KT Made It: Turquoise Beaded Necklace

If I were to make an amendment to the DSM-V it would be for a clinical diagnosis of Craftaholism, with one diagnostic criteria being:

"The individual admits to seeing various products at the store or in magazines, and saying to his/herself 'I can make that'"

My most recent act of Craftaholism was seeing a super cute beaded turquoise necklace at Walmart and saying,  "I can TOTALLY make that." So I did. And here is how.

What you need:

Beads for stranding – size, shape, and color are up to you!

Cording to strand the beads

2 pendants for the ends of your braided strands

Cord end caps

Jump rings

Chain

Lobster clasp

Needles for stranding your beads (I used eye open needles)

1. Come up with a design. One of the things that I love about making jewelry is that inspiration is everywhere - stores, magazines, artwork, flowers in the garden, etc. Here is my original plan (and I spelled "turquoise" wrong here which is hilarious)

2. Get your materials. Here are mine below:

3. Determine the length of the strands that you will be braiding. I used 14 inch long strands, with three strands for each part of the braid (9 total strands). I also added 2 inches onto the end of the measured strand so that I would be able to tie the ends without losing length. 

4. Start stringing your beads! After you have made the strands the desired length, couple the strands in threes and tie a not at the end of all three strands. Use a cord end cap or Lobster cap to cover the knot. 

5. Next, I attached the three pieces (with 3 strands each) together at one end only using a single jump ring. Then I braided the strands. At the end of the braid, I attached the opposite end with another jump ring. 

6. Then, I attached each jump ring to the end of one of the pendants. 

7. To finish, I attached about 3 inches of a silver chain to each pendant. Finally, I used a jump ring to attach the Lobster clasp to the end of one strand so that I could put the two sides of the necklace together. 

And here is the finished product!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog! I'm really excited for this post because it is a preview for what I will be selling in my up-coming Etsy shop. Stay tuned for updates!

Happy Crafting <3