pretty things | a lace necklace

So pictures are nice and all, but there’s nothing like the feeling of paint drying on your fingers or a few scissor snips giving a different meaning to an everyday thing.

I love painting and crafting and making pretty things, and this year I’m set on making time for it again.

My first project was a necklace made from an antique lace doily, and I was so happy when the ever-lovely Ami of Elizabeth Anne Designs shared it on her blog as well!

I was making it for my darling chum Katie, and she has a particular bohemian-meets-Anne-Shirley style so I figured it was basically the most perfect idea ever. (she’s since agreed.)

Finding the right doily for this project might have been the hardest part – I wanted one that had good shape and structure, (so it wouldn’t fall apart) but could still look delicate. After a lot of searching I lucked out at a local antique store and got a few bags (!!!) of assorted doilies for about $10, and this was in that collection.

It helped to lay it out first and decide where I would cut, since I wanted it to be large enough to be seen for what it was, while avoiding bib-status.

After cutting the lace I dotted sewing glue around the edges to project it from fraying, and also where the chain would be added, just to be safe. I used needle-nose pliers and jump rings to attach the chain to the lace, and I had to try it a few different ways before getting it look right. (always important to let art develop on it’s own.)

BOOM. Necklace’d.

Ok, and I take back what I said. The hardest part was definitely giving this away : )

Happy Thursday!

xo