DIY Gemstone Statement Necklace

These last few days at work have been crazy and stressful. After a particularly trying day, I headed to Michael's to find a project. In the past I would deal with my stress by a good junk food binge. Since I can't do that anymore I've starting finding projects to relax me. (Along with buying a new pair of heels. That ALWAYS helps too!!)

I have seen several different versions of this statement necklace project on Pinterest and ended up using a idea from each one to create my own.

Materials:

• Felt
• Plastic Canvas
• Gemstones
• Ribbon
• Craft Glue

First, I cut the plastic canvas into a crescent-style shape. (You can create any shape you like, the possibilities are endless here)

I ended up changing the shape of the necklace at the end...

Next, I cut the felt to match and glued them together.

The next step was to determine what pattern I wanted to create with the gemstones. As I mentioned above, I changed the shape of necklace at this point. I didn't like the full crescent shape so I trimmed it to a semi-circle. I experimented with a few designs and finally decided on covering the entire area with the gems.

Next, I glued the stones to the backing by applying a drop of craft glue to the back of each gem and placing it back in position on the felt. (This was a fairly tedious process but thankfully, I had a good episode of NCIS to watch while I worked.)

The last step was to attach a length of ribbon to the outer corners of the backing after the gems had dried overnight. I attached with craft glue but also added a couples stitches to make sure everything was secure.

I really love how this turned out. And you get such bang for your buck! Excluding the craft glue, I only spent $5 for all the materials. I used half of the gems and have enough felt and backing to make at least four more necklaces.

I want to try this project again with jewel-colored stones of varied sizes. Maybe this weekend!!