Charms, Charms, Charms! I Just Can't Get Enough!

Hi Everyone, (or anyone who is still pit stopping my neglected corner of the Web)
One small humble post over Christmas! How sad is that? Please know I have been crafting away every single spare moment I have.  I just can't seem to get back into posting.  I think it is because I am in a "gear shift" phase. I have become obsessed with charms and charm bracelets. Bad pictures and all, this post will show you just how obsessed I am.  With that said here we go: So the bracelets at Christmas went over so big that peeps were asking me "What's next?" and my first thought was a Valentine's Day bracelet and after careful thought and consideration I decided that the cost for a give-away for that holiday was just over my budget.  I soon realized that my next "big" time of year was summer.  I get into summer big! I love the beach and my pool.  I love 4th of July and all the patriotic themes and the whole red, white and blue. I decided that the first bracelet I was going to make was the "beach" theme bracelet.  I set off to ESTY on my quest to find beach themed charms that would be cost effective so that I could make a slue of bracelets to pass out to my peeps.  This time round I threw in some wine charm wires because I know a lot of people who just don't wear bracelets.  This way I could make a little some'in some'in for everyone. Now here is where I get a tad crazy obsessed . . . So I am on ETSY and I return to a favorite shop called Loretta's Beads.  Here is the link to her ETSY shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LorettasBeads
I just love her shop and have made multiple purchases from her.  She is located in California. Oh boy, did she ever save me at Christmas when I was making the music themed bracelets for the music teachers. Loretta had the best music note charms I could find! So of course with her great customer service and fast shipping I headed back to her shop for some beachy goodness.  Well right from the start I fell in love (that's love with a capital "L") with the open scallop shell #SC1909. 50 qty for $8.50.  OH BABY! that's a deal for sure! As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted them so without hesitation it was "add to cart"!!  They arrived fast.  Here is a picture of a few of them:

Are they not AWESOME!!!

So cute, right?  Yes, Yes they are perfect, but I knew I wanted more.(here is where the obsessed, she has to much time on her hands comes in) See the little silver ball that is the pearl.  Well, I thought lets get a real pearl in there. As it happens I had a broken bracelet of my Mom's in my crafty stash and I thought why not get out the ole Dremmel handpiece and get rid of the metal and add a real pearl.  By now you all realize this is a charm has a value of about 17 cents, but what the hay, I want to play with my craft supplies.  So I grabbed the E6000 glue, cleaned up the pearls from Mom's bracelet and there you have it . . . a real pearl in a .17 cent charm.  Here are some more pics:

Drilled out and ready for a pearl!!

Glued and ready to squeeze closed:

I squeezed carefully as to not snap the shell and it worked out perfectly. Here is a picture of the finished bracelet:

Now as you can see I can't take a picture to save my life, but I think you get the idea and the idea is when you spend your money on awesome craft supplies do your best to take it just one step further because that is what being crafty is all about.  Oh and check this out here is my other new crafty good mojo "Metal Stamping"  Yeah!, now all my bracelet include a tag with the recipients intials! Here is a pic:

Yup, this first beach bracelet is going to my daughter Samantha, simply because not only do I love her she is the best daughter EVER!!
Not all the charms on this bracelet came from Lorettas Beads but I highly recommend that if you are in need of bead she has the shop that can assist with all your needs.
Now I have to think of the perfect box for these bracelets.  Hope to be back soon with more bracelets to show you all.  Thanks for stopping by,
Lysa