You’ve seen those chunky bead necklaces that cutie-patootie little girls are wearing in sweet photos? Well this post is not so much of a how to as a where to buy these necklace kits and assemble them yourself! I can no longer keep this awesome source to myself!

You saw last week when I showed those fun hair clips and accessories I made using supplies from my friends at the Sunshine Shoppe, right? Well, they also carry these beaded necklaces in kit form! Oh my gosh, I know, right! They have TONS to choose from. Assembly is really easy. Basically put them on the include fishing line and use a pliers to flatten the included crimp beads. It is so simple that trying to photograph the how to steps didn’t even make sense. So head here to see all the fun chunky necklace bead kits you can purchase: Sunshine Shoppe – DIY Chunky Necklace Kit. Get out your daughter’s favorite Matilda Jane outfit and then go and purchase a necklace kit to match. Your daughter will look more than cute in her next photo!

Make sure you visit the Sunshine Shoppe for purchasing all of your hair accessory and beading craft supplies! Tell them Alanna George | The Craft Nest sent you!

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Girls love to make their own jewelry and these bracelets are no exception! These are fun to make because you can choose your own colors to coordinate with any outfit. Bracelets like these are a perfect craft for a birthday party or girl scout meeting!

This was another camping craft that the girls had fun making. They loved how easy it was to wrap their own bracelets and walk away with customized jewelry.

Supplies:

• Plain leather bracelets, a Snap bracelet, or a rubber bracelet
• Assorted colors of floss
• Craft glue

How To:

1. Choose your first color of floss. Start at one end of the bracelet with the floss. Place a small dab of glue on the end of the floss, then start wrapping.
2. Continue to wrap the floss. Wrap until it is the width you want it to be and secure the end with a dab of glue.
3. Start the next color by using another small dab of glue at the start and then again at the end.
4. Continue adding more floss colors until your bracelet is covered*As an alternate to using glue you can tie each section of floss together.

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Jewelry is a staple in any girl’s wardrobe, am I right? Of course I am. So making jewelry to give as a gift is the perfect handmade gift idea. I made these pearl ribbon necklaces to give out at a gift exchange. Mix up the colors a bit and they would be a fun Valentine’s Day necklace!

If you aren’t familiar with jewelry making and working with wire, check out this link for a how to on making a simple wire loop.

Supplies:

• Pearl Beads
• Satin Ribbon
• Jump Rings
• Clasp
• Chain
• Eye Pins (has looped already formed on one end)
• Metal Ribbon Clasps
• Crocheted Flowers
• Gemstone or Pearl
• E6000
• Wire Cutter
• Round Nose Pliers
• Flat Pliers

How To:

1. Start your necklace by joining the pearls together with wire loops. You can find a great tutorial here.
2. Cut two pieces of ribbon, mine are each 5 1/2″ long. Using a pliers, add the metal ribbon clasps to each end of the ribbons.
3. Using jump rings, attach your joined pearls to the metal ribbon clasps.
4. On the end of the ribbons attach a clasp to one side and a jump ring and short length of chain on the other side.
5. Use E6000 glue to adhere the crocheted flowers and pearl to your necklace. Let dry.

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I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting the summer camp project for week four. I’ve been a little behind in my posting because we took a family camping vacation. We made some awesome memories and my kids were seriously sobbing when we got home because they were so sad about the end of our camping fun.

Our project this week is by Katie from Katie’s Nesting Spot. It is an Ed Emberley inspired pendent using a fingerprint. I love this! So easy and fun for kids and a perfect camping project. Hop over to her site Katie’s Nesting Spot for the full instructions for making your own pendant!

If you have a summer day camp craft idea and would like to be one of our camp instructors we would love for you to join in, you can email me at: alannageorge(at)alannageorge.com

Visit next week for another summer day camp project!

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If you are as many years young as I am you may remember making friendship pins in grade school. I remember I would pin them on my shoelaces down near the bottom row so I would always have them on without having to remove them everyday from my shirt. Oh to be as cool now

I thought I would revive this easy craft for a summer day camp project. I found these awesome coil-less pins at Jo-Anns. Did they make these pins way back when? My kids had fun making the pins and then giving them out to friends and trading them too. This is a fun activity and requires few supplies!

Supplies:

• Coiless Safety Pin (by Darice)
• Assortment of Beads (make sure holes are big enough to slide on pin)

How To:

1. This really couldn’t be easier. Slide beads on pin.
2. Trade finished pins with friends and wear.

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Beautiful aren’t they? So easy to make too! You only need three supplies to make these stunning bobby pins. My daughter wore some in her hair today to school and they looked really cute. Girls of all ages will love keeping their hair in place with these! These would make great handmade gifts for  bridesmaids, birthday party favors or a gift for your sister.

I previously posted these instructions in with my Valentine Printable, so this is a little redundant. I thought these pretty pictures might inspire some of you to make just the bobby pins even if you don’t need to create Valentine cards.

How To | Cabochon Bobby Pins

Supplies:

• Bobby Pins with Pad (mine are from here)
• Cabochon Flowers (mine are Martha Stewart from Jo-Anns)
• E6000 Glue

How To:

1. Put glue (E6000) on the bobby pin pad.
2. Add flower or cabochon. (The Martha Stewart ones I used have a foam sticker on the back. I peeled the foam off and then had a flat surface left for gluing.)
3. Let dry.

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Over the weekend my daughter and I made these bottle cap necklaces to give to her friends as gifts when they come over in a couple weeks to make some Christmas crafts. She was so excited to help me put them together. We think they turned out really cute! The perfect handmade gift for little girls. If you want to make some with your daughter check out the free download below, it has the cute little girl faces for you to use to make your own necklaces! (The free download has a larger variety of hair colors than the necklaces shown above and no names.)

Handmade Holidays | How To | Bottle Cap Necklaces

Supplies:

• Darice Cotton Loops (found at Michaels)
• Jump Rings
• Bottle Caps (I got mine at Oriental Trading $4 for 24)(Also at Hobby Lobby $9 for 24)
• Gemstones
• Magic-Glos by Lisa Pavelka (found at Hobby Lobby) (other options are Diamond Glaze or 3D Crystal Laquer)
• Crop-A-Dile
• Scissors
• Double-sided Tape
• Bottle Cap Necklace Art Download

How To:

1. Use your Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole into the bottle caps.
2. Print out the Bottle Cap Necklace Art Download and cut out the ones you want to use.
3. Secure art to bottle cap using a small piece of double-sided tape.
4. Add a gemstone onto the art.
5. Follow the directions and add your Magic-Glos. Let it set for a very long time according to directions. Try to make sure you have nothing near by the bottle caps that will get fuzz or dirt on the glaze after you have applied it. Keep an eye on them as they dry and pop bubbles with a toothpick or pin.
6. Add a jump ring to the top through the hole.
7. Thread your cotton loop through the jump ring and knot the ends together. (I cut my cotton loops in thirds to make them the right size for the girls necks.)
8. Package in a cute gift box!

FREE DOWNLOAD:

Click Here – Bottle Cap Necklace Art Download

Linked to: Where Women Create

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I made this heart felt necklace for my First Grader, who is having a hard time adjusting to being away from home everyday. I decided to make something special for her that she could wear all day at school. I told her that I blew 1000’s of kisses inside while I was sewing it and so did her Dad, brothers, sisters, Aunt, Grandma and Grandpa. (We were at the cottage with everyone the night I was sewing it.) I told her to hold it close to her heart and kisses will come out when she needs them. She has been wearing it under her shirt all week and she makes sure to put it on first thing in the morning when she is getting dressed. She told me she holds it when she feels sad, and that she has shown it to some of the other kids in her class, but she never shows them the I love u side. If you have a grade-schooler who is feeling kinda weepy all day about being away, this cute necklace might be the way to make her feel a little extra secure.

How To | Heart Felt Necklace

Supplies:

• Red Felt
• Pink Embroidery Floss
• Satin Ribbon
• Needle
• Poly-fil Stuffing
• Scissors
• Fabric Pencil

How To:

1. Cut out two identical hearts from the red felt.
2. Thread the needle with embroidery floss and tie a knot in the end.
3. Use a fabric pencil to lightly draw a heart shape on one of the hearts.
4. Use a satin stitch (how to here) to create the heart on the front piece of the necklace.
5. On the other heart use the fabric pencil to draw the words I love u.
6. Use a back stitch (how to here) to create the words.
7. With the heart felt pieces back-to-back use a blanket stitch (how to here) around the edge. I recommend starting the blanket stitch at the bottom of the heart. When you get to the top insert one end of the ribbon in the top hump of the heart. Do a couple hidden stitches to hold the ribbon to the heart. Continue with the blanket stitch. When you get to the top of the second heart hump insert the other end of the ribbon and stitch that end in with hidden stitches as well.
8. Continue with the blanket stitch. When you get close to the end leave a small opening. Blow tons of kisses inside, ask for help from family and friends.
9. Fill the inside of the heart with Poly-fil Stuffing and continue sewing the heart closed using the blanket stitch.

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I made these beautiful Aquamarine earrings for L’s kindergarten teacher for a year end thank you gift. Aren’t they pretty? I might need to make myself a pair. The stones are Aquamarine briolettes and the wire and ear hooks are Sterling Silver. L can’t wait to give them to her on graduation day.

I packaged them up in an empty Aveda lip gloss box. The outside of the box doesn’t have any printing on it. I added the words with a rubber stamp and Lorelei wrote her name below. The card the earrings are hanging from is a Moo Card. You can make your own Moo cards here. My card has business card type information on the back. After poking the holes in the card, I taped the card inside the lid of the box so that the earrings will dangle when the box is opened. I used the pink tulle to tie a ribbon around the box to keep it closed.

I was hoping to write up some instructions for these beauties before posting, but time has gotten away from me. We have had a lot going on recently. Tee ball practice, lawn mowing, porch painting, garden planting, power outages. We have had a very busy transition from Spring to Summer. I am hoping I can find my groove again soon and start to get on a summer routine that includes posting some projects.

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I have to preface this post by stating that I did not come up with this project, I found it at One Charming Party. To see more stunning examples of these gumball necklaces please visit their blog here.

I decided to copy One Charming Party and make these as birthday treats for my daughter to take to school. Let me say making these is not for the crafty faint of heart. It takes some muscle and work to get the gumballs on a ribbon…

How To | Gumball Necklace

Ingredients:

• Gumballs (I bought mine at Party City)
• 5/8 Satin Ribbon
• Bamboo Knitting Needle
• 70mm Plastic Wool Needle
• Rubber Gloves

How To:

1. Wear rubber gloves to keep the sugar coating looking nice as you handle the gumballs.
2. Hold the gumball and pierce one side with Bamboo Knitting Needle. Insert slowly to avoid cracking the gumball. Next insert the knitting needle into opposite side of gumball. Repeat this step for each gumball.
3. Cut a length of ribbon. Thread one end into Plastic Wool Needle. Thread needle with ribbon through gumballs.
4. When all your gumballs are on the ribbon, tie a knot on each end of the gumballs.
5. Tie ribbon ends together. I tied mine so the necklace could slip over my daughters head.
6. I also created tiny jewelry tags that said, “Eat Me.” I was afraid it might not be obvious that the necklace is made of gumballs and not beads!

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