Happy Birthday to Lena from Beautiful Creatures – Make your own version of Lena’s necklace! (Step-by-step instructions)

Anyone who’s read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl knows that the impending 16th birthday of main character Lena is sort of a big deal. It’s essentially what the whole book is leading up to. It’s the climax of the entire story, and the source of the song “Sixteen Moons,” which is featured throughout the book.

Well, Lena’s birthday just so happens to be TODAY — February 11th!

So as Beautiful Creatures is our Book of the Month, what better way to celebrate than right here at Novel Novice!

And as our gift to you (in honor of Lena’s birthday), we’re offering you step-by-step instructions to make your own version of Lena’s necklace.

Lena’s necklace is mentioned frequently in the books, and authors Kami & Margie have even created their own replicas (see image, right).

Here are just a few notable quotes from Beautiful Creatures mentioning the necklace:

A girl who wore a long silver chain around her neck, with tons of stuff dangling from it — a plastic ring from a bubblegum machine, a safety pin, and a bunch of other junk …

“They aren’t really charms, just things that mean something to me […] I know it looks like a bunch of junk. But I’ve never lived anywhere very long. I’ve never had the same house, or the same room for more than a few years, and sometimes I feel like the little pieces of me on this chain are all I have.”

I touched her charm necklace. It all looked like junk, and most of it was — the most important junk in the world. And now it had become my junk, too. A flattened penny with a hole in it, from one of those machines at the food court across from the movie theater, where we had gone on our first date. A piece of yarn from the red sweater she had worn to go parking at the water tower, which had become an inside joke between us. The silver button I had given her for luck at the disciplinary meeting. My mom’s little paper-clip star.

Supplies:

To recreate Lena’s necklace as described in Beautiful Creatures, here’s a list of charms & items to look for:

• soda can ring
• flattened penny
• plastic ring
• safety pin
• gold bird charm (ideally, a Raven)
• a piece of red yarn
• silver button
• paperclip star

You may also want to include some kind of locket and/or cameo as a nod to Genevieve’s locket, described in the book as:

a battered old cameo, black and oval, with a woman’s face etched in ivory and mother of pearl …

Here are some examples of cameos you can find at your local crafts store:

Instructions:

* Either purchase a long necklace chain, or buy a length of unfinished chain from the craft store (see image, right) and trim to desired length. The chain should be long when worn around the neck. Attach clasp and hook on either end of chain.

* String the collected items onto the necklace, so they hang together.

* If desired, some items can be attached using jump rings or bent wire.

Tips & Ideas:

* Remember, your necklace doesn’t have to be exact! Think of things Lena might have collected.

* Customize it! Maybe you love the idea of Lena’s necklace, but you want it to be your own. Go for it! Instead of adding charms taken from the book, add charms & “junk” that means something important to you!

* Check crafts stores for additional charms, trinkets & findings. Many sell multi-packs of interesting charms, which can be a good bargain.

* Rows of beads like those shown here are also fun for adding individually to a necklace:

For the comments: What ideas, tips, tricks, etc. do you have for creating your own version of Lena’s necklace?

Have you created a necklace? E-mail us a photo at sara.novelnovice@comcast.net