NEW I Heart the DR Bags

A group just came back from Puerta Plata, DR with 55 new bags from Isabel.  They are awesome, I love the new colors and styles.

THe best part is that Isabel worked so hard to make these because her husband is sick and they need the money to pay for his care and medications.  She worked with joy knowing that each bag would make a difference.  It touches my heart to know that the I Heart the DR line has a direct impact on Isabel and her family and is helping them!  That is why I am so passionate about this project.

Each bag that is sold is furthering the support that goes into this community.  Right now a couple hundred dollars has a huge impact, but what would thousands do for them?  I can only imagine!

You can help by purchasing bags for your holidays gifts and spreading the story of the I Heart the DR line!  Great gifts for those who want to help and people who just love unique, green, trendy things!   Buy now at www.kellybethdesigns.com

We are also working on headbands and bracelets made of the recycled rice bags… coming soon…

The pile of bags in my living room

What is it all about?

Have you ever felt so busy that you literally don’t have enough time?  I have so many interests, I am coaching, I was an athlete in college and love teaching girls how to play the game.  But I also have a growing business to run.  How do I do it all?

I am on my way home this weekend for my mom’s 60^th birthday.  Last December we found out she has stage 4 cancer.  For sure  it has changed my life and how I live each day.  How do we enjoy and live in the moment each day when we have so many pressures on us ranging from being successful in our careers as well as being good friends, and working out?  Is it possible?

I have learned to live in the moment much more.  Still not where I want to be, but this weekend will be one of those tests for me to let go of all my pressures and what I could be doing and simply live and be present to my mom and family.  I won’t  have this time again and who knows how long we have.  What is more important having a successful business or knowing I gave everything to the people around me and was loved because of it.

New Custom Kellybeth Jewelry Line

I am creating some custom orders!  Check them out.  It is great branding for a company and just fun for employees to sport jewelry with the company logo.

Pajama Baking Company Gift Card Custom Bracelet

Pajama Baking Company is a great coffee and food place.  Check out it out.

Radio is a great board shop I discovered in Aspen.  Plus they have amazing gift cards.  Here is a custom Blox Bracelet and Cubz earrings set.

Radio Skate Shop Custom Bracelet and Cubz earrings

The Custom line is great for Employee gifts, especially with the Holidays coming up!

Get more information at www.kellybethdesigns.com

Ten Thousand Nets Art Show this Saturday

Kellybeth will have a table at the Ten Thousand Nets Art Show this Saturday August 14th from 10am-7pm.  Come out and support the Ten Thousand Nets Campaign.  I will have my jewelry line, I hear the DR Bag line, and some photo prints from my trip to the DR!

Ten Thousand Nets is a Denver based campaign designed to focus on the eradication of malaria deaths by raising awareness, raising funds for bed nets, providing education to the city of Denver about malaria, and creating a connection to our partners, The ONE Campaign, Malaria No More, and The Church in Denver.

what are the effects of malaria?

• An estimated 1,000,000 people die each year from malaria.
• 90% of malaria deaths are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 75% of those deaths are children.
• Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds, which means one child will die while as you read this document.
• On the continent of Africa alone over $12,000,000,000 is spent every year on malaria.
• Because so much money is spent combating malaria many African nations experience only a slight rise in their annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year.

Facebook Link

Ten Thousand Nets Website

See you Saturday!

The Tradition Continues: Picking up the finished rice bags

The last day of our trip in the Dominican is always bitter sweet.  It is a day of rest and sightseeing and saying goodbye.  Our first adventure was the 27 waterfalls called Damajaqua.  It involves hiking up the 27 falls and then coming back down jumping off all of them.  It is so beautiful and truly amazing!

We then went to the Aquas Negras one last time.  I needed to pick up the finished rice bags from Isabel’s house.  I remember this time very vividly from last year.  We picked them up on the way to the airport and were actually running late.  So I was running through the community with the bags on my shoulders!  This time was a little less rushed, but so monumental.  It is like all the hard work is in my hands when I leave carrying all of the bags.  What an amazing and exciting feeling.

Video: Picking up the purses

To finish off the awesome day we were able to visit the beach and go out to dinner.  The special part of this was having Sandra’s family with us.  Sandra is the community leader.  A very godly woman who knows the pulse of the community.  Her kids are awesome and she is just a fun loving, kind and caring person.  Every time I spend time with her I walk away knowing I am loved and often want to be more like her!  I am not sure how she was able to do this, but she paid for our entire groups dinner!  In a community like this you learn to take as well as give. It was her gift to us and she wanted to do this for us.  Amazing.

Look for the bags to be on sale soon at www.kellybethdesigns.com

Isabel’s House, Sewing a bag!

Towards the end of my trip to Aquas Negras I was able to watch Isabel create a bag.  It was actually harder than it sounds to make this happen.  There is only electricity at certain times of the day and certain days a week!  I had no idea, so I stopped by around lunch time and found out the only time I could observe her sewing would be after 5 pm!

On Friday night, our last day in the community, I was able to get to her house around 6pm.  I can’t even explain how cool the experience was.  First of all, I love being in her home.  She is so caring, hospitable, and comfortable when she is at home.  Dominican’s always insist you sit right away and they always offer you a drink, usually coke or my new favorite soda Red Rock!  It’s amazing. So I felt at home laughing at my broken spanish and our hand signals to each other to get our points across.  What I loved about it was seeing her family interact.  Her husband came home from work and joined us as well as her niece Stephanie.  Many people stopped by to say hello and a moto concho driver stopped by with a couple of sewing needles for her!

Video:  Isabel cutting out the bag

After watching the bag process, I headed back to the church where the group was meeting.  As I approached, Reina found me and kept saying gringos and pointing.  I couldn’t figure out what she was saying.  So she kept insisting and told me to follow her.  She brought me to another house where the group was.  I never would have found it without her help!  I was amazed at how aware she was of the situation and knowing that I would be looking for them.  This community is amazing, looking out for each other.  Not just Reina, but most of the families I have encountered have such a close bond and enjoy each other’s company daily.

Photo of Reina

My first Moto Concho ride with Isabel to buy rice bags!

My time here has been amazing.  I am building this partnership with Isabel that keeps getting more exciting as the days go on.  I met with her yesterday to discuss that I wanted to leave with 25-30 bags in hand and I had specific designs in mind.  She was excited and we worked together putting colors and bags together.  I brought her a lot of fabric to use for my bags as well as the bags she sells in the store. She told me about her family, her business, her children.  She also pulled out her journal and showed me a page of names and numbers.  It was the names of people in the community who she gave money to in order to help them out.  The money came from my last trip here and my first order of bags!  So awesome.  She hardly kept any money for herself.  She is so generous.  She has also been to Haiti recently to help the earthquake victims.

Today was another adventure and my first ride on a moto concho, the local form of transportation.  Basically motorcycle taxis. They are crazy drivers here.  All over the road and people everywhere.  It was so great to go with Isabel to see where she buys her rice bag material to make the bags.  We pulled up a house with an outdoor shed that was full of rice bags!  I was in heaven.  Isabel and I sorted through the designs and picked out 17 bags for around $6.  I am not sure why you have to buy them, but people must reuse them. It was so fun to be with her.  We even got to the next level in our communication and I was able to practice my Spanish with her.

Isabel shopping for Rice bags

Isabel and Kelly shopping for rice bags

I think today was all about breaking down the language barriers and having the opportunity to see Isabel in a new light.  I have only seen her in Aquas Negras, but she was able to show me somewhere new and take care of me! I am still amazed at how simply people live here.  Not because of the lack of resources, but more because for them it is all about family and relationships. Those come first, not their agendas.  It takes getting used to when our culture is so task orieented.  We want to get it done instead of enjoying the process.  Dominicans definitely enjoy the process which I am learning to appreciate.

I can’t wait to see the finished bags.  They will be amazing!

The Sewing Shop, Aquas Negras

Day two in the DR was great!  I am still getting used to the slow moving pace of time, but in a way it is refreshing.  I am not living by my schedule or calendar, just living in the moment, seeing what comes next!

I was able to see the sewing shop for the first time!  It is amazing.  They have a lot of great things they are making and selling.  Bags, purses, necklaces, earrings, keychains, curtains, school uniforms, and of course the AMAZING rice bag purses.  I was so excited to see several new designs and awesome prints on the rice bags.  Watch this link to see Sandra explaining the products and who made them!

Sewing Shop Video

Sewing Shop

Outside of sewing shop

I also visited Isabel at her home.  Isabel is the vision behind the sewing projects and the woman I have been working with on the bags.  She showed me her materials and ideas and we just had a chance to catch up and enjoy seeing each other.  Of course our conversation was somewhat limited because I don’t speak a lot of Spanish and she does not speak much English!  Frustrating!  She also gave me a bag she had made for me which included an awesome strap which she took form another purse.  She told me that I am the one who taught her to recycle!  Yeah, I love it!

I also reunited with Francelli (fran Kelly) an awesome little boy I met last time!  As we were hanging out I picked up a bottle cap from the ground and the next thing I knew I received handfuls of them all night!  I am collecting them to make earrings with the girls club later this week.

Video of Carlo and Francelli collecting caps

I am meeting with Isabel today to discuss bag production and hopefully I can sit in and watch her make one!

Casa Obear, Puerto Plata, Day 1

So we made it to the Dominican Republic!  It is so amazing and beautiful.  I feel blessed to have spent yesterday with the team resting and sightseeing in the area.  We rode up the Foliculo, basically a cable car up the mountain to an amazing view of the city.  At the top there is a statue or Jesus, very similar to the stature in Rio with his hands outstretched over the city, but much smaller.  We had a clear view for about 15 minutes before clouds rolled in for the remainder of our stay.  But being among the clouds is a rare thing that I enjoyed!

A crazy thing happened to me the night before I left for Puerta Plata.  I had a late softball game and came home around 10:30 still having to pack and make sure I had everything.  When I walked into my apartment, I smelled something, not a good smell!  I looked around and made it to my bathroom to find sewage standing in my tub and toilet!  I gagged a couple of times and tried to decide what to do.  It was around 11pm at this point.  Too late to call the landlord, too late to call the neighbors!  Ugh, what do I do!  Why was this happening now?  I was home all day and could have dealt with it earlier!  So I closed the bathroom door and finished packing.  The one problem was, I need to take a shower before I left at 4 am to get to my flight!  What a huge inconvenience!

The more I paused and contemplated the situation, the more I was able to let go and say, there is nothing I can do at this point.  I have to give it up and continue on.  I also thought about the timing of it happening.  I was going to a village in less that 24 hours called Aquas Negras, which means black water.  I would assume they refer to it as this because of the sewage, the trash, and dirt that is in the village and water surrounding it.  Wow.  Here I was complaining and feeling sorry for myself for having to deal with it for 5 hours.  The people in Aquas Negras deal with it daily and continually!  What an eye-opening experience. Not to say that I will ever understand what it is like to live in Aquas Negras or somewhere similar, but I feel I was able to walk in their shoes for a couple of hours and appreciate something I always take for granted.

Today we are going to Aquas Negras and I will see Isabel and the others in the community!

Foliculo View of Puerta Plata and the village of Aquas Negras

Tonya and Me with the Statue de Cristo

I HEART the DR

My first blog post, this is a lot of pressure!  But I have some exciting things to talk about as far as the happenings of Kellybeth Designs.  My first several posts will be about the I HEART the DR Bag line and how I want to “Give them some Credit.”

How does the I HEART the DR Line merge with Kellybeth Designs?  I love what I do as far as designing jewelry and owning my own business, but working with women and encouraging them to explore their own creative talents is where my heart is!  The bag line is a subline of Kellybeth.  Being recycled, green, and handmade makes it a perfect product to sell along side the credit card jewelry.

I HEART the DR Bag Line

Last June I traveled to the Dominican Republic with Denver Community Church. We ventured to Aquas Negras, a marginalized community with few amenities or running water. It was obvious that they were poor in material necessities, but had an amazing sense of community and a heart for God and his people! We met an amazing group of women already sewing and selling a line of bags at a local sewing shop. (Isabel) Walking around the neighborhood I continually saw old 50lb rice bags lying around. That is when it came to me, I could partner with them and sell purses/bags the women made out of rice bags in boutiques in the U.S.! Recycled, green, hot right now in the US. That is where it all the I HEART the DR bag line started.

I am returning tomorrow (June 23^rd) to the DR!  I can’t wait to see what the women have been working on!

While I am in Aquas Negras I want to continue to build the partnership between Kellybeth and these women. We will be making tote bags which I will bring back with me in August. I believe in empowering this community to work to provide for their families, not just simply giving them money. Dignity and respect is found through working and providing. A small financial “loan” or the I heart the DR line, will provide these women with an opportunity to “help themselves” and work with dignity!

I will be blogging and posting video and pictures (fingers crossed, depending on the internet connection!) of the bag production process and also more about the community!   I can’t wait to show you how amazing these people are and what I get to experience when I am with them!  Pass this along to anyone you think may be interested!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110807295634107

www.kellybethdesigns.com

The first round of Rice Bag Purses