If it's sold out, make it yourself

 A while back, I had my eye on this J. Crew Beaded Rose Necklace (it was styled on J. Crew's Tumblr, worn by Elisabeth Hasselbeck on "The View" and featured on the Pink Peonies blog). Now that it's Spring (although it doesn't feel like it outside yet), I'm still craving this currently sold-out pop of color.

So, I thought to myself, "I could make that." First, I considered forming the roses out of beads, like the original, but while at the fabric store today, I came up with an even more simple and affordable option.

I was searching for fabric for another project, when Hayden asked if we could look at the buttons. To my surprise, the store had exactly five red rose buttons (I couldn't find these online for you, but I got them at Jo-Ann's; the store I went to also had them in pink, peach and cream), perfect for my J. Crew Factory-size version (their Factory site tends to sell less elaborate versions of some of the brand's popular sellers) DIY rose necklace. I picked up all five marked at $1.75 per button, along with some large chunky gold metal chain for $3.99 (I only used about half of it, so I'll have more on hand for another project) and a pack of matching gold metal clasps with hearts on them for about $2.99 (I only needed one, so the rest will go in my jewelry supply box). Oh, and the sales lady was sweet enough to apply some coupons to my purchases to reduce my total (thank you!).

This necklace was so easy to make, as you can see in these photos. I started by attaching my first button to the end of the chain, using my jewelry-making tools. 

Then, I skipped two links and added another button to the chain. Just use your jewelry-making tools or pliers to pry the link open ...

... and after you thread the button onto the open link, press the ends back together again. 

Repeat the process with the third rose ...

... followed by the fourth and fifth rose buttons. You get the idea. 

Once I had all five rose buttons attached to the chain, I decided how long I wanted the finished necklace to be by holding it up around my neck. I opted to have 16 links on each side of the row of blooms. I removed the extra links from one side and attached 16 links to other side.

The last step was attaching the clasp. Just open the end link, thread on the clasp ...

... and secure it in place. 

Your finished necklace looks like this, unless you want to add some extra sparkle. 

The original has a bit of sparkle in the center of each flower, so since I had some tiny crystal beads leftover from another project, I adhered them to the middle of the rose buttons with jewelry glue.

This is how the embellished DIY rose necklace looks when it's done. Let me know if you make one, too :-)