Celebrating 15 Years of the Sweetie

Dress – Marshall's / Jacket – All Saints (similar here) / Heels – Stuart Weitzman / Bracelet – Links of London

When I was younger, charm bracelets were a big thing in my life. I would visit the mall once a month to pick up a new one to add to my collection. From clip on charms, to chain link bracelets, you name it – I had it! Sadly though, jewelry made for children isn't necessarily designed to grow with you. A lot of the charm bracelets that I had owned at the time ended up tarnishing, breaking, and even getting lost. Yep, lost. I wasn't the most careful child out there.

As I grew up, my affinity to charm bracelets never left, but my opinion of my childhood ones was that they were tacky, clunky, and just overall not cute. One day while in high school, I stumbled across the brand Links of London and fell in love. Their Sweetie bracelet was the epitome of the perfect mature charm bracelet. Minimalistic to be worn on its own, yet still retained it's maturity when charms were attached.

While in the process of planning my London trip, Links of London reached out to me to create my own Sweetie bracelet in collaboration for my trip in celebration of the bracelet's 15 year anniversary. How fitting that I would be partnering with a brand from London for my trip to London? I instantly agreed. Seeing as the bracelet had been on my mind for years, I felt that it was a perfect fit.

I don't think that I've had the chance to share my London Travel Diaries yet (I promise that it's coming soon!), so you might not have seen all of the charms that I added onto my Sweetie bracelet, but you can see how it looked for my London trip here. After coming back, I decided that I wanted to turn the bracelet into a memory of trips that I've shared with P.

When I heard news that the third free standing Links of London location was opening up in Yorkdale, I knew that I had to pop in to visit. I brought Mel in with me, seeing as she hadn't yet been introduced to the brand, and she too instantly fell in love. I added a new charm to commemorate an upcoming trip to Portugal and Morocco that P and I have planned together, as well as finishing the inscription on the back of our London plaque. Before we left for the UK, I had engraved on the dates (05/26/17)of our trip, and wanted to also engrave the destination (LDN) upon our return. After deciding that I wanted the bracelet represent our trips around the world, I thought that it would only be fitting to engrave another plaque with our new travel dates (8/24/17). When we return, I'll finish the engraving with the location (POR & MOR). This will soon become the start of a tradition.

Before I forget, I also added on one more charm – mainly because it was ridiculously cute, a sheep! Isn't it adorable? I had the charms rearranged when being restrung to situate the V next to the sheep, and the rest of the charms representing travel would sit closely together.

I know it seems that I already have so many charms on my bracelet, but I can't help but want more! My current goal is to fill this one up with plaques of all of my trips with P, and then creating a separate one with the cute charms so that I can wear two bracelets that compliment each other.

My favourite thing about the Sweetie bracelet is that it's so customizable. No two bracelets will ever look alike, unless you're purposefully creating it like that. When I went in with Mel, she decided to go in a completely different direction with hers. You can check out this post on her blog for her experience. But I was so fascinated as to how we both interpreted the same bracelet so differently!

I can't wait to add more charms, and to watch my bracelet evolve over the years. If you guys already have your own Sweetie bracelet, I'd love to hear your story! And if you're planning on adding some additional charms to your collection, make sure to pop into the new location at Yorkdale to visit the space!

Photography credits: See Dave Do