St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, and it got me thinking. I don’t really have a lot of green to wear in honor of the holiday, but I can buy green beads.

And, why stop at green beads when there are orange and white and all three colors represent the Tri-Color (the flag of Ireland)? So, I went to Michaels, bought my beads and decided to put together a bracelet to share that you can make to wear this St. Patrick’s Day.

Here’s what you’ll need (these are the items I used):

•1 strand of Bead Gallery 6/14 mm cut rectangle twist in Peridot

•1 package Jolee’s Jewels crystallize Swarovski elements 6 mm bicones in white opal

•1 package Jolee’s Jewels crystallize Swarovski elements 6 mm bicones in hyacinth (an orange color)

•1 package Jolee’s Jewels crystallize Swarovski elements 6 mm bicones in palace green

•Silver-plated spacer beads

•1 clover charm

•7-strand .018-inch nylon-coated flexible wire

•Crimp tubes

•A clasp (lobster claw or toggle, whatever you choose)

•Round-nose pliers

•Wire cutters

•Flat-nose pliers

•Crimping pliers

Directions

Cut off 11 inches of the flexible wire. String one crimp tube to one end of the wire, then string through one end of your clasp (I used a toggle clasp in this project). Now thread the wire back through the crimp tube and crimp using the crimping pliers – make sure to leave a short tail of the beading wire. When pulling wire through the crimp tube the second time, you want to move the crimp tube close enough to the clasp ring that you don’t have a large gap, but far enough away that movement of the wrist won’t wear down the wire (see crimp tube picture).

Next, string one rectangle twist bead, one white opal crystal and one hyacinth crystal and a silver-plated spacer. Make sure to use the first couple of beads to cover up the tail of the beading wire (see picture with four beads). Continue stringing in this order four more times, ending with a spacer bead for a bracelet that measures 7 1/4 inches.

Next, take the clover charm and put it on the end, followed by a crimp tube and the other end of the clasp. Then, bring the wire back through the crimp tube and push it through a couple of beads to secure it (see picture of finished bracelet). Crimp the tube and clip the wire as close to the beads as you can get.

You can make this your own by changing out the beads or adding embellishments. Check out our blog on Monday at www.journalgazette.net/craftyliving to learn how you can win a bracelet similar to this one.