So I realize this is a lame attempt at a "crafty" post but it did involve a craft store and some thought to put together so give me a break ;)
I had a vision for my 8 month old's photo shoot (bare bummed and wearing pealrs) and no time to search for an inexpensive pearl necklace. I looked at those cheesy jewelry stores and the ones they had were almost $20!! And not plain pearls anyway. I also looked at the dollar store and the party store for a white mardi gras necklace but they just had every other color besides white. I'll admit that a can of spray paint did cross my mind but I quickly realized how insane that thought was. Our pictures were the next day - can you imagine my poor baby inhaling those fumes during her shoot!!? So I went to Michaels with my 40% off coupons and bought crystal beads already painted a pearl color :) and some crimping beads.
The pearls were already strung so I just put a crimping bead on one end and placed the other end through it the opposite way (making an "X"), pulled taught (but not too tight - they need a little room to move around) and used pliers to clamp the crimping bead. I threaded the excess back through each side's pearls to hide those ends.
I'm sure there are better ways to do this but A) this was quicker and B) this way there's no chance of a clasp getting moved around and showing in the picture. You can see the crimping bead in my picture above if you look close - I put it in the very front.
I was able to wrap this around her neck twice with plenty of length and the pictures turned out great. You could of course wear this yourself as well.
Have fun!
~Star