portrait photography by the talented gal Tiffany of House of Tong, tutorial photography by myself.
I have purchased, returned, purchased, returned (you get the idea) several chunky necklaces. I finally realized that, as cute as those necklaces were, I had a certain design in mind… so…what the heck. I made my own. $12 and 45 minutes later I had my necklace, and it turned out just how I had envisioned. I probably could’ve found a similar necklace for cheaper, but I glean so much satisfaction from actually making & designing it myself.

Here’s a tutorial; just switch out some of the materials and make it your own! Disclaimer: I’m no jewelry pro, so if you have a better way of putting a necklace together, please leave me some tips in the comments below! 

1,2, and 3.

I found these supplies at Joann’s, and used a 50% off mobile coupon for each item. {FYI the ribbon I used was 7/8 inch wide}

4. Lay out the beads in whatever pattern you can come up with, to see what you like best (I liked/used the middle pattern).

5.Start with the center of your pattern. Bring the “jelly cord” through those beads.

6. On the last bead, loop around the end piece to go through the top of the bead (see picture)

7. Pull it through, leaving about 2″.

8. Tie a knot by looping through the loop you just made. Repeat 2 or three times.

9. Cut off remaining cord. Pull tightly from the top, and the knots that you just made should disappear through the hole in the bead.

10. After cutting the length of ribbon desired (I cut it a length that I could wear it long or short.) Find the center of the ribbon, and loop cord around the ribbon, tying a knot each time you wrap around the ribbon (I wrapped it around about 3 times).

11. Tie of the end with a regular knot, that will act as a “stopper knot”, to keep it from coming un-done..

12. Cut off excess

13. Repeat steps 5-12 until you are finished!