Happy Holidays, Everyone! From now until Christmas, Mirror80 will be featuring one DIY gift idea each week. Today’s featured project: neon necklaces. Remember when I brainstormed neon supplies in this post? I ordered a few of them and hit the ground running. This DIY necklace idea involves chunky beads and vibrant cording. Read on for all the details…
Here’s what you’ll need to get started…
- cording in the color(s) of your choice
- mineral and/or glass beads
- scissors
- glue gun and glue sticks (optional)
I ordered a variety of cording and bead options from Etsy and picked my favorites for the project once they arrived. The rough cut amethyst bead comes from gemstreet, and the blue blue beads are from zzlaca. I got 7 blue pieces for $8.85–now that’s a good deal! I also ordered Korean maedeup cording from Etsy shop The Constant Crafter, as well as neon yellow nylon cord from Kourtney’s Crafts.
To make these necklaces, all you do is string the cord through the bead and tie a knot to secure the necklace! Keep the necklace long so your giftee can easily slip it over her head. It’s that easy! I put a dab of glue into the knot as I tied it (to help it stay tied), but this is a totally optional step. With the thinner neon yellow cord, I was even able to rotate the knot so it lodged in the middle of the blue bead. This hid the knot from view!
When ordering supplies online, it’s often hard to know if the cord will fit through the bead. If in doubt, email the online retailer (or Etsy artistan) ahead of time to find out the cording thickness and/or the size of the hole in the bead. You may also prefer to buy the cord first, then visit a bead shop in person so you can test out the cording on the bead before you buy it.
I plan on gifting several friends with these necklaces. Don’t be afraid to get creative with the wrapping! I used cotton bags that once contained bright yellow pillowcases I purchased from Target. The grid tissue paper is from American Apparel–the cashier wrapped one of my purchases in this ’80s-fabulous paper. Yes, I basically created gift wrap from store packaging. More on creative gift wrap options later this month…
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