Beaded Stretch Bracelets with Charms

Happy Birthday to my niece Paige! She made a comment a couple months ago about liking big beaded stretchy bracelets right now and wished she had more - I filed that away for a little thing to make her for her birthday. These are really simple and quick to make - I made some before (click here for that post) but those were out of smaller beads and included words so these are a little different.

Cut 11 inches of stretchy cord (it comes on a spool, clear like fishing line but thicker and really stretchy. don't use old cord, for some reason it gets brittle after being stored in your craft room for a long time but you won't realize it until you've made your bracelet and then when putting it on it snaps and beads go flying everywhere. yeah, ask me how I know). Tie a knot in one end, string your beads and charms, knot both ends together tightly. Add a drop of glue to the knot so it'll hold and then trim the tails off. Done. Easy!

tie a lose knot in one end or the beads will
fall off while you are stringing!

Note - I used 6mm and 8mm beads for these bracelets. The charms needed to be attached to a jump ring before adding to the string so they were able to move better, otherwise they stayed stuck in place on the bracelet. When attaching a jump ring you need to open it up by twisting the ends towards and away from you - don't pull them apart or it's hard to get them lined back up again.

opening a jump ring to attach a charm

added a drop of glue to the knots, waiting for
it to dry before cutting off the excess tails. 

one year ago today: my favorite homemade citrus pesto - oh man this is SO good!