Entertainment
How to Make a Charm Necklace
I didn’t grow up in a jewelry family. I come from practical Midwestern folk who are more likely to send you 50 pounds of beef for the freezer come Christmas than pass on a family heirloom. But I’ve always been fascinated by the everyday jewelry people wear, since I started wearing my dad’s wedding band after he died.
A charm necklace is an excellent place to start, if you’re intrigued by jewelry that becomes a second skin. It’s not charged with romantic notions the way rings can be, and it’s a little easier to wear than a bracelet.
I made mine almost four years ago, borrowing a Tiffany pendant my dad’s boss gave me for my high school graduation and looping it around a gold chain I bought at a church yard sale with my best friend. My husband gave me a vintage charm from Etsy with our initials engraved on it after our first year of dating, which I added to my stack. Last year, I looped another vintage Etsy charm — a lucky match with a red tip — when I became my own boss.
Constructing a charm necklace doubles as an act of service. My little sister, my constant phone call and reluctant business partner, asked for one of her own last year. I started with the chain, which I always suggest doing, careful to find a clasp that could accommodate charms of many sizes.
Next came the fun part. What makes this person you love so damn lovely? I bought an S for her first initial. A vintage ear of corn for our childhood in Iowa. An Aquarius charm for our shared astrological sign. A bright white pearl for the optimism she always seems to dig out of me. A vintage blue bow for her favorite color and her sister nickname, Bowie.
Etsy is my favorite place to shop for preloved charms. Think of non-obvious loves or interests the person you’re shopping for might have. And next time you’re traveling or at an antique mall, scan the jewelry trays often locked away behind glass. As for charm length, make note of how long the person in question normally wears their necklaces and follow suit. Don’t be intimidated, either. You could give a simple, elegant chain as a start and build a stack over birthdays and holidays to come.
My end result, for my sister, was a stack of my unspoken adoration. I watched in delight as she opened her gift during a holiday party.The best part was seeing her smile up at me, understanding the secret sentiment behind every charm, no explanation necessary.
Erika Veurink is a writer and consultant living in Brooklyn by way of Iowa. She writes the fashion newsletter Long Live and is the founder of EV Salon, where online connections happen IRL.
Thoughts? Would you make your own charm necklace? I love this and these!
P.S. Erika’s week of outfits, and an ode to signet rings.
Entertainment
Snag a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $50 off
SAVE $50: As of May 6, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) for $399 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $449. That’s a discount of 11%.
$399
at Amazon
$449
Save $50
If you want to experience your favorite music to the fullest, you need headphones that are up to the task. Bose can typically be counted on to provide that kind of quality, especially with its QuietComfort lineup. You can try its newest model for less right now for less thanks to this Amazon deal, which heavily discounts the cans so you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on them.
As of May 6, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) for $399 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $449. That’s $50 off and a discount of 11%.
Though an incremental upgrade from the previous QuietComfort model, these have some new features you’ll want to try out. But mostly, these comfortable headphones are all about feeling great on your ears and sounding fantastic. They offer noise cancellation and spatialized audio so it sounds as though you’re right where the music is. The new Cinema Mode can help to spatialize and balance background and sound and sound effects when watching movies to help put you right into the film as well.
Beyond that they can be used to take calls with their built-in microphones. They’ll last a long time while you’re on the phone too, with 30 hours of play time when listening to songs, podcasts, or taking meetings.
Mashable Deals
Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard took the headphones for a spin in her review and and called them a “well-rounded pair of headphones”, praising their blend of “comfort, noise cancellation, and sound”.
If you’re ready to pick up a new pair of headphones at a discount that’ll tick all the boxes for you, grab these before the discount disappears.
Entertainment
Score up to 64% off at EcoFlow and snag free solar panels with your purchase.
SAVE 64%: Between May 6 and May 17, you can score up to 64% off at EcoFlow and snag free solar panels with your purchase.
Get up to 64% off plus a free solar panel with purchase
I live in an apartment, so I don’t exactly have a “whole home” to back up. But if there’s one thing I hate, it’s losing power. There goes the AC, the internet, the food in the fridge — it’s a total nightmare. If you actually own a house and have been putting off buying a backup power system because it’s pricey, I have some good news.
The DJI Power 1000 Mini portable power station just launched — U.S. availability is pending
Right now, EcoFlow is running a Mother’s Day Sale through May 17 with discounts as high as 64%. They’re also throwing in free hardware to sweeten the deal: All single orders between $600 and $3,000 come with a free 45W solar panel, and orders over $3,000 come with two free 160W solar panels. If you’re looking for something more portable, their RAPID Power Banks are also up to 53% off right now.
Just keep an eye on the countdown clock — it’s for the Flash Sale items that have even better, limited-time price cuts. If you miss the flash window, the standard Mother’s Day and Home Improvement deals (including a $700 installation discount for larger systems) are still valid through mid-May.
Mashable Deals
Here are a few of the best deals I’ve spotted so far:
Entertainment
Maddies Secret trailer reveals John Early as youve never seen him before
Comedian John Early makes his feature directorial debut with Maddie’s Secret, an offbeat homage to melodrama that he wrote and headlines as its eponymous heroine.
As an aspiring food influencer, Maddie Ralph (Early) is passionate about her cuisine. And at first glance, she’s got a picture-perfect life: a loving husband (Eric Rahill), a devoted best friend (Kate Berlant), and a job at a culinary content studio called Gourmaybe. But as the title suggests, there’s a side to Maddie she can’t stomach sharing with her loved ones. And this secret could kill her.
Out of the movie’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, I cheered Maddie’s Secret, writing in my review for Mashable, “The film is silly and strange, but even amid campy bits, sincere. So, you’ll laugh at its parody elements, but may well be genuinely moved by Early’s commitment to this strange and splendid film.”
I also said “John Early is a better ingénue than Sydney Sweeney,” comparing Maddie’s Secret to another earnest (but less entertaining) TIFF offering, Christy. And I stand by it.
Maddie’s Secret opens in theaters in New York on June 19, and in Los Angeles on June 26.
Snag a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $50 off
Score up to 64% off at EcoFlow and snag free solar panels with your purchase.
