Make It: Flower Necklace

Have you ever had something turn out completely different than you anticipated? I dreamed up (what I thought was) an awesome DIY and started working on it on Monday. Everything was going great and I was pleased with the results so far. Apparently it decided to take a turn for the worst and as I was working on it on Tuesday. Everything went horribly wrong. It was taking much longer than I hoped, the painted stripes looked awful, and anything I did to salvage the project ended up making it worse. And all I could think about was the DIY post I wanted to share with you guys today and all of a sudden I didn't have one at all. *Sigh* Oh, the challenges of a blogger….

So I pulled myself together and decided to test my skills at flower necklaces. At 7pm last night. Luckily this one turned out better than the last and I have a post to share with you! It's a win win. I have a shoot today and wanted a cute, unique necklace. Last week, Erin gave us a glimpse of a pretty flower necklace she made, and once I saw this flower necklace DIY, I decided to make my own! Keep on reading for the full tutorial :)

Inspired by Green Wedding Shoes tutorial with a few modifications.

Supplies:
Flowers, $7 at Hobby Lobby (They always have 50% off sales, so buy flowers when they're on sale!)
Gauge 26 Floral wire, $3 at Hobby Lobby
Yarn or twine
Felt
Scissors or pliers (I used a scissors but recommend a pilers if you have one on hand)
_____________
Total: $10

Step 1
Cut your yarn or twine to your desired length of necklace. Make it longer because you can always trim it. I wanted to tie mine in the back so I can adjust the size accordingly.

Step 2
Cut wire and wrap it around the yarn to secure it, creating a crescent shape. This adds structure so the flowers hold their form. I used a thicker wire than suggested because that's what I had on hand, and it was much more difficult to work with.

Step 3
Add another piece of wire for added structure. It's okay if it looks messy because it will get covered up by the flowers. Ideally, I would have put several more vertical wires from yarn to wire, but the wire was difficult to secure tight enough so I made due with just one.

Step 4
Start by arranging your filler flowers. I used faux flowers so I could keep my necklace for a while and just trimmed pieces to fit. How you arrange it is up to you, but I wanted some filler to stick out the edges and create shape, so I had them extend from the outside of the crescent. After you arrange your filler, secure it to the wire by cutting a short piece of yarn and using that to tie around the filler and the wire.

Step 5
Now is the fun part! Start arranging your flowers until you come up with a design you like. I removed the flower from the stem by simply pulling on the flower head until it came loose. Once you decide on an arrangement, it's time to secure them in place. Cut a short piece of yarn and wrap it around the green plastic "stem" of a flower. Then, tie the yarn ends around a piece of wire or filler piece to secure it. In the other tutorial they used wire to secure the flowers in place, but my wire was too thick so I used yarn and found it to work much easier.

You can cut a piece of felt to cover the back of the necklace, but I decided not to.

Once I got the hang of the wire and improvised a little, the project went fairly quick and I was done in about an hour. The original tutorial was made for bridesmaids, and the necklace would also be cute for a fun party or celebration! I'm seriously loving this DIY because it's so cute and easy.

Did you like this DIY? Where would you wear your flower necklace?

First photo by Chelsea Photographie