Charm Necklaces for Cheer Spirit

There is a recycle bin that I set up where the proceeds go to help one of the school teams. When the girls were on the dance team it went to them, Princess Five didn't try out for the dance team again this year, she chose to do something different. I haven't had the time to post all the crazy things that were going on in our world the past few weeks but one of those things is Princess Five trying out for cheer. I will hopefully get to post about that soon as I need to get caught up and we have camp coming and I need to blog ahead for that week as well.

I use the money from the bin to purchase gifts for the girls before a competition or other events. Cheer camp is coming up soon so I wanted to get the girls something to unite them before camp. I was in Walmart the other day and they had a basket of jewelry on clearance. I couldn't find 20 matching of anything so I started thinking if I could get 20 that had matching earrings, then I could find a cheer charm or something to make the necklaces match for the girls to wear on "game day" before the game.

I purchased 6 or 7 different necklaces as you can see the different charms that they came with.

I pondered on what to put on them wishing I lived in a bigger town sometimes as there weren't many options at Walmart. They did have some cute "key" charms but not enough of exactly the same for the entire team. Princess Five said she was "ok" with the key but would prefer something else. I thought we could do hearts as I have lots of different heart charms but they wouldn't be school specific.

As we were headed home from Walmart, we passed as sign for a clearance sale for a scrapbook/wholesale place that manufactures different things for Hallmark type stores. I felt like I should go there and see if they had any charms. I know in the past that they have had charms for different projects they do.

I walked in and guess what was sitting right next to the cash register... a plastic container of charms. They had real silver charms 4 for $1. They also had non silver charms for the same price. The charms were all mixed together and as I started sorting them, it was taking awhile so I asked the girl working how much for the entire container. She called the owner and she said $20. It was more than I wanted to pay as by then, I could see there weren't 20 of the same charm that would work so just then, the owner walks in and I share that I am trying to find charms for the cheerleaders and her daughter used to be a cheerleader so she has a soft spot I guess as she said, I think I have some silver letters in the back that you could use to put the initials of the school on them. She went back and found them and donated enough for me to put the initials on all the necklaces I purchased.

Princess Five was thrilled and so I spent the evening trying to figure out how to space them as when I just stuck the three charms on, they hung over each other. So, I pondered on that and Princess Five suggested the school colors using pony beads in-between but I didn't want them to look cheap. 

I have mentioned in many posts about how I purchase "grab bags" of jewelry when I see some gold or silver in them. I take out what I want and donate the rest. Recently I have gotten lots of jewelry so I have a larger bag of stuff to donate and I thought I should look in there to see what I could find for free to use as spacers.

Click here for a mention about the jewelry in the bags I purchase in a post about making jewelry.
Click here for a mention in a post about grab bag jewelry in a post about Treasure hunting for gold.
Click here for a mention of the grab bags in a post about finding a gold ring for $1.50.   
I found two of the exact necklace in my grab bag donation pile but in two different colors that had round silver beads on them. The silver beads I already had didn't have a large enough center to fit the necklace portion through. I also found a bracelet with black beads with silver rings every other bead so it was great that I would have enough for all 20 with those three pieces of jewelry. I bagged the other bead off those necklaces so we could use them at some other time if needed for another project.

To remove the necklaces from the boxes, I carefully took the insert out of the box, turned them around and untwisted the white wire tie that was holding the charm on the front. I tried to keep the boxes in good shape so once I put the new charm back on, I could make them look new.

Once the necklace was off the box insert, by using needle nosed pliers on one ring near the back clasp of the necklace, I opening it up just a little so I could, slip the end chain off one end and was able to remove the charm off the necklace. I put the new charms on with the spacer beads and replaced the end chain and used the pliers to close the ring gently as I didn't want to leave "teeth" marks from the pliers on the silver ring.  

Once the charms were on and the back clasps put back together, I carefully put it back in the box and wanting it to look like it came that way, I slipped the little white wire through the back of the "H" ring to hold it onto the box. I have the other letter for the school hidden so I wouldn't have to blur it out but there is a third letter there and the spacers make it hang nicely so you can tell what the letters are.

Once the wires are through the holes and it is in the right place, I twisted it and then wrapped the dangling part of the necklace around the wire and then used the tape that was already there to secure it down.

I put the entire thing back together so she could give them each a boxed necklace and earring set as they leave for camp. I didn't think the coaches would want the high school initials so I bought them the heart necklaces and the matching earrings as I think they are cute.

Princess is excited to share them with the team. I will have to let you know how they liked them. I am so grateful that I followed that "feeling" and turned around and went to that clearance sale. I had already told my daughter I would take her home and was several blocks away before heading back. Thanks Lanita for sharing your charm letters with the girls and making Princess Five's cheer camp week more special.