You can be creative in wearing a pendant necklace. Mix and match potential chains and pendants in this easy method that makes it easy for you to play around with charms, pins and even brooches you’ve always liked but have never found a use for.

Step One—-Choose how you would like to hang the pendant around your neck. Do you want to use a chain, a ribbon or a leather cord, for instance.

Step Two—-Find a charm, small brooch or pin that you wish to use as a pendant. If you are using a chain with a charm as pendant, you can easily mix and match various ones in ways you think would look attractive for the occasion. A chain is a ready-made necklace, after all.

Step Three—-Take into account the weight and size proportion of your chosen pendant to the chain, ribbon or cord you will be hanging around your neck. A charm can be strung on anything that fits into its loophole. Brooches and pins are best fastened to ribbons, although cords and chains may work with them in certain circumstances. If the chain or cord fits snugly into a brooch’s pin space, and the brooch stays in place and does not weigh heavily, this could work.

Step Four—-Measure how long you wish to wear a ribbon or cord. Do you want choker-length or longer? If using a charm pendant with a ribbon, slide the ribbon into the loophole until you reach the middle. If using a small brooch or pin, fasten either of these to the center of the ribbon.

Step Five—-Pick how you wish to securely hold the ribbon in place. A favorable option is to sew either a snap or a hook-and-loop fastener on the ends of the ribbon to give you secure closure. A cord can simply be tightly knotted for you to wear it; if it is long enough, you can simply slip it on and off without retying the ends until the time when they start to come loose again.

Elsa Peretti Starfish necklace