DIY Necklace with Sumos Sweet Stuff

The DIY accessories tutorial kicks off another great week with Sumo's Sweet Stuff! Take it away Summer!

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited/honored/happy to be posting over here. I just adore Megan, and think she is so much fun! I've only met her once in real life (which is sad; it should be more), but it's been fun getting to know her a bit over the interweb. Isn't the internet great?

I'm Sumo, or Summer if you wanna get formal. (In case you are wondering, my husband nicknamed me Sumo when we were dating. Maybe I should have been offended?)

I blog over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

It's a blog I started to share my crafting and creating. I also like to host giveaways, feature other bloggers, and maybe share some crazy ramblings about how much I love Diet Coke, or my relationships with Veronica and Lucy (my sewing machine and CAMEO). Some other things you should know about me are that I'm married to my best friend, I have three beautiful little girls, I'm kind of in love with my minivan, I think every seamstress should own a pair of Ginghers, I'm addicted to Pinterest, and I would make a great professional fabric shopper.

I'm excited to share this necklace tutorial with you. It is so versatile, and gives you tons of options! 

Here's what you need:

- beads, beads, beads! (Yes, I realize that's a lot of beads. No, it's not even close to all the beads I own.)

- chains of varying sizes

- two large lobster clasps

- one smaller lobster clasp

- crimp beads

- scissors

- crimping tool

- beading wire

- split rings

The large flower bead had holes for two wires to string through it. So I measured the chain that would be going around my neck on one side, strung it through a small piece of wire, and then put both sides of the wire through the large bead. (Sorry, I know the picture if fuzzy; I couldn't get very good clear shots today for some reason. I'm probably one of the last bloggers on earth still using a point and shoot!)

Then I took a large lobster clasp and put it on a split ring. On the two pieces of wire that have come through the large bead, string together with a crimp bead. Then loop the wires around the split ring and back through the crimp bead. Use your crimping tool to press the crimp bead down, securing it all in place. Trim any excess wire.

Measure a second piece of chain to go around your neck. Open up one of the rings and put a smaller lobster clasp on. This will connect the two sides on the back of your neck. At the bottom of the second piece of chain, attach another split ring with a lobster clasp on it by opening up another ring and close the ring around it. My crimping tool is handy for this! This is what you've got so far!

Now it's time to start making the fun bead strands! Take a piece of wire, put a crimp bead on it, loop the wire around a split ring and back through the crimp bead. Press the crimp bead down, securing your loop around the split ring.

String on your beads to the length that you want. Secure the end with another crimp bead and split ring.

Here's how it looks attached on to your base necklace pieces.

Measure different lengths of varying sizes of chains, and hook those on to your necklace. You like?

But maybe you don't feel like wearing those clear beads. How about a strand of black pearls?

What's that? It's almost spring, and time for bright colors? Okay, done.

Or you could always keep it classic with regular pearls.

For a simple look, maybe you just want a few different chains hanging on.

This strand may be my favorite: an eclectic group of clear and silver beads.

So there you have it. A boutique style necklace, with lots and lots of options to make it work for you! 

Thanks so much to Megan for having me over here today. I hope you'll come follow along at Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

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Lanyard for the Teacher - with guest Sumos Sweet Stuff

Hello Brassy Apples!

I'm so excited to be here today. I'm Sumo!

I blog over at a little place called Sumo's Sweet Stuff.

It started out as somewhere for me to keep my crafty projects, but quickly turned into something much more wonderful: a place to share tutorials, giveaways, and feature other bloggers!

I have been loving this fun Back to School series! I taught first grade for six years before I started having kids, and there's just something exciting and magical about the beginning of the school year. I have to admit, I still get excited when I see the aisles of school supplies on sale each fall!

Being a former teacher myself, it's always nice when students and parents take time to say thank you. There's lots of fun, cutesy ideas out there, but sometimes the best things to give a teacher are practical things that will actually get used! I thought it would be fun to whip up a lanyard - you can have lots of fun picking out fabric for it, they are super easy, and even if it's not for a teacher - something you can use for yourself! I love having my keys on one!

Here's what you need to get started:

- piece of fabric (mine is 3" x 36")

- sewing machine/accessories

- lanyard hook

- book ring/split ring or some other type of ring

Take your strip of fabric, and fold it in half length wise, right sides together.

Sew down the entire long edge, back stitching at the beginning and end.

Take one end of your tube, and fold it so that your seam is now in the middle. Sew along the short side. Clip your corners, being careful not to cut your seams!

Use a pen or pencil to push the tube right side out.

Iron the tube flat, also ironing the unfinished end seams inside so that the raw edges aren't out anymore.

Stitch along your middle seam.

Top stitch along your outer edge, closing up the remaining end of your strip.

Take your two ends, and fold them over your ring with your lanyard hook attached.. Sew the ends down.

For a mommy, attach your keys on there!

This makes a great 'toy' for smaller kids stuck in a shopping cart at the store!

And perfect for a teacher to wear with a badge! (Why yes, that is my large pregnant belly my keys are resting on. Pretend the keys are a badge.)

If you prefer to have your lanyard skinnier, you could either fold it over again before top stitching, or just make the width smaller when cutting your fabric.

Thanks so much Megan for having me today!

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