DIY BMs gifts

Good afternoon Muses :-)

For our wedding we fully committed to DIY BM gifts... (the top two pics is of the necklace my fiance made for me -yes, he really did makeit- to wear at the rehearsal dinner and the bottom two pics are of the actual BM necklaces) even though we had never made one before! I really wanted to stick to a traditional pearl necklace, yet add a few unique and thougtful additions. We decided on the following necklace...

We used irregular fresh water pearls (the irregularity not only added a unique texture to the overall design, it also knocked off some serious $$), 4 small, 1 large and continued this until we had 18. A platinum swarovski crystal followed, then 7 pearls, another crystal, then the continued 18 pearls. Our wedding date is set for 07/18/2009 - notice the trend? 7/18? we then ended each necklace with double-stranded platinum bows! And voila! a gorgeous and unique pearl necklace for less than half the retail price! boooyakah.

Materials:
-platinum ribbon (2.99 at target)
-swarovski crystals (7.50 for a bag of ~25 crystals)
-crimps (3.00)
-necklace wire (15.00 for... a lot!)
-wire loops (these are to tuck in the loose wire ends) but as you can see from our necklaces, they were tucked in under the ribbon.
-real freshwater pearls (11.00/strand, but this depends on your size, color and shape)

all material can be picked up at any bead store! and ask the girls for help too, they live for this sort of stuff!

GOOD LUCK! and HAVE FUN!