For a long time, my favourite jeweller has been Mr John Greed. He has a shop in Lincoln and also does a vast amount of internet business via his website. The range he carries is simply massive but, more over, he has a fabulous mix of contemporary to quirky. Service is efficient and prices are reasonable. I suggest you go take a look. However, the main purpose of this particular entry is to focus on the Pandora line of charm bracelets.
John Greed Jewellery is currently running a competition for bloggers. Basically, you create your perfect charm bracelet and if your blog about the hows and whys of it turns out to be the best one, you win the bracelet (please see here for competition details if you want to enter). This blog entry is my submission to the competition.
First of all, you have to choose your base bracelet. There is a huge range to choose from on the John Greed site. For me, there are only two real choices: the silver or oxidised silver bracelets. Leather bracelets aren’t a huge pull for me as I have always, and will always, be a silver girl. Anyway, I digress. I ultimately chose the regular silver bracelet as it’s A) gorgeous and B) is the least likely to clash with any charm choices. Here’s a little image for you to enjoy:
Next, I need to make some serious decisions on what charms I would choose. It’s pretty easy to name the theme of the bracelet. It’s going to be the things that I love in different sections.
The basic bracelet I chose can be defined into three solid sections by using a clip charm/bead. As my bracelet’s theme is ‘Things I Love’, I went for one of the Pandora Silver Queen of Hearts Clip Charms so that I could begin with two solid sections. Within solid sections you can expand the topic later, as Pandora bracelets can use a ‘spacer’ charm in order to keep sections distinct. Clever, huh? Ultimately, I would make the bracelet into three sections: People I Love, Things I Love and Places I Love. I would expand on the sections and define them with spacer charms over time as and when I needed to purchase the charms. Here’s the clip bead I have chosen:
The first section is a no brainer: People I love. I want something to remind me of how they make me feel and how lucky I am to have them. Thankfully, John Greed’s Pandora bead charm range is colossal and I found the perfect charm combination to represent my family and friends.
In order to represent both the theme and People I Love section, I chose the Pandora Silver Key to My Heart Charm. You tend to keep things you love locked in your heart and, as a rule, my friends and family are the only ones granted the key to unlock mine. It truly is perfect as a representation of both aspects. I also chose the Pandora Silver Present Charm as my family and friends are a gift to me. I am always grateful to receive them whether it’s a phone call, a visit, a wall post or just a kind thought sent my way. Finally, I chose the Pandora Silver Wishbone Charm to represent just how lucky I am to have each and every one of them as a part of my life. They are everything I could wish for. Here are the charms for you to admire:
That’s one section of my ‘Things I Love’ bracelet completed.
The second section would be hobbies. I have several hobbies I love. They include cycling, baking, music, blogging, written correspondence and computer games. I couldn’t have all of them as charms within the scope of the competition so, I had to cut back. I went for baking and music. I selected the Pandora Silver and 14ct Gold Cupcake Charm as my homage to baking. It was a close contest between the Cupcake Charm or the Gingerbread Man Charm. Ultimately, the cupcake won by a whisker as cupcakes are just more fun to bake and make than biscuits. I chose the Pandora Silver Dangle Music Note Charm to represent music as, although there was a very good drum charm and an excellent guitar charm, I don’t exclusively like drums or guitars. My passion is for music as a whole and the only thing to encompass that is the music note charm. Feast your eyes on these beauties!
I would arrange the charms as follows on the bracelet. Hopefully you can see where I would intend to go with the bracelet over time and just how versatile the Pandora bracelets are.
So, that is my lot. £250 worth of bracelet created. This blog is my entry into John Greed Jewellery’s blogger challenge.
Had the contest limit been higher, I would have addressed my final section: Places I Love. I would begin with the Pandora London Bus Charm to represent the obvious, London. I love London endlessly. I even love the rudeness and anonymity you can have in London. I have written previous entries about my love for London, I won’t spout on again now. I would also have added the Pandora Silver and Green Enamel Four Leaf Clover Dangle Charm to represent Ireland. My trip to Ireland gives me a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had a genuinely fantastic time and loved Dublin. I am planning to travel the world next year so I’m sure I would have plenty of charms to add by the end of 2014. For now, I would begin with just those two.
I hope you enjoyed the blog. I enjoyed writing it.
Lincs to London 