Memorializing MA

Hey friends,

So its definitely been a while since i’ve published a blog. In case you missed it my mother passed away at the end of April due to COVID related complications. To say the least, my life has been completely turned upside down, my and my sister moved, I took time off work, continued to deal with the pandemic and am starting to piece my life back together.

While figuring things out and sorting through all the details of my life, something that I wanted to do almost immediately was to figure out a way to have a piece of my mom with me always. Fortunately we were able to keep so much of her things that had sentimental value and have a lot of those things in our new apartment.

But we also wanted to have/ dedicate and memorialize her in other ways. One thing me and my sister did was order memorial jewelry, for her, myself, brother and my niece.

These pieces would also be appropriate for lots of other occasions as well, I saw a lot of people order them as mother’s day gifts, birthday presents, as well as remembrance pieces in case you're in the market for anything. Generally all the pieces we ordered came out beautiful and at like 1/3rd of the cost from the funeral home.

The funeral home we used ( the package we got) did include a fingerprint necklace which was beautiful. It’s sterling silver and retailed originally like $275 which is like what?? Its already so expensive with all the costs associated with a funerals it just wasn’t feasible to order any additional jewelry direct from the funeral home.

So we ended up looking into Etsy to have some personalized jewelry made that wouldn’t completely break the bank

I have linked below the items we purchased. Other than some shipping delays, which make sense given the climate of things, we were super pleased with how everything came out.

Fingerprint necklace from Etsy store:

CaitlynMinimalist

$31.50

Rose gold

Was able to get an inscription on both sides and uploaded a picture of fingerprint. Super simple to do

This place has great reviews and really amazing looking products. However the shipping delays and some communication issues initially were off putting. I will say at the end the shop owner was better with communication and able to meet our needs

Linked here

Charm bracelet from Etsy shop

HopeisHipJewelry

$32.21

Was able to upload a picture, not able to choose inscription on the charm.

Was a bit disappointed because the picture showed the bracelet as rose gold when I was purchasing it, however after I checked out I noticed that they only do silver jewelry and I am not much of a silver person. But it was super easy to order and shipped very fast.

Shop linked here

Engraved bracelet from Etsy shop

JewelryBlues

What I liked about this piece was the ability to get mom’s handwriting on a piece.( I apologize for the clarity of the photos)

This was the most expensive piece, I got engraving on both sides and opted for a longer length. I will say I thought it would be a bit longer, I find it difficult to put on by myself. But I do think its super dainty and a beautiful piece overall. Also it was made and shipped rather quickly.

Linked her

We also ended up (my sister, brother and I) getting different tattoos to memorialize ma which has meant a lot to us.

Check out my ink below.

I got her handwriting on my wrist. My ma had a signature where she signed the most adorable smiley face. I got her signature off of a card she wrote for me and had them transfer it into a tattoo.

The same artist did a more in-depth piece and I love it so much. He incorporated the carnations into the tattoo which is moms favorite flowers. The word’s read “ I will carry you with me until we meet again”