Plato is credited with saying, “necessity is the mother of invention.” And, ain’t it the truth.

Case in point, in the weeks leading up to my sister’s wedding, I was on a desperate search for a necklace to wear with my dress. I found one on Etsy that I immediately fell in love with. It was gorgeous and seemed like it was made for my dress. I absolutely loved everything about it…except for the price. I just couldn’t justify it. So…I figured I’d try to make one. Not that I have any experience whatsoever in making jewelry, but it’s not like I had anything to lose, so I gave it a shot.

A few years ago, my sister gave me her jewelry-making toolkit. For a few years, she made the cutest earrings and bracelets and had an impressive tackle box that housed all of her beads and wire and tools. I was happy to inherit it but I had never even cracked it open.  I think it’s pretty awesome that her wedding gave me the chance to dust off all her old supplies and see if the jewelry-making talent ran in the family.

I took a trip to AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta. It’s the largest wholesale marketplace in the country with (literally) thousands of showrooms that sell clothing, accessories, shoes, housewares, and fine jewelry at wholesale prices. It’s a heavenly place!

I invested in about $40 worth of beads and spent a Saturday morning armed with needle nose pliers and heavyweight fishing line. I certainly won’t say it was easy, but once I got into the swing of it, it was actually kind of  fun.

Here are some photos of the process and a shot of the finished product taken at my sister’s wedding.