Prairie Chunk Necklace

So we find out today if we made it into Crafting with the Stars! My fingers and all of my toes are crossed, we really want to make it in! So we'll let you know what we find out!

Until then, here is the tutorial for the Prairie Chunky Necklace.

Here is a pic of all of the different fabulous stuff that I used for this necklace. Every item here was purchased at Michaels, but feel free to mix it up, use what you like, find a length that works for you, and what fits your style.

I've got four different styles of chains, 2 different types of beads, some fabric strips, a flower embellishment bead, eyepins, split rings, and some jewelry pliers.

I started with the base of the necklace. I took about 7 inches of a plain chain and attached a split ring onto one end.

I attached the flower to the split ring and then added another split ring to the bottom of the flower. The fabric strip is then threaded through the bottom split ring.

I then tied the fabric strip in a bow and then looped another split ring through the bottom of the bow.

To this split ring, I attached the entire big chain and then connected it back to the small chain at the beginning.

Next I started on the bead chain. The first step is to use the eyepins in all of the beads.

Slide each bead onto the eyepin and then clip with the wire cutters and curl the end with the round pliers.

When they are all done they will look something like this:

(I realize that I am showing the incorrect amount of beads in this picture, so just squint you eyes and pretend that there are 6 round beads and 3 square beads.)

Now start attaching the beads together with the split rings like so

I used my smallest chain on this one. My pattern was chain-circle-circle-square-chain-circle-square-circle-chain-square-circle-circle-chain. HA! Does that make any kind of sense at all? No? Well here's a picture...

Then attach split rings on the ends and attach it to the flower chain at the top of the flower on one side and at the top of the big chain on the other side.

Next I took my medium size chain and measured it so it would fall in-between the two finished chains, and attached it again with split rings.

(That's Ruth trying to get out of the picture in the background. haha!)

And to finish it off I measured one more piece of medium chain to go at the top so it fell the same distance as the middle two and attached it. (Are you confused yet? Don't worry, lots of pictures!)

And that's it! I love it. I love me some bold chunky jewelry that just screams, "LOOK AT ME!". I like to dress simply and embellish with jewels and accessories, and this one is just soooo fun, right?