS I had looked into their practices and do believe they're spending the money well. ACS is the second largest funder of cancer research, the largest funder is the U.S. Government... and I wonder how much of that actually gets spent on research?!?
In any case, a friend brought me a necklace from her trip to South Africa, it had a simple but very pretty design of glass beads on a double-knotted strand. As I looked at that necklace I thought... I could do this... and what if I focused on cancer awareness colors? I showed it to my sister-in-law who had dabbled in jewelry making and with her encouragement and enthusiasm we were off to a bead shop! Little did I know what I was getting into - the addiction was born :-)
Together we worked on creating jewelry until she and my brother (I have 5 altogether and 1 very special sister) opened a new wine shop. Every so often I get an email or a phone call from her with a wistful... "How are our beads? I miss them..."
Currently I sell at a few local events but decided somewhere along the way I should come up with a name for this venture... maybe one day I'll launch an Etsy shop... or a blog! I had better be prepared! I thought and thought and eventually decided on Creating Cures. I like the double entendre: I am Creating Cures by donating the profit to cancer fighting charities and Creating Cures what makes your heart sad.
I make no promises for more blog posts... not quite sure I'm ready to put it all out there just yet but, we'll see! You never know where this beading addiction may lead!
Enjoy ~~T
