necklace revamp

We have a few events to attend this week and I'm struggling with what to wear.  I've got a little black dress on its way in the mail.  Very simple and it calls for a little flair.  I wanted an interesting necklace but I dug through my jewelry box for a bit and wasn't finding what I had in mind.  Then I came across this.

I got a ton of wear out of this necklace a few years ago when I purchased it.  I wore it all the time with work outfits and it was looking rather tired.  The leather cord was worn and the beads that are covered with a sort of crocheted look were a bit dirty.  So I snipped off the crochet covering.

Then I snipped off the leather cord.

I opened up the jump rings

and I fussed and shifted the decorative elements around the gold chain until they looked right.  I just opened up the rings with my fingers and closed them up with regular old pliers once I was happy with the overall look and now I've got this.

I've got no jewelry making experience but as you can see this was VERY simple.  Now I have a new necklace for $0 and some flair for my black dress.  Now lets just hope the dress fits : )