Bracelet for a Special Mom

Mother's Day!  A chance for us to give a tiny bit back to the lady who gave so much to us.  A great excuse for a lovely brunch and a bouquet of flowers.   But wait, isn't that what we did last year?  And the year before?   Perhaps it's time for something a little different.
I'm certainly not advocating taking your mother bungee-jumping (I just thought of my own mother's face at this idea, and snorted tea through my nose),  but what's wrong with having a special little personalized present ready to hand your mother, or to slyly place on her brunch plate?
I had actually heard of Mother's Bracelets before, but not being a Mom myself, I just really wasn't sure what they were.   Apparently, the basic concept is a bracelet for a mother to wear, that would be made up of initials, names, birthstones and/or charms that symbolize her children (or grandchildren), their birthdates and their favorite activities.
Just like mothers, no two Mother's bracelets are exactly alike; variations on the bracelet are nearly endless.   The simplest version would involve a clasp, some Swarovski Crystal 4mm or 6mm round or bicone beads in birthstone colors, silver spacer beads, and Pewter alphabet cube beads.  These beads commonly come in 4.5mm or 5.5mm width.  Sometimes you can find them in heart or oval shapes.
So for one child, you simply center beads spelling their name on the bracelet, and put equal numbers of crystal (or gemstone) beads to either side, using small silver spacers to put variation into your design.  If you have two or three children, you can simply make your bracelet a multi-strand bracelet, one strand for each child, with all strands reducing into one clasp, by means of a strand reducer or beading cone.     Or you could make a single bracelet, with the initial of each child, spaced out between crystal or stone beads, or between decorative silver beads.
Want to go beyond this simple design?   Hang a charm from the clasp, or two or three between beads, symboIizing the children and their interests.  A baseball, a ballet shoe, a baby's binky, all are cute reminders of your children.
There is a trend right now for making photo charms, so there is a wide selection of  little photo frames available from Beadaholique.   A tiny photo or color copy, some Art Glaze or UV resin and the frame of your choice will create a charm that will make the bracelet something Mom can't wait to show off.
Slightly less traditionally, charms can be used to make a Mother's Charm Bracelet (picture it, a beautiful chain, traditional charms, photo charms, and letters of the alphabet) or even a Mother's Necklace - framed photo a must, plus a Letter Pendant and a little colorful charm or bead.
If your mom is like mine, she'll love whatever we children put in front of her, but I'm hoping that this year she'll be secretly extra impressed when I present my lovingly crafted, homemade mother's bracelet. With any luck, she'll be too busy admiring the photos and figuring out which charm represents which kid to notice we've waited two hours for brunch.