DIY Friendship Bracelets...Because We're Totally Like Best Friends

If you thought the days of Friendship bracelets and Pokemon cards were gone, you were right. Well at least about the Pokemon cards. But as far as Friendship bracelets are concerned, they are no longer just for the youth, or for the poor. "High end" Friendship bracelets consisting of the traditional woven string but with added jewel detail are popping up all around town and they are absolutely amazing. And absolutely not cheap. If you're like me and love a little colored nostalgia with sparkles but can't afford a $100.00+ price tag for some yarn and glitter, I've outlined an easy way to DIY.

Last week I went to a Dia de los Muertos festival, which was quite the experience in and of itself. Amongst the array of hydraulic cars and little children (and sometimes their adult counterparts) with skull's painted on their faces, I stumbled upon some very cool and very cheap Friendship bracelets. For a whopping $8.00 I was able to buy the two bracelets pictured above. With a little hot glue, a package of jewels for $3.00 from Michaels, and a needle and thread to sew on a button, I was able to make my very own, fancy shmancy Friendship bracelet. And now, you can too! Just rummage through your old jewelery boxes and I'm sure one of these lanyard bracelets will pop up. If not you're local mall kiosk or Limited Too is sure to have something of the nature.

 First, I sewed a pink jeweled button onto the bracelet so I could use that as a clasp instead of the strings that were originally used to tie the bracelet together. I cut off the strings and hot glued the frayed pieces together to be sure the whole bracelet didn't unravel. 

Next, I strung the jewels through the bracelet, hot gluing the stones on the under part of the bracelet. 

This is the fun part because you can customize the way you'd like the jewels to sit. On the bigger bracelet, I felt that one row of sparkle was not nearly enough. So I added three. 

As you can see, on the smaller bracelet, one strand was enough. Because really, there's just no need to get gaudy.

And, Voila! You have you're very own and very chic Friendship bracelet. All for under $12 bucks.

My favorite part of this trend is that the bracelets look the coolest when they don't necessarily match. So you can take whatever you happen to have or find and embellish it without worry that it might not work together.

*Actually, now that I come to think of it, nothing and no one ever looked cool when they were matching from head to toe. So get wild with all those mismatched prints. No really. Do it.  *