Sylviebead Journal

Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hootie Hoo!!!!!! Why am I excited? I have no clue! I'm really hot and tired (we just got back from an afternoon Braves game...barely made it through 2 innings and the boys were just too hot and tired. glad the tickets were free...made it easy to leave if we wanted to) I'm also just plain tired from all the work on the auction thingy last night.



Last night was our silent auction (I know anyone else reading this really cares...but hey! It's my journal!) We raised LOTS of money for the group. I was stunned! We are buying equipment and such for the group to have more beadmaking classes/events which is really cool. Why is it really cool???? Because 6 ish years ago, I first organized a group of beadmakers from the Atlanta area. We were not a formal group by any means...but we were a group of about 10-15 people who were making glass beads and wanted to hang out once a month with other people who were as well. It was cool not to be the only one out there...to know you were among others who were crazy like you about making beads...



So...the group dissipated (sp?) after I got pregnant with child #2 and didn't have the energy to organize things anymore...and it really was me doing all the organizing...paying for mailings...helping plan meetings, etc. So after a slow down of about a year or so...the group was re-organized by another beadmaker in town and formed a formal group. The group then gained a name (which I've discussed before The Southern Flames) and met monthly. The group didn't formally hold classes, though there were guest instructors who came to town and the members attended the classes. The group had some ups and downs...split at one point and it was an icky time for me as I belonged to both groups and felt really torn between them.



Anyhoo....the group slowly mended and their new incarnation was happy again and had great turnouts for meetings and has slowly grown in the past 2 years to be a group who is really supporting glass beadmaking in the Atlanta area. We have brought in teachers as a group and the costs of classes were much cheaper than they would have been if it were not a group sponsored thing because there was no huge profit made from them...just making sure we covered our expenses and left a little after the fact. Now we own equipment for renting to new beadmakers...a kiln...and still have funds in the account for buying more equipment and bringing in more instructors and furthering the beadmaking movement in our area.



Southern Flames...we rock! It's just really cool to look back and see how far we've come. I'm really proud of us. :) (even if we do have a name that I think is dorky)