The inspiration for this learning adventure came from a necklace I saw at Nordstrom by Kate Spade.  As any woman reading this blog may already know, Kate Spade is a premium designer brand and has ridiculous prices for some of her products.  When I saw this necklace, I instantly loved it! 


It was trendy, yet sophisticated.  And the chunky five-strand design was over the top without being super tacky.  So as I reached for the tag, I saw that for this novelty piece, I was going to have to fork over about $150.  Yes, I have expensive taste sometimes, and I don't always show restraint, but this necklace was not worth that amount.  Coincidentally, I happened to be at Michael's soon after seeing this necklace, and the timing could not have been better.  Their beads were all on sale with and additional coupon for my entire purchase, AND they had giant black beads similar to the Kate Spade necklace.  LIGHT BULB!!!

After purchasing all of the materials I thought I needed based on logical assumptions and a few Google iPhone searches, I went home and started to piece the thing together.  Right away, I realized that this may not be as easy as I thought, and it was clear that while I'm a smart chick, I was missing a key step or two...or three.  Again, fate stepped in because while shopping around for yarn stores for my knitting projects, I found that around the corner from Fibre Space in Alexandria was a bead store, Potomac Beading Company.  And what did they offer?  Classes!  And what kind of classes were on the schedule in the next week?  Multi-strand necklaces!  Now that's what I call a plan coming together with minimal effort!!  So, I signed up for the class, figured out the missing pieces to the construction puzzle, and....voila!


Pretty darn close, right?  And for a small fraction of the cost!  The actual piece I made during class time was this pretty lime green diamond bead pattern:


So the lesson learned here is that it, literally, pays to be creative!  And now I've added another skill to my craftiness toolbox that I can reach to in the future whenever I crave an outlet for my built up creativity.