Funnily enough, P.S. I made this, made this necklace out of coffee stirrers.  Excellent new use for an everyday material!

This fits in perfectly with the running topic here on Craft Gossip of making necklaces or jewels inspired by what is currently going in in fashion houses, but at a much more reasonable price.

This is an excellent video (about 5min) which will give you all the information that you need to make your own beautiful creation.

I love the bling factor of these necklaces posted on Cut Out and Keep by Carlyjcais.  And I love even more getting the look for such a low price and getting to show off your handmade bling

You can buy the pdf of instructions for this project here.  It was created by Danielle Fox and is based on the tassel necklace linked to Marie Antoinette in the “Affair of the Diamond Necklace”

If you are interested in pearls, here are a few words from Beading Daily on how to work with and care for pearls.

I love the classic look of this pearl and flower necklace, especially on a simple black sweater like this.

This one comes from Infarrantly Creative and has excellent instructions and illustrations.

Also nice about the tutorial is that they give links to suppliers for everything from the beads to the ribbon.

She also shares with her readers her recent bargin finds in other stores and how she modified them to fit her tastes. I never would have thought of Forever 21 as a spot to pick up jewelry making findings.

She never fails to inspire and seems to have endless energy for crafting projects.

As usual they have really clear instructional photos and a sense of humor in their instructions.

You can leave this bracelet as pictured here, or there are also instructions on how to patina the bat either with heat or painted patinas.

Have Fun!

I like the leaves.  They are something that I might have skimmed over in a bead catalogue but she has caught a great look for this season.

I might spice them up a little using gold plated earwires like these at Rio or these darker niobium earwires.

Also check out their huge variety of jewelry making classes held each month. October includes, among many others, PMC, hot glass, enameling, half persian chain maille, pearl and bead stringing, and kumihimo.

They are holding an introduction to PMC workshop tomorrow Oct 10th, so give them a call to see if space is still available

Lastly, they have a bead bead sale planned for November, so I will keep you posted when I hear more.

It seems like a fun idea to troll through flea markets and yard sales looking for color combinations or specific styles for this necklace.

I have also found that when looking for strands of colored pearls or big glass beads, or whatever really, eBay can be a good place to look.  You can often find deals, especially on the cultured and dyed pearls, that are much less than at traditional bead stores.

The possibilities are truly endless with this project

In their two locations they hold many classes for all ages in Clay, Metal, Glass and Fiber.  This season hold in store very interesting classes and workshops in metal topics such as: Structural Bead Weaving, Fold Forming and Natural Forms in Metal, Colors on Metal, Handmade Felt and Metal in Jewelry and Alternative Materials in Jewelry to name a few, aside from more basics such as Beginning Metal Design and Enameling.

If you are interested contact Metalliferous ASAP as space is limited to 12 people.

The Well Done Experience teaches group or individual classes and can be hired to host beading parties and fundraisers as well as teaching many workshops and selling beading kits.

The store is a treasure trove of jewelry making supplies from tool to materials.  Located in the Diamond District, I always feel especially in touch with the jewelry world when I go into the building and up the small stairs and emerge into this excellent store.

If you needed another reason to visit, tomorrow’s event provides it.  They are holding beading demonstrations from 2-7pm, where you can ask questions, get advice and of course shop.  Have fun!

Also, I couldn’t resist posting this STUNNING necklace found on her website.  It was a joint work between Nelson-Smith and Lampwork Bead artist Ronit Dagen, and I find it just spectacular.