This is my 100th post!
This year I wanted to make a small Christmas gift to show my appreciation for a few friends. I wanted it to be meaningful and purposeful without going over the top. I came up with this simple star necklace to represent the star the wise men followed to find the baby Jesus. Keep reading to find out how you can give this gift too.
Materials:
Chain
Star charms (I used the package from Blue Moon that has 6 or 7 stars on it, but only one star is still in the packaging in the picture.)
Headpins
Clasp
Jump rings
Small pearl, clear, or silver beads
Jewelry pliers (not pictured)
Cut chain the desired length. I cut mine to about 20 inches.
Using jewelry pliers, pry the jump ring open, attach the star charm, and attach to the chain.
Put the pearl or other beads on a headpin. Use round-nose pliers to bend the wire and make a loop.
Trim the loop, attach it to the chain or jump ring, and close the loop.
It should look like this so far...
Finish attaching the beads- as many as desired. I don't have a picture of this step, but use jewelry pliers to pry apart another jump ring. Put the clasp on the ring, add it to the chain, and close the jump ring. Put a jump ring on the other end of the chain so the clasp has something to hook to.
Make more necklaces if you wish to give this to multiple friends. The Blue Moon package comes with a variety of stars to make each necklace unique. Many of the women I will be giving these to have pretty conservative styles so I didn't want to make the necklaces too flashy.
Cut chain the desired length. I cut mine to about 20 inches.
Using jewelry pliers, pry the jump ring open, attach the star charm, and attach to the chain.
Put the pearl or other beads on a headpin. Use round-nose pliers to bend the wire and make a loop.
Trim the loop, attach it to the chain or jump ring, and close the loop.
It should look like this so far...
Finish attaching the beads- as many as desired. I don't have a picture of this step, but use jewelry pliers to pry apart another jump ring. Put the clasp on the ring, add it to the chain, and close the jump ring. Put a jump ring on the other end of the chain so the clasp has something to hook to.
Make more necklaces if you wish to give this to multiple friends. The Blue Moon package comes with a variety of stars to make each necklace unique. Many of the women I will be giving these to have pretty conservative styles so I didn't want to make the necklaces too flashy.
Plus, it takes away from the message and spirit of the star, just like too much commercialism can do to Christmas.
I created a card that would fit inside a jewelry bag and was able to print 6 on a page (see below to get your own copy.)
I cut them apart, and made a slit with a craft knife right under the scripture reference for the star charm to poke through. I then taped the rest of the chain to the back of the card so it wouldn't fall out of place.
I put the necklace in a plastic jewelry bag and now have a cute, meaningful, handmade, Christmas gift.
I am really excited about this gift. I wanted to make something for these ladies, but I also wanted to celebrate the real reason for the season- the birth of the Savior. I feel this is an appropriate way to bring the two together.
Here is the tag if you want to use it. The way it should work is that you should click on the image to make it full sized. Then right click (or control + click for Mac users) to save or download the image for your own use. It is a .png file.
I created a card that would fit inside a jewelry bag and was able to print 6 on a page (see below to get your own copy.)
I cut them apart, and made a slit with a craft knife right under the scripture reference for the star charm to poke through. I then taped the rest of the chain to the back of the card so it wouldn't fall out of place.
I put the necklace in a plastic jewelry bag and now have a cute, meaningful, handmade, Christmas gift.
I am really excited about this gift. I wanted to make something for these ladies, but I also wanted to celebrate the real reason for the season- the birth of the Savior. I feel this is an appropriate way to bring the two together.
Here is the tag if you want to use it. The way it should work is that you should click on the image to make it full sized. Then right click (or control + click for Mac users) to save or download the image for your own use. It is a .png file.
If downloading the picture doesn't work, just email me (aubreelarsen [at] gmail.com) and I will send you a copy.
Thanks for reading. I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas!
