DIY: Collar Necklace (Two Ways!)

First, remember this rad zebra print dress?? I need to find another occasion to wear it - right now it's hung as a psuedo-art piece on my wall, paired with this necklace. Though I am happy this altered black shift dress is finally getting some wear time thanks to my work dress requirements. Anyways, I can't really remember where I got the idea for these necklaces sooooo... let's just get to the DIY, shall we?!

What you need:

Thick gauge jewelry wire

Various types and thicknesses of chain

Some matching bells, bobbles, and charms

Pliers

O jump rings

What you do:
1) Cut a piece of your thick gauge wire long enough to do this:

2) Bend the ends in like this, making sure that any pointy cut ends won't dig into your skin.

3) Cut various lengths of chains in two "matching" piles.

4) Attach each "pile" to one loop of your wire collar base. I used two jump rings for more security.

5) Add a few bobbles or bells or beads randomly along some of the chains on either side. And done!

5) You can also just make one "pile" of chain and attaching both ends to your wire collar base, to make a more necklace-like look.

Super easy and super cute!!

DIY: Tribal Mixed Metals Necklace

Free People gets me and my hippie alter ego. If I had enough money, I would buy almost everything they make. They've even gotten me obsessed with fringe (along with LoveMaegan and TMR). Exhibit A through infinity:

I have a DIY planned literally for each one of these photos. And here's the first, inspired by that last photo.

What you need:
A variety of chains (different colors, thicknesses, patterns, etc)
Jump rings
Pliers
A clasp (optional)
Leather scraps
Sharpies
Thick needle or safety pin (or a leather punch if you're a pro)


What you do:
1) Make your fringe by mixing various chain colors and types, or creating some sort of pattern like this one.

2) Measure how long you want your necklace to be and cut a piece of chain this long. Attach to either side of the fringe.

3) Cut a piece of leather into your desired shape and decorate with a tribal pattern (you could also glue on fake flowers, leave it plain, add feathers, etc). Make a hole in each corner of the leather with your needle/punch and attach to the chain above the fringe using jump rings.

4) If you need a clasp to get the necklace on, cut the chain in the middle of the "back" and attach one. I wanted mine to be long, so I didn't have to do this as I can easily slide the whole thing over my head.

5) Take selfie photos.

Blue Valentine Series: Ombre Fringe Necklace

On the second day of Blue Valentine, I decided to try and make... the ever-popular fringe necklace, this time actually featuring the color blue!

The inspiration

The outcome

I originally wanted to bleach the blue fringe to make it ombre from white to blue, kind of the reverse of this one. However, apparently the fringe I bought would be impervious to nuclear attack, because even after an hour of sitting in undiluted bleach, it was still as blue as ever. So onto Plan Silver Sharpie!

What you need:
Fringe
Chain
Necklace clasp
Pliers of some sort
White or silver sharpie (or bleach, if your fringe is less hearty than mine)

What you do:
1) Cut a length of chain as long as you want your necklace (keeping in mind that the fringe will hang down a bit), and attach the necklace clasp to the chain.

It's a heart! Kinda.

2) Sharpie (or bleach) the ends of your fringe. If you're feeling thorough, flip the fringe over and color the back side too. My sharpie was dead by this point though, so I didn't. I also added some extra glue at the top and sides of my fringe just so it wouldn't unravel.

3) Whip-stitch, sew, glue, or otherwise attach your fringe to the chain at the center.

4) Wear!

DIY: Leather Chevron Necklace

The best kind of DIY's are the ones you can do in 20 minutes right when you wake up, still in your pajamas. Like this one:

The original inspiration. Not sure where I found this - let me know if it's yours so I can credit it!

And my version of it

What you need:
Leather (or stiff fabric of some kind)
Scissors
Thin chain
Jump rings (or in my case, links off a bigger chain)
Safety pin (or other poking-holes-in-fabric-thing)

I'm in love with this leather - it's so soft! I have tons left over, I need to make more things out of it! 

What you do:
1) Roughly trace out a chevron shape. I really just free-handed it.

2) Cut out three of those chevrons, then attach two jump links to both sides of each one.

 3) Measure and cut a length of chain as long as you want the necklace. Attach the jump links.

I still want to add some small gold (or black?) details at the bottom of the last chevron, but I didn't have anything on hand at the time. Also probably will want some fabric stiffener since I used pretty soft leather. Joann's run this week? Yes.

And just because I know someone will wonder: the woman selling me the fabric in Boston said it was made from recycled bits of real leather. BUT it was only 4.99 a yard, so I'm pretty damn sure its just faux leather.