University of Denver's HANDICRAFTS

The view from the bridge...Our table was located inside of University of Denver's signature glass pedestrain bridge that spans a major street to connect two buildings. The light wasn't great and all the glass made for a photographic challenge, but Jaime did what she could to document our participation. In the end, though, she who controls the blog, controls the pictures (bwahahaha!). Sharon detests having her picture taken, but she was happy to crop the pictures judiciously so you can't see the blogger, but you can see a little bit of our sale at the African Extravaganza.

Anna and a young customer discuss the merchandise.

Another happy customer. There were lots of "Oooooos" and "Ahhhhhhs" throughout the evening.

We were informed by these and several other boys that we are totally lame for not having any "more masculine" jewelry. We're still not sure what that means, exactly, but we've sent it out to our Research and Development unit for further exploration.

working behind the scenes

You may be wondering what the Bead Women of A Little Something have been up to. It seems we are all sick!

Our local school district is also on spring break, so everyone is busy taking care of kids, traveling, and generally living life.

In the meantime, exciting things are on the horizon. After tizzying herself with the dizzying mountains of information related to nonprofit startups, Sharon met with an attorney who attempted to unravel the confounding mysteries of the 501c(3).

Our deepest gratitude goes out to Elle Tauer, attorney, of Greenwood & Tauer, P.C. Elle will donate her time to walk us through the process of becoming a bona fide nonprofit organization, one registered with the state and the IRS.

This is a huge, huge step in our growth, and something we never could have figured out for ourselves. It's a daunting step, though, and it gives us a lot of food for thought regarding the future of the women we serve and the organization we are to become. It is not something to be taken lightly.

Perhaps we need to outfit Elle with some really cool, handmade jewelry.

In other news, we're planning to take as many of the women as we can to the big bead show coming to Denver next month. We're lining up big passenger vans, babysitters, admission-ticket money, and classes. We hope to enroll all of the women in classes so they can have the experience of learning alongside other jewelry makers. We also want them to see the big picture, so to speak, as it pertains to bead shopping. We'll reward the teenaged babysitters by taking them to the show the following day, and doing the whole thing all over again.

We hope that this field trip will give the women a better understanding of how beads are sold, new techniques yet to be learned, and how to budget their money when standing in the face of massive, bead-buying temptation. Wish us luck.