I was in charge of my son's Cub Scout camping trip craft. Since we were going to a camp with a lot of rocks, the theme was "We Will Rock You". The craft I came up with involves river stones, wooden beads, silver wire and beading cord... all "earthy" items you can also find at your local craft store.

Here's what you'll need:

One small stone. Anything roughly the size of a quarter will work. Buckeyes, arrowheads or shells can also be used.
4 to 8 beads. I've used wooden beads for this craft but any will do.
32 inches of beading cord. This will be the necklace itself. Nylon and leather work well, but I used cotton for this craft.
24 inches of silver wire. The label on mine says "26 gauge copper wire", but it's silver in color and very inexpensive.

Step 1: Step 1: Slip the Beads on the Necklace

First, slide the beads onto the middle of the necklace. If you are using nylon cord, you my want to melt the ends of the cord with a candle or lighter to prevent fraying. I used cotton cord and found that dipping the ends in candle wax helped keep the individual threads together.

Step 2: Secure the Beads

Using a simple overhand knot, secure the beads in the middle of the necklace.

Since this project was created for elementary school kids, I didn't want the beads sliding around (and possibly falling off), so I had them tie off the beads early in the process. You may wish to skip tying the beads in place (this step) AND tying the ends together (step 3) until you've completed steps 4 and 5.

Step 3: Tie the Ends of the Necklace Together

Instead of just "tying the ends together" to form a necklace that hangs too low, we will be creating an adjustable necklace.

First take one end of the cord and loosely tie a simple overhand to the other end of the necklace... about six inches down. You should be able to move the knot up and down the cord. Repeat this on the other side by taking the other end of the code and loosely tying an overhand knot six inches down from the first end.

Be sure not to pull the knots too tightly! If you've done this step correctly, you should be able to loosen and tighten the necklace by lightly moving the knots toward and away from each other.

The image shown here used a "more advanced" slipknot. A great step-by-step guide can be found at http://www.enchantedglyph.com/slipknot.htm.

Step 4: Secure the Stone

Now take the silver wire and lay the rock on top of the center of the wire. (The side of the rock that is facing down will eventually be the side that faces outwards when worn. So decide now which side of the rock you want to be viewed.) Wrap the ends of the wire around the rock and twist together (see image 1).

Now rotate the rock 90 degrees, and wrap the wire completely around the rock to form a little harness around it. If the rock is rather circular, you may not be able to draw the wire tight. That's fine since the harness will hold the rock in place.

Continue wrapping and rotating until your left with a couple of inches of wire on either side (see image 2). Take the two ends of the wire and thread them through the wires running over the back of the rock (the side where the wire were twisted) and tie them in a simple overhand knot.

If the rock is oblong, you may not need to create a harness for the rock If so, just continue wrapping the wire around the rock until you have a couple inches left on either end. Then twist the wire a couple time to secure the rock in place.

Step 5: Attach the Rock to the Necklace

Place the rock just below the beads in the necklace and let the two ends of the silver wire extend over the cord and between the beads. Then tightly wrap the wire around the cord several times to secure the rock to the necklace.

If you skipped tying knots in the cord (steps 2 and 3), trim most of the wire off either end and then slip the excess through the beads along the cord. This will place the end of the wire inside the beads and away from your chest. If you already tied off the beads, just trim off any excess wire as close to the cord as you can.

You're done! You should be able to lengthen the necklace by gently pulling on both ends. Place it around your neck and then tighten by grasping the knots and pulling the away from each other.