Liz makes a vintage button charm bracelet

Lately, I've been so busy! My first week of classes (out of sixteen) went pretty well and yesterday Tyler and I went to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It's about an hour away from Albuquerque and we had a lot of fun. It's beautiful there! We hiked for a few miles, Tyler took some pictures and then we came back to Albuquerque and ate some Mexican food. Yesterday rocked! Anyway, today I made a south-western styled bracelet, made with vintage buttons. If you have some vintage buttons and don't know what to do with them, here's a project for you! Here's how I made the bracelet and how you can make one too:

You'll need some cool beads (I probably used about fifty or so), two seed beads, some clear jewelry cord, some vintage buttons (I used four), a lobster clasp and a pair of flat nose jewelry pliers.

First, get a long strand of clear jewelry cord, fold over one end about an inch over and make a loop. Put a seed bead through the bent/loop part. Clamp down the seed bead. You should now have a loop secured with a flattened seed bead. Now string on nine beads.

Continue alternating with nine beads and a vintage button.

Here's a hint of how many buttons I have. In all honesty, it's not really a lot, but most of the ones in my collection are pretty darn cool. After I took this picture, I decided to only put six beads instead of nine at the end so it would fit on my wrist nicely. 

Now's the tricky part. After you have all the beads you want on the clear cord, string on a seed bead. Then string on your lobster clasp. Now you're going to grab the cord and string it through the same seed bead. Clamp down on the seed bead when everything is snug and close together (beads and lobster clasp). You can either clip off the extra clear cord or string it back through the beads. I hope this step makes sense, because it's hard to explain.

Well if you're able to figure that step out then you're finished! I never really make jewelry. This was my first time using seed beads, cord and jewelry pliers. I hope I did things right.. If I didn't, that's okay too. I think it looks pretty cool!

I love the south-western looking beads and how they go nicely with the vintage buttons. If you make one, let me know and/or send me a picture. I'd love to see your creations! Have a great week everyone. I'm off to make more Breaking Bad pillows before school starts again!

-L