Guest Designer - by Belle - Beaded Necklace

I was very honored to be asked to be the guest designer for June!!  As soon as I knew it had to be a summer project the idea of a necklace flashed in my mind and here is what I came up with….
What you will need:  
            1- 12x12 piece of cardstock, I used Echo Park Playground Monkey Bars
            1- 6x6 piece of cardstock, I used Echo Park Holly Jolly Stocking are Hung
            Some kind of glaze, I used Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy.

            Because I wanted to see the ‘crackle’ I also used Distress Ink Walnut Stain and Spiced Marmalade
            Some kind of ribbon, I used a cream ribbon I had and dyed it with Alcohol Ink Citrus
All of the above were purchased at Crop Chocolate (except the ribbon which is from my stash).
You will also need:
            Glue, metal ruler, cutting mat, craft knife, paint brush, skewer sticks
Let’s get started…

On the back of your 12x12 piece of cardstock mark at 1 inch across the top and bottom, on your cutting mat with your craft knife cut diagonally from the bottom corner to the first mark on the top of the sheet, discard that piece.  Continue cutting but now every other mark alternating from top to bottom with the end result being long triangles.

Do the same with your 6x6 piece of cardstock but your mark should be at ½ inch instead of an inch.

Take a skewer stick and one of your larger triangles, with the wrong side facing up, and start rolling on the skewer.  Make sure it is tight and centered.

When you get close to the end put some glue along the tip and continue rolling.  Keep rolling the glue around until the tip is stuck and covered.

Do the same with your smaller triangles

I used a piece of cork I had to stick all my skewers in to dry.

Next, with your paint brush and glaze…

Seal all your beads.  I applied two coats.

While your beads are drying you can prepare your ribbon.  

Since I dyed mine with alcohol ink I had a few more steps…

Determine the length you would like your necklace to be and then allow for a lot of knotting (I doubled what I thought I wanted my length to be).  Then in a glass jar I put a little water, what I thought would be enough to cover my ribbon, squirted the alcohol ink in the water, mixed and dunked my ribbon in.

I used and extra skewer stick to mix with and to get a tie dyed look on my ribbon I squirted more alcohol ink on the ribbon while it was in the water.  Let it soak up the color and when you like the way it looks (remember it will look darker when it is wet) take the ribbon out, rinse and dry.  I threw mine in the dryer to speed up the drying.

I wanted to see the ‘crackle’ on the beads so I inked them all.  The large beads have Distress Ink-Spice Marmalade and Walnut Stain while the small beads just have Walnut Stain.

Ok, now, I never really mentioned anything about how many beads to make…I just knew I wanted two sizes and just started making beads.  I let the number of pieces I could get out of each piece of cardstock kind of decide how many I would do and if I didn’t use them all well, I would have some beads for another project.   
String all our beads on your ribbon in the order you want them.  Space them to your liking but remember the knotting will require a bit of ribbon and leave longer piece and the ends so you can tie in on.  Knot on both side of the first bead and then after each of the rest of the beads.

I had two smaller beads left so I used them at each end for a little extra somethin’.  My necklace ended up being about 32 inches.  I think that makes it very versatile, it can be worn long or doubled up…
Thanks for taking a look at my summer necklace project and if you try it please post some pictures so I can see your interpretation…I love it when everyone shares their projects!!