Look What I Made: Love Letter Charm Necklaces

Introducing my NEW Love Letter Charm Necklace Series.

Featuring actual text from love letters written by famous authors, poets, and historical figures, the Love Letter Charm Necklaces would make a romantic Valentine’s Day gift for a special lady. And all of the Love Letter Charm Necklaces (as well as everything else in my shop) are on sale for 25% off until February 15th with the coupon code: CUPID13.

Captain Wentworth Love Letter Charm Necklace, Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Nathaniel Hawthorne	Victor Hugo
John Keats	Mark Twain
Oscar Wilde

My Thoughts On This Design:

The weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day is an important time for someone who designs and sells jewelry. You want to make sure that people looking for a romantic and meaningful gifts to give their sweethearts can find something beautiful in your shop. As this is Ciarrai Studios first Valentine’s Day since our launch back in August, I really wanted to make some special items to celebrate the season. The guiding thought that I kept coming back to was: what would I love to get for Valentine’s Day myself? As my husband, Rob, can tell you, Valentine’s Day is a pretty big deal to me and I am a sucker for big romantic gestures so the bar was set pretty high.

After some brainstorming, I came up with the idea to poke around and research love letters written by famous, historical figures to see if I could make romantic charm necklaces out of them. I read letters by powerful leaders, writers, composers, and artists. I even read a series of love letters written between a 12th Century nun and monk! I read passionate letters, heartbreaking letters, sweet letters, and playful letters. The kind of letters that women wish they would receive and that men wish they could write!!

And not only were the letters interesting to read themselves, but the stories of the lovers who wrote and received them was fascinating as well. Some of the stories, like the ill-fated romance between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, I already knew but others (like the story of Héloïse d’Argenteuil and Peter Abelard (the 12th Century nun and monk that I mentioned earlier) were totally new to me!

There were so many incredible letters that the hardest part of this project was choosing which letters to include in this series. My personal favorite is the letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I don’t normally associate the author of The Scarlet Letter with romance but his letter to his wife was so sweet and playful that it just melts my heart a little. I was also pleasantly surprised by Mark Twain’s letter. Again, I don’t think of Twain as a romantic author but his utterly adorable letter to his wife makes me smile, especially the postscript. And I couldn’t resist making a necklace inspired by Captain Wentworth’s letter to Anne Eliot in Jane Austen’s novel, Persuasion. While the captain is fictional and all the other letters are historical and real, when I think of incredible love letters, I cannot leave out a letter that includes lines like: “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.” (Pardon me while I swoon a little!).

Once I had decided which letters to work with, I made handmade resin charms with text from the letters and combined them with silver charms of a pen nib, a love letter, and a Swarovski crystal heart to make the necklaces. As of right now, I only have red, pink, and purple hearts but I am expecting a shipment of hearts in a variety of colors (including the birthstone crystal colors) and once those arrive, you will be able to customize the Love Letter Charm Necklaces with whatever colors you like.

Of course, no matter which letter I chose, I couldn’t fit all of the text in a charm necklace and there was something off about getting a love letter necklace and not getting a love letter. So I decided to include a print-out of the full letter text which each necklace. To add a little extra touch of old-fashioned romance, I bought a wax seal and some sealing wax to hand seal the letter in their envelope. I have always thought that sealing letters with wax seemed cool and romantic and I can now report that it is as cool as I always imagined it to be. I bought a seal with the word “Love” on it but I am already drooling over other stamps like this cool Celtic Knit stamp from Nostalgic Impressions.

So what do you think? Is there someone whose letters you would like me to add to the series? Let me know in the comments!