I like easy, don’t you? I’m sure you do as it is human nature to desire and figure out how to do things the easiest way. This is especially important if you are pressed for time. Nothing disappoints me more than looking at an awesome jewelry/art/craft/ mixed media project, wanting to create something similar and then seeing how many steps and different products/materials one needs to actually make it. On that subject, who keeps copper sulfate solution (or blue vitriol as they used to call it in the Victorian times) stored in their garage or craft cabinet???
So that is why I like to make it simple. To make this necklace, all you need is a holiday charm, beading wire, a clasp and a few beads. Throw in 30 minutes or less of your time and you have a cute seasonal necklace to sport at all those parties or just to wear to work during the holiday season.
I want to share a couple of ideas I had about the charm first. I like to match. My clothes, my jewelry, my shoes. Yeah, I am probably a little extremist as compared to most but… That being said, I like it when I can make several pairs of earrings to go with the same necklace so I can change up my look and have a little variety.
So back to the charm: I decided to attach it to the necklace by a clasp and that way, I can take it off and on and attach a new charm as I please. This particular charm also has two sides so I can flip it over if need be; like a reversible necklace. Snowman on one side and Christmas tree on the other side. Blue/white sweater or green/red shirt- you get the idea…
There are a myriad of holiday charms to choose from and use in your project. You will notice that I have used two silver spacers at the center of the necklace. This way, it has a clean design by partially detracting attention from the clasp and I know where to place the charm each time.
The key is to construct the necklace and tighten the string with the pendant on so your beads aren’t loose and floppy. Nobody likes floppy, loose beads, eh?
The next idea I had was to use larger clear crystal beads as the main bead. This way, the necklace appears relatively neutral or even engenders visions of ice and snow. Then as spacers, I chose traditional holiday colors of blue and emerald green seed beads and a larger faceted red bead. I also used silver spacer beads in the pattern to match the frame of the pendant. But if you chose a gold pendant, you could surely substitute gold spacers. You could even mix silver and gold to have even more variety to match each other… Hmmm, food for thought…
Then I strung it all together, added a bit of chain to the end of the bead strand, put on the clasp (see previous posts for instruction) and voila! A new holiday necklace to wear.
Now back to everything else that involves the holiday season…
