m girls

This set was a gift for a dear friend Amber, who just gave birth to an adorable set of twins, Caitlyn and Madelyn. Because the girls are identical twins, I wanted to make some kind of name bracelets. I'm not a huge fan of names spelled out in alphabet beads -- I wanted something more delicate. I looked at engraving, but the options there were way out of my price range. So I settled for a dangling first initial. I really like the look, especially with the butterfly charm on Amber's bracelet. During her pregnancy, Amber mentioned a particular piece of artwork that portrayed a pregnant woman as a butterfly. The idea of transformation, of growing life really spoke to her. So I wanted to capture that imagery in her bracelet.

I actually looked all over for a suitable butterfly bead. I found a lot that wouldn't work, and finally resigned myself to go without the butterfly. But then in my very own scrap pile, I found a dainty butterfly earring. I was able to trim and bend the post into a loop, and what do you know? It was just right.

Materials: I used glass pearls, swarski bicones, and sterling silver beads. I used green and pink crystals on one baby bracelet, and brown and pink on the other. Amber's combines pink, green and brown crystals. For once, I didn't scavenge thrift stores and junk piles, so I spent a little more on these than I normally do. But I think the results were totally worth it.