first shell necklace.

So with the help from my lovely assistants (a.k.a. my parents) I was able to get holes drilled into the shells I wanted to use for my first necklace. It took a little trial and error but we figured out the best way to get it done and then I finally gave it a try myself. I was a little on edge holding the tiny shells with my fingers that close to the drill bit, but I walked away injury free!

When I went to Michaels today for the beads, OF COURSE they didn't have what I had in mind. I guess I will have to turn to internet ordering. Because they didn't have the coral color bead I had in mind, I wound up using the color turquoise with my necklace too. They also did not have any gold charms that went with the necklace. They had the starfish charm I posted in my inspirational post, but it was in silver.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. (It was a bit of a struggle to get a picture of it that didn't look like I used peas and carrots for beads!) I haven't cut off the ends by the clasp yet just in case I decide to add something else within the next few days.

Once I had my beads and holes drilled into my shells, next step was to turn the shells into charms.

Using eye pins and jump rings I turned all 5 shells into charms for the necklace.

From there I had to decide the layout for my beads. Since I don't have a spiffy jewelry tray that lets you do this in a logical way, I used the carpet so that my beads wouldn't roll around!

The empty spaces are where I planned for the shell charms to go. I stuck with this layout, but once I strung the beads on, I wound up having some shell charms too far back on the necklace, so I took them all off and tweaked it a little bit.

I can't wait to wear the necklace and hear some feedback on it! Now that I have one project completed, I'll have to look into starting the next one!

You'll have to ignore the non-matching neon pink shirt, but I think it helps to see a necklace on!

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