Charmed Affections

My youngest daughter, now 23 lies enlisted in the US Navy. She left for Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois November of 2008. When she got out of Boot Camp it was off To Pensacola for school and now she is stationed in Hawaii and will be deployed sometime this year for 7 months.
I wanted to do something special for her before she left and Artbeads.com came to the rescue. It was time for the Valentine’s Day Blog for Beads!
I have wanted to do a charm bracelet for some time now but never really had a theme I could decide on. This was it! They have an amazing selection of charms and some beautiful sterling chains, they even have a stunning US Navy charm, which I quickly added to my chopping cart. I cannot tell you how fast the wheels began to spin after I spotted that. I decided to get some state charms for every state she has been in since enlisting; Illinois for Boot Camp, Florida of "A" School, Connecticut where she was living when she enlisted, Maine because that is home, and Hawaii because that is where she is now. I also chose a beautiful daughter charm in the shape of a heart and a flower toggle clasp in sterling. I was very pleased with the charms I received. They have a very nice weight to them unlike charms I have seen elsewhere.
Now I wanted a little color so I added Swarovski crystals in pink, and then added a couple of pink opals and pink pearls that I placed on sterling headpins. I found another really cool item while shopping, sterling oval jump rings, which are better than round. This was the first time I have used them and I love them! I will probably never use the round again. You can read the how and why here.
I have also invited her friends and family members to stop by Artbeads.com and take a look, choose something and have it sent to me so I can add it to the bracelet. Artbeads.com has free shipping with every order no matter how small or large so it makes it easy for others to contribute (I love that when I only need a couple of items). As difficult as it was I left space for more to be added during her Navy career.

Blog for Beads by Artbeads.com contributed a large part of my materials in exchange for my honest evaluation of their merchandise in my blog. I am not paid to endorse them in any way.