hope, beauty, and beads

Through Pinterest (love love love pinterest) - I stumbled across an incredible company that makes beautiful jewelry. The beautiful jewelry is not the incredible part at all! It is possibly something you have already heard about- the beautiful wrapped paper beads that are becoming fairly popular. There are several companies that sell the beads as beautiful pieces of jewelry.

The specific company that I have stumbled across is called 31 Bits. They have beautiful pieces of jewelry, beautiful photography, a beautiful website... and best of all - a breathtakingly beautiful mission. They're mission is "using fashion and design to empower women to rise above poverty" (click there to read their entire mission statement). They're empowering women in Northern Uganda (where the LRA and the now infamous Joseph Kony has been destroying lives) by giving them a way to earn money, receive an education, and simple, pure hope.31 Bits help the women in Uganda making the beads (from recycled paper - so cool) sell them as beautiful pieces of jewelry to support their families- on top of that the company offers them classes in English, finances, health, and different vocations. They also provide emotional support through community gatherings.You can read all about the amazing women creating the beautiful beads here!They have beautiful pieces of jewelry! Bright, fun and funky or subtle, classy and understated. :) I can't wait to order a few pieces- the difficult part will be decided. I picked out a few of my favorites! (oh.... and just so we are clear. I do not own these beautiful photos at all- they belong to 31 Bits)