Tag: pendant

DIY Pendant Necklace Update

A while back, I lost my original DIY pendant necklace:

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Sad face. I’ve lazily waited a few weeks for it to turn up, feeling no urgency since I hadn’t been wearing it much anyway. But as I started to lean more into solid tops just begging for a little pendant pick-me-up, I realized how much I had relied on this puppy. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

So I set about reconstructing it. I unfortunately had no more creamy, taupe-y pentagonal dodecahedrons (geometry term of the day!), and it turned out to be easier to leave the chain links on the metal spiral bead they were attached to, so it ended up looking quite different – but you can see where I got the inspiration:

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While I had my supplies out, I also made a pendant out of some gold-tipped shell earrings I thrifted the week before.

From this…IMG_20171115_205629605

…to this:

IMG_20171122_091433_660Crystals + blush pink – is that not the most millenial piece of jewelry you’ve ever seen?

 

I also made another one similar to the first, but in bigger proportions:

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I’ve worn each one once or twice so far; expect to see these popping up on my Instagram while I figure out which pieces go with what outfits and which I really love. (It’s a case of the “more becomes less” phenomenon also seen in my wardrobe – i.e., make a bunch of pendants and see which ones stick!)

If you’d like more detailed instructions on how to make your own pendant from thrifted parts, I documented the making of that original pendant here.  Fingers crossed I eventually find the original squirreled away in some unfolded pile of laundry!

What I Wore and How I Styled It: Snow Leopard + Wine and Navy

This weekend the morning temperature dipped down below 50 for the first time, so I went looking for a cozy ensemble for church/work.  I often wear something to church on Sunday AM and then redo it for work on Monday since I don’t wear my church clothes hard and the only person who will see me sporting the exact same outfit is my spouse. I figure if an ensemble worked once, I should milk it for all it’s worth, no?  (Fun fact: the first picture is from this morning and the rest are from yesterday.)

Pants: My wine-colored cords were freshly back from the tailors, where they had gone for a little nipping in around the waist, and I was itching to wear them.

Top: It was cold enough for a proper sweater on top so I opened my sweater drawer to see what looked inviting.  Light blue sweater – too lightweight.  Pink/grey/white sweater – wrong color palette; the wine would drown out the blush pink and soft grey.  But the off-white with snow leopard sleeves?  Yes ma’am.

Shoes: I grabbed my dark grey/white snakeskin ankle boots to echo the off-white/grey palette of my sweater and add some interest, and we were in business:

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Sweater: French Connetion, thrifted
Pants: Style & Co., thrifted and tailored
Boots: Lucky Brand, gift from my sister
Necklace: DIY from Goodwill parts
Blazer (blazer): Haberdashery Collection by Personal, thrifted

Jewelry: I wore cream-colored earrings to complement the sweater and boots.  Did it need a necklace?  Not necessarily, but it would dress up the soft textures a bit.  The pendant with a stylized flower fit better with stylized flower earrings than my large “stone” pendant, so that’s what I chose:

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Note: This is about 20 minutes after pulling it out of the drawer where it had sat, more or less Kondo-folded, since last year.  Not bad wrinkle-wise, eh?

Socks: Since these cords went in for a trim up, they sit where they should on my waist…

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Ahh, fit so much improved!

…which means the short legs are now really short and expose some ankle above the top of my boots.  So I put on my thickest wool socks to give a cozy, chunky little layer there and keep my ankles warm:

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Blazer: Last but not least, I had no idea if I’d be chasing my kid outside for half the service, so I went looking for a topper.  With so much pattern going all already (including the texture of the sweater), my all-navy blazer was a nice neutral option.  Plus the saturation/temperature of the color played really well with the color of the corduroys:

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Initially I cuffed the sleeves because it gives blazers a fresh, modern look – but my sweater arms were long enough to peek out from underneath the blazer sleeves uncuffed and I liked that contrast, so I unrolled ’em.

Ta-da!

What’d y’all wear this weekend?  Do you ever redo an outfit from one day to the next when you know you’ll be in a different context with a different audience?

 

 

A DIY / Thrifted Statement Pendant Necklace

Pendants are one of my favorite kinds of necklaces because that dangling pop of jewelry is dramatic and fun; the length also handily draws your eyes down the entirety of the outfit and won’t crowd your face/neckline.

Luckily for us, pendants are also the easiest kind of necklace to DIY, because you can pop a few beads and baubles together, slip it on a chain you already own, and BAM!  You’re ready to go.  That same chain can be used to showcase different pendants depending on your outfit and your mood.

You can thrift the chain, of course, but you can also thrift the components of the pendant. I did one here that I’ve been wearing a lot this spring, and today I’m going to show you another one I recently created for the winter wardrobe I’ve been revamping this summer – but surprise, it works great for summer, too!

Click through to see what I made and general guidelines for making your own thrifted/DIY pendant. Continue reading “A DIY / Thrifted Statement Pendant Necklace” →