When customers think PANDORA they often imagine the global phenomenon that is their charm bracelets. While PANDORA does boast an intricate collection of charm beads, known as “MOMENTS”, they also carry so much more.

Today we’ll explore COMPOSE, PANDORA’s line with combination in mind. The concept is to start with a base of earring hoops and personal and individualize the style with a combination of different pendants.

COMPOSE highlights consumers needs for individuality and being able to express their own personal style, a cornerstone of today’s fashion.

The following are some of the top COMPOSE sellers. Explore these looks, what would you create? What would you compose?

Mother’s Day is just around the corner (Sunday May 13^th) so we thought we’d take a look at what Mother’s day is all about.

Mother’s Day first began when Anna Jarvis held a memorial in 1907 for her mother two years after she passed. Anna wanted to create a day to focus on women’s health conditions and thought honoring mother’s would be the best focus on this issue. Anna then campaigned to make “Mother’s Day” nationally recognized, which it finally was in 1914. Unfortunately, by 1920 Anna was disgusted by the commercialized nature of the holiday. Herself, as well as her sister, campaigned against the holiday they had initially fought for. Both ended up dying in poverty, money spent on their mission, which (the de-commercializing of Mother’s Day) never occurred.

Dates of Mother’s Day celebrations across the globe differ based on their calendars and relations to other holidays and religious holidays, specifically in Catholic countries. Most were adopted from the American tradition, but adapted to each country’s culture and pre-existing celebrations.

Also, The U.S., where the holiday began, isn’t even found to be the best place to be a mom. According to Save The Children, Norway is the #1 place to be a mom; which isn’t surprising when it has been ranked over the years as the happiest place to live.

This year, some have even reverted to Jarvis’ ideas about Mother’s Day. Instead of commercializing the holiday with cards and flowers, they are attempting to have “No Mother’s Day”. Where mothers abstain from the Hallmark holiday and focus on maternal health.

Despite the differing views and country-specific festivities of Mother’s Day, we still celebrate and honor those that have raised and shaped who we are. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, from The Source.

PANDORA craze has swept the nation. The most endearing part about PANDORA is that the brands’ loyal fans have uniquely sentimental ties to their bracelets. Unlike the traditional charm bracelet, they can spice up the look with spacers and colorful charms that add a bit of flavor, yet each meaningful charm can also be incorporated into the overall theme of the piece.

Many PANDORA charms, moments – as they are called, have a subtle meaning behind them. Although they may not be overwhelmingly apparent at first glance, a bracelet made of just a few seemingly simple charms can represent some of the most important aspects of its owner’s life.

For this very reason we are launching PANDORA People. We know our customers and fans are loyal not only to The Source, but to PANDORA as well and we want to recognize these people and their stories.

We’ve started by taking one of our very own sales people. Lisa, a Pittsford associate, is the PANDORA in-store representative. She shared her bracelet and the meaning behind a few of the beads.

Lisa wears her bracelet almost every day and is still building on it. The following is a photo of Lisa’s bracelet.

Lisa O. - Greece, N.Y.

The story behind Lisa’s bracelet is one of love and accomplishment. Lisa is a Rochester transplant hailing from Maryland. Having a very close relationship with her mother one of her beads is the “Forget me Knot” (to the right of the right pink murano glass bead), a charm given to her by her mother when she moved to Rochester. Another with her mother is the Butterfly charm (center), which splits in half and her mother and she both have a half – connected even across a substantial distance.

For Valentine’s Day this year her boyfriend gave her the open heart charm (to the left of left pink murano bead); a simple charm, with a deep unforgettable message.

The last charm that we will highlight is the book charm (furthest to the right), which Lisa received upon completing her PANDORA Visual Merchandising test.

We thank Lisa for sharing her bracelet and story with us. Lisa’s bracelet will be the cover photo of The Source Facebook page until our next PANDORA Person is chosen.

We invite you to tell us about YOUR PANDORA bracelet. Email a photo of your bracelet with a little bit about what it means to you and YOU could be The Source cover photo. Email submissions to kristinballiet@thesourcejewelers.com for your chance to tell about your unforgettable moments.

We encourage our customers to shop around. We don’t want to say we’re the best, without them seeing why we’d say it! We’ve won Rochester’s Choice for Best Jewelry Store and Best Place to Sell Your Old Gold and Jewelry. We’ve secured Best Jewelry Store 10 years in a row because customers have shopped around, and continuously are most satisfied with their experiences at The Source.

The following is an email forwarded to us from a customer and friend. His friend, Anne, did shop around and like many of our customers found that after her search, The Source is the only place to go:

We thank Anne for sharing her story with us; and for all of our customers that have done the same and keep coming back.

Do you have story similar to Anne’s? We’d love to hear it! Comment here or share via our Facebook Page!

We will never be able to put in words the gratitude we have for our customers and for the stories we get to hear, and people we get to meet each day.

There’s no question that diamonds have become a mainstay in modern culture. Just look at the overflowing messages in music and movies, and the support of diamonds by pop culture icons.

On this Music Monday we’ll delve into another popular song featuring April’s birthstone: the diamond. Shirley Bassey, who sang the title track to James Bond: Goldfinger, among several other James Bond movies, struck “gold” with her title-track hit ‘Diamonds are Forever’.

Diamonds are Forever – Shirley Bassey

Though the track, nor the movie, made a splash at the time, it has been immortalized over the years. Kanye West even sampled the song in his 2005 Grammy-Winning success ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone‘.

Shirley Bassey

The song implies that no woman needs a man or love, because a diamond lasts and a diamond is clear and true. Ian Fleming, writer of the Bond book, took the tagline from De Beers advertising campaign which was used to re-position De Beers in the diamond market.

The title remained for the movie adaptation, though little of the plot stayed the same; and ‘Diamonds are Forever’ made a proclamation women didn’t need a man, but just some jewelry to feel the love.

What do you think? We hear diamonds are a girls best friend, are diamonds all a woman needs?