DIY | Statement Necklace

I've been obsessed with statement necklaces. I honestly can't get enough of them! Since my style is evolving into a very laid back style, which is comprised of numerous basic shirts, I need something to make an ordinary outfit a little more exciting and that's where necklaces come in. My boyfriend jokes around that I don't like a necklace until its "tacky" enough, and he's right. The bigger and chunkier the necklace is, the more I like it! The problem with statement necklaces are the price! I hate that some are above $50 and as someone who is trying to save up, I just can't pay that much for a necklace. Well I did some fishing around on YouTube and found this amazing DIY tutorial in Dutch, I may not speak Dutch but I sure speak DIY.

What you will need
Seed beads- You can use as many colors as you want. I personally love how black and gold look together, so I went with just those two colors. I bought two jumbo sized bags at Joann's for $3.99. Just make sure the hole in the beads aren't too small. The smaller the number, the bigger the hole. Go for size 10 or 11 beads which seem to be the standard from what I've seen.
Safety pins- You can either go for silver, gold, or even black safety pins. I went with these 1-1/4th" gold safety pins which I bought from eBay for $5.84. When you buy your safety pins just make sure they aren't too thick. If they are you'll have to go pick seed beads with a bigger hole.
Necklace cord- I went with this pre-made necklace because I didn't want to buy jump rings, clasps, and pliers but if you already own those materials, then you can feel free to use them. This necklace cord was $1.99 at Joann's.
Total: $15.81 and you'll have enough materials to make a couple more necklaces! 

Step 1: Begin adding the black seed beads on the safety pin. I found that the pins I bought hold about 13-14 beads. You'll be repeating this step over and over and over.

Step 2: Once you're done with each pin you can just insert it in the cord. To create the pyramid design you're going to start with one gold bead and then just keep adding one more to the following pins. You have to be exact with the number of gold but when it comes to the black beads you'll just have to fill up the remaining space in the pin.

This is how the necklace should look like when it's halfway done. To finish the necklace you'll just have to repeat what you just did. 

This is how the necklace should look like once you're done with the design. It's a very simple design but it should take about an 1.5 hours to complete due to all the beads you'll have to put into the safety pins. You can stop right here or keep adding more all black safety pins like I did.

I ended up having 10 all black pins on each side to give the necklace more weight. 

And that's it! For less than $20 you can have your own unique statement necklace. You can experiment with colors and patters. All you'll have to do is count the beads when creating a pattern and have some patience. I'm going to give this necklace another go because I loved the end result but next time I'm hoping to film a video and upload it to YouTube. 

If you decide to try out this DIY please post a picture on my Facebook fan page or tag me on Instagram. I would absolutely love to see what you can come up with.

Happy DIY!