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We recently had a customer come in and sit in front of our letter beads for over a half hour.  After picking the beads he needed, he asked us what would be the best way to connect them.  He said he had never beaded and was making a display in a case.  Our first question to him was what are you wanting to make (necklace, bracelet, etc.).  His reply was not exactly, he had something different in mind. He said he wanted to string the beads together and secure them.  We suggested wire and crimp beads.  We showed him how to use the crimp beads and asked if he wanted some help.  He declined saying he wanted to complete it on his own.  He went into our beading room to work on his project.  He later went out to his car and came in with a small wooden box.  By now our curiosity was peaked.  We asked what he was working on.  He said his girlfriend's sister told him that his girlfriend wanted a jewelry box so he made her one.  It is beautiful as you can see below.

We then asked what the letter beads were for.  He said he want to make something special to go inside.  He opened the lid to reveal the top tray.  See Below

He strung together a series of blank beads and heart beads.  He then remove the tray to reveal the lower tray.  See below

Yes, that is what you think it is.  On the left side, he put the date and his girlfriends name.  The upper row he spelled out - See below

"Will You Marry Me".  The lower row spelled out "I Love You" with the engagement ring in the corner.

For a first time beader, we think he did a wonderful job and were proud to have been able to help out in creating this life long memory.

Update

Comments In regards to the jewelry box -Having completed the
jewelry box and the statement inside, I still needed a good way to
give it to Jen.  So, I ended up procuring a UPS shipping bag and
created a label addressed to her then brought it over to her one
night giving it to her pretending that I had found a package UPS had
left for her outside her door.Jen loves shopping on eBay and I have
teased her about that in the past, so I created a formal letter
inside the UPS bag proclaiming that she had been selected by a
company she had bought something from on eBay to receive a prize -
which was a "hand crafted jewelry box made from high quality walnut
and aspen."  At this point she proclaimed to me: "See, it pays to
shop on eBay!"  I just kept playing along until she finally got
around to opening up the jewelry box and looked inside.  Boy was she
surprised!  Being that it was written in beads and not asked by me,
she responded "you have to say it!"  I did, and she said yes.  Our
wedding is scheduled for August 12th of this year.  We are looking
forward to it!  Thank you for posting the jewelry box on your site, it
brings back some great emotions.  Also, thanks for your help and the
selection of beads.  They were exactly what I needed and of a much
higher quality over Michaels' (which had a cheap plastic
equivalent).-Tom Sundling