Create a Chevron Necklace with Rulers 2

Good morning y’all, Beth here today to share with you how to create a chevron necklace with rulers for Teacher Appreciation Week!  There are a tons of ideas for teachers, but I always like to create something personal and unique.  Now you know I love to color unfinished wooden items with the Tombow Dual Brush Pens, so when I saw these cool rulers recently at the craft store, I knew I needed to get them!  The other person I have to thank for this idea is Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper for wearing a chevron necklace on a recent episode. Inspiration is literally EVERYWHERE!

STEP ONE:

Gather your materials, flip one of the rulers to the wrong side and develop your color palette.  This is an important step because the Tombow Dual Brush Pen colors look totally different on wood than they do on paper. They are very transparent and mimic the look of stained wood!  After exploring a bunch of blues, greens and purples I selected a vibrant pastel color palette of 623-Purple Sage, 451-Sky Blue, 133-Chartreuse and 873-Coral.

STEP TWO:

Secret tip #1!  Use the 45-degree angle line on my self healing mat to make the pencil marks on the rulers. The big thing is to make sure to reverse the marks and make another set in the opposite direction. Secret tip #2! I used the Midwest Products Easy Cutter to make all my cuts. Set the cutter to 45-degrees on the left side.

Then, set it to 45-degrees on the right side to make all of the ruler pieces line up perfectly!

STEP THREE:

The rulers are divided horizontally into different sections, so take advantage of this to create your color pattern. I drew several on a scrap piece of paper until I found the one I liked the best! Use the scrap pieces of ruler as you sample.

STEP FOUR:

This is the step that the kiddos could definitely help with! Color your design on the front of the rulers using the Tombow Dual Brush Pens. Remember to color the top, bottom and ends. Make the colors lighter or darker depending upon the number of layers you brush on.  If you get a color too dark or uneven, use the Dual Brush Pen N00 Colorless Blender to remove some of the color.

STEP FIVE:

Draw a straight pencil line on a scrap of Lagoon Blue Kunin Felt. Line up your chevron ruler pieces on the line and attach with Tombow MONO Multi XL Liquid Glue. Use a minimal amount of glue, because the MONO Multi remains tacky (even when dry) so the surface of your project will be clean.

STEP SIX:

Once dry, cut neatly around the perimeter of the chevron.

STEP SEVEN:

Gather your necklace materials. Now, I am not a jewelry maker, but I like to dabble, so I had plenty of supplies in my stash for all those projects I “intend” to create. The craft stores have tons of sets, but you will specifically need a closure, 24-36″ of chain(s), eight jump rings and two pairs of needle nose pliers.

I had sections of small link and large link chains in my craft stash, so I cut two 1″ pieces of the extra Sky Blue ruler to create transition “beads” for connecting them. Drill a hole in the top center and bottom center of the transition “beads”, as well as the top right and top left corners of the chevron with a drill.  I found this little hand drill a long time ago in the wood findings section of a craft store.  You can use a drill gun to make your holes, just go slowly, so you don’t splinter the wood.

STEP EIGHT:

Hold a jump ring with both sets of needle nose pliers (one in each hand) and the split at the top.  Open the jump ring by holding one hand still and twisting away from you with the other hand.  Hold the open jump ring with the pliers (in your non-dominant hand) and thread through the hole in the ruler, then through the chain (with your dominant hand). Pick up the second pair of pliers and close the jump ring using the same twisting motion, but in reverse.

Repeat the above steps with the remaining jump rings and ruler pieces.  Then attach the closure to the chain with the last two jump rings.  NEWS FLASH – you just made a necklace – WHOOT WHOOT!

The trendy colors, antique metal and Boho style of this chevron necklace with rulers would be the PERFECT gift for any teacher, but especially a math teacher!

I hope that you have enjoyed my chevron necklace with rulers project today and that you will take a few hours to create this very cute, but quick and easy piece for your child’s favorite teacher.

Check out these other projects I created by coloring wooden shapes with Dual Brush Pens – Birthday Owl and Mixed Media Love.

Thanks for stopping by!  -Beth