Reviews, Chews & How-Tos: Review & Giveaway: Starlight Wraps

Monday, March 31, 2014

Review & Giveaway: Starlight Wraps

Labels: Accessories, Giveaway, Handmade, Jewelry, Lynda Hardy, Review, Romance - Weddings - Marriage

I was very excited to be given the opportunity to review one of Starlight Wraps beautiful wrap bracelets - I love handcrafted jewelry, and this Colorado-based crafter really puts a lot of attention into designs that evoke various celestial themes. Her daughters and nieces help her select just the right name to match the look of the wrap to a particular Astronomical or Meteorological theme. I also see a good bit of attention being paid to the mythological sources of some of these names. I am fascinated to know that the piece is designed before it is given a name, because each of the names fit so perfectly with the wrap it goes with!

Rexanne, the designer and owner of Starlight Wraps is actually rather new to beading, which just further suggests to me that there is some inspiration at work here. Beading began as hobby she picked up to keep busy during off-season time periods at her Estes Park, CO boutique Windsong Fashion. In an odd turn of meteorological fate, she found herself with plenty of time and motivation to develop her beading skills, when a severe flood in September 2013 blocked access to her boutique for a period of several months! It turned out that her wrap designs were enormously popular and led to this second business operating in tandem with Windsong Fashion.

In asking about desires for the future of Starlight Wraps, Rexanne mentioned how much she'd like to be able to offer collections of wraps as bridal party gifts - an idea I find just tremendously appealing, especially if they could be done as custom designs in the wedding's colors and theme. Should anyone be interested, I suggest getting in contact with her about that - my communications with her have been very helpful and thorough, and I believe she'd be happy to work with someone seeking a custom order of several wraps for special occasions.

It was very hard to choose which wrap I wanted, but Athena just kept drawing my eye - it is long enough to wrap five times, and is a series of silver textured beads and turquoise beads, all contained within a pair of silken cords.

I put it on the moment it arrived and quickly realized two very wonderful things about this bracelet - first, it actually lets me wear a snug cuff on my small wrists. As much as I love bracelets, they often are too large to wear comfortably. Secondly, the large sparkly button that connects it makes it easy for me to put this on and take it off by myself, and yet it keeps it securely on.

A couple days later, my daughter, who has metal sensitivity issues, helped me realize a third wonderful thing - while this particular wrap has metal beads, many of Starlight Wraps' designs do not. These are very fashionable jewelry items that can be worn by people who may have given up on jewelry due to allergies!

As you can see, it is quite a statement piece and I cannot wait until warmer weather let's me dress to show it off properly. Meanwhile, I have worn it for several days, quickly removing it for showers and washing dishes, but otherwise leaving it on while sleeping or working, and I find it quite comfortable. It doesn't get in the way or start to feel binding at all, which is quite a feat - I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and sometimes I can't stand to have things constricting me, but this stayed comfortable even through a very creaky weekend.

Athena is going to become a signature piece of jewelry for me - or one of them, because I can already see a couple more designs I may just have to have.

Luckily for my wallet, on Facebook, Starlight Wraps offers frequent giveaways and discounts, the better to fill my jewelry box with. Additionally, luckily for yours, she's also agreed to let us offer a giveaway and a very generous discount to our readers.

Before I show off what you can win, I wanted to offer one last reason why you really want to own a Starlight Wrap - Rexanne donates 10% of Starlight Wrap's net profit to a variety of children's charities that aid children around the world. It's such a pleasure for me to support small businesses that give back.

For our Reviews, Chews & How-Tos readers, Starlight Wraps is offering a 40% discount code off the entire order - when you make your purchase use the code:

STARLIGHT40

Meanwhile, Starlight Wraps has agreed to let us sponsor a giveaway of the stunning Aurora wrap, a $49.00 value, composed of pink iridescent square beads and certain to help its wearer 'Always Sparkle', day or night. I had a very hard time when I was making my initial selection choosing between this and Athena!

This Giveaway is open World Wide and will end at11:55 PM EDT on Monday, April 14th. I wish you all the very best of luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway