Enamoured heart

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/08/2004 (7706 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOVE of children is something you hold close to you heart. And now you can cherish it with a keepsake designed by a Charleswood mother.

In Lori Bettig’s home-based business, called The Enamoured Heart, she makes sterling silver mother and baby name bracelets. Parents and grandparents can order bracelets with their kid’s or grandchild’s names and birthstones on them.

“I was inspired when a friend had a bracelet made with her kids’ names on it,” says Bettig. “She got it from a friend in the United States. I had to have my own, and when I wore it, everyone admired my ‘mom’s bracelet’ and wanted to know where I got it. So I knew there was a demand.”

She got to work, did some research on the Internet to order some supplies, and started experimenting.

“It was trial and error really,” she says. “I had never made any jewelry before.”

Bettig got her first mom’s bracelet in 2001, when she had two children. She now has three — sons Calahan and Caymen and daughter Capri.

She was a production coordinator and customer service representative for a graphics company, but chose to stay home with her kids. Now she is focusing on her new enterprise.

“We love and cherish our children so much,” she says. “We want a reminder of them around us constantly. I wanted to make affordable, beautiful keepsakes to help them cherish the love in their hearts. It’s an awesome concept. The sentiment is so appropriate.”

The bracelets are made of sterling silver alphabet beads with letters formed in oxidized silver. They include Austrian Swarovski crystal birthstones, and are strung on a nylon-coated steel strand with a 26-pound break strength for durability.

They are always personal. For moms or grandmas, chunkier letters are used with a toggle clasp with heart charm. Up to four names can be included. Of course, it depends on the size of each person’s wrist, and the number of letters in each name. If they won’t all fit on one strand, more strands can be included with a name on each.

“I have a few versions,” says Bettig. “Some I call chunky funky. Others are more delicate, with smaller blocks.”

While they are the perfect gift for mom or grandma, Bettig also designs bracelets for christenings than can be worn on the baby’s ankle for the event, and kept as a memento, or given to a young girl. All bracelets are expandable, because she can restring them as the child grows or if a mom has more children. As well, people may choose to separate the strands and have each child’s name restrung on its own separate bracelet, to pass along later on.

The bracelets are quite feminine, so they are targeted to girls and women. But Bettig plans to develop a more masculine design so men won’t be left out. She is also designing bracelets with inspirational words on them, and similar necklaces with names or words on them. To date, The Enamoured Heart bracelets have been displayed at The Forks, Scattered Seeds and other craft shows. People love the personal touch they offer, she says. For example, two Japanese tourists were charmed to learn they could have their uncommon names on bracelets. Tourists from Germany and South Africa have also bought bracelets. And one grandmother had her grandchild’s and her dog’s names put on her bracelet. To date, she has sold over 170 bracelets. She works on her dining room table, and plans to set up a website in the near future.

For further information on The Enamoured Heart and the mom’s bracelets, call Bettig at 475-9485.