A Little Piece of My Heart - Create Your Style with Swarovski

Cousin Corporation of America (CCA) sent me a lovely box full of Swarovski crystals from their new Create Your Style with Swarovski™ line due to hit A.C. Moore Crafts this month.

These pieces are so versatile you can mix them with so many different things. I love all things Swarovski.  :)  I'm partial I guess.

Well.....I really fell in love with the Swarovski Heliotrope heart pendant that was in the box.  Each time I looked at it, I really felt drawn to pay homage to the Purple Heart medal.  I did my research and found that the ribbon of the medal is purple with white trim and has gold accents.  So I decided to create a lovely "ribbon" using TOHO seed beads in Heliotrope and Matte Opaque White. I wanted gold somewhere, so I decided on a gold chain necklace.

I found these lovely pavé beads with purple crystals from CCA's Jewelry Basics line. I wanted to incorporate them somehow, but the pavé beads didn't quite make it to the final design.

It was a definitely a learning curve since I had never done a decrease Peyote stitch before....How hard could it be, right?  Apparently harder than it looked.  I think I had to rip it apart about four times before it would come out right.  The beauty of using TOHO beads is the large opening that allows for jump rings to slide in even with a ton of thread already in the bead.

After I got the first part done, I had to make a second flap so it would be able to slide on a chain. I stitched it all up along the sides leaving an opening for a thin chain to slide through.

 I chose a thin 14 kt gold plated copper chain from CCA's Elegance Metal Line.  I also put two of the purple crystals from the pave beads at the back connecting to a 14kt gold plated copper heart toggle also from the Elegance Metal line.

I have to say, I am very pleased with the way it turned out.