A Nature-Inspired Necklace

I <3 nature...as long as I don't actually have to go out in it.

 I have my friend Laura to thank for my new nature-inspired necklace. She gave me a couple of goody bags from her neighborhood bead store and the vast majority of this necklace (and tomorrow's earrings) came from those fab little bags. Thanks a bunch, Laura! This necklace uses basic jewelry-making techniques, but does take a little while to assemble. This is a great project to do in front of the television.

Ingredients:

• Toggle clasp
• Pendant
• Chain - 2 pieces, 4 1/2" each
• Jump rings - 2 small, 3 large
• Tiger tail - 13"
• Crimp beads - 2
• Small beads - 44
• Leaf beads - 4
• Crystal beads - 6
• Crimp tool
• Pliers
• Scissors or wire cutters
• Glue or clear nail polish (optional)

The ingredients.

I started off by attaching a small jump ring to the end of the tiger tail using a crimp bead. Keep an extra bit of tiger tail on then end. To make it extra secure, I dabbed a bit of glue into the crimp bead.

A fuzzy picture of a jump ring on some tiger tail.

Add all of the beads. It helps to lay them out ahead of time. I used five smallish (a bit larger than seed beads) beads, a crystal beads, five more small beads, a leaf bead, five more small beads, a crystal, five small beads, a leaf, one small bead, a crystal, one small bead, and the pendant. Repeat the pattern in reverse order.

Add the second crimp bead and small jump ring. Feed the end of the tiger tail into the jump ring and several of the small beads. Crimp the crimp bead and snip off the excess tiger tail.

Attach the pieces of chain to the beaded tiger tail and then attach the clasps to the chain using the large jump rings.

I love this clasp! So pretty!

The necklace is now finished! Yay!

Notice the beads left over? Stay tuned tomorrow for the matching earrings.

I really love this one.

Isn't the pendant pretty?

I love the color palette of the beads. They're a subtle grey-green and will go with pretty much everything.