Today’s project is about as simple as it gets when it comes to jewelry – no clasps, no findings, just beads, ribbon, and stretchy elastic beading cord! It’s a perfect handmade Valentine gift, or just a little-something-fun for yourself!
What you will need:
- Stretchy beading cord. One spool will go a long way, I’ve had this one quite a while.
- Beads you love. 3 or 4 kinds. You need enough of each to go around your wrist. If you’re buying new, try to get an 8″ strand. Depending what kinds of holes your beads have (like if they’re small), you may also want a beading needle.
- Optionally, some ribbon. Because I like the bow. But you can also just stack your bracelets, whatever you like!
I don’t have a ton of photos because this project is so self-explanatory (and plus my camera battery was low, LOL). But let me give you a few tips if you’ve never tried making a basic bracelet before.
- Larger hole beads work nicely because you can just thread the cord through without a needle. That said, the champagne colored pearls had tiny little holes, so I did use a beading needle for those.
- Don’t trim off your cord too short while you work with it or you are likely to lose beads off the end. You can also tie a seed bead onto one end if you like, to keep from losing your beads.
- Wait to tie off your strands until you know they’re all the same length… this isn’t totally necessary, but it will make things easier. ;)
- I tied mine with a regular ol’ triple-knot. There may be another fancy kind of knot that works well but I’ve never had trouble with regular knots coming undone. Once your strand is long enough, just tie the two ends together!
- There’s no rule for how many, what size/shape/color etc. beads you use. Just find some fun coordinating or contrasting beads you love! Variety is eye-catching!
Once you’ve got a couple individual bracelets, you can wear and stack them just as they are, or you can tie a bit of ribbon on to hold them together for an added touch!
I like the ribbon – such a nice romantic touch.
Sweet bracelet! I love the look with the ribbon too – a beautiful touch!
Such pretty bracelets!
Looks so pretty! I could see making a few of these with the SIL at one of our girl’s nights. I just may have to check out the rest of your bracelet ideas as well. Thanks for sharing! Found you at the Winthrop Chronicles.
That IS simple! I think I could actually do this! Thanks for sharing at One Creative Weekend!
Love, love, love!
Quick and easy, I love it! Think about how many you could make, and if you kept them all seperate, you could wear any combo to go with your outfit!
We included this awesome craft in our latest round up post because we love this and will be creating some for our friends! So creative!
Enjoyable to make using beads that you don’t have to many off.