Mink&Stone 'Spring Has Sprung' Bracelet

Hi Everyone!

The idea behind Mink&Stone is that you can create your own pieces of jewellery (necklaces & bracelets) using their website, cutting out the need to scour the shops for the beads you want. When I met representatives from the brand I wasn’t convinced. Being a crafty person, I enjoy the physical action of sourcing, buying the elements & then making products. I was given the opportunity to design my own piece of Mink&Stone jewellery & decided to give it a try - I was so glad I did!

Your first decision to make is whether you want a necklace, & if so which type, or a bracelet.

From here, you can choose your beads from the categories of 'colour', 'use', 'material', 'collection' & 'size group'. By filtering through the beads you can see what you want (or don't), which can help give you great inspiration! I knew I didn't want wooden beads or anything large so avoided these. 

I started by scrolling through the entire bead collection & yes, this did take me a long time but I loved it! 

You can find out all the information on each of the by clicking on the 'i'. I loved that Mink&Stone are so specific about the price, size, colour, material, finish & even a suggestion of how the bead might be used. Remember I said that I wasn't convinced about this concept? These details completely changed my mind! It felt like I was choosing the beads because I truly was!

I got very excited & started putting all the beads I loved into trays to use when designing my bracelet. A + symbol appears when you hover the curser over the beads. 

Unfortunately there is a limit to the number of trays/beads in trays you can have. As a result I spent a LOT of time putting beads into trays which then had to be redone. It wasn't a complete waste of my time as I became more familiar with the beads available & began to form an idea in my mind of what I wanted my bracelet to look like. Note the 'Venus' symbols either side of the 'i', we'll come back to this later!

You can manage your trays in your account.

Now to the really exciting part - creating my bracelet!

Mink&Stone have a vast array of bead options. I really enjoyed the experience of choosing my beads, creating my pattern, not liking it, trying something else & seeing just how much, bead by bead, my item would cost. As we saw above, there are 'Venus' symbols either side of the 'i' symbol. You can use these to add beads onto the left or right sides of your necklace or bracelet. What I didn't realise was that you can click on the beads you have added to move or remove them. Instead I started over & over again each time I did something I didn't like!

Something I really like is that once you've added a bead, it becomes an 'added item', which you can then use rather than scrolling through the numerous available beads again & again! You also have a running total of what you're necklace or bracelet is going to cost. I love this feature of Mink&Stone's website.

I really loved the flower accent bead so wanted that to be a feature of the bracelet. I wanted to make my bracelet dainty & be something I could wear all day, every day! For this reason, I also chose the silver & pink spacers. I played around with the pattern & when I was happy, saved & named my bracelet!

One think I didn't realise was that my bracelet would come with a little Mink&Stone tag on the chain. This makes the bracelet look even more exclusive!

My 'Spring Has Sprung' bracelet* cost a grand total of £14.79 & I love it! You can go over & check my completed bracelet out here & even purchase it yourself!

I'm so pleased with my bracelet & love that I designed it myself!

What do you think?

Would you design a piece for yourself or as a gift?

Tania Xx