How to Make a Snowball Necklace

This simply stunning DIY necklace pattern is perfect for Christmas and New Year's.  With this tutorial on How to Make a Snowball Necklace, you'll learn how to make a lovely necklace that will add a touch of class to any outfit.  You'll need basic jewelry making supplies to create this necklace...and you can easily make a matching pair of earrings or a bracelet to complete the set.  Give it as a gift or keep it for yourself to show off during the holiday season!

Materials:

• 3 8mm round white pearl glass beads
• 4 12mm crystal encrusted beads, a.k.a. crystal lightweight epoxy beads
• 7 3/4" eyepins (I only had 1” at the time of this video, but I just cut them down to size)
• Ribbon of choice (ou could use chain if you want.  You’d also need a clasp and some jump rings then)
• 2 ribbon ends the same width as the ribbon
• Epoxy glue or some other strong glue
• Paper plate with toothpicks
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Bead mat (optional)

Video:

Instructions:

1. Slide a bead on each of the eyepins and form a loop at each of the ends.  Now lay out your design and form a chain with the beaded eyepins by opening a loop on an eyepin and attaching another beaded eyepin to this loop.  This type of chain you are forming—beads on eyepins—is called referred to as a rosary chain.
    
2. Now comes the tricky part: determining the length of the ribbons you need.  First you need to determine how long you want your necklace.  Since the beaded chain takes up about 4”, you will need to include this information when you calculate the length of the ribbon.  I want to make a necklace that has the option of being 20” long.  So taking away the 4” of beaded chain and adding 14” for a bow, I would need 30” of ribbon.  I need to divide that by half so the ribbon would be on either side of the beaded chain, so I need two lengths of 15” long ribbon.
    
3. To attach your ribbon end clamps, first squeeze a little epoxy on to a paper plate.  Take a toothpick and apply it to a ribbon end clamp.  Attach a ribbon end to the clamp and secure with flat nose pliers.  Do the same with the other length of ribbon.  To prevent any fraying, trim the exposed ribbon ends and apply a little epoxy to the ends.  Let everything dry thoroughly before moving on to the next step.
    
4. Attach your beaded chain to the two lengths of ribbon.  To do this, just open a loop at one end of the chain and attach the ribbon end clamp loop.  Do the same with the opposite end of the beaded chain and the other length of ribbon.