DIY: Stretchy Beaded Bracelets

Vanessa Mooney Beach Girl Bracelet Set $152.00

I saw these on The Possessionista's blog, and LOVED them, but not for the $152.00 price tag.  That's a little out of my price range for jewelry, especially costume jewelry.  No matter how stinkin' cute they are.  I figured I make my own instead!

Here's my version:

Cheap and Fluffy version:  $9.17

I could actually do white, black, and weird brownish/orange, but I like the brights best.  The trickiest part was finding all the supplies.  JoAnn's had the gold beads (6mm) and the stretchy cord (.5mm), but not the solid color beads.  I scored at Michaels though, finding a package that contained all these colors instead of having to purchase lots of packages of separate colors.  There were enough left to make a second set too.

Here's what I bought:

And really, this isn't so much of a tutorial as a "Hey!  Look what I made!  Go get your own!" because I'm pretty sure you all can figure out how to make these.  Here are a few tips though:

• Cut your stretchy cord extra long to give you plenty of room to tie your knot.  I tried to "conserve" at first and made it much more difficult on myself.  The stretchy cord was $2.49.  No need to be so stingy.  lol
• The back of the stretchy cord package shows how to tie it off.  An overhand knot works very well, but once I get my hands on some super-glue I'm going to add a small dab to each knot.
• Stretch the cord slightly when tying off so that you don't end up with gaps between the beads. 
• I left the ends about 3/4" long then thread them through the adjacent beads.  The ends DO tend to poke back out when you take them on and off, so adding the dab of glue will mean I can cut them shorter.  I haven't found a good solution other than that, but since the cord is clear you don't really notice it when you have the bracelets on.
• The 6mm beads work perfectly for this.

I really would like to have a pink bracelet.  I love the pink and gold.  Hmmm......will be looking for pink beads!