Mother's Starlight Bracelet

If you are new to beading, this a great beginner's project from Rings & Things. Create the bracelet for yourself or as a touching homemade Mother's Day gift. Different beads on this stunning bracelet represent members of the family.
 

Materials (available from Rings &Things):

• 8mm sterling stardust birthstone beads, one in mother's color, one in father's color.
• 6mm sterling stardust birthstone beads, one in each child's color.
• Sterling changeable bead cuff-style bracelet
• Glass "Ultra-coated" roller beads in -890 crystal/purple
• 6mm diamond-cut sterling beads

Instructions:

This is more a "family" bracelet than just a mother's bracelet, since 2 of the children are my stepchildren. Since they are the oldest kid's, and dad is the oldest parent, it made sense to start with them.

We started at one end with an 8mm (April) bead for dad, and then put his oldest child's 6mm bead (August) next to him, then 3 more 6mm beads (June, April, and November) in birth order, then mom's 8mm bead (September) at the other end to wrap it up.

Two of the 6mm beads needed 2-3 quick twists with a bead reamer (85-395), to get them to fit onto the bracelets. (The holes were just a tiny fraction too small.)

Then, since I didn't like the feel of the beads sliding around the whole bracelet, I needed some additional beads to fill the space to the ends. It was surprisingly hard to find just the right (small, basic) beads with large enough holes to fit onto the bracelet!

In glass, the "ultra" coated roller beads have a subtle finish that worked well with the stardust beads' matte yet shiny finish. The sterling diamond-cut beads were a tiny bit too shiny when right next to the stardust beads, but separated by an ultra-coated roller bead, they worked perfectly.