Sometimes I wear only the girls' names
First off, please don't read meem above when you see Meme. Say Me Me.
Meme is a young teenager in our church who I've known and loved for many years. Her name is actually Emmalise, but she goes by Meme, pronounced as one would say Mimi.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Because I want you to know about a special project that Meme completed for me.
Us four and no more
An artistic commission, as it were.
The whole thing started as far back as three years ago when my daughter-in-law, Brittany, gave me a stretchy name bracelet spelling out the name of our granddaughter Ember.
It's beautiful and I love it and I often wear it.
But then, back in early May, TG and I traveled up to the Midwest to see our Cubbies play at Wrigley Field, and then worked our way east until we reached the charming home of Mari and Bob, near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
My first name bracelet: A gift from Brittany
The first night we were there, Mari invited her two daughters and their husbands and children over for hamburgers and hot dogs and delicious side dishes.
I had some gifts for the children, and as it turned out, Mari's two eldest granddaughters, Alaina and Ruby, had gifts for me.
Alaina had made me a clever and beautiful pencil and pen holder, which I keep on a table and use often.
Ruby made me a stretchy bracelet. The alphabet beads read: I HEART PIRATES.
Ruby made this for me
Except the heart is an actual heart symbol. So adorable! There is also a little piratey charm hanging from the bracelet.
Nearly every time I have gotten dressed to go out since then, I have worn that bracelet.
One day I also added my Ember name bracelet to my pirate bracelet. And an idea was born.
I should pull over and park here. You may as well know that I'm big on arm candy. As in, I always wear a number of bracelets. All at once. A stack.
She even included a piratey charm
Always and only on my left arm; I don't like anything on my right arm. But I will stack those bracelets like you wouldn't believe. It's sort of my signature.
Having the idea to wear each of my grandchildren's names on my arm (amongst my other bracelets), I wondered who I would ask to make my vision a reality.
And so I consulted Dagny. Who do you know who can make really good name bracelets? I asked her.
Right away, she said that her friend Meme was the one for the job.
That's my boys
I was not aware that Meme had talents in that arena, so I purposed to ask her about her ability and willingness to make a quantity of name bracelets for me.
She readily agreed and was excited about the prospect of making the bracelets.
We agreed on a price per bracelet, and I said that I would gather all of the materials and bring them to her. The only thing Meme would need to supply was the stretchy stuff that the beads are strung onto.
Sometimes I wear the children from one family
So it was that I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out all of the bracelet beads, and spacers, and alphabet beads, that would be needed.
As I did all of that, I added to the order: I wanted Meme to make name bracelets for Erica with the names of Rhett and Elliot. Later I added one for Audrey, with Dagny's name.
Because she saw Erica's bracelets and said, I want one!
A pirate and a Cub fan
There is also an expectant mother in our church and I wanted a bracelet for her to wear with her baby's name, to give to her at her shower which was at that time upcoming.
So there was a lot of work to be done.
I know enough about Hobby Lobby to buy certain things when they are on sale, and lucky for me, when I was ready to purchase the materials for the bracelets, that whole bead section was half off.
Erica's babies
(I know that's a trick played by retailers but I fall for it every time.)
When I brought the components of the bracelets home, I put together a sandwich baggie for each bracelet.
Each baggie contained a card spelling out the name for a single bracelet, plus all of the beads that would be needed for that bracelet.
Audrey's baby
In addition, there were two small containers of spacers: silver and gold. Eventually Meme and I would settle on gold spacers for the girls and silver for the sons.
The alphabet beads would be white with black letters for the girls, and the reverse for the boys.
It was to be ten bracelets at first: Eight for me (one for each grandchild) plus two more (Rhett and Elliot, for Erica's birthday at the end of May). Then shortly after, I added one for an expectant mom in our church, and one for Audrey just because I didn't want her to be the only one without her baby's name on a bracelet.
Only Dagny's included the middle name
So, a total of twelve.
Yes I realize I have not mentioned our Stephanie receiving name bracelets for her three babies. Shhhh! We are working on those. She has a birthday coming up in early September.
So, make it fifteen bracelets that Meme either has made or will make for me.
Rhett and Skippy adorn their mother's arm
Since then, I located a set of three stretchy Cub-fan bracelets. I throw those on too, some days. They have been especially fun this summer since baseball is a summer game, and the colors are red, white, and blue.
Some days I wear my Cub-fan bracelets and my I Heart Pirates bracelet and leave the grandkids in the jewelry box. It's all good.
As for the expectant mom in our church, I want to tell you about Meme's reaction when I added that baby's name bracelet to the order. The little one's name is Ezra.
Meme refused to allow me to pay for it. I provided the materials but she wanted to donate her time to make the bracelet for the new mom. And she was so happy to do that, because that's the kind of young lady she is.
Stacked with blessings
And that new mom, whose little one is due in the next few weeks, was so thrilled with her bracelet. She wore it throughout her baby shower and I have seen her wearing it since.
I heard another lady in our church telling Meme that she'd seen my bracelets and wanted name bracelets for her own grandchildren. So I'm hopeful that we've started something that may turn out to be a cottage industry for Meme.
And yes I'm aware that I could log on to Etsy or Amazon and find dozens if not hundreds of crafters who make name bracelets to custom order. But I like giving the work and the money to Meme.
Me and Meme
Do you know a young lady who makes name bracelets? I know that Mari does, haha! Know a young lady, that is. Make that two young ladies, both extremely talented.
Would you like a few such bracelets for your own collection? If you get some made, I want to see them.
And that is all for now.
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Happy Monday
