J Crew-Inspired Threaded Necklace (with rosette)!

I was window shopping at one of my favorite stores the other day – J Crew.

I love their relaxed, classic style! 

I stumbled across a really simple, but elegant necklace and noticed that the beads were threaded onto the chain. I loved the look of it. I took this picture with my phone, and unfortunately it’s a little blurry. I wasn't able to find the same necklace on their website either…

{sorry  - I took this picture with my iphone so the picture quality isn't the greatest}



I decided to go home and try making something similar. Of course I had to change it up a little – lol! Here’s what I came up with. I also made another necklace with the same technique, but using kind of seaside-ish colors. And I threw in a beaded rosette for fun too.

Threaded Rosette Necklace Tutorial

(15 minute project)

This is a super easy project and I think it would make an awesome birthday gift too.

So if you want to make one, here’s what I did:

• 
  Chain (found in the jewelry section of your craft supply store)
  
  


• 
  Clasps
  
  


• 
  Round beads. I used 8mm.
  
  


• 
  Embroidery Thread or Beading Thread.
  
  


• 
  Needle
  
  


• 
  Fabric for the rosette – 1 inch wide by approx. 30 inch in length.
  
  


• 
  Fabric glue
  
  


• 
  Hot glue or super glue
  
  

• 
  The first thing to do is measure out how long you want your necklace to be. Mine was 24 inches long.
  
  Then measure your thread twice that length. I double threaded the needle so the thread was very strong.
  
  


• 
  Now measure down about 6 inches from one end of the chain and make a knot in the thread to one of the links in the chain there.
  
  


• 
  Thread on a bead and then interweave the needle through a few of the links. I threaded a bead about every 5-6 links. But you can add as many beads or as little as you want. On the blue necklace, I threaded a few beads next to each other and then wove the thread through another 5-6 links and then added a few more beads...
  
  


• 
  Be sure to hold the one end of chain tight while threading the thread through the links. You want the thread to be the same length as the chain, so there is no gathering of the chain, or excess thread hanging down when you are done.
  
  


• 
  Do this all the way down the length of chain until you get about 6 inches from the other end. Pull the thread tight, so there is no gaps in the thread. Then make a knot at the other end of the necklace. I also put a dab of super glue on each knot to make sure it was secure.
  
  


• 
  Now you can attach your clasp, or if the necklace is long enough to fit over your head, just attach the links at each end together!
  
  

• 
  Now you make your rosette (optional). I have a rosette tutorial you can reference if you want. Cut a length of fabric. 1 inch wide by about 24-30 inches in length, depending on how big you want your rosette to be.
  
  


• 
  Fold the fabric in half, width-wise and make a knot. Then roll the fabric and glue it with fabric glue as you roll, in a circular motion.
  
  


• 
  You can also thread some beads on the rosette to match the beads on your necklace is you want, at this point.
  
  

• 
  Once you have the rosette finished, glue it onto a piece of felt.
  
  

• 
  Once the glue ha dried, cut around the felt and glue the felt with the rosettes onto one side at the top of the necklace. I used hot glue to attach the rosettes to the necklace. And then I glued another strip of felt over the chain to make it more comfortable to wear.
  
  

And that is it!

Now you have a pretty, threaded rosette necklace to wear this Summer.

Enjoy!!

Super fast and super simple! 




xoxo




Have a Fantastic Tuesday!!! 





PS -- 

I'm a new host in the International Delight BlogFrog forum -- a great place to post questions, recipes, fashion and meet new friends.  

Every month my friend Beckie Farrant from Infarrantly Creative and I will be hosting a chat about communicating in marriage.

We are more than just craft and DIY bloggers.  We are passionate about
marriage.  Together we have over 34 years of marriage experience...yes
we were babies when we wed. LOL!

We would love for you to join us and share your tips and tricks to creating a marriage that sustains the long haul.

Please join us TODAY

Time: 10:00 AM MST/12:00 noon EST

We will be giving away some date night gift packages and some books on marriage as well!

Guest Project -- DIY Porch Swing Makeover!

Hi everyone! 

 I'm Angie from The Cellar Door Stories, and I'm just beyond excited to be here guest posting today!  I love to blog about decorating, crafting, cooking, frugal ideas, family life with my husband and two kiddos, and pretty much any other random thing that comes to mind....some may call it scatter-brained, but I prefer the term "eclectic."  *wink*

Today I'd like to share one of our most recent projects ~ our porch swing makeover!!

Built in 1961 and not kept in the best condition, our home has been a bit of a fixer-upper, porch swing included!  

Here's what we started with when we first moved in....



Fast forward 3 1/2 years, and my little guy has changed quite a bit, but unfortunately the porch swing had not!  Since we were already in the process of repainting our shutters (which were also the country blue color), it made sense to give our porch swing a makeover too!

The first step was to take it down, clean it, sand it, and clean it some more. 

I knew I wanted to cutesy it up a bit by stenciling on a phrase, so we removed two of the slats to be replaced later.  Then it was time to paint!  I had chosen the color "Lincoln Cottage Black" by Valspar.  We used our paint sprayer for a few coats and a foam brush to fix any runs and get all the other nooks and crannies that were hard to reach with the spray.

My handy hubby cut down the new board to fit, and once it was painted, measured out my chipboard letters for me!  

What a great guy ~ he handles any project that involves my arch enemy:  measuring. 

My tendency is to just eyeball everything, so if it actually needs to look good, he measures it all out.  I first traced around the letters with a pencil, then over the pencil with white paint, and then filled each letter in.  I lost count of how many coats it took, but I think it was around seven, so a little time consuming, but not difficult.  (Of course, those of you lucky ducks with a Silhouette could crank that baby out in vinyl in no time!!)

Once the wording was completely dry, and the new board was attached, we could hang the swing back up in it's rightful place on the front porch.  I whipped up some pillows ~ I use the term "whipped up" very lightly...actually my sewing machine and I were at odds for a few hours, but she finally relented, and we are now back on speaking terms.  Anyway, I plan on eventually painting the front door red, so I used a fun outdoor fabric with some red accents and some red burlap for the pillows.  

Since the pillows will be outside, I left the plastic packaging on the pillow forms to protect them from getting wet!  Smart thinking, right?  Well, they make a funny sound when you lean on them, but at least they look good!  Plus, I made the envelope type closure, so I can easily take out the pillow form if I change my mind.

*One quick note ~ I do plan on adding a coat of clear poly over the letters to protect them a little from the elements.  Although if I don't get around to it, we could always just say we were going for the distressed look.

So, there you have it, our porch swing makeover ~ I can't wait until all this rain stops so I can go relax on the swing with a nice tall glass of iced coffee in hand!

Thanks so much for having me, Jen ~ I always love seeing the great ideas here and now I'm so happy to be a part of it!  Hope to see you all over at The Cellar Door Stories!

 

 What a fun project Angie!!!

 Check out how cute Angie's house is! 

{Another favorite -- her Numbered Coat Rack and Laundry Room Reveal}

{How adorable is her Spring Burlap Wreath? Love it!}

{And check out Angie's 101 goals for 2011 - what a great idea!}

 Be sure to stop by The Cellar Door Stories and give Angie a big TT&J hello!!! 

xoxo

PS -- It's Friday!!!! My favorite day of the week. I can't wait to see what YOU are doing!!! The party starts at 6 pm {MST}. I hope you will stop by :) 

Pottery Barn-inspired Spring Butterfly Wreath!!

Have I ever introduced you about my little sister Ashley?

She is beautiful. She’s an amazing mom. She is a great business woman. And she is so creative.

So when she asked me for a good idea for a Spring Wreath the other day, I showed her a picture that has been pinned on my Craft Room wall for about 6 months:

Pottery Barn --

And she made an even better version for her front door! Check it out. What a cute wreath for Spring!!

PB-Inspired Butterfly Wreath

Here are the supplies she used:

Here’s what Ashley says:

• 
  I had 2 kinds of moss. Spongy moss and large sheets of moss. Both were preserved but real.
  
  


• 
  I took a grapevine wreath form and started hot gluing the sheets of moss onto the wreath, wrapping each piece around to the back. It took probably 10-12 sheet pieces to cover the wreath.
  
  


• 
  I then took the spongy moss and glued that in the gaps and crevices to give the wreath depth and dimension.
  
  


• 
  I found white butterflies in the floral section of Michaels. They were attached to 12 inch long wire. I thread the wire through the moss and into the back of the grapevine wreath, wrapping the ends around a piece of the grapevine to secure. I left 2 inches of wire between the butterflies and the wreath so they could hover above and create depth.
  
  


• 
  Finally, I attached a large piece of satin ribbon at the top and put it on my door. Voila!
  
  


• 
  The project took a total of 20 minutes and was super simple!
  
  

{You can also find these wreath forms at the Dollar Store.}

I love the organic simplicity of this wreath!!!

And here it is on her front door:

{Isn’t her son Hudson the cutest???}

And if you are in the Bay Area – check out Ashley’s Boutique – Flaunt in Danville, CA.

It is the ultimate in casual cool. 

Tell her I sent you!!!

Thanks Ashley!!!

Maybe she will show us all the fun things she has been doing to her new house too! I know she has done a CHEVRON bathroom!!

xxo

PS -- Blogger has been down the past day. It deleted my guest project from Kerry yesterday -- free printables. Blogger said that they would restore the post. So it should be coming back up sometime today.. In the meantime, be sure to head over to Sweet Sanity for her awesome giveaway today!!

PSS – It’s Friday!! Come link up to the Weekend Wrap Up Party and show off YOUR ideas. I would love to feature YOU! The party starts at 6 pm {MST}.

Porch Makeover Part 2 -- make a 10 minute pillow cover out of cloth napkins!

The sun is out and I love looking at my freshened up front porch. Yesterday I showed you my Chevron Frame Door Hanging {with Washi Tape}:

And today I want to show you a 10 minute pillow you can make out of napkins!

Take two cloth napkins. I found mine at Target.

If you can find a pillow form that's the same size as the pillow, all you do is sew around the edges of the napkins, with the napkin outside facing toward each other. Then turn it right side out. Leave one seam open so you can insert your pillow form. Or, you can also stuff it with cotton batting material.

I cut out some Heat Transfer material letters that spell HELLO and ironed them on the pillow cover. Another fun idea would be to print out your HOUSE NUMBER!

I also took a 6 foot length of ribbon and sewed a big running stitch down one end of the ribbon and gathered it. 

Then I wrapped it around until it made a flower and then I sewed it onto the front of the pillow cover. Then I took a scrapbooking fabric brad and used some fabric glue to glue that in the middle of the flower.

Then insert the pillow form or stuff it with cotton batten. Once the pillow is stuffed, then pin the seam together with the edges
folded under. You can sew the seam shut or use hot glue. And if you want
to wash the pillow cover, you can use velcro strips to close the seam
and that way you can open it up and take the pillow cover or batting out
and wash the cover.

I love how my new pillow brightens up my bench!

I took another matching napkin and put it on top of my little side table and then I also took a little striped gray Ikea platter and attached a doily and another brad to the center and added that too.  I love the yellow and gray/black theme on my porch!

And I have a fun surprise for you tomorrow.

Something to help YOU makeover YOUR front door or outdoor space!!

xoxo

PS -- Have you heard about the NEW Creative Conference -- SNAP? It's going to be held next year 2012 and I am so excited about it!!