the sincerest form of flattery

As someone who likes to make things, I often find myself in the diy dilemma or the crafter's conundrum - when I see something lovely, my first thought is, 'how could I make that myself?' This thought often keeps me from actually making purchases (not a bad thing) but I frequently don't get around to actually making the item in question myself.

And then, sometimes I do, like this time. I saw this wonderful necklace by cursive design on Elly's garment house blog. And because I liked it so much, and because I wanted one for my very own, and because that self same day I found the perfect twig when I was out walking; because of all this, I did it. I made my own.

Besides than the free twig, other materials that I used were a length of sterling silver wire (about 20 gauge I think), a Czech glass bead, a sterling silver chain and some round nose pliers, all of which I purchased at Fusion Beads. The yarn that I used was some leftover laceweight Habu (I think) that was given to me by a friend when she moved to New York (and she initially received it as leftover from someone else).

I threaded the wire through the bead and then wrapped the thread along the twig, holding the wire in place, to both ends where I made little loops to hold the chain. I used some Elmer's glue to secure the yarn. In all it took me about a week to gather all the materials and complete it in fits and starts

A couple of other things that I would make in a flash if I had the time and materials. Where does one find amazing eyelet fabric like that and the patience to do all of that smocking?? Designers are Isabel Marant and Bottega Veneta respectively.