Book Page Necklace

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Now that I've gone through all of my parties so far, I thought I'd try my hand at a necklace. I love statement jewelry pieces. I find any occasion to wear them.


During recent travels, I saw this antique necklace worn by historic royalty. I thought I could definitely try my own version.


I found the 1 1/2 inch and 1/2 inch wooden beads along with satin ribbon at Hobby Lobby for 40% off, so I knew this was the project for me! I had tissue paper at home along with spray paint. I stopped by Half Price Books to find a fashion book on the clearance rack to use the pages. I pulled out my Mod Podge and got started.


For the book page beads, I used Erin's tutorial for her book page egg wreath. That was very helpful in knowing the best way to attach the pages to the beads. It was somewhat of a tedious process, but well worth it. I glued the center of the pages to the beads, then cut slits on both sides, and wrapped each piece trying my best to smooth them down.


As for the accent beads, I wanted to use a bold color. I love all things turquoise, plus I had turquoise tissue paper on-hand, so it worked out nicely. I ended up spray painting the beads a blueish color first just so the wood part wouldn't show through since the tissue paper was so thin. I wanted to add the tissue paper pieces to give more texture. After cutting the tissue paper into small, random pieces, I used Mod Podge to glue them on. I used a gloss Mod Podge at the end to coat both the accent and book page beads to give a shiny appearance.


I spray painted the 1/2 inch wooden beads black to use as spacers. I laid out the beads making sure the words on the book page beads were all facing out, so they would be the same direction when wearing the necklace. I used black satin ribbon to string the beads together and left the ends longer, so I could tie a nice bow in the back. You may notice I ended up with fewer book page beads than I originally laid out--this is because once I strung them together, the necklace seemed quite overwhelming. I took out a few beads to make it more of a choker-style (or as my husband refers to it as "Wilma Flintstone" style).


It was definitely a fun project to do and now wear. I'll be linking to these great parties this week. Check them out and see you in 2 weeks!