Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Midnyte Finds - Bling's The Thing.


What did you find lately?  I found Bling's The Thing. 


 
A free earring class given at local libraries - Joan Lloyd of Bling's The Thing, a self described "bead addict," generously provides the supplies and endless patience.  She teaches her technique to make earrings and only asks that for every pair you make for yourself, you make one for her to donate to a shelter for battered women.  I love looking at everyone's unique and artistic creations during class. 

Several years ago I heard a small article on the NYC news about a Long Island woman who was making jewelry to donate to a local shelter. I had been making knit hats, afghans etc etc to donate to a place in Virginia but as I thought about it, since I loved making earrings for myself (and I can only wear one pair at a time) I realized that this would scratch many of my itches.

As I Googled "Battered Women's Shelters" I discovered that there are an amazing (and horrifying) number of them in New York State alone. As I expanded my searches and made a zillion phone calls I now am donating 600-700 pair a month, mostly in NY and NJ but some in TX and CA.

I noticed that our local library had crafts workshops, talked to the woman in charge and started running earring workshops. It spread and now I'm doing them for half a dozen local libraries, schools, scout troops etc. ~Joan Lloyd
If you are interested in hosting this program or getting involved in any way, please contact Joan at JoanELloyd@att.net

Joan teaches technique.




These are the earrings I made and donated.




Donation bucket.


5 comments:

fakesteph said...

This is amazing! I LOVE this. I need to find something like this to do around here now! Also, the earings you made look gorgeous!

Midnyte Reader said...

Thank you. I'm so happy I found this. You could probably organize something where you are.

Kate @Midnight Book Girl said...

I would totally be on that, Steph!

Midnyte, you are amazing!

Midnyte Reader said...

No, I think the families who go through this are because they are brave enough to change their situation.

Squenn said...

That is so awesome! It is something just for them, to make them feel special. I love it!

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...