Ribbon and Pearls

There is something about pearls.

The tiny yet heavy for their size spheres are simple and elegant. Mother of pearl buttons make me smile because they reflect every possible color. I even tossed around the idea of naming one of my daughters Pearl. Yes, I love them that much.

I have wanted a long string of pearls as far back as I can remember. Something ridculously long that I could double and it would still be considered lengthy. Knowing that would not be in the budget any time soon, I began to entertain ideas of making my own.

I didn't have to brainstorm long. On a shopping venture with Lauren (and without kids) it all sort of came to me. When we arrived back home, this took me all of three minutes to complete.

I found a clean strand of fake pearl at a local thrift shop. With tweezers, I removed the clasp, leaving the eye. Anticipating that my new necklace would be put through a lot of stress, I reinforced the joint with a small bead of glue.

I cut two - 20 inch lengths of off-white ribbon and thread one through each eye, bringing the eye to the middle of each ribbon.

Tie the four ends together into a neat bow. If your bow tying doesn't work out, you can always knot it. Reinforce the bow with a couple of stitches through the center. Trim ends at a 45* angle.

I feel so pretty wearing this with everything, even t-shirt and jeans. I bet this would work with any necklace you wish were just a little bit longer. You could make it interesting with switching up the ribbon color, linking together more than one necklace or accenting the spot where pearl meets ribbon. Be creative!