Nordstrom Knock-Off

Last week Melissa talked about how she hated Valentine's Day. Melissa - I can still remember the Valentine's Days of college when we'd dress in black and watch women power movies like....Thelma and Louise (was that really Brad Pitt) or watch Steel Magnolia's and cry and hug and tell each other that we didn't need boyfriends because we had each other. And truth be told, we were more fun...that's why all the "dating" roommates dreaded their dates because we were going to do something fun in their absence. (It's 18 years later and we're still all friends...where are you now Cold-Sore Curt?)

Anyway, at that time I thought I hated Valentine's Day because I didn't have a boyfriend...but that's not the case...I now have a very cute, loving husband and I still don't much love Valentine's Day. Restaurants are booked, babysitters are taken, we feel forced to look lovingly in each other's eyes when, really, we both want to watch the game on the T.V.'s above. [Although, Valentine's Day is perfect for giving each other the things we bought right after Christmas at the sales, but couldn't justify spending money on ourselves. I think that's really why Valentine's Day was invented.]

So in honor of Melissa, I decided NOT to do a Valentine's Day themed post. (Deb's all about Valentine's Day...guess who always had dates in college!)  I guess this can be a Valentine's post if you are going to make this fabulous gift for a friend.

DISCLAIMER: If your name is Lisa and I'm going to your birthday party tonight...don't read on because I'm about to reveal your present.

I was looking for something cool to make my friend for her birthday and I stumbled upon a fabulous tutorial from a fabulous blog.  Here it is!

Basically she recreated a $595 necklace from Nordstrom for less than $20.  Uh...that wasn't a typo...a $595 necklace and there are no real gold, real silver, real pearl parts.

Because she gave such a great tutorial, I didn't document my every step. But I decided to make this necklace instead:

Here's the link to the necklace (click here)

But here's a screen shot in case they don't sell that necklace anymore. CLICK the PIC to see it bigger.

I only had 15 min in Joann's yesterday because I was in a hurry for an appointment. They didn't have everything I really wanted (like a dark chain and glass pearl beads) and I didn't have time to go to any other stores, so I settled on a longer silvery chain and crystals. And this is how it turned out. [Thanks to my friends Elita for modeling & Hazel for photographing.]

FYI, I singed the edges of the blue fake silk to make sure they didn't fray.

Hopefully she likes it! I saved $585 by making this by myself. Maybe I can use that money I saved to get my husband a Valentine's Gift....oh wait, I already have a few things for him.