DIY Vintage Christmas Brooch Necklace

Hey everyone! One of my favorite things to collect at the holidays is vintage brooches! I love the whimsy of them! I thought it would be fun to add in one of my newest vintage reindeer brooches to a statement necklace to wear for the holidays. It’s super simple to make a necklace with a brooch as a focal point, and all you need are a few supplies! The best part about this diy is that you can create a fabulous piece of jewelry in under an hour (plus drying time.) Check it out:

Here’s What You Need:

*Vintage Brooch

*Vintage or New Beads of Your Choice

*Eye Pins

*Jump Rings

*Lobster Clasp

*Bails or little Metal Tags (I bought mine at AC Moore)

*Jewelry Pliers

*Round Nose Jewelry Pliers

Instructions:

So the first step to making your necklace is to make your chain of beads. Take an eye pin, load a bead onto it. Snip the excess wire at about 1/2″ or so from the top of the bead. Take your round nose jewelry pliers and curl the wire around to make a loop in the top. So you should end up with a bead that has an eye at the bottom and at the top. Now, take another eye pin. Open up the bottom with your pliers. Hook the open loop onto the top loop in your first bead then close the loop. Load on another bead, snip the wire, make a loop and then load another eye pin. Continue making your chain of beads.

Make your chain as long as you want. I made mine so the the stripe bead and the brooch would hit right about my collar bone on each side. Make one side to be from the back of the neck where the clasp will go down and around to the other side of your collar bone where the brooch will go. Then make the other side from the back of the neck to the top of where the brooch will go. Connect the two chain pieces with a lobster clasp. Attach the clasp with jump rings.

Next, you need to prep your brooch for your necklace. Pull the pin part of the brooch off of the back with your pliers. My little deer brooch had antlers that I was able to hook a jump ring to. If your brooch doesn’t have a place at the top to hook a jump ring you will need a tag at the top as well as the bottom. Put a little E6000 onto the back of your tag(s) and glue them into place on the back side of your brooch. Let the glue dry thoroughly.

Once your glue is dry, attach your brooch to the ends of the beaded chain you made earlier with jump rings. Now you are ready to wear!

I just love my new Christmas necklace! How fabulous is this brooch, really! I am just head over heels for my little deer! I used vintage lucite beads from a broken vintage necklace I had, but you can use any kind of beads you like. Have fun with it and make it your own! I can’t wait to see what you guys do with this one! I hope you will give it a try! It is super easy and fun! I’ll be back tomorrow with another fun DIY. Until then…

Happy Crafting!