Is your family like a bunch of peas in a pod? Personalize this Mother’s Day necklace with a sweet and smiling pea for each kid in your family!
This makes a great gift for mom or grandma…or yourself!
The style is cute and something mom would want to wear. And with a little help, kids can make most of this special gift!
Make your necklace with up to six painted wooden peas, and if you want to have even more little ones represented, add an extra necklace!
Before you begin, read through all the instructions first. Pretty peas?
what you need:
- 1/2-inch Wooden Beads
- Folk Art Color Shift Acrylic Paint in Green Flash
- Black Acrylic Paint
- 18-gauge Jewelry Wire
- 24 to 28″ Necklace Chain
- Green Wool Felt
- Green Embroidery Floss
- Wooden Skewer
- Paint Brush
- Wire Cutter or Utility Scissors
- Needle Nose Pliers
- Scissors
- Needle
- Craft Glue
- Printable template
how-to:
Step 1
Decide how many peas you want to have in your necklace, and slide them onto a wooden skewer. You may want to add a few extras, in case any of the painted faces get ruined.
Paint the beads green. Add as many coats of paint as it takes to cover the beads. Usually three coats is good.
Step 2
Paint a tiny face on each bead. To make the faces, you can use the end of a piece of the 18-gauge wire. Make two dots for eyes first, then a tiny smile. Or make the faces however you like!
Let the paint dry.
Step 3
Cut a piece of 18-gauge wire that is about 3-1/2 inches long. This is longer than you will need, but it’s easier to work with at this size.
Use the needle nose pliers to curl one end of the wire into a loop. Place one end of the chain on the wire loop before you close it off.
Step 4
Slide the beads on the open end of the wire, then place the other end of the chain on the wire too.
Step 5
Use the needle nose pliers to make a loop of wire close to the beads. Make sure the chain is in the loop. Then trim the excess wire with the wire cutter.
Step 6
Use the peapod template for the number of beads on your necklace. Cut out two peapod shapes from green felt. Sew them together on the bottom edge with three strands of embroidery floss. Try to hide the knots between the layers of felt.
Step 7
Run a line of craft glue down inside the bottom of the felt peapod. Try not to get it get up onto the sides of the peapod.
Step 8
Make sure all the faces of the peas on the necklace are facing the same direction. Set the peas into the peapod so that back of the peas gently push into the glue.
Let the glue dry.
This sweet little necklace is ready to wear or to give to mom or grandma!
You can make a necklace with anywhere from one to six peas in the felt pod. Technically, you could have even more, but the peapod bar would get rather long.
Not sure about adding faces to the peas? This necklace would still look cute without them! Or, for a natural look, skip the green paint too. The plain wooden beads look beautiful in the green felt!
And although this was created with Mother’s Day in mind, the peas don’t need to represent kids. They’re cute just as they are. Or you could make a have a pea bead for each person in your family…grownups too!
Happy crafting!