Fabric and Bead Necklace for Summer!

If you follow me on Facebook you may have seen that I am participating in One Artsy Mama’s One Crafty Contest! Out of over 100 entries I made it into the top 20 and this week was our first round of competition. Eeek! Can I tell you how much I love crafting contests? I love being challenged to think outside the box and it’s so inspiring to see what every else comes up with. Plus, it’s just plain fun!

The main ingredient in the first round of the contest was beads and thanks to the lovely people that voted for my bead project I am moving on to round 2! Here is the Fabric Flower and Bead Necklace I made for this challenge:

When Amy first revealed the main ingredient for this round I about died.  I honestly haven’t used beads in YEARS (except for a few embellishments here and there, but nothing major). I was totally stumped.

I used to make a lot of beaded jewelry when I was in high school but it hasn’t been something that I’ve worked with in recent years. While brainstorming for this challenge I remembered that I used to have a HUGE bead collection and since my mom doesn’t throw anything out I had a feeling that my collection may still be at my parent’s house. Oh you better believe that whole thing was still there in the same bin! Bingo! Naturally, a lot of the beads weren’t really my style anymore… thankfully. I mean, I’m glad my style has changed a bit since I was 15. But I did find a lot of goodies in there and I just added a ton of beads to my craft supply for free (love finding old things!).

I was originally planning to do a home decor project using beads, but I wanted to keep costs down to a minimum so I forced myself to use the beads from the bin (Like I said, I love a challenge). I found this beautiful piece of fabric that was left over from Baby E’s nursery and found some beads in the bin that complemented the vibrant accent colors. Who doesn’t love some tangerine tango this year? But like all of my projects, they tend to evolve through the creative process and I ended up using more cool colors for this project.

I was searching for inspiration for fabric flowers and saw these from Little Miss Momma. Loved them. I used the fabric to make the three flowers and then paired it with ocean blue and gray beads. I love how it turned out and the bright colors are perfect for the summer months ahead. Can’t wait!

We just found out that the main ingredient for round 2 is Mod Podge and I’m almost done with my project! I cannot wait to show all of you. Round 2 entries will be posted on One Artsy Mama on Monday and if they are anything like the first round you will not want to miss them.

Have you made anything with beads recently? Leave a link in the comments, I would love to see!

Linking to some of the parties here along with Today’s Creative Blog, TipJunkie, Home Stories A 2 Z, Funky Junk Interiors, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

About Taryn Whiteaker

Taryn Whiteaker is the voice of style behind TarynWhiteaker.com (formerly Design, Dining and Diapers) ! Taryn is a previous PR/Marketing professional who got back to her creative roots after becoming a mom and now shares her passion for home decor and design for the world to see. Taryn lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband and three kids and loves coffee, the outdoors, and exploring with her family.