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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

charm bracelets

I love charm bracelets. I have this one that tells so many stories of my life. I had it made in Tennessee from this company Family Strands (I don't think they are in business anymore)
I went to this lady's house and spent about three hours picking out every charm and bead. Each strand represents a state we had lived in. One for Utah the bottom strand, Louisiana the top strand and Tennessee the middle strand.

the Utah strand has...
a fish bead to remember when Jeff and I used to go fishing and camping up the canyon all the time, a wedding ring charm because we were married there, a snowflake charm to remember the snow, a small little silver bead with a "Y" on in for BYU, and a few beads that look like snow, a bead with eyes on it to remember when I worked for Dr. Carver (and fainted in the operating room)
the Louisiana strand has...
a mignon faget silver bean charm, a silver thimble because that is where I learned to sew, (thanks Mindy) a small silver bead with the letter T on it for Tulane, a handblown harliquien bead, a silver baby cup because Annie Kate was born there and the rest of the glass beads are all purple and green.
the Tennessee strand has..
an orange and white bead for UT, a glass bead with all fall colors to remember the leaves changing, a bunch of pink and green beads, a small silver bead with the letter V for Vanderbilt, silver cowboy boots for all the country stars I saw there (and I love country music) and a bunch of pink and green, I swear those are the state colors, a silver charm with a purse because to remind me of Pockets & Posies (my sweat shop on my kitchen table sewing hundreds of bags), then I need to add two silver baby charms for Caroline and Sally Jane.
The bracelet is finished off with a house charm to represent some of our homes. I guess I will need to get a D.C. one too. ( I actually already bought a silver lamp charm at Mt. Vernon)

I love when I wear this to church and Annie Kate will say "mom tell me the stories..."
the concept of the company is so brilliant. You usually make them for your family with one strand for each child representing all their stories. Here is a better photo of one of their bracelets.
Do you have any great resources for charm bracelets??
I added James Avery to my catalog list and they have great charms.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

What a fun concept!
I bet your girls love hearing the stories that the beads and charms represent.

Dana :)

everything pink! said...

Allison, do tell more. I have not heard of that is nomination a brand?

everything pink! said...

duh, i did a google search. i had not heard them called that before, what a great gift!

Elisa said...

Darin's dad was/is a social worker and at one of his continual learning courses they did that same activity (the picking of beads to represent life and people) as therapy. So you can consider you recieved 3 hours of therapy with the price of the braclet!

Angie said...

I have a charm bracelet too with just charms of things I like, places we have been,...

I bought Mackenzi one on her third birthday but she has outgrown it so I need to buy her a new one, along with my other two girls. I usually buy and or get charms for special occassions.

I love yours. The story it tells is so cool.

Jordan said...

That is a great idea. I just made a little bracelet for my Lucy, I should have put some charms on it!

Laurie said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this concept. I love anything that represents a past, a personality, a history. This is neat. I wish I had daughters to make these for. Anyway, my Gma always wore a gold pinecone on a necklace. My Gpa gave it to her. It's delicate, and it reminds me of her. So I had Dana get me a pinecone charm on eBay. I need to figure out what to attach it to. Perhaps a charm bracelet with other representative charms. For me the pinecone represents her faith and strength. I'm trying to come up with a good idea of how to use it......

Jana said...

I love it when you have something that brings forth so many memories. That bracelet is adorable.

LG said...

Super Super cute!!!!
Liesel

Anonymous said...

The website http://www.hand-hammer.com/ has pretty much any silver charm you could think of. A great one. I have a silver charm representing where each one of my children were born. David put it on a charm bracelet and I love it.

Doodle Bugs said...

Oh Wow!! that makes me charm bracelet seem boring. I love all the colors. Mine is all silver. I really like it...

Jill said...

I've never heard of strands on a charm bracelet before, but that's pretty cool. I love how everything has a meaning.

I don't really think of myself as a charm bracelet kind of gal, yet I love charms. Go figure.

stefanie said...

I have recently found a really cute type of bead charm bracelet... not as dangly as a regular charm bracelet and I love it. It is from a company called Chamilia. You can look at all the different kinds of beads on their website and I have found several on Ebay at a good price. For those of you Disney lovers, they have an entire line of Disney beads.