DIY $6 Chainlink Necklace

While I feel like I have an eye for things that look good on other people, I never claimed to be any kind of fashionista (this is where I get really happy about my StitchFix shipments) or DIY goddess.  Let’s be real here:  I’m not.  The other night I was working on some cute little baby girl headbands for a precious friend who is about to give birth to her sweet daughter, and I kid you not my hands were shaking the whole time.  This project required a tiny bit of hand stitching and the rest was all with a hot glue gun…and yet I couldn’t keep it together.

 

You know, just to give y’all a little perspective on my crafting capabilities.

 

A few weeks ago I pinned this awesome necklace on my clothes board and couldn’t stop thinking about it – I love the layers and the different metallics and the rhinestones, all in one beautiful piece.  I knew I had seen some of the materials I could use to make a much less expensive version (the original is $150) at Michael’s earlier in the week, and I got super excited at the prospect of making my own jewelry.  I am SO NOT this incredibly talented lady, but I figured it was worth a shot to make a cute necklace, right?

 

So here’s the deal: I didn’t actually get the materials from Michael’s, which is basically a result of sheer laziness.  Craft stores are literally around the corner from me, but I ended up just getting the chains at Walmart instead, hence the $6.  If you were to get them from Michael’s or Hobby Lobby it would certainly be a little bit more, but you would also likely have a larger selection to choose from.  Either way the final product will certainly be less than the retail of the necklace I pinned, so it’s probably a win 😉

When you pick out the chains you want, make sure they’ll be long enough to make a necklace that is at a comfortable length for you.  Here’s what you need:

• 2-3 metal chains where the links are different colors and shades of metal – pick your favorites!
• 1 pair of metal cutting pliers (I don’t even know if that’s the name of those things)
• 1 pair of needle nose pliers
• Necklace fasteners (if your chains didn’t come with them)

My necklace is only two chains – one with larger links, and a longer gunmetal one with smaller links.  Basically what I did was:

• fasten one end of each chain to one part of a necklace fastener;
• hang the top on a nail in the wall (I just took a picture down for this part);
• wove the longer chain through the shorter one through every other link, then back through the links I missed going back up;
• fasten the end of the longer chain to the necklace fastener and cut it to fit;
• place the other side of the necklace fastener on the other side of the necklace.
• VOILA!

This is SO not a technically sound post, but it’s so simple I figure most people can figure it out by the photos anyway 😉  Regardless, I love that it has this kind of hard-core look to it, and I love wearing it with more girly things!  And at $6 I don’t see a reason to not try it!