Necklace lust turned into a DIY

I just can't leave my crafts alone...no matter how much I should. It doesn't help that all of my beads will be coming with us, because honestly if they get mixed up again that will be no bueno. Anyway...as I've said before, when I am stressed I tend to craft.

I decided to make a necklace I have had my eye on for quite awhile. I found it one day when I wandered over to Stella & Dot. While I don't love everything they have to offer, they always seem to have something that catches my eye. Most recently is their Palm Necklace with Starfish. What I hate is the $98 price tag.


Don't get me wrong...it's a beautiful necklace, but I knew I could make my own version.

For a period of time I was looking for a starfish brooch and was coming up empty handed...then I had derp derp derp moment and realized any brooch would do. So I rummaged through what I owned and found a brooch that was my mothers and some 10mm opalite beads I bought a few months back.


By no means do you have to go the semi precious bead route, in fact it will save you money if you stick with glass beads. The opalite was just something I already had and I liked how it looked.

Now with the Stella & Dot necklace they tied a knot between every bead. It's the same technique that is used for pearl necklaces. Now this it not something I can easily teach...it's something that you have to learn how to do by doing it and it takes time. What I can show you is a way to cheat the look.


Instead of doing the knots I place a seed bead between each 10mm bead. I love doing this, because it's quick and you can choose the colors of the beads. I went with the teal because it matched the rhinestones in the brooch.

This actually was a quick project. It starts and ends with two lobster claw clasps, so that they can be attached to the pin on the back of the brooch (or to themselves if you want to wear it broochless). All in all it took me about 30 minutes to put it together.

And here's the final product.


The total length is a little over 60 inches with the brooch and can easily be wrapped around the neck three times.

Total cost was about $40, with $10 for the brooch and $30 for 4 16in strands of the opalite. If you went with glass beads you could easily get the price to around $20 for the whole project, maybe cheaper if you got the brooch and beads at a good price. Really though, the brooch was my mom's so I only spent $30 on the beads.

I love the way it looks and that I can change out the brooch for the many others I have.

So there you have it. Just a few beads and a brooch and you too could have a unique necklace that is all your own.