Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Todays post is about 7000 Bracelets of Hope. Here is what Hope Smitherman emailed me about the project: "7000 Bracelets of Hope is an initiative from the Global Genes | RARE project, which is an advocacy organization for individuals with rare and genetic diseases. Their symbol is a denim ribbon, a play on genes=jeans. You can find more about the Global Genes project on their website (https://globalgenes.org/). This organization started the 7000 Bracelets of Hope initiative to provide blue-themed bracelets to families fighting rare and genetic diseases. The idea is that these bracelets give support and a little hope to these families. As well, the unifying blue theme may help spread awareness."  I have seen this project on lots of other blog and I thought it was a worthwhile project. I thought I should donate some of my bracelts but I didn't carve out the time until http://www.znetshows.com offered to let me pick some of their sparkly  crystals to design with. The bracelet above is the first one I made. The Tiaria crystals I chose were 8x5mm rondelles item #RT101-47 in opaque sky blue. Aren't they a beautiful color? I added vintage oval faux pearls that came from my Mother-in-law and seed beads. Everything is strung on memory wire.

When I signed up for this project I hadn't thought about the fact that they needed to be multi-sized. Memory wire seemed to be an easy way to accomplish that so bracelet #2 was made the same way. This time I used RT101-46 Opaque Blue Opal  8x5mm crystal rondelles. The ovals are Hemetite and I chose  seed beads as accents. I think the hemetite really makes the beautiful crystals pop.

I wanted to do something more creative so I used a gold chain as a base. The lobster clasp can be hooked into any of the links to make it the correct size. There would be a dangle down the wrist. I used more of the RT101-46 opaque blue opal crystals for this bracelet.They are dangles every 2 or 3 spaces. The other items all came from my stash. Several of them from a pay it forward I got from Michelle Mach at http://michellemach.com/blog/ . All of the dangles except the http://www.znetshows.com crystals are different. The opaque blue opal rondelles are the unifying element.

I had 2 brass cuff forms so I embellished one of them for this project.. I was leery of drilling them so I spiraled the ends of some silver craft wire to start. I wrapped the RT101-46 opaque sky blue crystals with more of my vintage faux pearls and seed beads. I like the silver and brass together. I think that they show the blue beautifully.

Bracelet number five uses  more of the RT101-46 opaque sky blue 8x5mm rondelle shaped crystals. This time as an accent  for a 25x18mm ultramarine blue crystal RS145-118 that I got from http://www.znetshows.com  for a keychain challenge. I thought that it would make the perfect focal. The center of the bracelet is on silver craft wire. To make it adjustable I used tan leather with a tension bead. It looks much better on than it does laying flat.

I liked the tension bead idea so I used it again for bracelet #6. I made wire wrapped links with the RT101-46 opaque sky blue crystals and silver corrugated rounds with Hemetite size 6 seed beads. The alternating links are coiled black craft wire. Everything is strung on black cotton cording which has a silver tension bead. Size 6 seed beads match the crystal color and work as spacers. I hope whoever gets these bracelets will enjoy them. I enjoyed designing them. I want to thank http://www.znetshows.com for providing the crystal beads used and the inspiration to finally contribute to this great project. I receive no compensation  from http://www.znetshows.com. I just get to choose some of their wonderful affordable products to design with. It is a wonderful opportunity to stretch my creativity.